I bought a used little Rayco forestry mulcher, and a nearly-worthless used Galion RT10 crane.
Why? The mulcher will clear tangled 5 acres of undeveloped overgrown bush on some BC coastal land I own. The crane will create the ability to haul boats, logs and heavy building materials, from ocean onto the land.
The mulcher has a new engine, but once on the island, we had to replace filters, lube everything, adjust some slipping gears and clutch for the mulching head.
Also this crane. Got it on Kijiji from some Edmonton guys for $7500. But it has major problems. No forward or reverse motion. But the engine is actually great. The crane motion is smooth.
When barged onto the island, the Saltair marine guys kindly pulled it up onto land.
Here it is, resting on the island.
Here’s a Specification for a Galion 15 Ton crane, including lifting capacity (but mine is a 10 ton ). Here’s a Operators manual for a Galion 15 Ton crane.
On the island, a mechanic named Dan, fixed quite a lot on the crane, including some carburetor and throttle linkage fixes, but still waiting on building a replacement linkage to the gearbox and clutch, and waiting on replacement clutch disks, which were ordered from somewhere near Vancouver, Yay. The new plexiglass windows that Roger made, have been put on. Prior to bringing to the island, Hoedown Equipment in Camrose fixed brakes (with tightening connections and new brake fluid), and fixed hydraulics leaks by replacing quite a few pipes. They welded repairs to a stabilizing foot. On the day it left Camrose, the starter motor broke, so Murray and a friend, grabbed a replacement from a junkyard car.
The mulcher has been great. Although, Don broke a few teeth on rocks, and a tooth mount, but luckily Edge Equipment in Edmonton sells them, so we got it all welded and fixed. There were some hydraulic connections that got shaken loose, so they needed tightening and replacing the lost hydraulic oil.
January 31, 2014 update. Got some work done on the gearbox and transmission. I’m saving these pics here, because you don’t normally get to see the insides of these things.