# Looking into buying a bigger jetter [email protected] Your thoughts



## AndersenPlumbing (Jan 23, 2010)

I'm looking into buying a bigger jetter. I have an account I want to agressively go after and I will need it. 

My little JNW brute is almost paid off (owe $2k on the $10k package) so that will free up about $300 or so a month. 

When I bought the little one, $300 a month was just fine as far as the budget goes. Now I can afford about $500/mo very easy. 

Since the payment wouldnt be too hard to make, I am thinking about going after this account. A friend of mine used to service it and said they are unhappy with the current contractor. I wont NEED the account to pay for the equipment, but it would sure help. 

All that being said. I am looking for opinions on jetters in the 18gallon @ 4,000psi range. I am talking to JNW, but want your opinions on other brands. 

A JNW Eagle 300 is about $24k. To get the same specs from Spartan (20 min from my house) I would be at about $35k......But it would be diesel vs two gas motors. 

What other brands are you guys running? Something within that price range is what I am looking for. 

Give me some options guys!! I'd like to find a slightly used Diesel. This one was available and a total steal, but sold. http://www.cleaner.com/classifieds/view/Spartan-798-Diesel-Jetter-ONL


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## SewerRat (Feb 26, 2011)

We run the JNW Eagle 600 and like it, in fact we did 3 jobs with it just today. It is a good starter machine for sure.

The US Jetting 4018-300 is the benchmark by which all residential / light commercial trailer jetters are measured.


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

What are you cleaning?


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## SewerRatz (Apr 25, 2009)

I have always liked Sewer Equipment of America jetters, thing is they are more in line for larger lines. For a 4000psi @ 18 com machine take a look at Moongoose jetters, when the time comes to upgrade my Spartan jetter, and if I decide not to just change pump and engine, I will buy a Moongoose. http://www.mongoosejetters.com/


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## AndersenPlumbing (Jan 23, 2010)

SewerRatz said:


> I have always liked Sewer Equipment of America jetters, thing is they are more in line for larger lines. For a 4000psi @ 18 com machine take a look at Moongoose jetters, when the time comes to upgrade my Spartan jetter, and if I decide not to just change pump and engine, I will buy a Moongoose. http://www.mongoosejetters.com/


 
Thanks for the link. I cant believe I have never came across that company.


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## BuckeyeBowhunte (May 4, 2011)

USJ is a good machine. I like the look of the Mongoose units too.

As far as asthetically pleasing though, I really like the spartan's. Some folks don't like the fiberglass covers, but it really cleans things up, and it'll do anything the USJ will do.

JMO, but i'm also a spartan fan in general.


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## ChrisConnor (Dec 31, 2009)

Get the 300 gallon trailer model and another 300 gallon UN liquid shipping container and put it in the back of the truck for long days so you won't have to stop and fill up as often.


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## theplungerman (Oct 26, 2011)

I also want a trailer jetter to go after the big accounts and to explode the nasty root infested sewers clean open with my eyes closed and 1 hand tied behind my back back in under the 2 hrs min time.
I got the bruiser plus cause of footprint in van. I love it. Like Rick said, get a cart you'll want a trailer and vica versa 
I got my eye on the eagle 300 too, why would you like consider a machine that is much more expensive that does the same thing. Mongoose is high 30's from what I gather so far. 
And jnw has been awesome from day one. They take my calls and spend time with me, as much as b4 I bought. 
If I had more than 24k to spend i would use the extra to trick out the eagle with a custom engine cover. 1k?.... and some paint,, at the most right? Probably 5 hundy is more likely it. Shoot 2k extra for this and that and wham, awesome. 
Don't forget the 1/2 warthog, and dbrr. I like gas, isn't it cheaper to fix, 2 engines? Who cares, 1 goes down you still rock till it gets fixed. 
To me it's a no brainer to save15k. 
We ain't talking vw to porches specs. So is it 2 engines? 
My inquiring mind wants to know. Smile
Robert


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## theplungerman (Oct 26, 2011)

I went to jnw today to check out there trailer jetters. Had a great time with John and Steve talking jetters. They have a very impressive operation going on. John is the production manager and knows jetters inside out, as does Steve as well. There trailers are quality with a great high gloss durable paint job. They are very serious about putting out a great jetter with an even greater price. These guys are on the right tract. Highly recommended.


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## AndersenPlumbing (Jan 23, 2010)

So far I am having problems financing a $25k jetter so I am going to work on an alternative with JNW.

