madmatt

Why not post a before and after pic? Its always good to see both

I that rings a bell, I know it was bloody heavy to tow round behind the landy! I'll try and find pics.

yes maybe so but you have to assess every job on its own merits and a lot will come down to personal preferance to the bloke doing the job and the practicalities. There is a certain government organisation round here that requires as much work as possible to be carried out from a mewp

Surely that depends on it being safe to climb?! I used a tracked jobby, can't remember the name it was red. To help a mate dismantle a large dead ash. I'd use one again in similar circumstances.

I have a 660 and its a great saw, but it is rather big. I run mine on a 25" bar most of the time. I have larger. I've used the old MS440 and it was a fab saw so I now want a 441 for smaller stuff both are good saws.

4x4 transits are about to become standard production. Ford is to use a lot of land rover's technology and engineering from the defender. The results should be interesting.

post a pic of the whole lock box, then I might be able to help

A mate of mine runs a shop selling arb gear one of his matescut through his knee with a saw, they now have pics above the rack of trousers in the shop its amazing what influence it has on the kids from the local college!

A pic of the hitch and hitch lock would help! but my guess is its the wrong model lock there are several.

that depends what the mog is taxwd as

Protective clothing isn't saw proof, for that you need a suit of armour! Its your own responsibilty to make sure that the ratings of your kit match that of the saws your using. But never rely on ppe to save you from injury, It is more than likely only going to lessen the impact. My injury proved that and that was a 066 flat out

I have litttle experiance of types/makes of crane, But I will certainly recommend the radio control bit if you can afford it. We have it on Hiabs at the EA and it makes work so much easier to be able to move about and operate the crane. My winch on the Landy is Lodar radio controlled makes felling with winch assistance childs play!

LOL! here we go again! haven't we been down that track in an earlier thread!

Exactly! thats why I drove off site back to the depot and refused to work with the tractor driver.

I'm afraid if some one turned up to work with me, and they were stoned,drugged,drunk or just not fit to work I'd refuse to work with them. Oh and I've done it! I've rung the gaffer and said I wouldn't work with a tractor driver. At the end of the day I go to work to earn money and come home in one piece, no one is going to compromise my personal safety in the workplace.

There are so many angles to look at it from though just because HMRCE issue a letter to say a mog can run on red, doesn't mean VOSA won't make it run on White! We had a letter at work from HMRCE saying we can run our tractor on Red. But because we don't meet Ag or Forestry exemptions and the fact the tractor occasionally tows a trailer and we ocasionally contract back to another government department. We had to have an O licence and run on white, and be subject to drivers hrs legislation. I agree a simple set of rules would be nice but in reality it ain't ever gonna happen! The authorites will allways judge and prosecute on individual basis. So for an individual to be happy their running legallly they need to get written confirmation from HMRCE & VOSA. Police are a pain in the neck, half the time they can't understand the legislation.

I once helped a local contractor to remove a hedge alongside a cut through for the local authority, The two of us went to look at it and noticed lots of needles. It was the days we could burn rubbish. We got the job a week later my mate turned up with a huge tractor and trailer and I pulled up in a 3CX the clerk of works was amazed there wasn't a saw in sight! We just ripped the lot out carted it away and had a very big fire. only way we knew we were not going to get hurt! If I see needles now and I can't do the job with a digger I just walk away!

Reading it again they seem to have done away with milage restrictions if your traveling between your own sites or as a contractor between two sites owned by your customer. I personally wouldn't use that link as gospel info for a mog owning tree surgeon that has no link to forestry or agricultural use. While the mog has 3pl and produces its load via the chipper it does not usually do this while in motoin. and the document clearly states HMRCE were not convinced tractors running things like grass dryers while stationary should run on red diesel. At the end of the day its a minefield and we can sit here debating it for the next century but If I was a Mog owner for my own piece of mind I'd be in touch with my local VOSA office for their guidance. Because at the end of the day if they stop a mog and decide to prosecute its driver/operator. The defence of "jimmy jones the Tree Surgeon down the road runs on red as an agri tractor, so I thought I could" would not stand up in court.

