Dean Lofthouse

I bought a TD5 engine with 8k on it, with all the fitting with the intention of converting from 300tdi. Gave up at the first hurdle. You would have to change bulkhead, wiring harness, clocks etc, transfer box and even fuel tank. It's a massive job to do right. The immobiliser is even wired to the fuel sender in the tank.

One of the things that nearly swayed me for the Mog was the idea of running it on red, fuel saving alone would nearly pay for it. I couldn't get to grips with whether you can or can't run one on red or what the circumstances need to be. Do you know?

don't you find a mog difficult to get close to the job on most domestic jobs, have considered one and spent a few weeks recalling jobs I had done to find most of them I probably wouldn't have got a mog in. You know what it's like, 10ft nearer the job can save a lot of time. Turning circle on the 130 mind you is similar to a double decker buses

Only problem I have with my defender 130 is pulling away at junctions which are slight uphill, when fully loaded and the chipper. I have to knock it into low box to get moving then snatch back into high box. I have just put a new 300tdi engine in with a brand new injector pump and it is still no different. Is this a common thing with 300tdi,s ?

I was in line to represent this country shooting pistol. I won lots of competitions and at 21 became the best Pistol shot in the british forces, I wiped the board at Bisley and broke many records. Then along came some single minded Tw~ts and ruins my dreams by banning pistols. Put me and thousands of others in the same boat as some loony on a nervous breakdown. I get pig sick of other people trying to enforce their opinion on others through banning things they know F~~K all about. Many times not even trying what ever it is. I was shooting pheasant the other day, a woman later said to me there is nothing worse than seeing a pheasant thud to the floor after being shot. I asked her if she had ever been to a chicken process plant to see the slaughter process, she said no. I told her I had, thats why I shoot pheasants. I wouldn't however want to ban chicken processing, I don't like it but that's my opinion, I may have a different perception, right or wrong I don't know. Who is right , who is wrong???

Never heard of it. I'm always getting phone calls to go on this and that, would be bankrupt if we went on em all. First question I ask, "Is it free" Cuts the conversation short every time

Proper dogs http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1872&stc=1&d=1201626459 Always check your MEWP tracks for wildlife before moving it.

Exactly! So many undercharge to the point they can't afford to replace and in some cases service their kit. In effect, your customer is hiring around £50Ks worth if kit plus operators for the day, if you include MEWP they're hiring £90ks worth. ...and as Ben says, that doesn't include yard, rates, insurance etc etc etc I aim for £400 per day for me and a groundsmen for basic jobs, £600 with Mewp and it isn't a massive profit margin at that! Lose the yard, public and employers liability, service costs, depreciation cost and you could charge £150 a day I'm sure, but then you would have to burn your brash on site after your chipper wears out.

....and it would have only taken him one day with a MEWP, provided of course that he could keep it upright

I had the 08MTS gandini before my bandit and that had a huge difference in weight distribution. In one position the hitch ring, if unhitched would touch the floor, 180 degrees the other way it would lift the front set of wheels off the ground, which we used to use to manouver it into tight spots. never had any issues with my gandini by the way, never let me down once and chipped brilliantly. Mind you, as my user name suggests, I used to service and sell tools and machinery and everything of mine is well looked after, probably over serviced!! Must have been a scarey moment a chipper doing the waltz while being towed??

We set the machine up and chained it to the ground, then did exactly the same manouver. The machine tipped again. The two rear legs were off the floor and there was still 30bar reading on the digital readout on the leg hydraulic cylinders. The only way this can happen on a double acting ram without the piston slamming out or in, is for there to be an equal pressure on the other side of the piston. The only way that pressure can leak into the front part of two rams at the same time is for the spool block to have a crossover leak somewhere. On this machine, it trips whenever one foot switch trips or two cylinders go below 30bar, it will only then allow you to come back in until the leg pressures go up again. So in effect, the machine thought the legs were still on the floor and not going light, it did trip when the foot switch operated but by then the machine was on its way. The fault is still there and I can set the machine up and get it to do it by sending it out to its full extent on the middle leg settings, then loading the basket, just off the floor with 180kg and the legs go light whilst still measuring 30+ bar whilst the loaded legs pressure goes to ove 120 Bar. The "people" involved tried to blame it on, and I quote "operator error" and then when that didn't work "residual pressure in the cylinders" luckily I know a bit about hydraulics and wasn't fobbed off with that one.

periodically drench the blades with your two stroke/petrol mix and run them, this cleans the sap and green of the inside of the blades leaving the two stroke oil then relube the blades. The sap can cause overheating.

