The Grapple Truck - Blue Sky Tree Care

[josharb87]

All depends on the operator, and access. first time i worked with one, 8? years ago, it was painfully slow. The right operator however and they're very effective. Take the jib off if not needed to speed things up.

 

Been a while since i last hired one in, done the work of 3 men who would have taken 1.5 days with a high risk of damage, in a couple of hours. With next to no cleanup (lowered straight into containers on the hook lift)

 

 

[lux]

 
Anyone know any thing about this setup?  Is anyone at Blue Sky Tree Care on here?

Julian is a good mate of mine. He’s based just down the rd from me. I’ve been chatting to him about potentially using it on a job early next year should my quote be accepted.

[lux]

I wonder what the day rate will be to hire him in with that machine.
 
I read somewhere that it's costing around £350,000.
 
You could get a tree on the ground very quickly with that setup.

It’s cost 300k. Well 250 plus the vodka and tonic. He has given me a day rate for use with both the saw head and as a crane. In respect to him those figures are not public yet so I wouldn’t disclose them until he had put them out there himself.

[lux]

Mr Fancier I dont think you need to worry about that crane truck  poaching domestic work, it wont fit in Mrs Miggings drive and outside with all the legs out would probably need a road closure. It will no doubt be a success but it wont be off the back of domestic arb, its only a tool for lowering sticks at the end of the day and at 850kg`s a pop not very big ones.
 
Bob

True it’s not aimed at domestic work. It’s aimed at road side and clearance work. It will handle 900kg at full stretch which is impressive. Close in it will lift a huge amount.

[carlos]

how would a hiab that size handle in terms of slew etc at full reach and near its max lift???

would of thought it might be hard to work it smoothly?

would a tractor and crane unit have a lot better access options?

mega truck though.

would make a great option for the " getting a bit old to climb scenario" !!

(providing one had pretty good credit rating lol

Edited November 23, 2019 by carlos

[aspenarb]

11 hours ago, lux said:

True it’s not aimed at domestic work. It’s aimed at road side and clearance work. It will handle 900kg at full stretch which is impressive. Close in it will lift a huge amount.

 

Very nice crane but I dont think I would have mounted it on an 8x2 chassis, with a tag axle rear and all that weight over the steer axles that is going to be a pig for traction on anything other than dead level tarmac. If I was throwing north of 300k at a truck/crane combination for tree work I think it would have to go on an ex army 8x8 which would have the advantage of being a heavier base unit , a lot shorter and able to get closer to a tree off the road. It would probably spend less time parked up if it could get about off road.

 

Bob

[roseyweb]

Great for individual trees but would the day rate add up versus a mewp?

 

for roadside something like like Kwr’s sennboggen would do the trick better.

 

if I was flexing daddies credit card I’d have both till then I’ll stick with a harness 

[lux]

Great for individual trees but would the day rate add up versus a mewp?
 
for roadside something like like Kwr’s sennboggen would do the trick better.
 
if I was flexing daddies credit card I’d have both till then I’ll stick with a harness 

The day rate he offered me was quite palatable and given how much more quickly it will dismantle a tree and given most of the tree will get loaded onto the lorry directly I thought it was pretty good.

Given that the only credit card he’s flexed to buy it is his own company one I guess the other toys will have to wait a while. [emoji23]

The was a sennboggen doing road side ash die back felling locally recently. Awesome machine too but no where near the reach of the lorry so that probably what’s made him
Choose that.

[lux]

 
Very nice crane but I dont think I would have mounted it on an 8x2 chassis, with a tag axle rear and all that weight over the steer axles that is going to be a pig for traction on anything other than dead level tarmac. If I was throwing north of 300k at a truck/crane combination for tree work I think it would have to go on an ex army 8x8 which would have the advantage of being a heavier base unit , a lot shorter and able to get closer to a tree off the road. It would probably spend less time parked up if it could get about off road.
 
Bob

There is a large drawbar trailer going on the back of it for wood chip or whatever really. Would that influence the axle configuration? I don’t know , biggest thing I’ve driven is unimogs so nothing this sort of size.

[LGP Eddie]

18 minutes ago, roseyweb said:

Great for individual trees but would the day rate add up versus a mewp?

 

for roadside something like like Kwr’s sennboggen would do the trick better.

 

if I was flexing daddies credit card I’d have both till then I’ll stick with a harness 

Trust me there’s plenty of applications for these Trucks as Excavator based setups run out of height real quick, and even if you go for a hero cut and try to get the top out in one, there’s an awful lot of trees out there that’s simply not a option.

I’m an Excavator man through and through, so wouldn’t look at the Truck route, but I have been looking at Excavator options to take me up to 28 metres which I think is around the optimum without requiring radio remote and getting up higher for vision.

I look at so many projects where the 13/14 metre isn’t enough, I can do 18.5 with the Liebherr and Felling Head up or out, but 28 metres is where it needs to be.

Trust me 28 metres is enough for a MK1 eyeball on this sort of work.

 

I took the Mecanil and switched it over to Excavators use, where the ability to choose a range of carrier machines easily to suit the application and the speed from an Excavator make them a very productive combination.

This is on a 22 metre Long Reach unit, the stuff is shite, there’s a river below in a vertical sided concrete channel, nothing to touch this sort of setup for safety and production.

 

 

Eddie.