monkeybusiness

Ouch for him then! Did you come away having learned anything new?

Call 01597 810306 - I don't remember the name of the organisation but they are based somewhere in mid Wales or the borders. I recently needed an NPTC quad assessment ASAP and was happy to pay the necessary and travel anywhere in the UK to get it. I rang every training provider I could find, Lantra, the NPTC, put a request on here etc etc. Totally hopeless - the best I was offered was TKF and the girl on the phone quoted me £400 plus bike hire and then still couldn't be bothered to try to arrange anything. A Gator hire company passed me the number above, they lined up an assessor to come to my yard early on the following Saturday morning, he duly turned up and sorted me a quad and tractor assessment - it was all good and the right money! The bonkers thing was that he is an assessor at the local Ag college who were my first port of call, and they flatly stated that they couldn't do anything for a couple of months... NPTC as an organisation are yet again a total waste of time IMO - there should be a database of assessors somewhere to allow people to arrange assessments with assessors. The training facilities appear to largely have no flexibility and don't seem to care!

Your NPTC tickets are the benchmarks for treework - just get the most basic (ie cheapest) CSCS card you can find as this will almost definitely be asked for before most site managers even entertain looking at your actual real qualifications. IME as long as you have a plastic CSCS card of any colour with your photo the box is ticked and you're allowed on site.

Guess not - good luck with the anvil!

Every GM shear bar I've done has been turnable, but I've had a couple come out cracked in half. They are pretty dear but don't need replacing very often. They can be a pig to get out...

That restriction on the right is what I'm talking about. Have you had any luck finding your fault?

Or 200t!

Didn't stop them with the 260, 361, 660 etc etc...

Are you sure it's not something daft like a split turbo hose?

I don't think there are websites for pro tree surgeons to be honest!

I did that a couple of weeks ago - it's an impressive set up! Great fun too!

Perfecto - by my reckoning that means that you now have £480 to spend on beer this weekend then! Happy days!

10-4 rubber duck!

If you've got one that's damaged it would be cheaper to get it re-cored and would effectively be a brand new radiator once done.

I'm looking for an artic load (or just under )of biggish (12inch and upwards) larch in Cheshire if anyone has any or knows of some? I can collect if necessary. Cheers, Dan.

I think he's referring to the hydraulic motors and pumps, not the 'engine' (English for 'motor'). That wasn't meant to sound as arsey as it possibly does by the way!

It depends on the ram and the vehicle mount point. If it's been fitted to a 3 way tipper the chances are that it has been positioned pointin straight up off the chassis when closed/shut - and is probably a multi stage short closed ram.You need to make sure that it won't foul on the propshaft during suspension travel and that it will tip the bed to a steep enough angle to ensure that it actually works as a tipper. There's a bit to think about!

7 acres of mulching big stumps on a hillside in a day is going some! There can't be many machines capable of that sort of productivity around - what do you have in mind?

You'll get more than that as the tyres have a much deeper sidewall. I'd be careful dragging a road going trailer off road behind a tractor - the Ifors are pretty strong but a tractor/stump/rut/Rock combo will quickly rip off brake cables and bend those skinny little axles without you even noticing...

Dozer and/or excavator, massive windrow, job done. That's what they were doing in New Zealand (on a larger scale) when I was out there 8 years ago. You lose a bit of grazing but should save a lot of money processing the stumps. Doesn't sound as though the land is going to end up particularly valuable or productive, so I'd be looking for the lowest cost option personally.

Not sure if it affects the 220, but 1928s have a thin steel flap that partially closes off the flywheel chamber exit (it is profiled so when closed/bolted down it sits above the flywheel itself, preventing chip from escaping the draft chamber before passing through the flywheel). If you open the top of the flywheel cover and look up towards the exit chute you should see it as a narrowing. These can break off and get folded out of the way or ejected entirely, and they make a massive difference to chipping performance. Also, when the exit flap is set for maximum throw (ie wide open) you can sometimes have a slight gap that opens between the flap and the chute - stringy conifer can get trapped in here and lead to blockages. Tight belts are a must though, and I'd also check that the flywheel hasn't moved away from the anvil (it shouldn't have done - if it has then this needs investigating/rectifying immediately!).

We've got 3 and they are all total junk because of this very reason. Stihl have created another saw that is unfit for purpose apparently.

We had a chipper nicked of the back of the van a couple of years ago - it was discovered stolen within half an hour. Had it been fitted with a tracker I'm certain that we could have got it back straight away - unfortunately it wasn't so we were unable to retrieve it.

Awesome tractor, I love it!!!

I bought an Agrotron 150 for a lot less than an equivalently spec'd new holland or Valtra, and I'm very pleased with it. Good solid powerful well built machine, no complaints here!