Marc

Pretty much yeah, I've passed kit others would not and vice versa. We also have the same with our plant as we run 2 cranes, 2 avants, a large skidsteer, 3 excavators and a Telehandler all need LOLER. We use 3 different companies and some will fail one piece of plant where another passed it. It's the same as an MOT, for 3 years my old 4x4 had an advisory for rattly roll bar bushes then one year it went somewhere else and not a mention of it but they picked up on other things the previous MOT Center didn't.

I've also used a huge variation of machines, the TW230 is just incredible hands down one of the best 6" machines I've used but (sorry Timberwolf) the service from our dealer is poor in the nearly 2 years we have owned it it has gone in for 3 times to finally sort bottom feed roller, stress control has gone on alternator, engine mounts have broke, machine was reassembled wrong which caused the anvil to drop out and foul flywheel/blades and most recently the relays have gone on the fritz due to the cheap spades they have used we had to recrimp spades and replace relays. All in all nearly a month of downtime and the cost for us to organise and pay our guys to take it to a dealership 40 minutes away when we have a dealer 5 minutes away who doesn't have an engineer... Forst on the other hand, broke down once they delivered a machine to our yard and took ours away one month later they returned it all sorted and we lost maybe a day at most. Performance is not the only king in business service and reliability are just as important. The smaller 6"-8" Schelsing are so so performance wise certainly not head and shoulders above the competition, but so well built with many clever well thought out features which make them easy to run and maintain which is equally important The bigger machines are a beast particularly the PTO designs.

I am not sure, about switching relays something tells me if one is duff it will send a faulty to the other regardless worth a try though.

Okay maybe huge is the wrong superlative to use. Having spent days blocking down with both 660 and 661 the improved ergonomics and anti vibe make it a superior saw to use due to its smoother and improved power delivery. I was just a self employed climber and being given a 661 over a 660 to dismantle a tree is a luxury imo.

We are still running one of the very first, alongside another a few years old both have been great and a huge improvement over the 660.

That's right remove the side panel on the same side as the starter, then it's under another small panel held on with butterfly bolts, there are 3 relays there, to start with get the machine to stop feeding whilst it is running then with the covers removed try pushing and wiggle the relays and see if it starts running again. If the connection is poor it may start and work fine on restart but the vibration whilst running interrupts the connection and the feed rollers stop, if pushing and wiggling them starts it again it confirms you have poor contacts. You will then need to remove the relay holder which is held on by a bolt behind the panel and then remove the relays and push out the female spades which are held within the plastic relay mount and crimp them lightly so they make a firm contact with the relay spades. Another way to check the contacts are good is remove the relays one by one and look at the spades themselves they should have clear marks on them where the female part is gripping the male part.

Check the relay connections, they are pretty poor to be honest we recently removed ours pulled the female part of the spades from their position in the mount and crimped them up to make a firmer connection. In time we will probably replace the female part of the spades with better quality connections. Hope that makes sense and would be one of my first areas to check, you can do it without taking to much apart by simply removing the cover for the relays held on with 2 butterfly nuts, then whilst the machine is running and the feed rollers not going forward wiggle the relays whilst having someone press the forward button, if it starts feeding that's your fault. Otherwise call Timberwolf they are helpful and will point you in the right direction.

The payload of a tipper Iveco is around 1.1ton with no tool box or sides and I'd assume spread over both axles. We all know it will be overloaded and at best in that guise has a legal payload of 600kg, but it will carry far more with ease safely, just don't kid yourself. Practically all arb trucks are overloaded. At the APF the Isuzu 3.5ton with grp sides had a legal pay load of 600kg empty, put 2 guys and kit and you can legally carry fresh air, but there are a huge fleet of these out for a large concern on a regular basis, got to wonder why do those running this large concern buy the vehicles and risk their guys license? The same reason as everyone else I guess.

Never heard of them until now, was about to say go for an Ifor Williams, but they look really good trailers.

Like Steve have tried most and prefer the Zubat although 330 for me.

All woods burns once seasoned and free wood burns nicely, as a commercial firewood most want the premium stuff - Ash,Oak,Beech

I feel it's a perfectly acceptable practice to do this and is documented as a recognised practice in a few places, as Jomoco points out it allows for more comfortable positioning and less strain/fatigue during a day's work. Complacency is what caused the accident, Nassau has admitted this and accepted it, it's a harsh bitch and I think we are all guilty of it at some point in our careers although it rarely results in a serious accident, this time it did. Nassau i Hope your okay and will make a full recovery

Yeah it was pretty horrific and is probably a thread in itself. I became over confident and complacent, knocked plenty of big tops out in the past it should of been no different, only my face cut was poor the pull rope tension was wrong and I gave the nod at the wrong time for the guy on the ground to pull. It was an upright stem I was knocking out with a 660 pretty big top and when those fibres started to open,,, well we all know what should happen and I walked away with some severe bruising. I was complacent and that was that, is SRT dangerous no but being stupid and complacent is.

