Ty Korrigan

I saw an ad for Jersey today.

@doobin I was a partner in a ltd company that went into administration then liquidation. My wife borrowed from family and registered her new arb business within days of liquidation being announced. Mrs Lee bought back our older truck at auction but the JD, Ifor tipper, GM200 and 7t Iveco all well out of our price range. A year later the Solis 26 is all we could justify given the limited use a tractor gets. Half the price of a JD1026 and does much the same job but sadly with no cup holder but a crunching of gears to entertain me instead.

I noticed a big difference in control between my former JD1026 which was hydrostatic and the Solis especially when flail mowing and I need to change into reverse but knew nothing of live/ground ptos. Stuart

Same site today felling heavier conifers much further away, 50m+ on the opposite side of the garden. After the first pull the cable freed up. No serious kinks but a couple of very slight ones. Cable stayed free for the rest of the day. Thanks for all the advice. Stuart

What does 'live pto' mean? Plenty of scrunchy gear changes. It is a tinny budget machine but has really done well for itself in the 140hrs since August 2019. I don't use it alot but I'm glad I have it to hand.

@Mark Bolam I'm sick of your whinging so moving this thread to 'maintenance' just under Vanguard Efi woes. Steve Bullman

I've had to disable all the security until I can get it rewired. It refused to start a week ago just after it was unloaded on site. Luckily didn't block the clients entrance. Being under pressure I had to crack on without it so the job ran over somewhat. Stuart

Recently has starting 'binding'? I guess it is not rewinding neatly onto the bobbin. Really tough to pull out at times. No obvious kinks but tomorrow I'll pull it out as far as to check. Any advice or solutions? Stuart

It has been on the shelf for 2 years now. It runs away, you previously thought a pipe from the tank to carb might have come adrift. I didn't have the inclination to take it apart before but a long Summer of boredom ahead with little chance of traveling to either the U.K or Morocco, I thought I'd finally get on with it. Changed the fuel solenoid and clutch springs on the 241 today so feeling motivated. Stuart

My mini socket set is too fat. Looking for recommendations for a suitable tool. Cheers. Stuart

Crikey, I would never have thought that was as much as 2.2 tons. The only other tree I weighed was a Euc which was over 7t Took the Missus and I 2 days with stump. It could become a new hobby for me, 'tree weighing'. I could run a sweepstake before removal. Might pay for a new chipper... Stuart

My clients 'Xmas tree' weighed 2.2t Our local tip has a new weighbridge and I thought I'd make use of it out of curiousity. I tipped first thing then returned for the rest of the wood later this morning. Only the second time I've ever weighed an entire tree, chip, wood and rakings. I was so thrilled that I posted this to 'The Dull Club' on FB Stuart

There are many psuedo-scientific articles circulating on the internet. Many almost make for convincing reading except non are published by reputable mainstream scientific journals. Like faith healers whose magic works in gatherings of the openly receptive, such powers evaporate in the hospital. Likewise the power of magnets to improve fuel efficiency works for the client but seemingly not in the laboratory. Here is Wikipedias take on it: Fuel saving device - Wikipedia EN.M.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Post some peer approved scientific papers on the subject...

Lone working, Cesson Sevigné Rennes. Nothing exciting or technical, just a profitable bread and butter job I can do with the chippette. If I'd rented a 6" I'd only have won half an hour tops. Had a bit of a 'f**k my life' in the morning when it wouldn't start. My groundy had turned the fuel off last time it was out, I never do that... Stuart

I viewed this recently. 16thC but barely enough land to install a sceptic tank. Vente maison 2 pièces 55 m² Saint-Marc-le-Blanc (35460) - Superimmo WWW.SUPERIMMO.COM Annonce maison vente 55 m² 2 pièces à Saint-Marc-le-Blanc - SAINT MARC LE...

Sounds like you have a plan there. The French call this 'polyvalence' HGV in France is complicated. You'd need to pass a FIMO and to obtain that you need a good level of French. Mechanics are always in demand though you'll need to be able to justify your qualifications and or experience to the Chambre de Metiers in order to register. Treework isn't a regulated trade so easy to get into here. Keep dreaming, you may get here. Stuart

Meth, learn how to cook meth and sell it to people who work in the slaughterhouses and food processing factories of rural Brittany. Got to pay better than tree work... Stuart

Rural properties in France can be inexpensive compared to U.K properties though in our town 3 bed houses on 300m2 of land start around €300k. The same property can be found in a rural area for half that with land measured in hectares but very little employment and a much reduced infrastructure. For your interest, here is a page worth looking at.

I've another machine due (delayed) so my pain will soon be over. Yes, if I had any inclination that it would take almost 4 months (so far) to sort I could have ordered a fresh engine, (hindsight eh?) but in reality probably not have not ordered a fresh engine but shipped it back to the U.K dealer for a trustworthy competent repair. There is a 30micron inline filter as standard and the local petrol must be O.K because local cars are running fine on it. It is a different Briggs agent to the previous docile one. There are no GM dealers in the west of France who are Briggs Efi certified anyway. So the Briggs Efi agent I have engaged is not a GM agent and therefore neutral as to the provenance of the engine. Stuart

Seems an over reaction considering there are very few possible faulty parts to replace on the existing engine. With every week a new promise of progress, I just found myself led by the nose until weeks turned into months. Stuart

I have long thought of you as a pretty savvy hard nosed arb guy and reading your words actually shock me a little. I know I am not alone, I've other arb friends here who too have fallen foul of French aftersales and their loose interpretation of the word warranty. These situations do make you question your sanity as I certainly wouldn't dare treat my own clients this way. When the machine broke down in late March, I moved work around to do hedges, stumps and chippette suitable jobs and took holiday to minimise hire costs and stress, giving the Briggs guy a month from 5th April to resolve the problem. I told the guy I would happily pay for every Efi component to be changed at my cost regardless of warranty. I didn't factor on the mechanics incompetence and indifference. He got the 'ump when I suggested he reach out to Briggs themselves for advice, coming back with '15 years a Briggs approved mechanic'... Hopefully, this next machine will prove reliable, a simple Kubota diesel which can be fixed by any tractor dealership and a 1000kg weight so no deforming metalwork. So far, I'm not picking up any real harsh criticism of my chosen future machine. Good things may yet come my way. Stuart

That is all one can say really.

No. The black comedy of Briggs aftersales continues, mañana after mañana. It will be 4 months on the 4th August since I dropped the machine off. The warranty ends on the 10th. I don't even care about having the job done under warranty, I just want it fixed. Empty words follow empty words, he will be looking at it tomorrow, next week, waiting on this part that part and of course he got Covid at one point. It's replacement is delayed too. I have shoulder problems from feeding that wee chippette so have been renting the Bugnot alot more often. Hanging in by a thread these days. Stuart