Telehandler. What to look for?

[newoodguy78]

It's the nature of the beast with those machines if that stick was 100' long eventually you'll try to reach something 102' away  :D .
I would think that would be a good size for your application. Best of luck if you get it. Chances are you'll wonder how you lived without it. 

[Resonator]

Used to work with a guy years ago that had been a machine operator on a lot of big office building projects. He got called in one time to run the lift when they needed pallets of brick on a new downtown office job, only catch the crew was working on a wall about 6 stories up.
He got the brick up to them, but made the guys hand unload every brick. He said he DanG sure wasn't going to try to set the pallet down and pull the forks out from under it. :D

[newoodguy78]

I can't say I blame him on that one. That's up there, enough to make me pucker for sure. 

[Southside]

I honestly don't know how I got along without mine. Just picked up a man basket for it. Wife didn't approve of my pallet on the forks approach.  : To my credit I did have a fall protection harness properly on, hooked up, and I used a pretty decent pallet each time.  ;D

[caveman]

Just picked up a man basket for it.

When I was running the machine in the rain yesterday morning going through all of the operations, I extended the boom all the way up.  John told me later that he was not going up on the forks even with a good pallet or a man basket.  He's going to have to learn to run it if we get it.  I'll likely be the one going up.  John doesn't care for heights.

[btulloh]

Nice looking machine. The paint scares me little but it sounds like they run a good operation so maybe they're not just trying to get your eyes off the real stuff.  Looks like your real close to having another work horse.

For a man lift, I took an IBC tote and removed the container and presto chango I had a man lift. Just run a strap around the brick rack and it's secured. Cheap and easy. 

[newoodguy78]

I spent a lot of hours in one of them putting up a big greenhouse they work well. The sides are easy to climb for those hard to reach areas when the machine just won't quite get you there. 

[Don P]

I also noticed the boom extension ram is external.  What a great idea.  Mine is internal to the boom and I'm not looking forward to when that needs rebuilding!

I noticed that on one the other day, that is nice. Our ram is internal in the boom and spooging out the front gland, we've been pouring oil and dreading the job. Glad to hear it wasn't too bad. The teflon pads and rollers on our boom are worn heavily. You can look down the boom when extended and see it and if you put in some down pressure when extended it shows the amount of slop, always there but excessive in ours, we need to do a full service when it goes down. I don't know the capacity of that machine, it looks on the light side. I'd pick up something bundle size and shoot out and see where the happy place is and if you can work within that.

[caveman]

It is supposed to lift 6000 pounds and 1800 at max reach.  

[mike_belben]

Those are brick forks and theyre worth alot more than pallet forks!  Theyre for picking brick packs that are banded together without pallets, just banding and fiberboard in the tierd where rows of brick are ommitted for the fork to pass through. 

 I have hauled maaany loads of those out of NC.   They cant be unloaded by palletfork.

[customsawyer]

I don't know the value of them. I do know they can be a pain to get between packs of lumber, especially if one is bent, and most have at least one that is. If they are more expensive maybe you can ask for a discount.

[caveman]

I'm still awaiting the salesman to get back to me with his best cash price.  We let him know the leaky front tire needed to be repaired, the forks swapped out, and delivery included in that best price.

A few years ago I found some brick forks for $50 each.  A friend bought a couple and I modified them to fit on a regular fork rack for his 30ish hp tractor.

[caveman]

Update on the telehandler.  Sometime around Christmas, the salesman called me with a price that seemed reasonable.  I offered to rent it for a week to ensure that it would serve our needs as we anticipated and if we decided to purchase, just apply the rental price to the purchase price.  He did not get back with me.  I saw the same machine is still for sale for several thousands more dollars now.

I found a 
2007 Gehl RS6-34 that looks like it should do what we need but I am not familiar with that machine.  Do any of you have any opinions or experience with this or a similar one?  This one has a JD engine.  It weighs quite a bit less than the Skytrak but could probably be hauled on our GN trailer in a pinch.

[Ljohnsaw]

I take it that model is a 6,000 lb capacity, 34' reach?  That would do pretty well around a mill. Is that a 3 part boom (1 fixed section with 2 that tele out) or 4?  What's it weigh?  My SkyTrak is a beast at 26k.

[caveman]

This one is 6K lift and weighs around 16000 lbs.  I found an 8K, 44' that weighs 26000 lbs, which is similar to the 6k and 8k Skytraks we looked at.  The rs6 has about a 12' turning radius and the 8k has 13'.  The RS6 is 16' long and the 8k machine is 19'.  The 8k machine is nearby and the smaller machine is over on the east coast a couple of hours away. 

