Landscapers are at all times on the hunt for that game-changing piece of kit that earns its value day by day and lasts for years. Don Ventling, president and founding father of Landform, and Calvin Douglas, proprietor of Douglas Small Engine Restore, each purchased a hooklift again within the Nineties, they usually’re each nonetheless utilizing those self same hooklifts of their each day operations.
Landform
Based in 1988 by Don Ventling, Landform of Fairfield, OH, stays busy all yr lengthy. In Spring and Summer time, their 12-person crew is busy with mulching, mowing, pruning, weed management, and extra. In Fall, they do leaf cleanup and landscaping, and in Winter, they concentrate on snow and ice aid companies. They primarily serve industrial shoppers, establishments, and authorities companies.
Ventling purchased his first shuttle hooklift in 1993 after seeing his brother’s. “At the moment, I wanted a truck that might deal with a variety of completely different jobs and serve a variety of completely different functions since I used to be a one-man present,” says Ventling. “The Stellar Shuttle regarded like a great possibility for one truck that might deal with many issues…. My brother purchased one from an public sale that had a Chevy truck with a Stellar Shuttle on it, and I fell in love with the idea.”
Ventling’s Stellar hooklift has exceeded his expectations. “It’s like having one other individual on our crew,” he says. “It has mainly changed a number of vans because of its versatility and performance. One man can exit with only a truck mattress loaded with materials and gear and drop the mattress off, do his work, load every little thing again up, put the mattress again up on the truck and go. The performance of this one truck is equal to a number of vans — it reduces labor and will increase productiveness.”
Ventling’s hooklift has required minimal upgrades and repairs over time. “We’ve put it on a unique chassis and changed pumps and one tilt cylinder, however these had been the one elements in 30 years that I’ve needed to take care of,” he says. “Then we repainted it as effectively. We nonetheless use the hooklift each day, and we couldn’t be happier with it.”
Douglas Small Engine
In enterprise since 1983, Douglas Small Engine Restore is a lawnmower and landscaping gear restore firm in Rutherford County, TN. Within the late Nineteen Eighties, Douglas realized lawnmowers had been getting larger and heavier and he wanted an answer to make selecting up, hauling, and delivering his clients’ mowers and gear simpler. In spite of everything, some gear he transports can weigh in at 1,000 to 1,500 kilos. Plus, when he picks up mowers, they’re usually disabled and never working. He wanted an answer that could possibly be maneuvered by way of crowded metropolis streets and in tight backyards. Hauling a trailer behind a truck merely wasn’t reducing it anymore.
Douglas turned acquainted with Stellar on the Worldwide Garden and Backyard Present (now known as Equip Expo) and bought his hooklift within the early Nineties. Immediately, Douglas appreciates that his hooklift permits one individual to do the job that in any other case would require two or three staff. It permits him to choose up and drop off gear effortlessly and effectively.
“Selecting up the mowers and gear which can be disabled makes my job a lot simpler,” says Douglas. “All whereas staying within the cab, one individual can merely drag the broken-down gear onto the mattress by letting it down, the place it could in any other case take two or three of us to push it onto a trailer. Each time I let that mattress down, I want I had a greenback for everybody who says, ‘Wow, I actually like that,’” continues Douglas. “It will get a variety of nice feedback from folks.”
To today, Douglas makes use of the hooklift three to 4 occasions every week and extra throughout the busy season. After all, he is aware of correct upkeep is essential to serving to his hooklift run as effectively as it may possibly and making it final so long as doable. “I grease and lubricate my hooklift frequently, however there’s not a variety of upkeep to it,” he says. “I’ve changed one cylinder within the final 20 years and that was it. There was additionally a product improve within the ‘90s on the management change that Stellar improved from the unique change system.”
For extra on Stellar hooklifts, see the article “100+ Completely different Makes use of For A Hooklift.”
For extra merchandise, see “Get Outfitted: Vans, Trailers & UTVs”.
