Advice on Small Business Machinery

[Chipperclown]

From a business point of view and given that you are an established business I would think networking & subbing in various contractors with relevant kit and experience in its use would make more sense both money wise and whilst working to get the job done? Don't get me wrong great if you are able to have all but huge outgoings per month/year & at the point of purchase.

[woody paul]

19 minutes ago, Chipperclown said:

From a business point of view and given that you are an established business I would think networking & subbing in various contractors with relevant kit and experience in its use would make more sense both money wise and whilst working to get the job done? Don't get me wrong great if you are able to have all but huge outgoings per month/year & at the point of purchase.

If  you have the money and the work buy the kit and put the money in your pocket not others, 

[MattyF]

My invaluable tools would be 8-9” tracked chipper fitted with a winch ,avant with grab and Land Rover mewp...tractors are great tools if you have access for them on sites and your not working say over 25 miles from base.. once I get to around 30 miles away with the tractor it just becomes too much of a chore ...I suppose also a Land Rover based mewp would only be of any use if you have access and the trees you mostly work on are under 20m.
Telehandler would be great but I would choose a mini digger over one any day of the week as the avant does not like mud!

[topchippyles]

Tractor with pto and folks and a mini digger with the correct attachments. 

[Johny Walker]

1 hour ago, spuddog0507 said:

Tractor with loader yes, forks and a decent sized bucket, that rules your tele handler out of the plan, then if your going to site and taking tractor/trailer and tele handler, you need 2 drivers when just one is needed if you have loader on the tractor, 3 point linkage crane and a decent tipping trailer, you can move timber and chip then but you cant move chip with a forwarding trailer, 2.8 tonne digger is a big time saver and only needs one man, a digger will move brash/log all day at a decent pace as apposed to manual handling it, one digger, one man and 3 gallon of diesel will do the work of 3-4 men hence only one wage to pay, personally i would not have a rotating log grab on a digger as they basically onlt have one use and there is pipes to rip off as well, i find the fixed grab much more useful as you can move log, move brash, push brash in to windrows in woodlands and if you make a mess you can rake brash up with it and if the ground gets ripped up you can rage it leval again and leave the site quit tidy with out sweating your nuts off,

Iv had a digger with fixed grab & not a patch on rotator grabs  as for pipes just carry spares & watch what yr doing like with any machine

[spuddog0507]

1 minute ago, Johny Walker said:

Iv had a digger with fixed grab & not a patch on rotator grabs  as for pipes just carry spares & watch what yr doing like with any machine

Sorry but we all have different uses for kit, i can do far more tasks with the fixed grab than i could with the rotating grab OK the fixed grab is a bit of an arse to use at first but once you get used to it and see what can be done with one it becomes a lot more versatile than a swinging rotating grab, we load with it, move log, move and crunch brash up with it, push brash in to heaps for fires, push brash in to windrows, rake up with it, level up ground we have chewed up, move rocks out the way with it and we rive stumps out with it, i could not do any where near half of them tasks with a rotating grab, usability, versatility and cost all should come in to play when choosing machinery and attacnments, the best £300 i ever spent was on a old Sanderson 3 point linkage forklift, the idea was to take it on and off as needed and i think its been off the tractor once in 9 year every thing either gets put on pallets or in IBC cages and it can be moved or loaded easily, i have used for 2 hrs sat aft, all day yesterday and most of today, it really makes my life much easier,   

[topchippyles]

10 minutes ago, spuddog0507 said:

Sorry but we all have different uses for kit, i can do far more tasks with the fixed grab than i could with the rotating grab OK the fixed grab is a bit of an arse to use at first but once you get used to it and see what can be done with one it becomes a lot more versatile than a swinging rotating grab, we load with it, move log, move and crunch brash up with it, push brash in to heaps for fires, push brash in to windrows, rake up with it, level up ground we have chewed up, move rocks out the way with it and we rive stumps out with it, i could not do any where near half of them tasks with a rotating grab, usability, versatility and cost all should come in to play when choosing machinery and attacnments, the best £300 i ever spent was on a old Sanderson 3 point linkage forklift, the idea was to take it on and off as needed and i think its been off the tractor once in 9 year every thing either gets put on pallets or in IBC cages and it can be moved or loaded easily, i have used for 2 hrs sat aft, all day yesterday and most of today, it really makes my life much easier,   

I use a fixed grab and i would not switch to a rotating one.

[Johny Walker]

2 minutes ago, spuddog0507 said:

Sorry but we all have different uses for kit, i can do far more tasks with the fixed grab than i could with the rotating grab OK the fixed grab is a bit of an arse to use at first but once you get used to it and see what can be done with one it becomes a lot more versatile than a swinging rotating grab, we load with it, move log, move and crunch brash up with it, push brash in to heaps for fires, push brash in to windrows, rake up with it, level up ground we have chewed up, move rocks out the way with it and we rive stumps out with it, i could not do any where near half of them tasks with a rotating grab, usability, versatility and cost all should come in to play when choosing machinery and attacnments, the best £300 i ever spent was on a old Sanderson 3 point linkage forklift, the idea was to take it on and off as needed and i think its been off the tractor once in 9 year every thing either gets put on pallets or in IBC cages and it can be moved or loaded easily, i have used for 2 hrs sat aft, all day yesterday and most of today, it really makes my life much easier,   

I wasn't meaning a swinging grab there very limited to what they can do  all mine are fixed rotator grabs on quickhitch

[topchippyles]

3 minutes ago, Johny Walker said:

I wasn't meaning a swinging grab there very limited to what they can do  all mine are fixed rotator grabs on quickhitch

IMG_3386.MOV

Is that a 1.5 or 2.5 ton machine ? Looks 1.5 from photo 

[Johny Walker]

10 minutes ago, topchippyles said:

Is that a 1.5 or 2.5 ton machine ? Looks 1.5 from photo 

2.4t

yanmar is 2.7t