monkeybusiness

Search Dean Lofthouse on here's posts. He did a full thread on replacing bearings on a Timberwolf 150 (I think, or equivalent Entec). He knows his onions with mechanics and his thread is full of really helpful info. All the Timberwolfs and Entecs are pretty much the same and it will give you a brilliant reference point.

My two cents worth re the Engcon/tiltrotator debate. I've just ordered a Rototilt for my 6 tonner - make sure you speak directly to all of the main players (Tim at Rototilt, Pat at Steelwrist, John Craig if you are looking at Engcon (he's a dealer himself, not part of Engcon UK who weren't amazingly helpful IME) and Daniel at SMP. I got nowhere fast trying to get any sort of useful information from any machinery dealers, even one who are actually Engcon agents. If you are ordering a new machine start from scratch with a Scandinavian hitch and buckets - try ordering this from a UK machinery dealer as part of a package and you might as well be talking Swedish as they genuinely don't understand the tilt rotator market at all. I ordered my Quickhitch from SMP, got the buckets made by a firm called Scotts in Northern Ireland, and as stated have just settled on a Rototilt after a good look at all options at Hillhead. There can be wild differences in price for equivalent models and it would be very easy to be upsold extras that aren't required for your application. I didn't buy on price in the end, but I saved significantly over equivalent offerings from other manufacturers (and saved literally thousands over the package Engcon UK and one of their dealers would have sold me/insisted was what I needed). I can't wait for it to be delivered/installed now, so I can try and learn how to dig round holes!!! If you want a load of info have a good read through the ceforum - Eddie has a couple of fantastic threads on there that are a mine of useful info (including great contributions from other tiltrotator users).

Make sure everything is tight too - you don't want any movement at all on those bolts.

Balls - you'd make my life/decision much easier if you said it wasn't as good as you first thought! Cheers for the reply, glad you're happy with it!

Steve - I'm seriously toying with swapping my old shape D40 Navara for the new one like yours (a dealer has offered me a pretty good px offer). I am really happy with my current truck and am only considering swapping as they've offered me a decent lump for it, and it is only going to depreciate heavily from now on. Is the new one better all-round in your opinion? Are you glad you swapped? Is there anything that you aren't happy with now you've lived with it for a few months? Sorry for all the questions!

Nice to hear you Paul, all good here thanks for asking (crazy busy, which is a good problem to have!). One of these days I will pull my finger out and get AA approved (if only to drive down my insurance even further)!

I've been insured with Trust, then Arborisk (only moved due to better price at time of renewal, hadn't made a claim with Trust so can't comment on their claims handling). Arborisk were great when I had to unfortunately make a claim for a stolen chipper earlier this year - they paid out quickly with no issues. However, my renewal subsequently doubled (I expected it to go up but thought that was a bit strong!) so have now moved to Lycetts and saved approx £3k. Lycetts were cheapest out of those 3 for me, but they are all decent competitive firms from what I can tell.

It's all about pressure. You need to know what pressure your pump delivers and match that to the winch's motor. Flow is less important - the more flow, the faster your winch will be though. If your pump doesn't deliver the required pressure the winch won't pull the skin off a rice pudding - if it has the correct pressure but limited flow then it will pull the winch's rated capacity but it might be very slow.

Hydraulic would be the best option for constant duty. We've not managed to kill the winchmax electric winches which is the only reason I would recommend them - we did kill a much more expensive Warn though. If budget isn't an issue then definitely go hydraulic.

Once you have one fitted you find multiple uses for them. Dead handy attachment.

Yes, but constant use will still kill a poor battery, engine running or not. Using them without the engine running is only for emergency use as they will flatten even a good battery in no time. Greenmech offer electric winches as a factory fit option - they are sometimes a requirement on railway jobs where a dead chipper has to be quickly self-recoverable off a railway track. They now also offer a 12v hydraulic power pack to allow the tracking function to continue to operate for short periods of time without the need for the engine to be operating (I believe Forst also offer something similar) for the same reason. As mentioned, chipper winches are great for pulling over back-leaners etc, particularly with a radio remote control as the cutter can also control the winch.

