Landscapers are at all times on the hunt for that game-changing piece of kit that earns its price 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 every day operations.
Landform
Based in 1988 by Don Ventling, Landform of Fairfield, OH, stays busy all 12 months lengthy. In Spring and Summer season, 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 reduction companies. They primarily serve industrial shoppers, establishments, and authorities businesses.
Ventling purchased his first shuttle hooklift in 1993 after seeing his brother’s. “At the moment, I wanted a truck that may deal with plenty of totally different jobs and serve plenty of totally different functions since I used to be a one-man present,” says Ventling. “The Stellar Shuttle appeared like a very good choice for one truck that would sort out 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.”
The Stellar NXT18 Hooklift
Ventling’s Stellar hooklift has exceeded his expectations. “It’s like having one other individual on our workforce,” he says. “It has mainly changed a number of vans on account of its versatility and performance. One man can exit with only a truck mattress loaded with materials and tools and drop the mattress off, do his work, load all the things 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 through the years. “We’ve put it on a special chassis and changed pumps and one tilt cylinder, however these have been the one components in 30 years that I’ve needed to take care of,” he says. “Then we repainted it as effectively. We nonetheless use the hooklift every 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 tools restore firm in Rutherford County, TN. Within the late Eighties, Douglas realized lawnmowers have been getting larger and heavier and he wanted an answer to make choosing up, hauling, and delivering his clients’ mowers and tools simpler. In spite of everything, some tools he transports can weigh in at 1,000 to 1,500 kilos. Plus, when he picks up mowers, they’re typically disabled and never operating. He wanted an answer that might be maneuvered via crowded metropolis streets and in tight backyards. Hauling a trailer behind a truck merely wasn’t reducing it anymore.
Douglas grew to become acquainted with Stellar on the Worldwide Garden and Backyard Present (now referred to as Equip Expo) and bought his hooklift within the early Nineties. At the moment, Douglas appreciates that his hooklift permits one individual to do the job that in any other case would require two or three workers. It permits him to choose up and drop off tools effortlessly and effectively.
“Selecting up the mowers and tools which might be disabled makes my job a lot simpler,” says Douglas. “All whereas staying within the cab, one individual can merely drag the broken-down tools onto the mattress by letting it down, the place it might 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 plenty 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 vital to serving to his hooklift run as effectively as it could possibly and making it final so long as attainable. “I grease and lubricate my hooklift frequently, however there’s not plenty 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”.
