Dean Lofthouse

Just for Tim, do you like it? Screw gate an all

Tim, you are delusional... I know some areas of Scotland are so desolate they still huddle round a bacalite valve radio listening to the archers with a single candle for warmth, whilst the Hunter gatherer husband is our hunting to stock up the winter larder, but come on, you have no excuse. You are connected to the internet so must know we technology has moved on. We now have electric and mechanical horses. Friction hitches are so inefficient, they melt, they glaze, they wear rapidly, they look ramshackled. Yes they do have character, feeling and feedback, but so has my grandma Zigzags are the beginning of the future, snooze and you'll loseq

I have just realised that thanks I am also thinking that if I use the smaller pump instead of the bigger pump as the high pressure pump it would have less effect on engine revs when working at full pressure ?

If you use skates it isn't problem because they are designed to move cars easily, just dragging a car could cause damage, which I would imagine is the only thing a customer would be pissed about

Attached splitter and gave it a try, no problem with speed whatsoever, infact I'd say it was faster than when on the loader. Only problem is when I tested pressure by seeing if it would blow off the relief valve on the splitter which is set at around 3000psi. It got fairly close then stalled the engine. I think it's too much for the engine to power the two pumps together at full pressure. What I may do is put in a 1000 psi relief valve to return on the smaller of the two pumps so it is taken offline as the pressure rises and goes to one pump operation. Sort of like a dual speed system. I could also put in a spool valve so I can run it on either one pump or two depending on what I'm splitting. The other problem is the low hydraulic light comes on when doing a full 1.2m stroke. Because the ram is so big it uses a lot of oil out of the relatively small hydraulic tank. Other than that it's brilliant, once I've repiped it, the next job is mounting the splitter which with a lift ram three point type attachment. Should be fairly straight forward as you can see from the photos. Just one thing, if anyone is thinking about doing this, unless you are very clued up on electrics and hydraulics or you have a mate that is and owes you big time, I wouldn't try and take it on

Finally got it back together, wired up the control panel I made and surprise.. It works, filled up with diesel, filled up with hydraulic oil everything working as it should. Just need to hook up the splitter to see how it runs it, should be able to do that in the next few days or so.

Yes there's two pumps which I've piped in together with a single return, the other two pipes on the left are what supplied the steering so I will use them as you say, to power a lift ram to pick up and put down the splitter on some sort of linkage

Got it somewhere near, spent this aft washing it off, cleaning out and befitting the fuel tank and piping up the hydraulics. All I have to do is wire up the engine and relief valve to the control panel I made. Hydraulics have been a nightmare converting spurious threads to bsp

The only reason I don't use it more is logistics, with only me and a groundy getting a chipper to site as well as the mewp can be a problem. I use it mainly on big jobs which I have a few days on or when I sub in another tree surgeon who brings his chipper for the day

Nobody is talking about using mewps all the time ? Just when the situation dictates it's the best option. See this is where ignorance is bliss. I charge mine out on my local jobs at £595 that's mewp, operator, groundy and saws etc, hardly expensive is it. I,d like to see you get a load of climbers in at that price Ps. I've seen a lot of fat climbers that don't use mewps (-;

We know mate

Mewp mewp mewpitty mewp

I use the mk1 every day, it's the best bit of kit out for a long time. I noticed the crab side loading issue straight away before the recall, it make you wonder why petzl,s research and development team didn't. I,d buy a mk2 any day, the zigzag is far better than any lock jack spider jack or any other previous mechanical friction knot. My lock jack is now resigned to the rescue kit

I own my own mewp, it has 11m outreach, it is sat in the barn most of the time, I use it for myself probably twice a year. I do sit here laughing to myself at the anti mewp mob ( most of which do use other big machinery to make their job easier) dissing the mewp with, as Mark says, little or no experience of them. I have thousands of hours mewp use under my belt and can make a mewp dance. Experience is key here, positioning of the machine is most important along with outreach. On avenues of trees it'd possible to work on 8 trees from the same position or do a 60ft run without moving trimming 30ft high conifers. You can disc down large stems without struggling on spikes. We all have machinery to aid our work, whether is be cranes, telehandlers, chippers, loaders, muck barrows or whatever, the only reason mewps get a bad press is because people seem to associate mewps with crap climbers. Just because you occasionally use a mewp doesn't mean you are crap at climbing or don't have the gahoonies to climb dead trees. I've climbed and taken down some dodgy trees this last few month simply because I couldn't be arsed getting the mewp out I sometimes wonder if the old boys who used to burn brash had the same attitude toward chippers when they first started appearing, " no... You can stick that lump of scrap where the sun don't shine boy.... It'll never be as fast as burning... You expect me to tow that lump o Shiite everywhere with me... It'll only slow me down and use more juice

Wondered why you were so good on spikes

Over a 1000 hours use of it and it's only tried killing me twice, they do have their grumpy days, what's the problem!

You do use an aid though

As above, depends on the job and time Some jobs you would be a able to get a tree on the floor in half the time climbing and rigging it would

Jesus....paying for jobs, what next

Being a good business person doesn't necessarily mean your a good people person

I just cut my logs, don't measure them...as long as they fit in my log burner (max 14") they'll do. I get enquiries for small logs but I just tell them they come as they come, if they want me to sort through the log pile picking out small stuff they will have to pay a premium

Sorry to hear that Jonny, there's lots on here from round this area, I,ll certainly keep an eye out

My take is.. Arb is not a tuff game, it's a hazardous job. You don't have to be mental... You have to have your wits about you and concentrate on the job, not worrying about Mars bars on your boots Banter passes the day and is welcome, practical jokes are another matter

His bollocks should be nearly touching the floor if the lunge was right, he looks like he's just taken the first step up to bed

Ram goes back on its own