They're good, but will quickly kill a weak battery. We've only ever burned out a Warn - these cheap Winchmax jobbies haven't given up yet (and have had a lot of constant abuse). Hydraulic would be better for constant duty but are no good for self recovery with a dead engine, and are more expensive/complex to fit in the first place.

Yeah - the winchmax come with everything in the box. Depending on where your chipper battery is you may need longer battery leads making up (any auto electrician will be able to supply you the cables with correctly crimped terminals). Just attach positive direct to positive battery terminal and negative direct to negative battery terminal. If you want to include an isolator make sure you get as heavy duty as possible - the ones with the red plastic key can melt if you are doing a lot of winching... The only issue we have ever had is with a bad earth on the little earth wire that comes out of the control/solenoid box - this stops everything working and give the impression that the winch is goosed.

Ring them - the bloke will sell cheaper than through eBay over the phone.

Exactly that. Google them and buy direct, it's even cheaper. Those winches are mega - spend the extra money you've saved on a big battery and decent leads.

Winchmax 13000 kg. I've replaced a few really expensive warn winches fitted to big green mechs with them and they are brilliant (and really cheap, especially if you deal direct). Google them and get your cash out!

Standard BMW driving plum! We like a challenge though!

Taking out a few decent sized trees from really tight back gardens - a bit of crane action smooths the job right out! [ame] [/ame]

Sounds interesting (as long as it is deemed acceptable by the clients!).

Where it is truly ridiculous is in the utility sector. You have to have a refresher every 3 years (which is fair enough) and this has to cover everything you are qualified to undertake (also fair enough). Utility climbers qualified to NPTC UA2.3 will therefore be reassessed in electrical knowledge, ground work (including the use of insulated rods around conductors) tree felling (including assisted felling), and aerial tree work (ie chainsaw from a rope and harness near power lines). However, this doesn't subsequently count as CS refresher (even though it is more in depth than a lot of CS units), and these also have to be undertaken every 5 years! To really rub salt into the wound, we have a client insisting on us undertaking NPTC blower training (which would also have to be refreshed after 5 years). They are happy that we are trained and competent to climb and use chainsaws from a rope and harness alongside their 11 and 33kv networks, but won't let us use blowers without another expensive bit of paper... The whole NPTC job has become something of a money generating scam in my opinion, providing a lot of pointless jobs for box ticking experts. There should be the facility to get an assessor to undertake a complete evaluation of a candidates' skill set either on a work site during a normal working day, or at least to run through every ticket held at a training facility in one day for a flat fee (not having to re-register for every ticket!). I personally hold (and have lads with) CS30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, UA1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 5, PA1, 6, 6AW, NPTC woodchipper, brushcutter, pole pruner, stump grinder, ATV, tractor. All of these tickets now need individually refreshing either 3 or 5 yearly (not quite true as a number of the CS units will refresh together, but still!!). On top of this are the task specific qualifications required by the various network operators we work on behalf of (SPEN, WPD and National Grid). Throw into the mix quarterly safety days and there aren't that many days left to actually go out and earn money!!!

Ha ha, I remember 25l of chain oil being a massive long term investment!!!

It was a tax efficient way of bumping up the staff's pay.

I think we got £4 or £5 a day but supplied our own fuel and oil for that at Tilhill.

That blue spray indicator gets everywhere by the way! Wear gloves wear gloves wear gloves!!!!

They all have their own issued saws, and are largely very good at looking after them. We have had a couple of bits go missing recently (I am in no way under the impression that the lads are stealing from me, they are good guys that I trust implicitly) but when things are lost/stolen off site it is always company kit. I also have some regular subbies who supply their own kit and it's pretty telling that their kit never goes missing (I'm not suggesting that they are thieves either by the way - I know them all as mates and every one of them is ace!). There appears to be complacency/lack of ownership towards company equipment and I reckon that if the lads were to own the kit themselves they might take more care of where it's left/whether it is packed back into the van at the end of the day etc.