Jonny69

Good job I prefaced my post by saying my mind was fairly simple. Maybe one day i'll get something right

I'm fairly simple minded but I think you have this totally wrong. When we work on rental properties 90% of the time the property owner is paying. We will not do any more or less than what is specified. The tenants often ask for bits and bobs, I tell them to ask the owner because we are not touching a thing. In a normal situation where you are dealing with the customer we will do the "can you just........". However when the tenant doesn't own the property, garden, trees, land, hedges etc we will not do anymore that agreed with the owner. The tenants opinion is of no relevance and I would not want to be in a position where we had done something the owner did not want us to do. It should have been sorted during the quote stage and by your own admittance later in the thread they did a good job of reducing the confier hedge, which is probably what was agreed with the owner.

All of those are lovely ideas! Good luck persuading any of the big developers to do anything different when they are making very good money with the current plan. The government made a rod for every poor soul who brought a new build home when the 20% help to buy started. Unfortunately all it did was allowed developers to make even more money on the plot and most people aren't smart enough to work out what was happening. Really a shame for people struggling to buy a house, but often they want something new and shiny (poorly built and too expensive)

The question is. Does your dislike for the person wanting to implement the trackers supersede your will to take his money? If it were me I'd be doing as little as possible for as much as possible and milking it till I got sacked off. Also, if you need an ipad to get this sofware I wouldn't be paying for it (out of principle) Sounds bad, but I also don't work for people I don't like or trust so this issue should never arise.

I had one made for the skid steer. It has plastic tines and a grab bar so the grapple can pick it up to use. Works well on tarmac and will push some quite big piles about. However it doesn't work on grass at all, just mushes the material into the grass. The best one I have seen is the American Branch manager I think. Pretty sure its got longer, stiffer steel tines and seems to comb the material through the grass, I assume it basically scarifies it as well. If anyone knows where to get these from (other than America!) I would be interested? Just need the brush bit, I can get the holder made for the machine it will go on. Thanks

We simple folk prefer the term "Hick from the sticks"

I love all of those things but really hate swearing, it is awful and the scourge of our country.

Dealer margins on cars are terrible. If they had to sell cars with no finance or servicing they would all be bust in a week. It's the manufacturer that is taking all the profit from the sale of the new vehicle not the dealer. Which is why most manufacturers are self financing or PCPing in order to allow more people to be able to afford ever more expensive cars. On a side note how is a poverty spec Golf ever worth 25K or an Audi A6 nearly 50, its madness. Also, sometimes they dealer has a stocking loan with a lender. If they don't put a certain amount of borrowing their way in a month or quarter then the rate goes up on the stocking loan. Always a handy question to ask if you want some cheap finance and they are short one month.

Got a mortgage? Though I do agree in principle, when you can finance Christmas presents from a catalog or a £500 sofa then it gets a bit silly.

Not sure on the details of it to be honest as its very specific to the car trade. Forestry Finance would be the man to ask or I can give you a number to have a chat to. If its anything like a regulated CCA agreement then there are ways of getting out but its time dependent and also changes if your granddaughter is in Scotland as their rules are a little bit different I believe. PCP is just a way of keeping payments down on car that would/could cost more per month when done as HP agreement. This is to allow people to buy and run cars they possibly can't really afford and allows to dealers to sell more new car. The margins in new vehicle sales for manufacturers are unbelievable. It has mileage and damage clauses like a contract hire. In the end it makes no difference which way you skin it. A three year old car with 30k on the clock is worth x% less than when it was new. What's important is how much you still owe relative to how much its worth. I'm not in the finance industry, just know a tiny bit more than most because my dads been financing business assets for thirty odd years.

This is a smart way of doing it. Though you might consider only keeping the machine 3-5 years. The difference in cost of ownership over the period would be very minimal and you would get a shiny new digger with warranty more often. Tree surgery kit is easy to finance because the residuals are high, rates on it should be good as well. Want to finance a printing machine, floor cleaning equipment, workshop tools (not spanners and sockets) etc and things get more difficult as they are items that are basically worthless very quickly. On the vehicle PCP issue. I once had someone say to me they were going to use a credit card to pay the deposit on PCP for a brand new car. The person earn't around 16-18k and wanted a 35k car. I suggested this was not sensible however the car dealer had it all agreed ready to go. Never found out if they signed the paperwork but it sounded frightening to me.

