Chris Sheppard

Take side cover off, pull old spring out, fit new one - all in situ. Once you've done it once you'll be fine

£36/t is really quite cheap at the mo.

Bang on as per usual

Just replied to you're other post - dead simple to do. Probably shoudl change them in pairs but I never have done as yet.

Decent set of fairly narrow nosed pliers, get one end of the spring on then the other and gently tap down into place - first few attempts might frustrate you but it's not bad to do. Watch out for it pinging off before it's seated down properly.

Chances are there's a gamekeeper stopping them from felling the rest of the year And yes, I'd agree, @£40 a tonne they should be queing up for it

Yep, and you'll get quite proficient in replacing them too, my 353 is bad for eating them and I've known an odd 346 or two to be partial to eating them too

We're using a 30hp Landini 4wd at the mo which is on taller and wider tyres than standard and leaves very little in the way of ground damage and weighs only around a tonne and a half or so inc the loader. there is a pic of it somewhere on here with the winch and the trailer on. It really does punch above it's weight. Kubota, Iseki, Kioti all do "proper" compacts (as in not just the tiny little ones) and most of the manufacturers of normal tractors have a compact or two on the books. I used to run an alpine (a 50hp carraro) for a couple of years along side the County and it was great for what I wanted to use it for. It did lack on ground clearance, but made up for that with manoevrability and stability - it would do side slopes and go down hills steep enough it would have been hard to walk across. I really should have put some better tyres on it but in the end I needed it less and less and was using it just for running the splitter or sawbench. One downside is they are generally a bit dearer than a conventional tractor though.

That looks ace

Doh, makes sense

I've never, ever heard one called this until reading this thread - am intrigued

I'd agree with what he others are saying - if you had that sort of money to spend then it want's to be a tractor of some sort, especially given the fact it can be used to power implements too. For the low impact sort of stuff you're looking to do then a decent compact with proper tyres or an alpine would be a good move. Both types have their pros and cons dependant on what you want to use them for.

Dependign on where you sourced one, around £120 -£170 for a TCT one. If circumstances were a little different, I'd be snappign Hullsmillfarm's hand off

Useful looking thing and shouldn't be too hard to make either. Think Tajfun do something similar too

Mine had the extra plates on, din't know about it trapping rust but that's good to know Mine did need a rear crossmember by the time I sold it though (should never have sold it though)

It's possible............... Yes, that's how I know

Good advice Tommer also, don't be put off by ex utility ones - generally they've been well maintained (though may have had some hard use) but they haven't been messed around with liek some you'll go and see off ebay etc. Gives you a bit more of a blank canvas to start with. The good thing with defenders is that there's very little that can't be done by a good home mechanic and parts are sensibly priced and easily available. Things that can be good bargaining points are leaky swivel seals, knackered bushes and trailing/radius arms/panhard rod etc as well as tyres - all fairly easy fixes but time consumign or reasonably costly to sort.

Bulkhead rot and chassis rot are a good start, but neither are incurable

That's a bargain

Using the saw and the splitter together can be done (though does say in the book not to) but you need to half keep an eye on the other guy as if you end up sawing a big bit at the same time as trying to split a gnarly bit you can pull the revs down enough to stop it or slip the belts even on a PTO one, so can only imagine the petrol one to be even more fussy. £2K doesn't sound too bad for the petrol ones at all.

Eagle's only a sawbench with a corkscrew on it, not a conventional processor in that sense - don't know what they cost now but they must still be somewhere around 1/3 of the cost of a processor, though I know what you mean

I used to have a PTO eagle and for a first stepping stone into mechanising firewood it was great. Not everyone lieks the corkscrew splitter on it btu I found it ok. Found that it was useful too when I bought a vertical splitter, billet everything down and then when you're sawign it to length, any odd bits that were too big still could just go through the corkscrew. The TCT blade is a must have and if you are careful will last a good while before needed sharpening. Did look at the JAPA version but prefered the working position of the hakki, though build quality was similar. Never actually saw a palax in the flesh but know someone who had one and liked it. HTH

I Like that idea, kinda like a no handed froe

If most of your wood is going to be coppice, try cutting it in metre or longer lengths and then split the long length using a wedge and hammer - one split will do lots of logs (if that makes sense) and them maybe look at a sawbench rather than a splitter - well quick at cutting up the billets and small diameter roundwood so probably quite helpful on the charcoal too. Petrol splitter would be great but fairly costly so maybe something to look at a bit later

In my experience, most gamekeepers are overly cautious and worried about you disturbing the birds, even if you aren't working anywhere near pens. In reality though, pheasants really don't seem that bothered by the presence of work going on and I've even seen them come back to roost in the woods on an evening when we've been thinning the same wood. I was lucky on one estate that the head keeper was from a forestry background so the only time we weren't allowed in a drive was the day before a shoot or one really important days, a few days before. You will still struggle to find a keeper that will let you do any work out of the Feb-June window so all you can really do is Blitz it in that time window and live with it IME - not ideal but on most estates, pheasants come first