monkeybusiness

What chipper is it? Aren't they tightened up with the nuts on the back? As long as you can stop them spinning you should still be able to torque them I would have thought, and replace them ASAP. Definitely don't use anything but the correct tensile bolts - I've got a feeling they are 10.9 which is over and above anything you might find off the shelf. I doubt you will find the correct profile at a lower tensile strength though. If a blade comes loose as a result of incorrect bolt strength you will end up with a massive bill (and potential serious injury!).

Great outcome, let's hope they get a suitable punishment and not a pointless slap on the wrists.

Iveco with knobbly tyres on the back - still crap off road but better clutches and gearboxes than Transits for trying to pull away when loaded, and the traction control is surprisingly good in certain situations.

They will often try and drive your point of contact away from Ebay (ie direct email addresses etc) which then removes a layer of security from the transaction. You would have to be pretty brave/stupid to buy a large piece of machinery unseen IMO but there must be unfortunate people out there who get sucked in occasionally.

I was warned off fitting a solid flywheel to my Iveco Daily (3l engine) - apparently Iveco supplied a number of these engines to a bus manufacturer who fitted them with solid flywheels and they subsequently suffered from broken cranks. The 2.8 Iveco engine is apparently fine with the conversion though. I have also heard of a couple of Sprinters snapping their cranks when fitted with solid flywheels, but know of a number of Transits and Navaras that are trouble free on solids. I was told it is partially down to the high torque of the engines and is more of a problem on 4 cylinder than 6 cylinder engines as the individual punch of the cylinders firing causes stresses that are partially absorbed by the dual mass flywheel - the more cylinders the engine has the smoother it runs.

I think it is the top of a walnut whip. Or maybe Ganorderma.......

Looks kool. What payload? How much?

Ripeur gloves paired with SIP arm protectors - this is the best thorn combo IMO.

Why have you only got 2 friends? Maybe you should get out more!

Great post, I totally concur! Let's start price fixing - how about £800 per day for 2 man team with relevant kit? I think it sounds like the right money, and you'd only need to do half as many jobs to earn what most do now anyway! Less wear and tear on kit and people too. I'm in, let me know when we all start!

Great trailer - what's the ring on the headboard for?

Have you been spying on me?

We've got Insa Turbo Dakars on the back of our Ivecos - I think 205 wide.

Have a look/chat with these people - they look good value to me and are willing to adapt designs around your wishes (they were when i spoke to them anyway)! TCF ENGINEERING - tcfengineeringnew

At £500 per week I'm sure it will work for others, that is (what I would consider) very cheap for what you are offering. If you are happy at that money then I'm sure there will be a few people looking to hire your machine. Crack on sir!

This man knows what he is talking about.

Glad you've clarified that - I thought you were losing your mind.

It theoretically sounds like a win win really - if you are in a position to be without the machine for a week at a time then in some ways I say go for it. My reservation (as a potential customer) is what the cost for a week's hire would be - I imagine that you could mill an enormous volume of timber in that time. If I were in a situation where I had a week's worth of milling in one go I would personally be seriously looking at buying my own mill. The hire cost would need to be very cheap (and therefore not in your favour) to warrant me renting a mill for a week. When I first read the thread title my thoughts were 'This guy is crazy'. I don't think that now, but I'm unsure if it is the right thing for you to be doing. I know that the machine is dead money when sat in the yard, but there is a chance that hiring it out the way you propose (which in itself I don't disagree with) will limit your market too much, or will return too little money to be worth bothering with. I am by no means knowledgeable in the timber milling game however - if you do decide to hire your machine out I sincerely hope you prove me wrong! Good luck either way.

I don't know much about mills but have seen them operating. When in use, what is the most damage that could theoretically be done to the mill (aside from damaging the bandsaw blade on nails etc)? If it is possible for the carriage etc to become twisted if someone is heavy handed I would definitely suggest not hiring it out. If it is just a case of wear and tear items wearing quickly then I can't see a problem, providing whoever hires it has hired in plant insurance to a value that will cover the cost of a new mill in the event of theft or damage when being towed.

