RichardT

What do you mean by a small woodland? And what would constitute a good investment? Small amenity lots are still fetching daft money almost wholly unrelated to intrinsic value or possible revenue streams, so you'll be taking a punt on this state of affairs continuing.

Cracking little tractor, I went down for a look and ended up trying to Persuade him to keep it, find a loader to fit and get shot of the Chinese lump he'd replaced it with! With a bit of fabbing you could fit a compact Lewis or Kubota loader, failing that the frame is a handy bit of forestry guarding anyway....good that it went to a working home.

"...my Ferrari 86..." Not many of those around, did you buy that off the old fella in Hawick?

Brilliant! I don't think you need to worry about the centre joint, it looks as beefy as anything on a Weidemann or similar. Did you just weld the loader frame straight onto the chassis? I'm off to look at cheap dumpers and orphaned loaders on flea bay!

Interesting thread, I've cowped my little S series CSF a couple of times but assumed that the GT would be a lot more stable stable given the oscillating joint and extra width, and had been considering upgrading largely on that basis. The oscillation can be locked out for extra stability when loaded as I understand it? From what you're saying I take it that the machine had already fallen over and been damaged before you got it? Did you get it from the original importer in Strathaven?

You can come down to my woods and scavenge all the fresh Sitka lop'n'top you like.

"Also with the seat on the back part nothing sticks out when you go round a tight corner unlike an Avant" Yes, although I've never found this a problem day to day, and I prefer being 'in line' with the bucket/forks etc in terms of feel for weight, balance, etc. And I think (with precisely zero evidence to back it up) that the CoG is a bit lower than when sitting directly over the engine. More irritating is the daft use of hard plastics for the engine cover, softer polyprop material (eg quad bike mudguards) would be less prone to breakages, but also less shiny..... Unfortunately CSF have recently gone a bit doolally on the design front, their current models are all curves, swooping coach lines and complex mouldings like something out of a poundshop Judge Dredd movie.

Had the Alstor demo'd in our woods by SNW, and saw Nathan the importer putting one through some improbable manoeuvres when I sold him some livestock a few years back. Very impressive but the cost is eye watering. Possible cheaper alternative is the Wheelhorse, basically a Kranman driven trailer matched with a 2wd traction unit that you can ride or lead on foot like the Iron Horse. Artcom import them. Kranman have also launched their own version of this, the Bison.

Hmm, interesting and not far from me, I may take a look. Shame the loader's missing, wonder if any new compact loaders from Riko &c would still fit those brackets?

"Small forestry trailers are like rocking horse poop second hand" They seem to be. There's one of Atkinsons' little Chinese trailers on Ebay, not road legal: Timber Dragon TC1 Timber Trailer | eBay UK

That Timbear machine is pretty compact, but if you want a really tiny harvester, there's this: Tehojtk Pro - kuvat 1 It might struggle with 500 acres of Larch though.

That's a wacky machine, did you say they converted some to beaters' wagons?

We've just had c.25 acres of Sitka, Norway and a bit of Lodgepole clearfelled here, maybe 30% on slopes, we've had a mid range harvester and forwarder on site for weeks, including weather breaks, with up to 3 hand fellers for the nasty stuff. The contractor has been doing this for 25 years and he's going to be about 10% out on estimated yield. Tricky business. 500 acres is a very big job.

Very nice, those big flotation tyres must cost a packet? Pity that Holder seem to be almost entirely aimed at municipal markets now. I keep an eye on Agriaffaires, Tractorpool etc., A60s &c still fetch stupid money on the continent.

