O.k. I joined this forum around a year ago and I have been building barns and house frames/rough ins out of steel. We weld all our buildings and until recently we have been using square tube columns and in house designed rectangle steel tube trusses. Now transitioning to I beam construction.
We have hired many employees,bought lots of tools ladders scaffolds etc, new one ton truck, new 225 bobcat welder, new 24k gn trailer on the way and now moving into doing our own concrete as well.
We have been using a tow behind manlift on rental for 99% of what we do, our trusses weigh in at 400-550 lbs 30-40' so max capacity on manlift. other than that more recently we have been forced to use a full blown 22k lb skytrak hauled in by 18 wheeler and it is overkill for us plus pricey.
I average around 1800/month on rental expenses so figure if I buy I can offset the cost of new truck plus have the equipment whenever I need it and not have to turn it in before we are really.....done with it.
I need to lift 25' tops and have an 8oo lb max lift max reach capacity. We could get a tow behind manlift but I feel we will not only max it out repetitively but outgrow it very rapidly.
A telehandler (smaller skytrax) will barely do what we need but not much reach especially at max height of 19' but has attachments to level out pads with and move dirt.
Skytrak big boy is perfect but the hauling aspect is killing me.
telephone crane, manlift truck, self contained self transportable, extra tool storage but heavy and 2 wheel drive
The two favorite picks between employees and I are:
rough terrain diesel scissor lift: 1500 lb lift cap, 50+ lift height, 16,500lb curb weight . downside; almost strictly pad work and iffy about lifting I beam trusses off the end or side??? I expect our 40' truss to weigh out at around 720lbs 12w16, we do a lot of work on virgin ground so rain may kill us.
Equivalent of gradall g3wd, (wheeled excavator category, I think): 1650 lb lift cap, 20' lift height @ 20' reach , 4wd 33,000lb curb weight self driving / highway cummins diesel. Can weld/ fab man bucket forks extension etc etc.
no idea on reliability and I hear it is hard to operate but that may be a learning curve issue
The budget is about 35k and I would like to hear what everyone else has used or get some ideas not matter how far out of the box. Need to be able to put up a truss and position men. I have racked my brains trying to figure out a intermediate way to grow the company and what we can offer over the next 3 or 4 years until we get a full blown large skytrak trailer and truck to ull it with. Thanks guys fire away.
We have hired many employees,bought lots of tools ladders scaffolds etc, new one ton truck, new 225 bobcat welder, new 24k gn trailer on the way and now moving into doing our own concrete as well.
We have been using a tow behind manlift on rental for 99% of what we do, our trusses weigh in at 400-550 lbs 30-40' so max capacity on manlift. other than that more recently we have been forced to use a full blown 22k lb skytrak hauled in by 18 wheeler and it is overkill for us plus pricey.
I average around 1800/month on rental expenses so figure if I buy I can offset the cost of new truck plus have the equipment whenever I need it and not have to turn it in before we are really.....done with it.
I need to lift 25' tops and have an 8oo lb max lift max reach capacity. We could get a tow behind manlift but I feel we will not only max it out repetitively but outgrow it very rapidly.
A telehandler (smaller skytrax) will barely do what we need but not much reach especially at max height of 19' but has attachments to level out pads with and move dirt.
Skytrak big boy is perfect but the hauling aspect is killing me.
telephone crane, manlift truck, self contained self transportable, extra tool storage but heavy and 2 wheel drive
The two favorite picks between employees and I are:
rough terrain diesel scissor lift: 1500 lb lift cap, 50+ lift height, 16,500lb curb weight . downside; almost strictly pad work and iffy about lifting I beam trusses off the end or side??? I expect our 40' truss to weigh out at around 720lbs 12w16, we do a lot of work on virgin ground so rain may kill us.
Equivalent of gradall g3wd, (wheeled excavator category, I think): 1650 lb lift cap, 20' lift height @ 20' reach , 4wd 33,000lb curb weight self driving / highway cummins diesel. Can weld/ fab man bucket forks extension etc etc.
no idea on reliability and I hear it is hard to operate but that may be a learning curve issue
The budget is about 35k and I would like to hear what everyone else has used or get some ideas not matter how far out of the box. Need to be able to put up a truss and position men. I have racked my brains trying to figure out a intermediate way to grow the company and what we can offer over the next 3 or 4 years until we get a full blown large skytrak trailer and truck to ull it with. Thanks guys fire away.