I am going to buy a 8.5gal @ 3600psi propane skid to match my propane Brute. If I run them parallel, I should be able to put out about 16ga @ 3400psi or somewhere close to that. Steve told me when ever you run two pumps, you have to pull back the psi a little to balance them.

I think that will get me pretty damn close to where I need to be as far as performance. 

As an added bonus, I can always pull my cart out of the trailer for hard to reach locations.


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## Gettinit (May 9, 2012)

RedRubicon2004 said:


> So far I am having problems financing a $25k jetter so I am going to work on an alternative with JNW.
> 
> I am going to buy a 8.5gal @ 3600psi propane skid to match my propane Brute. If I run them parallel, I should be able to put out about 16ga @ 3400psi or somewhere close to that. Steve told me when ever you run two pumps, you have to pull back the psi a little to balance them.
> 
> ...



There are several people on here that would not give the thumbs up on running it this way.


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

RedRubicon2004 said:


> So far I am having problems financing a $25k jetter so I am going to work on an alternative with JNW.
> 
> I am going to buy a 8.5gal @ 3600psi propane skid to match my propane Brute. If I run them parallel, I should be able to put out about 16ga @ 3400psi or somewhere close to that. Steve told me when ever you run two pumps, you have to pull back the psi a little to balance them.
> 
> ...


Pressure washer guys do this all the time. Heck Bill from australia does this and if he's doing this then it's a good idea. 

Red...What are you trying to do where you need that big of a jetter?


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## theplungerman (Oct 26, 2011)

RedRubicon2004 said:


> So far I am having problems financing a $25k jetter so I am going to work on an alternative with JNW.
> 
> I am going to buy a 8.5gal @ 3600psi propane skid to match my propane Brute. If I run them parallel, I should be able to put out about 16ga @ 3400psi or somewhere close to that. Steve told me when ever you run two pumps, you have to pull back the psi a little to balance them.
> 
> ...


16gpm @34k ish would be awesome. What's 2gpm and 500 or so psi? The objects to be jetted sure won't know the difference.:thumbup:
Good luck and please let us with how it shakes out for you. 
Robert


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

RedRubicon2004 said:


> So far I am having problems financing a $25k jetter so I am going to work on an alternative with JNW.
> 
> I am going to buy a 8.5gal @ 3600psi propane skid to match my propane Brute. If I run them parallel, I should be able to put out about 16ga @ 3400psi or somewhere close to that. Steve told me when ever you run two pumps, you have to pull back the psi a little to balance them.
> 
> ...


I might lean toward another identical Brute (depending on cost) because you will buy a larger unit when you get sick of moving the levers back and forth and adjusting the unloaders all the time. A Brute would be easier to sell then a skid so you could keep one and sell one when you get your trailer unit.


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## theplungerman (Oct 26, 2011)

Cuda said:


> I might lean toward another identical Brute (depending on cost) because you will buy a larger unit when you get sick of moving the levers back and forth and adjusting the unloaders all the time. A Brute would be easier to sell then a skid so you could keep one and sell one when you get your trailer unit.


This sounds like a good idea, easier to make a cart a skid then skid to cart.


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## AndersenPlumbing (Jan 23, 2010)

Gettinit said:


> There are several people on here that would not give the thumbs up on running it this way.


Thats exactly what JNW does on their Eagle 300. They actually suggested this idea.


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

I have had experience with dual motor and dual pump jetters, I had written some write ups called "a poor mans jetter" on the drain cleaners forum and the ridgid forum and I would post a link to them but they seem to have vanished on both forums. Anyway once I had my first real jetter a 10 gpm 3000psi honda 24hp that I had built it worked real well but biger and bigger jobs came up and it was not enough. So I asked around and at the time there was not a lot of jetter info like there is nowdays. So I bought a similar spec unit 24hp honda, 8 gpm, 3000 psi and joined the 2 together. It gave decent results I was very very happy. It allowed me to do trailer jetter work on bigger lines and run only one unit for most residential. All of it was mounted in a van with a 300 gallon water tank that we called the Jetter van lol. I had cox reels different hoses lots of tips etc. My point is it got me to where I am now. it made money quickly, and landed bigger and bigger jobs. I sold one of the units and we still have the other for remote jobs and also use it as a badass pressure washer. Nowdays I am spoiled I have 4000 psi, 25 gpm 500 gallon tank on a nice little trailer but the best part is... I have a hydraulic powered hose reel with 500 feet of 1/2" line and it is what makes the job easy and quick to set up. So combine 2 units make money and then you can buy what you know you really want......


