monkeybusiness

Is Jade a new recruit in the technical department? Or did Jase finally have the op?!...

The chipper has all the hydraulics/valves/speed sensors etc in place and working, but the actual sealed-for-life electronic box of magic somehow filled up with water and now doesn’t work (although it switches on/lights up/looks normal enough etc). I’m certain it is new box time, but wanted to see what the options are as I’m not that bothered about plug and play (there aren’t that many inputs into the box to cause too much re-splicing concern - it’s a pto chipper so only needs power in, speed sensor input and then command outputs).

Evening all! The autostress box on my Bandit chipper has died, and is quite an expensive replacement as it’s a defunct unit and the replacement also needs a new wiring loom. Before I bite the bullet I just wanted to explore all my options. I remember someone previously posting up a generic off-the-shelf stress control unit with an auto-reverse facility for retrofitting onto chippers but cannot remember any more about it (it was American I think). Any ideas people? Cheers, Dan

Aaaahhh Billhooks!!!

You need to trim your little finger nail (unless you are a massive queen!!!). In terms of knives - in this game there are multitudes of uses/needs for them. Anything you buy will undoubtedly be gratefully received and put to use. I’ve got loads of different knives/multitools, I generally know where they all are, will make use of whichever is closest to hand but always look at others for sale and try to justify why I should buy them! My most reached-for is a fold out locking Stanley knife bladed penknife, cheap as chips and normally in my work trousers pocket. I was bought a lovely Ray Mears style ‘survival’ knife (small sheath knife with a fixed blade, designed to be worn on a belt - I’d imagine £100 plus) for a birthday which is an absolute favourite, but doesn’t get used a lot as it is not practical in our game and is definitely not the sort of thing that you can really carry in the UK anymore unfortunately. Set yourself a budget and go from there - Leathermen are the dogs danglies as are Swiss Army Knives. Small fold out rescue knives you can clip a karabiner through are cheap as chips too. A nice touch whatever you decide upon is to get it engraved - ‘Bob’s Chopper’ etc etc - I’m sure anything you settle upon will be received with glee!

I bought a protos but couldn’t get on with it, much prefer a Petzl.

We made a donation and collected some rescue chickens recently as the fox had been busy with a few of ours. I received a bit of a dressing down for collecting the birds in a box lined with clean hay (it was all I had to hand). ‘You know hay can stick in their crop’ etc etc. Incredibly, against all odds they all survived the journey home in their toxic environment...

I can’t get my head around how he pushes the head further away when he switches out of constant pump - does the right stick take on both boom and dipper functions when setup? Are the joysticks controlling the rams in a traditional way or is their some sort of head positioning software at work? Is the 306 going to have a similar hi-flow pump setup too then Eddie?

Superb thread, great back-story too! Landowner sounds a decent sort and hats off to you having the foresight and balls to make it work on a personal level.

Superb bit of kit - looking forward to seeing vids of this in action!

I’ve just had great service for a radio control setup from a firm called RED who specialise in recovery equipment. My needs were less complex than yours but I’d definitely give them a try. (Edit - just seen Will’s recommendation above posted as I was typing. I gave up on Approved after trying to place the order multiple times over 12 months!!! Their poor service was the only reason I happened upon RED).

Used to, wouldn’t again, tread carefully.

You will end up with chip and dust everywhere. It’s bad enough with vehicles with external chip boxes - I’d think very carefully before attempting it personally.

If you can get down Rhuallt hill without using your steering wheel I’d love to see a video of it! Accelerating out of a snake is all well and good in theory but unless you have unlimited power and unlimited road there is a good chance that it’s just going to end in a faster crash IME. There is a technique for pulling a snaking trailer straight whereby you time your braking as the trailer pendulums back into line with the tow vehicle (hard enough on the brakes to force the trailer brakes on, but come immediately off them as it passes through the straight line) - unfortunately there is no way of safely practicing this and getting it wrong can make things worse... Correct loading and safe speeds are the best way to avoid the issue altogether though.

Cheers Al - looks a really handy tool! Little bit too old for me unfortunately, but will undoubtedly do someone great service!

Only had one real issue with an IWT - 12 foot tipper with cage sides (approx 8m3) full of wet split logs. Down a long bendy hill on the A55 (dual carriageway) it got all out of shape, eventually flipped on its side (lifting the pickup’s back wheels off the floor) and stuffed me into the central reservation. The whole thing lasted for nearly a mile, and my trousers, the entire seat cushion and half of the carpet got chewed up by my bum-hole (it was absofarkinlutely terrifying!). Fortunately it started snaking far enough before disaster to allow everyone following enough time to hang back and watch the show... I’m 100% certain this incident was caused by low tyre pressure in one of the rear tyres (it ended up popped off the rim), possible overloading and too much speed which became impossible to shed. Other than that one incident (which in no way can be blamed on the trailer, it was entirely driver error) my experiences of the towing behaviour of Ifors is entirely positive, and I have towed a lot of their trailers carrying a lot of weight a lot of miles. If you load them wrong (basically zero or negative nose weight) then they can snake, but so will any trailer. I’ve yet to find another manufacturer who can offer anything comparable that will take abuse and still sell very second hand for strong money either!

Any pics/details of age/mileage/payload etc?

I’d have a chat with your insurance company and see what they think. Is is there a written lift plan? If not, how did you spec the crane for the job? If the worst were to happen I’d suspect your driver would be in a lot of trouble - the problem is that his insurance probably wouldn’t pay out as you are paying crane hire not contract lift which would subsequently leave you in deep doo-doo too.

Google Lowther Forestry and ask for Ben Knipe.

Where is it?

Quantified Tree Risk Assessment. It is one of a number of tools that can be used to risk assess trees. What you are proposing in that location warrants a documented tree risk assessment undertaken by someone qualified imo.

Read this. You will need to arrange for a contract lift with a crane company (ie they arrange the lift plan and insure the lift). The technical guide in the link is a work in progress and is already very good - it would be worth sharing it with whichever crane company you look to use as some of the suggested techniques (riding the hook etc) are generally considered a no-no in crane work.

Clearfell. Job done. In all seriousness, get it QTRA (or equivalent!) surveyed and go from there would be my advice.

Surely the crane fed Heizo needs to be £750 plus a day?

Are they an arb supplier from the north by any chance?