RichardT

I had an old MF50b on the farm that was I thought underused and hence sold, I then found myself borrowing/hiring mini and micro 360s surprisingly regularly, so bought an ancient but very clean lightweight Mcconnell, no pump just a pair of hoses, for £200 at a farm sale. (Also no fixed top link frame, so care needed in use...) For ad-hoc jobs it was brilliant, no digging a flat track to awkward hillside jobs, just drive there. Reasonably fast cycle on a modern tractor, a bit of a faff to dis/mount but no worse than a heavy flail etc. I also used a borrowed Foster DP2 with sideshift for a while, a bit big for my Goldoni but actually fairly powerful at work, comparable to the MF As already mentioned, check farm sales, plenty of Ditch Kings etc sitting in dry barns.

I'm looking to get a small (10') container into my woods for general storage etc. Problem is access: twisty public approach road, steepish curved track down to site, 8 wheeler Hiab not an option. Track and site are good rolled hardcore, and I know that an ex-military or utilities type crane wagon can manage it comfortably, as a Scottish Leccy post truck found its way there (& back) by accident a while back. Fired off queries to a few container sales sites but they seem uninterested in anything non-standard, delivery-wise. Anyone operate/know of a suitable wagon within realistic range? Thanks, Richard.

They're not built as heavily as Weidemanns, etc. The plastic bodywork on CSFs is frankly rubbish, components and fabrication is OK. The forward steering pivot point on mine failed messily at c800hrs (it's welded directly onto the hyd tank) but was a cheapish fix, and that was down to abusive use as a snowplough on rough tracks for three successive hard winters. Otherwise pretty robust. Older Kramers had mechanical transmission, no?

FC=Good, privately managed forestry = bad. Is that the gist, krummholz?

Idle curiosity: whenever I visit my family I see a yard which seems to have acquired another County or Roadless, don't know whether they're worked or just collected, but I'd love a nose around if anyone can ID the outfit in question. No specifics obviously, but not a million miles from the Air Balloon. Any ideas?

Good luck with the move, I've been mulling over the idea of heading northwards too, I;'m sure it'll work out for you. (Good luck also to anyone stuck behind your lowloader convoy on the A9....) Nice uncluttered easily readable design. As someone who periodically buys in arb/forestry/groundwork services rather than supplying them, a couple of comments: -I like the simplest possibly homepage, preferably short enough to need no scrolling - some will be using small tablets/smartphones - and without partly duplicated menus. -I'd prefer sub-menus on each page (eg on 'Services', one click to eqpt., safety etc. rather than scrolling only). -I'd prefer your own pics wherever possible (I know you're got any number of those!), rather than stock photo library shots. -I'd like an idiot's guide to the jobs shown in the gallery, or maybe linked by type from the services page, ie text on services offered and pics of relevant previous work are explicitly linked somehow. - I love pics of toys, but maybe one or two of a human being minus full robocop PPE?

I killed my aged Dremel recently and bought a cheap Argos mains knockoff with a big box of tools, flexible extension etc. for about £25. Works almost as well, will quite obviously not last as long. Unless you know you're going to use it a lot, experimenting with a budget machine has something to recommend it. Then again, I have zero brand snobbery.

Might I have seen those machines nr Beauly a couple of weeks back? If not, someone's got a similar TJ/County setup thereabouts....

Well, loading per se, should be an "on the spot" activity Often it is. We opened up our quarry for a new road 3 years ago and had a big Doosan working non stop filling a Moxy and a pair of 8t Benfords (or Barfords, or are they the same thing?). Another 360 at the other end spreading ready for the roller. OTOH for a smaller job the other month a 3cx did both jobs handily, shuttling a mile or so by road between sires and moving pallets and dumpies into the bargain. Horses, courses.

Well, this is a bit odd. I get that a digger, being a dedicated machine designed for digging, is - other thing being equal - a better tool for digging than a compromise like a tractor backhoe. But how is it also a better machine for loading than a loader? Tracking any distance a bucket at a time is painfully slow.

I don't think anyone disputes the idea that a good operator can do more with a given set of physical parameters - CoG, track width, gradient, traction - than a poor one. Like Archimedes with his lever and fulcrum, give a micro 360 enough time and it can do pretty much any digging job you point it at. Doesn't necessarily make it the best tool for the OP's job.

That depends entirely upon the operator... I've yet to meet a digger pilot skilled enough to change the laws of physics....

A 1.5t 360 is a bit tippy on anything less flat than a billiard table, thoughbut. I think you'd have to get a linkage mount for the AGT, I doubt anyone makes a subframe for them. These days they're all vertically fixed - the top link is braced - so you can't lift on the linkage, just raise the legs. Which is obviously safer, but with the low-profile alpines it means not a lot of ground clearance at the back end. Fine if you're not constantly grounding the backhoe crossing ditches etc. I've used one of the little GREs that Kilworth import from Italy, seem well made and even the smallest have sideshift. PTO pump better.

If you've bottomless pockets you could always split the quad/compact difference.... 630 Minimaster | Vimek