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

found it on google search but not any forum searches
https://www.ridgidforum.com/forum/t31384/


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## AndersenPlumbing (Jan 23, 2010)

Anybody know of any Jetters of this size for sale? Looking for a good used unit. If you know of any, please send me the info. Getting ready to pull the trigger soon.


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

I just priced to make my own 6.3 gpm 4350 psi would cost me about 3100 to assemble myself.


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## Will (Jun 6, 2010)

Building a jetter that can do up to around 8-10 gpm is simple and fairly cheap to do. If your mechanically inclined you could make your own monster jetter that can put out 18 gpm. But when you get to that range I'd go with a belt drive pump. 

I built a two pump jetter and when I do another jetter I'm going with a bigger engine instead of running off two engines and pumps. I got tired of balancing the two pumps. 

Jetters are simple stuff. Reservoir of water or water supply, pump, engine, unloader valve, and hoses, that's all they are. The rest is just bells and whisles


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## AndersenPlumbing (Jan 23, 2010)

gear junkie said:


> I just priced to make my own 6.3 gpm 4350 psi would cost me about 3100 to assemble myself.


I already own a JNW Brute cart. 8.5gal @ 3600psi


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## AndersenPlumbing (Jan 23, 2010)

Will said:


> Building a jetter that can do up to around 8-10 gpm is simple and fairly cheap to do. If your mechanically inclined you could make your own monster jetter that can put out 18 gpm. But when you get to that range I'd go with a belt drive pump.
> 
> I built a two pump jetter and when I do another jetter I'm going with a bigger engine instead of running off two engines and pumps. I got tired of balancing the two pumps.
> 
> Jetters are simple stuff. Reservoir of water or water supply, pump, engine, unloader valve, and hoses, that's all they are. The rest is just bells and whisles


I'm without a doubt mechanically inclined. Building one isnt the problem. 

In fact, JNW and I talked about building one for a while. Since I already have a Brute Cart, we talked about buying another and running them parellel. 

Here is the issue with that concept. 

$11,000 for a skid mount brute with 1/2" hose reel, and built to basically plug in the other jetter. This would also include a 200 gallon tank. 

$4000 for a 7x14 enclosed trailer. I currently have a 6x12 with all my equipement in it already. I would need a bigger trailer to hold the bigger tank and second jetter.

$1500-2000 or so in trailer setup. I would want to line-x the floor, tie downs/E track, pipe the exhaust outside the trailer, propane hoses and fittings so I can mount the tanks on front of trailer, quick disconnects to pull out the Brute cart quickly, Lettering the trailer.

After all that with shipping on the skid, I would be about $16-17K into it. 

My finance company will only loan me $11k for the JNW equipment. This leaves me with about $4-6k out of pocket. They will also only loan it to me for a 24 month term. 

If I go with a trailer jetter, finance company will go $16-18K for 48 months. That makes my payment the same. I will pay out of pocket about $4-6K to get me up to a very nice trailer setup. 

I'm looking at a 2007 Harben with 70 hours on it. 48hp Duetz diesel, 18gpm @ 4000psi. It will be about $25k to my door with a new 1/2" warthog. 

I can keep my complete enclosed setup the way it is. If a job is really bad, I can upsell the big jetter very easily. I am buying this jetter for more industrial applications. For those jobs I will just bring the big jetter, residential, trailer with small jetter.

Last but not least. Resale. Big diesel jetters hold their value very well. I maintain my stuff and store it in heated storage. It will look like the day I got it 5 years from now.


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## SewerRat (Feb 26, 2011)

RedRubicon2004 said:


> It will look like the day I got it 5 years from now.


Apparently you don't do any ag work. We have kept ours in a heated shop since the day it was new and wash it regularly and it still doesn't look brand new. Pretty close though.


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## AndersenPlumbing (Jan 23, 2010)

This is the Harben. It's a 2007 with 70 hours on it


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

Once you have that Harben the brute will sit and sit and sit lol


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## Will (Jun 6, 2010)

RedRubicon2004 said:


> This is the Harben. It's a 2007 with 70 hours on it


I like Harben, but keep in mind that they have there own pumps. If something goes wrong Harben is probably the only one that will be able to work on it.


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## AndersenPlumbing (Jan 23, 2010)

Cuda said:


> Once you have that Harben the brute will sit and sit and sit lol


So do you think I should just setup a larger enclosed trailer with another brute?


