PeteB

The 165 rotor was the result of an awful lot of testing and research. Some visitors to the factory have seen a few of the projects that we have got involved with. Some projects that would never be on the UK or European market too! The general rule with diesel engines is that if they are over 25hp, they got to burn clean. One way is to downrate or detune so that they are under less load. The other way is fancy electronic aides and "after treatment", like DPF units. One solution adds weight and some cost - letting a 50hp unit run at 35, while the other just adds cost and complexity! This is an over simplification but more or less true. I got told some years ago by the chap who does my MOT stuff that VOSA/DVLA are trying, along with the motor manufacturers, to get people to accept the DPF units on vehicles as 'service' items to be changed every couple of years!

Most EU regs are driven by UK! They follow.... Go to California and they are worse!

We have always done 25/26ho diesels and sold rooks abroad! Favourite in Spain for example. But, the UK buyers were fixated on having 35hp even performance increase was, for the most part, marginal. Now that Tier 5 looms, get used to it, buy petrol or pay more. Simple choices thrust on us all! We got stocks (at the moment) that will do our 150TD/QC160 range until next summer but we are producing the 165 now! It is a belter!

Torque curve v hp curve, letter the government for its job, changes of pulley ratio and clever monitoring of rotor speed and no stress device.

The comment of mine ref Puma engines comes from a discussion in a customer's workshop. They had a fleet of Transits and Rangers which pretty well all suffered from burnt engines and destroyed turbochargers. According to them, the Puma was a joint design with Ford and Peugeot/Citroen. The story is that for some reason, the 2.4 was reduced to 2.2 with truly massive pump pressure and once the injection spray starts to falter, it burns pistons etc. Some of their fleet had a couple of engine rebuilds and then a couple of engines. PCA left it to Ford to put right and soldier onwards!

The 1505 engine used for years by other suppliers is run faster to get the HP. But doing so makes them 'dirty'. Turn down the rpm cleans them up for emissions yet still leaves a torque little unit. Yes, pulleys and belts need to be changed and, I think there may be a hydraulic change needed but I'm not 100% sure. The caveat involved means no warranty, no comeback. Remember the fine that VW and possibly others are facing?

Watch those injectors - if they start to hose, they will burn through the piston crown, skirt and cylinder wall like a laser jet!

The bother with tuning engines is that it immediately voids all warranties! If the engine supplier doesn't like your game, he can hold back or halt supply! People just have to accept that engine supply to all manufacturers is changing and we can do nothing about it. Same as towing limits were fixed some 23 years ago and we all have had to accept it.

Terry, aka Lefteris, is the sparky at GreenMech, he and his team do the final wiring on all models and Terry gets involved in the special projects. Thanks for answering, I was a right rush to get away north today!

I'll find out exactly what the remote does. As it is designed as a 'hand fed', it may be that a manual switch changes it from tracked to chipper and then hit the yellow throttle and green for feed in!

I had a short conversation with someone recently who was trying to tell me that the sub 750kg towing limit on new licenses was old hat and had been superseded with a new law which was on the lines of, new drivers could not exceed the vehicle max mass therefore, a Transit sized truck/load/chipper combination could not exceed 3,500kg total.... anyone else heard this or was the poor chap deluded?

Anyone fancy making a cheeky bid? It needs to be gone as I get uptight around clutter!!!

Obviously an expert on finance but wants to commit little on a subject about which he knows little. Perhaps he ought to start a thread on finance and stick to that? I for one would leave him to it as it is a subject that I am unclear on the intricacies of, and indeed, not passed as authorised by the FDA. Our own GreenMech Finance chap, Pete Maple, gets the call from me or my dealers and cracks on. When he starts on comparing ours with theirs, I tend to glaze over!

Interesting comment about sub 750kg units weighing more than stated and them being taken over a weigh bridge. Please could you expand on this and enlighten us with your knowledge and experience?

Our 10 plate Ranger crew cab with 190k is available to someone fancying a job? The pulley end of the crank fell out and now she won't run! Good history being a reps express for most of her life, then used as back up for when the newer Rangers died...in silver with hard top but rear glass got broken. Any one want to make a bid? Viewable at the GreenMech factory.

