Well, as of last night, I officially own a bucket truck. I won it around 8 pm last night in an online only auction for $4,100 in total. I went and picked it up today and brought it home. Bathed it and some needed love, and it shaped up quick. The bed was full of old wood, paint cans, the one bin door that was off of it, and a couple of batteries for the boom. My brother and I deep cleaned the interior and got rid of the year's worth of dust and a few ether cans. I ended up taking the batteries and started charging them up. One of them is taking charge, and the other one is being a little iffy. It runs, drives, stops, and the boom works entirely. A few of the boxes' floors are rusted through, but pretty easy to fix. It does need tires as they're weather checked and low on tread, but they will do for now. It does need general maintenance as it sat in the weeds for a while. Anyway, enough ranting and more info about the truck.

It's a 1993 Ford F350 7.3L Non Turbo with an automatic. It's also 2 wheel drive. It has 97,400 or so miles; it was an old utility truck for the Rapid City Transportation Department. I will get some pictures tomorrow, but I just wanted to update you guys on how my little business is going and ask a couple of questions. I also plan on using it to tow around my 7x14 dump trailer whenever needed.

What would be the best tires to put on it that won't rip up yards, but also do well if it does happen to be muddy when I have to go dump my dump trailer?

What are some things I should know about this type of truck and keep an eye on?

What kind of life should I get out of it, being that it has decently low miles?

And the last one, what can I do to it to make my life easier in terms of tree work, etc?

I dont know anything about tree work. Been around diesels some though. Even naturally aspirated the engine should last awhile. The low RPM diesels operate at means less wear per mile compared to the higher RPM gas engines require. I like 10 ply toyo tires. Tough and last awhile. When its muddy your going to leave ruts. Especially with 2wd.

There is an annual dielectric testing for bucket trucks. Hopefully the one you purchased has an updated inspection.

pretty basic info, but safety harnesses on the bucket...and use them...lost a guy this spring, fell 30 feet and muerto....

Mean old Mr Gravity is very unforgiving. Get the mechanics on the lift certified as it only takes once.

The old saying, anyone can land a plane once, just some you don’t walk away from.

My dad worked for a sign company and ran a boom truck daily.

You won’t have to worry about dielectric testing if you’re not getting contracts from a utility. Get to know the people at the utilities around and know their process for removing/trimming trees near powerlines. Harness & lanyard are a must. A local guy is in a wheelchair until he dies, for a while, he wished he’d died. A bucket escape kit is handy because it will fail you eventually.
You can sure make a huge pile of cash quick with that puppy!
Good luck!

Hydraulic anything will make life easier in tree work, so the bucket is a great start to that.

I worked for a guy who ended up buying a trailer with a hydraulic loading arm. It was, of course, great for loading the trailer, but I can’t tell you how many times he’d end up using it just to move logs around.

How big is the boom? You really should have that boom inspected before flying it, not sure you'll love the inspection results though.

I'll make ya a open offer, come work for me for a couple days, I run a small tree service in MN near Clearwater. I built my buisness from nothing and now I have just a bit more than that. Feel free to pm me as well if you need help, I've been run through the ringer at the school of hard knocks and could probably save you a lot of the headaches I endured.

My advice: Take Donnersurvivor up on his offer.

A utility bucket truck is nice if you can reach the work FROM THE ROAD or a drive way. they are great for line clearance. They sink and get stuck in yards around here and are not easy to get out.

They break, had the controller cable break on me in one, my ground guy was working on a saw with the chipper pointlessly running and could not hear me. it had rained all weekend and the outrigger was sinking in the mud and I was over a 3 phase line . I finally bounced a small stick I found in my bucket bottom off his hard hat and he got me down with ground controls. it had sunk enough the off side out rigger was not on the ground before he swung me back over the truck he said.

They can get dangerous. I'm guessing you have a bucket truck without a chip box on the truck. Depen on the trucks weight you may need a class b cdl to drive them.

I operated a bucket truck doing line and tree work for a long time. Our last bucket , had hydraulics at the bucket. We had hydraulic , pruners . They were wonderful. Also have your truck certified , electrical , Pressure wash the inside of your booms, they get all manner of dust , sawdust, birds nests etc. Always have a helper that can get you down ,Have an , emergency drill , to refresh both you and your helpers , mind, if you or your truck, has a problem. Use proper , stabalizing, chocks, if needed. This is basic , safety . Take it seriously, . Enjoy , your truck, it will save your back, and bring in a good income .Get to know the guys , at the local utility,s , they get lots of calls to . do tree work, They will steer work your way, old 243

Spend the money and get it inspected. I was working in one day building a 480 volt service and my helper said look no hands. The boom was still extending towards a set of cut outs on the pole . After a few moments we had to made a split decision either jump or beat the living snot out of the controller . We finally got it stopped about 6 foot from the cut outs , after further inspections someone had took a piece of number 6 copper and use it instead of the right bolt that had apparently fell out the day before when another crew had borrowed our truck .

Donnersurvivor....That is a great offer, fellow trapper man to trapper man.....jk

Get the advice from Donnersurvivor, The one thing that should be done on a yearly basis is to have it checked by a licensed aerial inspector. Your local REA or Utility company has them come in each year to check there aerial equipment. They will find the and check out every thing in detail. It is worth your dime to have this done or at least every other year. When the Coop's inspector come he can work your truck into the schedule and inspect yours.

Always USE your safety harness that is attached to the boom!!! Learn how to lower the boombucket from the ground. There is an over ride at the turret so someone can lower the boom it if the controls have an issue or truck stalls while you are in the air. Learn how to do this and show your help how this is done in case they need to get you down and the boom stored in the rest position.

Great for building tree stands.

The 2 numbers I can find are 24 ft and 17 ft, which I would assume is 17 ft of reach without the extension out and then 24ft of reach with the extension out. I'll message you about the offer.

I spent a good amount of my time in the telecommunications industry working out of a bucket truck. The only addition I have, to what others have already said, is to consider using an aerial lift harness built to counter suspension trauma. I had an incident where I spilled out of a self-leveling bucket with a lock that was faulty. If the ground hand not been there to let be down by the lower controls on the turret I may have hung there for awhile.

All of the above. Big emphasis on safety!!!! Seriously safety is your number one priority. Ran a 50ft boom for 10years. Tree trimmer.

That's exciting

As a lot of people have said in this thread , get safety gear and use it.


I'm sorry , this stuff is not cheap. But it is way cheaper than a hospital bill or a tombstone.