The problem with SRT is that we are still in the early days, major players like Petzl, DMM and ART with the exception of Rock Exotica are not yet fully behind it so it's left up to us to play around. Myself when I started I just used it for access using a fully static line and toothed ascendors, I now think this is a really bad idea but I did it for 7 years and other than the odd little thing that happens to us all. I am still here fit and uninjured apart from that time a tree barber chaired on me whilst on spikes snapping my lanyard and severely crushing me, thankfully other than bruising I was not seriously hurt (well apart from my pride and confidence) my life line choked around the stem held preventing a fall you could argue working SRT off the stem saved me... All hail SRT.

I am not convinced with the two person bounce test, and feel it's a bad idea to preload your line before an ascent. The worst I ever had was throwing into forest grown Corsican Pines, probably a 70ft anchor (120ft throw when down the pub, tree at least 160ft) it looked to me to be about 6inches out on a stout lateral got another mate to bounce on it with me all seemed okay, a quick pump to all ist 40ft and as I looked up it was not 6" out on the stout live branch but 1ft out on a dead stub with the live branch directly above giving the optical illusion it was over that, I was on jammers at the time to no chance for a quick bail out! When remote installing you have to be thorough take no chances, if there is any doubt to lower, we all want that ultra high anchor to start with but for the small amount of effort to advance once in the tree go for the sure one not the it'll hold no balls no glory anchor. Also like you say spread over multiple points spreading the loads can be good, but beware of thin limbs and watch you angles, say if one part fails and it's 6ft to the next secure point that can be a 12ft fall.

Polydine is hands down one of the best digging lines I've used especially for dumping big bits on to it, it's just expensive and not particularly hard wearing. The Sirius is tougher and last a little longer it just lacks a little absorption when dumping big loads onto it, not a big issue if you let it run. For value and quality the Sirius is hard to beat.

I am only add that Redwood have also been blinding to us, unlike others.

You may be lifting half your weight but you will be doing it twice as often! You want to try avoiding using your arms as much as possible, like with doubled rope systems as well as srt you need to use your legs as much as possible. Industrial rope access techniques has little to do with tree work, not paid much attention to what is being employed in that industry only when I first started SRT for ascent which is where I started using RADS but found it horrible inefficient and began to give me problems so looked for a more balanced technique, used the tree frog for a long long time to gain access to then work on a DdRT system, before doing everything SRT, I like SRT but never found DdRT that taxing or difficult either.

Sounds hard work. And similar to the RADS/Yo-Yo technique.

I used to just use a sling but I got fat and it didn't fit comfortably anymore, I use an Elliot Street chest harness and it's alright, I like the way it adjust. I'm a hitch man so Rope Wrench with hitch climber using split tether.

Looks pretty sound and given the targets and frequency of use (back garden) management could of reduced the risk. Picks is a tool and it looks like those cracks indicated more decay than was actually present, still sometimes fell and replant is the best option long term.

Find a friendly assessor who will do all your tickets in one day, as long as your competent and on the tools all day there is nothing to be gained from doing all tickets individually over several days.

Why go for a 6.5ton? I vaguely remember some logic for it but cannot remember.

I think I am doing this wrong I charge per time and men needed doesn't matter if it's a crane fell or a hedge cut cost is cost my overheads are the same, and if that big chipper is not being used it still needs to be paid for. Obviously bigger jobs or those with a bit more involvement will get an over estimation to cover myself, if it all goes as planned it's a bonus, if it takes longer I am still covered and earning a profit.

The problem with sugar solutions and Biochar from what I understand is they have a sweet spot, Biochar needs to be at 5% per square meter by volume to achieve the best results applying liberally will just not work so it's a faff, I cannot remember the sugar ratio but it has to be fairly precise or it will not work. Gentle air spading and mulching of the surface layer with locally sourced mulch is often the best soloution and we have seen good results with this, far better than mycor inoculation with shop bought products. Treeseer is spot on as well, most purchased mycor is not really suitable. Also investigating the real reason for decline as mentioned already before prescribing, although this can lead to mis diagnosis, confusion and be costly.