A couple of years ago, I got an old Audi Q7 to carry dog/children/parents etc. It had warranty on the engine and gearbox only according to the garage that sold it. It died some two months after with air suspension failure caused by various interlinking electronic issues. The car cost £8k and I was quoted £4-5k to fix it. The seller used every trick to avoid talking about the problems and, after a bit of a process, I got a full refund. I had used a debit card as the cash transfer failed on the day and the card people did a Section 75, refunded me and snatched it from them. According to Citizens Advice, under the consumer rights act, I had been tucked up and despite the garages written warranty, they had to take care of the problems or refund my money! Different circumstances if it is person to person, but dealer to person means that this "sold as seen...." is not valid. In the case of this woodchipper, the same supplier quoted someone the same thing the other year. When the proposed buyer quoted the same consumer rights stuff, the price dropped as they hadn't even looked at it in a workshop! With regards to the supplier, I have asked about to see where they are buying spares from for their stock of Pre Owned GreenMech and their has been no activity. Caveat Emptor!

As you said it "if money was not in the equation!" Some £80+k there!!! Morbark had a massive cash investment to increase productivity etc, to make them really attractive and The Alamo Group acquired them recently. Decent big stuff, not good in the European size, towed etc. Stuff from the west tends to be like that I find....they don't do good machines to suit the mass market here.

At the NEC this week was SALTEX along with Brick Live. Not bricks for building houses but pits full of Lego! Steve? You have been ace! I'm sure! ....

Agreed. Infeed strength is good. But the 'chip' is down to blades, rotor speed, 'blow', and 'no stress' device. Support is down to the spare parts people, 'service' help is a must as well. And, I got to say this, the Rep who sold it to you answering the phone, is a must too! In terms of quality control, to have a dozen (or any number) built differently, is out of control! In terms of the OP's question? Anyone got a TW350? Bandit 990, Jensen 340 or bigger? Road towable? How about TP235?

Schiesling should, within reason, cost the same as any other similar sized machine as the cost of the engines are similar, the cost of steel is similar, the components are used by a multitude of other makes blah blah blah. The biggest difference used to be that they are built twice. The first fabrications/assembly are hand built with minor differences in each model. IE, a bonnet is suited to one unit and one unit only. Following that, they used to be then disassembled, pushed across the road to be powder coated, then back to assembly again. They are supposed to have a higher hydraulic power than most machines but, having said that, the rotor does the spinning and blades do the chopping! I've seen a couple of major engineering faux Pas on one size and a major electronic component that we also used and had an awful time with failures that we got into bed with another supplier. For reasons like that, I fail to see the true drawer or equate the cost. But, each to their own and I would support personal view and choice!

True, I do work for GreenMech and have done so since before the turn of the century! Previous to that, I ran an outfit with a dozen people and three chippers, two of those from GreenMech. In fact, it was based in the same village that Ben lives in now. I could say that I've seen pretty well everything that's been marketed since the early 1980's, know their strengths and weaknesses (I will include my own product in that too), and the same for the suppliers too. While I would always promote my brand first, if we don't make it or it doesn't suit you, I'm able to give you an opinion on what's left.....

Sorry Ben, I derailed your thread. A pure observation though - I will not be able to help Forst owners who wish to get out and go to another make. If you are after newish bigger units, I would go to Bandit drum machines as they don't break often and, as Ashley at GA says, the TP235 has some nice touches and is now sold via Kilworths at Ashby de la Zouch. I look at Schiesling and think "why are they so expensive as they cost about the same as everyone else to build and they chip stuff the same as everything else. Build quality is okay at best and have the same paint issues as every other machine on the market....back up and support may be hindered by distance and the Germans are not over helpful at times - same goes for Jensen. Jensen do do bigger units but again, Germans are not helping the brand along much...

Just seen this old chestnut on an invoice for a used wood chipper. I've got to do my own research on this but, what do you think? Is this legal, honourable, justifiable? There is no mention on the invoice that it is not working or for parts only - it was sold as a good, working machine....

Anyone want to buy a handful of Forst XR8 units? I got a few people who want to trade then in but I cannot get them underwritten by anyone! Forst said that they were worth £20k each (+/-) for two year old machines but no one would even make a silly bid! My response to Forst was that "they are only worth what someone is willing to pay and at the moment, that is zero!" Very disappointing if you are the owner who wants to change to a different make.....