Man Lift - Self Driving vs Towable

arto98607 · Sep 30, 2021

I bought the above JLG yesterday and had not even considered towable unit, but they may be fine for someone else.

IE.
It's probably a compromise, but what do I know - never had one or even operated one before.

4570Man · Sep 30, 2021

ROUSTABOUT said:
You have to ask yourself. Do I want a towable pickup or a drivable pickup? Same logic applies to man lifts.

I agree except the average person can’t transport the drivable lift.

dstig1 · Sep 30, 2021

I have rented the driveable ones a couple times in the past. This year I rented a towable one as the place that had the driveable one closed up. Towable is better than nothing but really pretty poor by comparison. There was one additional caveat that I was unaware of. The towable one was not telescoping whereas the driveable ones were. That made all the difference in the world. It was simply impossible to get the towable one to reach certain spots whereas the driveable ones would. Now even the driveable ones can have a tough time reaching some spots, but this was an order of magnitude or two worse. So whichever you do get, make sure it is telescoping but the drvieable ones are still much more flexible overall/

ROUSTABOUT · Oct 1, 2021

4570Man said:
I agree except the average person can’t transport the drivable lift.

We have trucks and gooseneck trailers but we just let them bring it. Our trailers are tandem dual 12k axles with G tires on them. I built both of them. Even have air bags so can lift front axle when empty. But if they'll bring it for fifty bucks, bring it on. Costs more to do without a man on the crew to go get it. Scissor lifts? They for sure have to deliver those, on their special trailer.

arto98607 · Oct 1, 2021

Here am I yesterday driving the JLG last couple of hundred yards home!
It took a little while to figure out how to operate it since I had no manual on hand yet, or no one to give any operating tips.

The first steps now are to repair couple of obvious cosmetic issues, change engine oil & filter and put in new muffler.
OEM muffler is listed at over $800 but after having taken measurements I know there are many good low cost alternatives.

I was able to download all pertaining manuals from JLG website at no cost!