thebiggreenone
ArboristSite Lurker
I'm looking for advice here, as I know very little about buckets or larger trucks in general.
Where I live and work is a rural area, very hilly, full of gravel roads and STEEP gravel driveways, as well as the need to drive in/around fields/pastures. The trees are about 80% doug fir and frequently 60-100 feet tall, properties are frequently on hillsides and 5-20 acres. Even though much of the work I do isn't accessible by any vehicle, having a bucket would allow me do to a little less climbing, do hazard work more safely, limb up firs around houses/driveways very easily and more. Anything under 60-feet is too short, anything over 60 or so is too long a truck for the tight roads/driveways here, must be an over-center bucket. Although it is clearly a large price increase and probably only 5-10% of the buckets out there, I think 4x4 is a must have for my needs/area, and there seem to be a handful of options under $50,000 which is where I'm looking.
Through ebay, Equipment Trader, Commercial Truck Trader and others, basically what I've found in 4x4 is two options: Forestry trucks that have ~60 foot buckets and 11 foot chip boxes, or dedicated bucket trucks with ~60 foot buckets and slightly shorter wheelbases. For whatever reason, the dedicated 4x4 bucket trucks seem to be more expensive than the trucks with chip boxes. I know the ideal is a dedicated bucket and dedicated chip truck, but I'm a very small outfit with limited drivers, work sites have limited space for trucks. A single truck with a bucket and chip box would be a good 'all purpose' rig for my specific needs.
At the moment, this has pointed me in the direction of basically one truck: an International 7300 4x4 Forestry Truck with a DT466 engine and Altec bucket. Here is one that keeps coming up in my searches: https://www.northtexasequipment.com...TRY-BUCKET-TRUCK--Fort-Worth-TX-76179/6669428
I've found a few of these in the $30,000-$75,000 range, with a few under $40k such as the one linked. They seem to be 2007-2010, obviously a utility company selling these off and getting new ones. Each I look at has the same paint job, anyone know what company these are coming from?
Thoughts, advice?
Where I live and work is a rural area, very hilly, full of gravel roads and STEEP gravel driveways, as well as the need to drive in/around fields/pastures. The trees are about 80% doug fir and frequently 60-100 feet tall, properties are frequently on hillsides and 5-20 acres. Even though much of the work I do isn't accessible by any vehicle, having a bucket would allow me do to a little less climbing, do hazard work more safely, limb up firs around houses/driveways very easily and more. Anything under 60-feet is too short, anything over 60 or so is too long a truck for the tight roads/driveways here, must be an over-center bucket. Although it is clearly a large price increase and probably only 5-10% of the buckets out there, I think 4x4 is a must have for my needs/area, and there seem to be a handful of options under $50,000 which is where I'm looking.
Through ebay, Equipment Trader, Commercial Truck Trader and others, basically what I've found in 4x4 is two options: Forestry trucks that have ~60 foot buckets and 11 foot chip boxes, or dedicated bucket trucks with ~60 foot buckets and slightly shorter wheelbases. For whatever reason, the dedicated 4x4 bucket trucks seem to be more expensive than the trucks with chip boxes. I know the ideal is a dedicated bucket and dedicated chip truck, but I'm a very small outfit with limited drivers, work sites have limited space for trucks. A single truck with a bucket and chip box would be a good 'all purpose' rig for my specific needs.
At the moment, this has pointed me in the direction of basically one truck: an International 7300 4x4 Forestry Truck with a DT466 engine and Altec bucket. Here is one that keeps coming up in my searches: https://www.northtexasequipment.com...TRY-BUCKET-TRUCK--Fort-Worth-TX-76179/6669428
I've found a few of these in the $30,000-$75,000 range, with a few under $40k such as the one linked. They seem to be 2007-2010, obviously a utility company selling these off and getting new ones. Each I look at has the same paint job, anyone know what company these are coming from?
Thoughts, advice?