Get Swinny's Iveco bought - that looks a good vehicle at the right money and you aren't likely to lose much/anything if you find something else you prefer and end up selling it on IMO.

I reckon that is the best chipper TW make - I started with one and eventually PX'd it for a bigger machine. Looking back I wish I had kept it as well (but I couldn't have afforded to at the time). I have used a few since, and they punch well above their weight IMO. The fact that they are so light means that you can hand ball them anywhere. They are a bit thirsty, but this should be covered by the price of the job. They are a great machine - if I find one at the right money I will buy it. Mr Bolam - from what I have seen of your posts I find it hard to know whether to take you seriously. Please keep up the good work!

LOL...

I tend to agree, but if we are looking in that sort of detail then chippers in general are massively expensive. Why do straight-forward road tow machines cost £10 - £20 k new? All they are is a basic industrial engine (£3k max?), some bearings, some hydraulics, some fabrication, an axle etc. If you look at agricultural machinery/excavators/cars etc then chippers are hugely overpriced. However, it does come down to supply and demand. Chippers are built in small runs (probably less than 10 at a time) and are subsequently very labour intensive to manufacture as there isn't a huge market for them. They need to be built out of high-quality components as they are designed to operate in an extremely harsh environment, and should by rights self destruct very quickly. The companies that build them have to research their designs, and offer warranty with their new machines, as well as stock a wide spares inventory and create/support their dealer network. All of this costs money, which has to be represented in the retail price. I am unsure why basic tracked machines add such a price premium to the equivalent road tow, but when you start adding expanding tracks/separate hydraulic circuits for each track etc the machine gets a lot more complex (not only in the build, but also throughout the design process). There were early tracked machines that were nothing more than a road-tow with the wheels cut off, welded on to a mini digger track frame with the hydraulics plumbed in to the feed roller hydraulics. They were pretty poor in reality - small excavator track frames aren't long enough to balance a woodchipper that has to work on a variety of terrain and be stable when trees are fed into one end. As a result, tracked chippers tend to have bespoke undercarriage (this is apparent when you buy tracks for them, as they are different to most other tracked plant). The feed roller hydraulics aren't up to propelling a chipper anywhere (it will move, but glacially) so a whole new hydraulic circuit with different flow rates/pressures needs to be grafted on to the machine. As a result of this extra hydraulic requirement, a larger hydraulic reservoir/additional filtration is required, to keep the oil cool. Electro-hydraulic solenoids need to be installed in the tracking/feed roller circuits so you can't track into someone whilst they are chipping etc (keeping the HSE happy) - oh yeah, and everything has to be CE certified to make sure it is safe to sell (and legal for that matter). They are dear, but so is everything in our industry! However, once you start using a good tracked machine you will never look back.

They still make the 1928 safetrak, which in reality chips more than the older (on paper larger) machines. The 1928 has a rectangular 11" wide feed hole as opposed to 9" square. Don't be put off by its apparent 7.5 inch classification - I nearly was but am now a convert. If you wanted a 1928 with square blades I'm pretty sure GM would make you one. I went on the factory tour earlier in the year and they manufacture the lot in house - the blade pockets are built up onto the flywheels before balancing so I can't see why they couldn't make the 1928 flywheel with the square blades if so required (although I may be wrong). As a user I wouldn't personally go back to square edge blades though - the disks last for ages in comparison. We are derailing the thread a bit though, so sorry! In terms of budget, £9k will maybe stretch to a worn out second hand orange tracked chipper - you want a bit more to get something good with tracks IMO (I'd budget £14k plus).

I've heard that there are 'political' reasons for the factory not supplying parts to end users, thus driving the business through the dealer network. This is great in theory, but has the potential to be let down by poor dealer service.