[customsawyer]

I have a few pieces of equipment with JD engines. I've put as high as 8-9000 hours on them before selling. Never had any trouble with them. With that being said I had bought most new and started the maintenance right to begin with. My telehandler has a JD engine. Had to replace the starter so far and it looks a little rough under the hood as there is a few leaks but it runs good. ;D
Rebel Auction is where I got mine at in Hazelhurst GA. They have a auction there every month. Either the first or second Thursday, I can't remember which. I didn't buy mine at the auction, I bought it directly from them. They will now and then buy a piece of equipment themselves and just sell it. Might give them a call and see if they have one.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Don't know about that machine in particular but I like my Gehl machines. Parts are reasonably priced and have good availability with a lot of things being available from outside vendors. I have 2 Gehl skid steers and love the heck out of it.

[Walnut Beast]

Yep. They make really good machines and have always had a good reputation 

[caveman]

I'm back seeking advice on another telehandler.  Have any of you had experience with Bobcat Versahandler 518?  It has relatively low hours and a 100 hp Perkins engine.  This a smaller machine than most of what we have been looking at but it's size would be advantageous in many instances.  I could transport it on my bumper pull trailer behind my pickup, it would get into tight spots, and it will lift quite a bit more than my tractor.



I thought we had a good deal lined up a week ago on a Genie/Terex 10000 lb lift capacity, but it did not materialize.

[GRANITEstateMP]

Cavemen, I'll check what model Bobcat we have in town that is used at our transfer station next time I'm there.  

It's been in for a laundry list of repairs in the last 2 years.  To call it a turd would be an understatement. Boom issues, electrical issues, hydraulic problems. Some of the issues were caused by former "operator's" using the boom fully extended to crush glass and pack down refuse. I'll try and get the model, just so you can avoid getting the same one!

[caveman]

Thank you.

[Don P]

Some of the issues were caused by former "operator's" using the boom fully extended to crush glass and pack down refuse.

Uhh, yeah, Guilty. I was doing that with construction debris in a big dumpster till I looked at the boom and its cylinder, the rollers, etc along the boom while I was doing it. Basically I was putting the weight of the machine on an extended boom, simply brilliant. I quit that foolishness pronto, it's cheaper to call for a haul!

[YellowHammer]

We used an 8K Bobcat at work, it was decent, pretty maneuverable, and was smooth to operate.  All our stuff was maintained by the motor pool, so I didn't notice it being broken down and out of service too much.  

The best we had was a Gehl, built like a tank and we used it everyday.  Not real comfortable, not real modern, no high tech, but it just worked, and it had a frame tilt feature which was great.

We "splurged" and bought a Cat, everybody was all excited, and it was a total POS, and always spent time in the shop.  It was real twitchy, and the controls were a little erratic which is not what is wanted when handling explosives or doing lifts with the Safety Office guys watching.  What really torqued our britches was that it was bought for it's lift capacity and since we handled explosives and did overhead lifts, it had to be independently load tested and certified, (big certified weights are used) and it never met its advertised lift capacity, even after sending it back to Cat several times.  It was a big poop show, and the we derated it to certify it, and so killed any more Cat purchases for us.  It spent a lot of time in the shop and the Cat dealer.  It may have been a lemon, I don't know, we never considered buying another to find out, and Cat never made good on sending us a good one.  It had a good radio, nice air conditioner, comfortable seat, but was not a good telehandler.  We laughed and cussed at it a lot.    

Both the Bobcat and Gehl were successfully load tested and certified at their advertised capacities, and the guys and I liked using them because of their smoothness and predictability.

[customsawyer]

I have not ran a Bobcat version. I did go look at couple the other day that are here local. One was brand new '21 model from Italy and would be awesome once you are in it. The trouble is that it was a four step ladder to get in. I get in and out of mine to many times a day for that. The other was a Skytrack (sp). It was similar to my JLG except the boom controls. Instead of a joystick it had multiple leavers for the boom. Well I didn't think that would work trying to unload a log truck. Trying to move 3 leavers that are spread to far apart at the same time while operating the steering wheel and forward/reverse leaver. I could just see me putting a log on top of the truck or something.

[caveman]

Thanks fellows.  I don't usually get in a hurry to purchase anything and prefer to buy good deals rather than when I need something.  John and I will probably put a couple hours on a telehandler in a busy week, but it will give my tractor a longer lifespan and handle a lot more weight.  Peter had a nice CAT until its hydraulic system decided to self-destruct. The ones at the top of my list are Lull, Skytrack, Genie/Terex, Ghel, and the others can fall in behind.  I've heard that the Gradalls are good machines but with only rear steer, I think that may be a hinderance for our situation.  I did test a JCB, but I was dissuaded by a couple on here.  It was a nice machine, but I do not want something that parts are tough to get or are known to have transmission issues.

I have read that the Bobcats sometimes have issues with the transmission but that it is usually a relay or fuse and that the belly pan makes some maintenance issues a bit more challenging but for the right price I can tolerate a little inconvenience. 

At this stage of my life, I should be getting rid of things with batteries and tires instead of shopping for more, but I'm not a smart man.