Rotheisler Kangaroo

[LodiCal]

08/04/2021 - EDIT. Ernest Rotheisler is semi-retired. He states that we have one of the "new ones" because this one has hydrostatic drives. Ernest states that for the first 100 machines, they used car differentials. Our serial number is 255 and it was built in January 1979. My original post from 08/03/2021 follows:

I have more photos that I will share later. This is a Rotheisler Kangaroo built by Rotheisler Equipment LTD, Oliver B.C., first produced circa 1955. This unit was purchased new in northern California circa 1957. Engine is a 12HP Kohler K301S. The following link sums up just about everything I currently know about this piece of equipment other than what I shared. Oh why not? - Oliver Daily News (I found this info. on the Oliver Daily News (orig. article here) website but the photos do not render. The publisher directed me to the link first provided)

Has anyone ever seen/used one of these or know anything about this piece of equipment or the company? One of the articles I found indicated that Rotheisler employed approximately 100 people during it's heyday.

 

[grsthegreat]

man, that syre looks tippy to me, but im not sure how far up it reaches

 

[ning]

From the linked article:

 

[grsthegreat]

Oh, so it hooks up to a tractor. Was thinking it was self propelled. That would help with stability

 

[ning]

Oh, so it hooks up to a tractor. Was thinking it was self propelled. That would help with stability

yeah I saw 2 wheels and no obvious outrigger and I'm like ".... no. way."

 

[LodiCal]

I should have included this photo as well. re: stability, they used this in the orchards and the farmer stated that he could crawl over 6" cuttings with no problem or suffer from any stability issues.

 

[Jstpssng]

I don't see that it would be any less stable than one of those van mounted lifts with no stabilizers which the cable company uses around here.

Bucket Truck - Versalift Vantel Telescopic

Bucket Truck - Versalift Vantel Series creates incredible flexibility and maneuverability in a telecommunications fleet, carry all your tools at same time!

versalift.com

 

[the old grind]

Looks to be self-powered. Orchard next door has a smaller one that's powered by a PTO pump with just a reservoir, IMO looks simpler than using tractor's remotes. I have a bucket truck, but watching the neighbor put up Christmas lights makes me wish I had the maneuverability of the towable say when limbing trees to be selectively felled/thinned. Sooo nice to have either.

 

[Jstpssng]

Looks to be self-powered. Orchard next door has a smaller one that's powered by a PTO pump with just a reservoir, IMO looks simpler than using tractor's remotes. I have a bucket truck, but watching the neighbor put up Christmas lights makes me wish I had the maneuverability of the towable say when limbing trees to be selectively felled/thinned. Sooo nice to have either.

That would be nice.
I have a 13 foot fruit picking ladder, anything I can't reach from that get's cut off.

 

[Midniteoyl]

man, that syre looks tippy to me, but im not sure how far up it reaches

Ya, I'd need to hook up a couple outriggers to the front at least.