This link here, http://www.nfuonline.com/x5075.xml Explains the use of Agricultural vehicles use of Red Diesel and Uses the Combine and Sprayer as examples Its an agreement between the NFU and HMRCE

I hear what you are saying, but If you take the time to look into the Agricultural vehicle use regulations you will see thats all agricultural vehicles that are taxed as such should only run within a few km of thier own farm, (I think its 20k) They can carry loads with in that radius. Agricultural vehicles have many other exemptions to the construction and use regs to like they are not required to have working lights or indicators visiable during daylight hrs. A combine is not designed to carry a load on the highway, the grain tank is just a means of storage while waiting for a tractor and trailer to return. They are that slow on the road no one in their right mind would use it to carry a load on the open road. Unless they only have a very small quantity on at the end of a long day. Thats why as I said earlier the large Agri contractors around here are getting prosecuted for exceeding their distances travelled on red. The fact is that most Mogs being run by tree surgeons that have nothing to do with agriculture or genuine full time forestry use should not be taxed as agricultural vehicles. They should either be taxed as mobile plant or in some cases HGV's. I'm not saying I agree with all this legislation but them's the rules, and as some one said earlier a small outfit running a mog on red as a tractor will probably get away with it for years. A lot of people can prove that they can legally meet exemptions so thats fine, but you have to realise its a minefield and Agricultural vehicles cannot be used as a sound argument.

They will fall into agricultural exemptions. As will Agricultural tractors there are strict rules as to how far they can travel from the farm etc on red. Thats why a lot of the large agricultural contractors are getting into bother for running on red and exceeding their boundaries.

My mate fits tacho's for a living and in the last 18 months he's had dozens of fastracs in for the fitting of a tachograph and they are running on white for local plant hire firms. VOSA are definately clamping down around here

Cold weather does slow blood flow. I've had several mishaps when working in a cold engineering workshop as soon as I've come into the kitchen or house and warmed up the blood starts to flow.

Yes I've read bits and bobs on it, I need to sit down and study it when I'm feeling incredibly bored. But, from what I can work out, and I will quite happily be corrected Lets use a mog as an example, if it just runs a chipper and doesn't have a load carrying capacity it can run on red, If it has a chip box and is capable of carrying a load it must run on white, which then means its going down the route of being taxed differently and also possibly needing a HGV licence to drive it, Something the EA have been doing for a while. When I worked in plant hire I knew a bloke that would take his motorbike to site in the front bucket of his 3cx he was stopped and told as he was carrying a load he should be running on white for the journeys to and from site with his bike. Without the bike he was just mobile plant and could run on red. There will allways be forestry use exemptions, but that is down to individual use, and only individual tree surgeons can say how much of their time is spent on genuine forestry use. Running around town working for Mr + Mrs Jones 50 weeks of the year wouldn't meet with forestry exemptions. I need to speak to a mate who's a transport manager as they keep changing the rules

I haven't got any pictures, but in November 06 I was cross cutting a big ash with the 066, we'd been at it a couple of hrs one sunday am, out of the blue, the saw kicked back and came back at me. I had full PPE on and the saw was well maintained. The chain brake came on, it was just the shear momentum of a saw that big that knocked my helmet off and the staionary chain just caught the edge of my right eyebrow! 4 hrs in our local walk in centre, 8 stitches, half a tube of glue, 3 steri strips, a bucket of nurofen, one very black eye and large headache , a new helmet + 1 week off work later, i was back the following sunday finishing the cross cutting. I have allways worn my PPE as I am a big wimp and don't like hospitals or injuries and that will never change. I dread to think of the consequences of the brake not working on that saw or a slightly different body position to the saw it would at the least been blindness or worse serious head injuries/fatalty. Jamie, hope your hands better, thats the last time I check unread posts while eating me lunch!!!