Brushcutter

Only hurd of a broken engine on a T130. Had the PTO clutch go on an A92.

I have more time on a Botex than a Kelsa. Used both the bigger Kelsa harvester/forwarder cranes and their tractor/trailer cranes. They're both fantastic cranes just do different things. I've never used a 3 series Botex only the 5 series (560TL etc). They do them in 6,7 and now 8m reach (i have a 7). To go with this they have a massive lift capacity plated at 2.8t close in! If your doing big hardwood sawlogs then a Botex will more than likely be the crane for you. The Kelsa are a little quicker in general use but only have a lift capacity around the 1.5t mark close in. The extensions are generally quite speedy even on the jake mount off a valtra 900s tank. I have yet to see a Botex piped up on fancy electrohydraulic though to run through the joysticks on the armrests. Where as Kelsa do this which makes a massive difference. Comes down to Botex=power Kelsa=reach & speed. As Jerry said Power=chips just make sure you s/h T190 isn't used and abused. The only T series Valtra i've used is a T130 and it had a engine problem.

Agreed. No hours for the chipper on there or when the tracked base was put on. No services mentioned. Not convincing them me to part with 13k+vat.

Happens a lot. Either turn the feed roller pressure down in the settings or do it on the valve block on the head. JD heads or their red warahtar equivelents do tend to snap stuff a lot in my experence.

Use to a lot. Now not so much. Always have a mobile and 1st aid kit. All comes down to the level of risk your willing to except.

8 tonne would be the smallest but reach wouldn't be good. Bigger machines say 20 odd tonnes would be better. Logmax head would be my choice. I'd have an extension boom put on for extra reach as well. Purpose built machines are much better than their digger converted counterparts. Not sure what the cost of a s/h base unit would be compared to a converted digger. I'd of thought the guarding pump and cooling upgrades would be expensive. I was doing 8 tonne/h in Finland which was a little under what a pro would do (10ish/h).

Silky. I have the 330mm zubat. Although it's not as good as the last one as i've snapped the end off the blade. Had a few Samuri saws i think they've all been free gifts. The blades flex a bit too much and tend to snap. I do have a Samuri saw which has very fine teeth which i use for fruit tree pruning and it's very very good.

Yes verry sharp or you'll break it.

They're great little machines. Been using one today. Easy to move around with one guy. Downside is that they're a real pain to tow as they're quite light. So go over speed bumps very slowly. #i've also had a few issues with batteries and the Honda engine. Other than that it's been great. I think i'd rather have a 150 though.

Haha Although if you had add block plus on in firefox this would never of happened.

Bandit. Why? The dealers are top notch. Build quality is amazing. It's so simple it's bomb proof. Ability to open the feed rollers up is so useful. Crane feeds well. If you get the big 250xp the opening is nearly 6' across If your lazy you can get the discharge shoot on hydraulics. You can get a sliding headstock to centre up the machine on the linkage.

Hmmm. I don't like it and i'm the world biggest micro harvester fan. I think you'd be buying problems. 11000 hours on the tractor isn't great but its still a very useable machine. That crane looks tired and it doesn't apear to have an extension. The head looks even worse shape. I expect its the orginal one doesn't tell you how many hours it's done either. Someone is either going to get an awsome machine on the cheap or a massive hole to tip grain trailers full of money into.

I like it.

Keeps the weight down low in the tractor, Stops you tipping over if you've got a roof mounted crane on. Also helps with ploughing and winching as the centre of gravity is lower. You have a special valve on the tyre to take the mix of water and antifreeze.

They look quite nice. I've got a lump of Sweet Chestnut in my garden to turn out into a water feature. Got the idea from Capel Manor actually 10 years ago. As for tomorrow got a treee to fell and a lot of chipping up to do.

I've driven Valmet, Valtra , MF and JD forestry conversions. Down to personal taste really. Valtra do it all in the factory right down to putting the bullet proof glass in. They also have a reputation for being forestry tractors which is why they hold their value.

Well it's a tricky question. They lift a load but they don't lift it over people or people and they're shouldn't be anybody in the 20m zone. Also the operator is protected by ROPS and FOPS. So from what i got on my FMO course they don't need to be. We have ours tested though. Out of interest though LOLER isn't that bad in Finland they have to get the cranes xrayed every 2 years to check for damage.

Are they doing free tickets that you print off like last year? The website seems a little poor.

looks like they've welded a bunk onto an ifor trailer.

Looks like wild plum. I have a hedge of the stuff.

To hire for 7 days its something like 80 quid.

Great lens and great effect. If you have Flickr check out the Nikon 24mm tilt shift lens page for some fantastic shots. It's ment for doing perspective correction when photographing buildings. Although if you shift the plane of focus around you can get a mega deep depth of field. Infact i may hire one for a weekend.

Nice pictures. I wondered how you got the odd DoF but tilt shift explanes all.

How big is the memory card? If its too big it won't recognise it. I have one xl and it had issues when updated it. Turned it off and on a few times and it worked.

The bio oil from clarkes is good stuff just the right mix of sticky to runny. I find plant oil too sticky.