Turntable chippers are a invaluable for domestic work. Only problem with single axle is getting weight distribution right so it doesn't tip when swivelled off hitch. The other beauty of turntable is when working roadside you can turn it to feed from the pavement and keep you out of the way of vehicles. Lost count of how many times a car has hit cones and come into our work area or has hit the chipper with their wing mirror because the come past that close. Despite signage, orange beacons and LED blazer beacons. Usually women drivers :wave: Wherever possble now we always face the truck into traffic and work behind in relative safety.

My hedgetrimmers seem to take some stick throughout the year and the occasional old dear wanting me to prune her roses

Hey up Kev, nice to see your still about. The machine is a Basket RQG18, I wouldn't describe them as cheap italian rubbish though . The RQG18 is around 40K and is a cracking peice of kit, one of the most versatile MEWPs available. I bought it new and it still now has only 400 hrs on the clock and most of them are, while the machine is being used, clocking up the hours even if your stationary in the basket, painting for example. I have had that machine in the most awkward places you can imagine, where no other mewp would dare to venture. The good thing about this machine is the legs can be pulled if you can't quite fit it in somewhere. The day after the accident the Mewp was due to be sat ontop of a 60ft cliff to be used to section down and bring in a 40ft Oak leaning out from the cliff edge at 45 degrees with a £500,000 bungalow right underneath. Doesn't bear thinking about! I would however, have put an anchor point in the tree not on the basket, so the mewp would have gone down without me. Any work I do know I never anchor to the basket always to the tree or if the tree is unfit to a neighbouring tree and use a lockjack with a pulley on the anchor so it feeds through dead easy. The legs on the platform, fully extended, are more or less bomb proof, you could bounce up and down in the basket at full outreach and feel safe. It's when you bring the legs in to tthe second position, the sensors come into play and don't allow you full outreach. That's when you change from relying on mechanical safety to electrical sensor safety and there are far to many electrical components to go wrong, literally thousands. An harness, rope, carabina, and branch. Far less things to go wrong there me thinks. Mewps do have their place, but it is becoming the standard where the HSE would require you to use one wherever possible, that choice should be yours not theirs.

The machine was being used exacrtly as it was supposed to be used, infact there was no extra loading involved. The machine developed an hydraulic fault and tipped from 45ft. Me and my passenger survived the fall by shear luck of landing in a privet hedge. My passenger, first time in a mewp, earned himself three broken ribs, a broken foot and head injuries. Me, being made of tree surgeon material suffered no more than whip lash across my chest. Hard B@stards that we are. Two years of legal wrangling, it is all sorted now. I still have the machine and still use it, **** myself each time but hey what the hell.

it's ok, read below and managed to do it

How do you get your profile picture at the side of your posts, have uploaded one but can't get it on the posts.

I have a little mid sized kubota tractor with pallet tines on the front loader, it's a slow job but i just put the empty bag on the forks and fill the bag by hand, that way with the bag suspended you get a good load in, it is then put straight on to my defender tipper and if the bag is pulled over onto its side with the base facing the back of the tipper and then tipped, it nearly always lands upright on the customers drive! Two bags are a bit more tricky.

I have been charging £60 for a bulk bag 80cm x 80cm x 80cm with no problems at all. The key to getting a good price for your wood is to quote moisture content. The wood , from being cut is tipped under cover, it is then split within a few days and stored for a full season split. It then shows around 15% on the moisture meter. You also should be selling the wood by volume, ie bulk bag. There is no such thing as a ton of wood. A ton of wood at what moisture content?? I have sat down and worked out costings, for labour, machinery, wear and tear, bulk bags, fuel, chains, bars, storage etc etc and you sell for less than £60 a bag you are earning pin money. All costing should be added on top of your profit, half the reason for seeing tree surgeons pulling around clapped out tackle is they don't do this, they don't add that bit on for wear and tear which they should (ideally) be putting to one side for a time when a machine claps out, they can then go buy another. I searched online for prices and found a well known northern log supplier selling low moisture content logs for £105 plus delivery. I also tested some logs that had been delivered to my local pub from a well established log supplier that were described as seasoned and they measured 45% moisture. All I can think is that they ahd stored them under a waterfall. If you explained to your customers that your logs are low moisture content and explain that these logs give of many times more heat because they aren't wasting energy converting water into steam which then dampens the fire and that they can turn the airflow down so making them burn and last longer. You will comand much higher prices for your logs and won't have to work like billy ho to keep up to supply for give away log supplys ltd. This next winter coming I am putting my prices up to £70 or £80 for a 90 x 90 x90 bulk bag of 15% moisture content logs, I've explained to my customers and they seem not too peturbed by the idea of paying a little bit extra. If need be give your customer a sample of your logs.