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## Will (Jun 6, 2010)

RedRubicon2004 said:


> So do you think I should just setup a larger enclosed trailer with another brute?


If your comfortable spending 25K on a Jetter, that Harben is the better investment IMO.


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

No I think you should get the harben and after you find the brute is not needed sell it heck if shipping is not outrageous trade it back to them. Your PM box is full and can not accept any more messages. I do not get along with JNW.


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## AndersenPlumbing (Jan 23, 2010)

Will said:


> I like Harben, but keep in mind that they have there own pumps. If something goes wrong Harben is probably the only one that will be able to work on it.


I hear ya. I do like the fact that they have a true run dry pump. 

I will also have my brute as a backup. 

I doubt I would have problems rebuilding that pump if parts and specs are available. I build Harley engines in my spare time and my brother in law is a trouble shooter for a Italian hydraulic pump/motor company.


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## AndersenPlumbing (Jan 23, 2010)

Cuda said:


> No I think you should get the harben and after you find the brute is not needed sell it heck if shipping is not outrageous trade it back to them. Your PM box is full and can not accept any more messages. I do not get along with JNW.


 
I deleted some messages. I'd love to hear why you dont get along with JNW. 

I recently found a 2002 US Jet 4018 with 345 hours on it. Think I can get it for around $16K so its another option. But the machine is 11 years old, that kind of scares me away.


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

gear junkie said:


> I just priced to make my own 6.3 gpm 4350 psi would cost me about 3100 to assemble myself.





RedRubicon2004 said:


> I already own a JNW Brute cart. 8.5gal @ 3600psi





RedRubicon2004 said:


> $11,000 for a skid mount brute with 1/2" hose reel, and built to basically plug in the other jetter. This would also include a 200 gallon tank.


Exactly my point...ag tanks 200 gal will cost around 250...say $300. You don't need another hose reel because you want the pumps close together. To connect the 2 you just need some jumper hoses and fittings. If you did want another reel, they go for about 300(manual)-600(electric)

If you built your same pump...you would end up saving almost 7k. And you'd have a better engine. Subaru is not up to par in the small engine world. Have you given any thought to getting a double root ranger for the bigger pipe? I know I'm a broken record but my little root ranger is the only reason why I haven't gone to a bigger jetter...haven't been stopped on a job yet. 

All that said, I think going to a trailer jetter like Cuda said would be your best bet. One thing US Jetter holds over Harben is they use Hatz diesel.....real good engines.


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## AndersenPlumbing (Jan 23, 2010)

gear junkie said:


> Exactly my point...ag tanks 200 gal will cost around 250...say $300. You don't need another hose reel because you want the pumps close together. To connect the 2 you just need some jumper hoses and fittings. If you did want another reel, they go for about 300(manual)-600(electric)
> 
> If you built your same pump...you would end up saving almost 7k. And you'd have a better engine. Subaru is not up to par in the small engine world. Have you given any thought to getting a double root ranger for the bigger pipe? I know I'm a broken record but my little root ranger is the only reason why I haven't gone to a bigger jetter...haven't been stopped on a job yet.
> 
> All that said, I think going to a trailer jetter like Cuda said would be your best bet. One thing US Jetter holds over Harben is they use Hatz diesel.....real good engines.


The new setup would have a reel with 1/2" hose on it, thats the reason for the second reel. I would keep my current Brute a cart and removable from the trailer, it will serve as a portable unit for hard to reach areas where I may not be able to pull hose (fork lift traffic, security, distance from trailer) 

The only reason to go with another Subaru is just to keep all things equal. I would also be running the second one on propane. I have a subaru now because it was the propane engine of choice from JNW. 


My main focus with the new jetter isnt to cut roots. Its more for flushing larger diameter pipe. I will of course use it on tougher root jobs, but the main reason I am looking at the Harben is flow.


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

RedRubicon2004 said:


> The new setup would have a reel with 1/2" hose on it, thats the reason for the second reel. I would keep my current Brute a cart and removable from the trailer, it will serve as a portable unit for hard to reach areas where I may not be able to pull hose (fork lift traffic, security, distance from trailer)
> 
> *The only reason to go with another Subaru is just to keep all things equal. I would also be running the second one on propane. I have a subaru now because it was the propane engine of choice from JNW.
> *
> ...


The only thing that matters is the output. Keep the pumps the same. Install mini tachs at the engine and pressure gauges and you'll be good.


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