Bucket Truck, pita or no?

Doe's it have to run to work the lift or run just run because you can't turn it off from up there? LOL
And thanks for the info guys, the 250.00 yearly inspection and pump price stuff, how long you've had one and whats gone wrong with it since was what is was looking for. Keep it coming. I've got a hand full of churches around here with nasty roofs but there like three storys tall with steep apex roofs. Would require a lift or bucket to hose it down. You have any recent pics of the truck? What year is it? I think I'm coming up that way to pick up a hot skid trailer unit in the next month or so. Send me some pics to Blueridgepowerwash@hotmail.com ....I may be very interested in it as I don't really require some fancy jam up one. Just as long as it isn't going to kill me...lol...May be just what the doctor ordered to cut my teeth on,,,
 
I WANT a 4 wheel drive articulating boom 45 or 60 footlift that I can drive around a house :)
With Turf tires :p
http://www.genieindustries.com/zb-series/zb-z45jrt.asp
They only cost about 20 grand used, and weigh 16,000 pounds, so I will need a truck JUST to deliver them to the roof cleaning job :(
Until then, I rent them.
Works for me, since we only need them occasionally.
 
Those kinds of lifts are not for meI want the drive around motorized kind.
The non motorized lifts take far too long to set up, and are too hard to get into many backyards.
Plus, I dont find them to be as stable, unless set up perfectly.
They ARE much cheaper, I will say that.
The kind of lift I want costs about 20 grand for a late model one.
Then, a truck is needed to haul it around.
 
Apple Roof Cleaning said:
Those kinds of lifts are not for meI want the drive around motorized kind.
The non motorized lifts take far too long to set up, and are too hard to get into many backyards.
Plus, I dont find them to be as stable, unless set up perfectly.
They ARE much cheaper, I will say that.
The kind of lift I want costs about 20 grand for a late model one.
Then, a truck is needed to haul it around.
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Mine is motorized. I drive it between apartment buildings all the time and park between them to hit two buildings at once. It only needs 13 feet for the outriggers and with the outriggers down it's WAAAAY more stable than the big tire ones. Bil-jax just came out with a 4wd towable with outriggers (superstable) but they will be expensive till they've been out a couple of years. You should be pretty flat in Tampa. This one can only go up a 12-15 degree slope. The 4wd ones can do more.

One reason I like mine is because I can drive it right through a double door into the inside of a building. I haven't found a backyard I can't get into yet except the ones that only have a single wide man-gate.

Mine was 38k, but that's only because I had never had one like this before and it warranteed it up just in case I had problems. Knowing what I know now I'd pay $16k-22K next time. BTW it only weighs 5k and I've towed it around with our Dodge 1500 before.

I can't get their site to come up now, but the it's:

http://www.biljax.com and the new one is the xboom series. These are probably in the 50k range now, but you'll be able to buy them for half price in a year or so.
 
Yea I ran into a tree guy the other day who had one like you Tony. I asked him about the bucket trucks and he said what he (and u) had was much better and more stable with the booms but the set up seems a bit much to me for residentual. I just need one to get up on a roof quick or do a station gas pad carport awning. Lots of good info tho guys. I'd be scared to death driving that thing from up there on ANY grade..LOL...But I have seen track hoe's go down a vertual cliff before. It's crazy what some of this equiptment can do if your not scared of it.
 
MudDuck said:
Yea I ran into a tree guy the other day who had one like you Tony. I asked him about the bucket trucks and he said what he (and u) had was much better and more stable with the booms but the set up seems a bit much to me for residentual. I just need one to get up on a roof quick or do a station gas pad carport awning. Lots of good info tho guys. I'd be scared to death driving that thing from up there on ANY grade..LOL...But I have seen track hoe's go down a vertual cliff before. It's crazy what some of this equiptment can do if your not scared of it.
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That's like I told Chris, I miss the old bucket truck for doing AC's on gas stations, it was fast and didn't require anything but a parking space. If I get more gas station chains I'm going to buy another simple bucket truck.
 
With the size of my bucket truck and how far out the outriggers go, I would need to park in the middle of 2 spaces so nobody drives over the outriggers. hahaha
 
i don't have a bucket truck but desperately want one. for you guys that have one: are you able to drive onto a customer's yard without any problems? i had my carpet cleaned recently and i still have the tire marks in my front yard.

rando
 
It really depends on how soft their soil is. If a carpet cleaning van left marks, a bucket truck will too.

Mine is a lot bigger and heavier than the pickup truck type, the empty weight is 26,820 pounds and is CDL required to drive it. I made some pads for the outriggers as it did not come with any and they are 2'x2' square with 4 layers of 1/2" or 3/4" plywood so it will distribute the weight evenly.

Here are some pictures of mine:





http://www.superiorpowerwashing.com/cleaning-shingle-roofs.html
 

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So, back to your question, I have driven on some soil where I got that truck stuck and it took another larger truck to get me out. We had to lift the tires with the outriggers, put dirt there, lower the tires and do the other side. Took 2 hours of doing that to get the truck out. We found out that the soil was really ocean floor silt which is not good to drive on. hahaha

I have driven on people's yards, out on the golf courses at country clubs, etc... and not too many problems I just make sure that I use the outrigger pads so I do not leave huge holes in the yard.

Hope this helps.
 
That thing has a winch crane cable on the boom why didn't you use it to pull yourself out?
 
Christopher said:
Here are some more:
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That truck is perfect for pulling up to a building. All you need is two parking spots. You could do work on office buildings during working hours if they don't mind the noise.
 
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