I have been saying this to people for the last three years. Although I believe PCP or whatever acronym they are using now is the problem. JLR are downsizing, Honda closing in the UK, it will happen. One things for sure, i'm gonna have a lovely choice of fairly new one owner cars in a couple of years time. When they can't afford to keep up the repayments and the dealers wont take the car back as its worth substantially less than is owed. Always stuck to no balloon, 36-48 months with at least a 20% (EDIT +20%VAT) deposit. If you cant make those numbers (or better) work then you cant afford what you want.

That looks good. Can you set it to free float or turn the grab manually and locate it with a pin? Who is that grab manufactured by? Thanks

Been towing 15 years since the day I passed my driving test. with and without BE and have never been stopped once. The Amarok I had was a superb tow vehicle and we were towing round about 3500kg with it all the time. It was excellent, of course the risk of being pulled is yours to take.

I have a disco 4, its a car because I wanted rear seats and a truck that hadnt towed and been thrashed from new. Gets used as a work truck, full of kit and tows heavy every day. You would be pretty unlucky to get caught out putting seats in the back of the Commercial variant. The main problem with mine is that I can only claim 12% a year capital allowance on it because its not a van. I have just accepted this as part of the deal with it. On a different note I would go and drive an Amarok if you want a 5 seat pickup. They are still the best and i've been in or driven all of them.

https://www.univarsc.com/products/castol-hyspin-aws-anti-wear-hydraulic-oil?variant=48394682503 You can get the posh stuff if you want for not much more. I'm no expert. But I've always thought a cheaper oil changed more frequently is better than old oil thats knackered anyway. Never stuck to the long life service on any car, it always get done a lot more often.

Any 46 hydraulic oil will do. All is says is not to use synthetic oil. https://ricoeurope.com/gb/46-grade-hydraulic-oil/7315-iso-46-hydraulic-oil-25l.html

This is what you want for general tree work. Lift, push, bend, persuade bits where you want them. Spin the grab manually to load logs on a trailer or move heavy lumps. A branch manager (BMG) or similar free swinging grapple are the one for feeding a chipper. The Americans have it sussed with that, but they are feeding chippers a lot bigger than 10inch. Rotating grabs on little machines like these are pointless in my opinion.

I meant a handsaw like a Silky or bowsaw. No power tools underwater may appease the risk assessors.

I've never cut greenheart so this may be really stupid. But, can the diver not just handsaw them while they are on the crane sling? Even if it took a while to do each one.

You need two straps and two ratchets.

I'll try. Not joined together. Put one on, strap and ratchet. Crank till the spools full. Put the other one on alongside the first, crank till the spool is full. Release the first one, pull the slack through, crank till the spool is full. Release ratchet 2, pull slack through, crank till the spool is full. Repeat till something breaks or the stuck object is unstuck.

HP shouldn't make any difference to the tax you pay (other than the interest paid coming off your tax bill). The asset will be depreciated the same if you had paid cash. It only makes a difference on contract hire. For what it's worth. In your position I would buy a high spec 3.0 Hilux for £12,000 over any of the new pickups. It will hold its money and shouldn't break down to much.

I thought for a while that the electric technology was not quite there. Then a customer took me out in his P100D as he knew I like cars. To about 80ish mph it makes every supercar i've been in or driven feel slow and painful. The torque, smoothness and traction are incredible. Okay, it runs out of legs at 80-100 but in normal driving conditions they are fantastic. Even against the slowest Tesla on slow mode with cold batteries I suspect your Audi would have no chance. I would jump at the chance to run one as a work van/truck/pickup.

I have a three and have previously spent quite a bit of time on a 2.1 or whatever it was called. I really liked the 2.1 However the three is better in every way except the size. The smoothness, pulley on the bottom for dropping through forks and feeding line out so someone on the ground can pull heavy stuff to you, locking pin for a variety of things, the built in swivel. The only thing that annoys me in the rubber O ring where the standing carabiner attaches, however I have taken it off twice since I brought it at the APF so clearly not a regular concern. After looking I did think the size and bulk would be annoying. I don't find it an issue at all. Having the running line closest to you means it feeds through from very low and you will rarely have to tend slack. Overall, I think it's great.