Which tracked MEWP to choose

[Joe Newton]

2 hours ago, Mark Bolam said:

Danny Mac is as good a climber as I’ve worked with, and we pissed that ancient oak repollard the other week with a 21m tracked MEWP with a good owner/operator/tree guy.

2 day tree climbing.

 

Like Joe says though, sometimes you’re just putting something very expensive in the drop zone.

 

Not the be all and end all, but certainly a very, very useful tool on the right job.

 

We are currently looking at cheapo introductory machines like towable Niftys.

A lot of fuckonery on our jobs seems to be on lower limbs and BT lines.

 

When you get to my age chogging stems from a basket is also a dream.

 

Like you said earlier Mick, just a case of working differently sometimes.

The road tow nifty is awful. They can almost never achieve their stated reach.One of the biggest factors is set up time. Round here I can get a 25m tracked mewp with a legit tree work operator for around 400-450. Kind of pointless buying one at that price

[doobin]

43 minutes ago, Joe Newton said:

The road tow nifty is awful. They can almost never achieve their stated reach.One of the biggest factors is set up time. Round here I can get a 25m tracked mewp with a legit tree work operator for around 400-450. Kind of pointless buying one at that price

Ay, road tow niftys have painful setup times. 

[Joe Newton]

2 minutes ago, doobin said:

Ay, road tow niftys have painful setup times. 

Quicker climbing for sure.

 

If you want a mewp to be faster than a decent climber it has to be a full sized one. You need to be able to cover a big area from one stand.

[Mark Bolam]

You’ve seen me climb?

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

11 hours ago, Joe Newton said:

The road tow nifty is awful. They can almost never achieve their stated reach.One of the biggest factors is set up time. Round here I can get a 25m tracked mewp with a legit tree work operator for around 400-450. Kind of pointless buying one at that price

That’s the secret - 25m tracked MEWP £70k

 

At £500 / day that’s 150 ‘jobs’ to recover initial outlay. 
 

Every AREA will need one but not every tree firm. 
 

Be the guy with the kit in the area. 
 

The 2nd hand dodgy history units are already starting to appear with firms hereabouts. Personally - I wouldn’t touch, buy, hire, use a second hand set up. 
 

 

[doobin]

43 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

That’s the secret - 25m tracked MEWP £70k

 

At £500 / day that’s 150 ‘jobs’ to recover initial outlay. 
 

Every AREA will need one but not every tree firm. 
 

Be the guy with the kit in the area. 
 

The 2nd hand dodgy history units are already starting to appear with firms hereabouts. Personally - I wouldn’t touch, buy, hire, use a second hand set up. 
 

 

For £500 a day, I much prefer pulling levers sat on my arse in a digger costing half of that MEWP.

 

Mind you, for that money I do have to get off my arse and make a few felling cuts every now and again so it's not all roses!

[maybelateron]

Following on from my original post I have had a demo of the Hinowa 17.75 - it seemed a well enough built machine, but it could not match my old Aerial K16T for outreach, except so low down you could use a step ladder. I feel outreach is crucial, if anything more so than maximum height. I am going to look at a new CMC18F next week - massive outreach of 11m with one light operator, and still very good outreach with 2 ops. Less electronics on it, and you can level it yourself. Old fashioned valve block by (not in) the basket. Anybody any experience of CMC?

[woody paul]

11 hours ago, doobin said:

Ay, road tow niftys have painful setup times. 

All new ones are automatic setup. 

[Philip Anderson]

I’ve used a few tracked MEWP Teupen about the best but more often than not we find we can get our 3.5 and 7.5 ton truck mounts in on roadway if necessary or reach over obstacles.

faster set up times ,much more stable and more outreach so bigger drop zone.Truck mount wise Ruthmann are ahead of the game .

[Dan Maynard]

21 hours ago, woody paul said:

All new ones are automatic setup. 

I hope so, thinking of hiring one as I have to fix the church clock back on.

 

Seems Nifty can be had for about a third of the hire charge of a tracked machine.