So, an update: I've bodged up a temporary test bypass by the simple if messy expedient of boiling the t-stat (which for those not familiar with older OM636 setups is in an unopenable housing which in turn is compression-fitted into the header tank), poking a couple of pieces of copper wire through the expansion gap and hooking the ends over the housing rim. The result is that: coolant is now definitely circulating through tank and rad; block and attached cast ancillaries are cooler to touch; and the gauge hasn't got above 60C even after flooring it in 2nd up a steepish 1km hill and with the cab heater circuit shut off. (From which I conclude that I've got the t-stat wedged further open than it would ever get under normal conditions....) I think(?) this eliminates a catastrophic blockage anywhere. Still doesn't indicate whether the issue is a temperamental t-stat (or coolant not filling all the way up to it?) or air getting into the coolant. The amount of vibration on the thing makes spotting bubbles in the tank all but impossible, am I right in thinking there's kit available to test for gas in the header tank? Here's a couple of pics for anyone interested:

That's exactly the worst-case scenario I'm worried about. (Well, the worst-worst case would be a cracked head or the like...). Given the odd layout of the 411 cooling circuit (in-cab header tank a good 20cm above top of rad and 15 above block) I'm wondering if filling from the tank could leave a big air gap immediately below the thermostat (which is fitted to the tank). Would this affect the operation of the 'stat, or would hot air open it just as well as hot water? The rad is definitely not blocked - it may be a bit mucky but water poured in the top comes freely out of the bottom. Pump turns freely, impeller looks clean enough. Tricky to run w/out 'stat as it's integral to the tank, would need to make a loop with 2 hose gauges...

Finally got round to trying to sort out the old mini mog I bought off Fleabay a few months back. Poor / non starting solved with a new set of Westfield plugs (thanks whoever suggested that on an earlier thread), new rocker cover seal stopped the oil loss, but it's consistently overheating, and I'm damned if I can work out why. I've drained & flushed the system; had the pump off and the impeller seems fine; got the header tank off and the thermostat out, it opens ok in a pan of water (don't know at exactly what temp, but certainly before the water's bubbling); and checked water and oil for x-contamination of which there seems none, nor any obvious external head gasket issues. The thermostat still seems the obvious candidate: the block gets hot, the cab heater loop gets hot, the cast elbow and hose between block and 'stat gets hot, the rest stays cool - ie header tank, top hose, rad and bottom hose. Basically coolant doesn't seem to be circulating. Anyone got any ideas why a thermostat would work 'on the bench' but not in place - eg could back pressure build up in the 'closed' (starting) circuit and stop the thermostat opening when it reaches trigger temperature? Failing that, what else could be going on? Any ideas welcome. My default next step is a new thermostat but they ain't cheap and I'll be pig sick if that doesn't do the trick.

the Novotny appears to have a clone: ENTRACON

Well that was sufficiently worrying for me to have a look at the wear on my little CSF S20d, now with c550h. Much lower rated weights obviously so you'd not expect the same wear, but the factory setup seems more like your proposed mod, ie wear pads mounted inside outer tubing. Still some paint visible on all 4 surfaces of tele booms thankfully. I'm assuming that's a GT, with an oscillating joint immediately aft of the pivot point?

It would certainly pull, push and lift some big lumps. Clark All Terrain 4x4 5T Forklift with 20T Winch | eBay UK

It's a mess here. Sitka edge trees left for the hand fellers have smashed their way into the garden next door (it's a big garden thankfully) and into our ravine & burn. Big ones hung up on wee ones bent like bows, root plates pointing skywards....A nearby farm is cut off by a beech avenue that's been dropped en masse over the only access track...

They're very useful machines, I run a CSF (smaller model in same range pictured at top of thread). Good lift, very manoevrable, strong pumps, lots of attachments available. One major issue: the small CSF models and all the Avants have frames that turn but don't twist, which means that on broken ground you can relatively easily find yourself rocking on two vainly spinning wheels. The bigger CSFs and all the Weidemann type machines oscillate so you're much less likely to lose grip. Mine has an optional 3pl at the back with a DA spool, very handy for small splitter etc.

When the horizontal sleet is driving straight across the North Sea, over the fresh lop'n'top and into your face, does the heated JD cab feel that bit less rubbish.....?