Prentice TMS-1?

[Maple Fox Farm]

Hey forestry folks,
 
I'm looking at an old, tired Prentice TMS-1, at least I think that's what it is (see picture of tag), but when I search, "TMS-1" I can't find anything on the web that looks anything like the machine I'm looking at. I also tried TMS-i. The frame is clearly homemade. Can anyone shed some light on what this thing is and what's good and bad about this model? I'm planning on all new hydraulic lines and adding stabilizer arms (possibly manually deployed). Also, I'm just a weekend warrior, I'm not trying to make money with this, I don't care about a bit of slop and yes, I noticed there might be a rust spot or two starting to form under the paint... I'll get right on that before it spreads...  .  

I was going to offer the guy $350 (which is in the ball park of scrap in the northeast) because it needs stabilizer arms, the tires are questionable as are the piston rods and, in my opinion, it needs all new hydraulic lines for safe operation. I also noticed pitting on the piston rods but hopefully it's just in the last few inches of the rod. The rods seem to be retracted as far as possible so there's a chance the pitted part won't contact the seals at full retraction and hopefully there's no pitting on the rest of the rods because they look like they have been retracted for a long time.

The good things I can see so far are that it is low to the ground, (it's always a game between high ground clearance and low center of gravity, but I'd rather hang it up on a rock than flip it), floatation tires that, for now, hold air, and a rack and pinion swing arm as opposed to a chain and sprocket. The grapple looks a little over-sized for the unit but I don't think you could save much more than 50-100 lbs. in steel putting a lighter weight one on and that would cost 5 times more than the rest of the whole machine and would only gain you that much in lift capacity.

Also, the guy said it might weigh 5k lbs. I know it's hard to tell from the picture but I'm thinking 2-3k lbs. max;
 right? My tractor weighs about 10k lbs.

So, to summarize:
What is it?
What's good an bad about the model in general?

Is $350 too high or too low?
Is it worth the time and money in the first place?

• I'm thinking $500 or more for hydraulic lines if I fab them myself, $500 for stabilizer arms (I have the steel I just need to install them and possibly add hydraulic cylinders, which I have, and a couple hundred to get it trucked home.

 
Thank you for your time,
Trevor

[rusticretreater]

Based on what I have seen online, that looks just to be the boom off of a much larger Prentice TMS series Log Loader.  It doesn't resemble their stationary booms.  In my way of looking at old machinery like this, a complete disassembly/rebuild is needed.  All the cylinders need to be rebuilt or replaced, the hydro lines as you indicated and the spool valves are also likely to need some work. 

Just putting on new hydro lines and running it sounds like it will be fun, exciting and popping leaks at every dry rotted seal, bushing and bearing. 

It looks to be a fun project and $350 won't break the bank.  I would try to price everything out(new parts vs rebuilt), but that may not be possible without a shop manual or multiple visits to the machinery.

Here is an image of a similar boom.  https://www.proxibid.com/lotinformation/39524213/110-prentice-knuckle-boom

[Don P]

I need to take our valve body up to Bluefield for a rebuild. From that era it probably has a Parker Gresen 25P valve bank which is out of support. I haven't looked recently but a grand to replace with new rings a bell from a few years ago.