monkeybusiness

These E27 Bobcats are very planted for their size and handle the weight well, but you do need to be sensible whilst operating (and keep your bum-sensor switched on!). Stack height isn’t a problem for grab work as it’s not dangle mount and the rotator is really powerful so you can manipulate stuff through all sorts of angles to get it where you need it. It also gives you more reach which is always useful! It isn’t the right tilty for that machine if starting from scratch though, and the build height isn’t helped by it being under a quickhitch (so can easily be removed). I had the tilty from another bigger machine and it made sense to use it on this one - I wouldn’t be without it now but I’d definitely go with a smaller model (and probably direct mount) if spec’ing one up for a machine of this size again.

That Rototilt is for machines upto 6 tonnes and is HEAVY, I reckon you can knock at least 150kg off for it.

Where are they going to fit the tag?!….

E27 with heavy counterweight, tilty and grab is 3 tonnes dead, so the TB230 has a good 400kg on it in the real world.

Plenty of double wheel transits can’t though - I was going to buy a double cab tipper that had been factory built with unglazed rear doors opening into a toolbox. It could only tow around 2 tonnes unfortunately, so it was ruled out.

Yeah, the plated weights are often ‘optimistic’, especially once a quickhitch etc are fitted. Real-world ‘ready to work’ figures are probably best not researched too much….

Another awkward one was a big multiple conifer windblow that had gone across a few gardens behind a row of terraced houses. Householders have to claim off their own insurance, regardless of whose trees have fallen into their property. These trees where all knitted together and we used a crane and sorted access through the end house’s garden as they adjoined a bell mouth in the cul de sac (where we set the crane up). The job was held up for weeks while the individual insurance companies decided if they were/weren’t going to pay for their bit. I left it to the householder who initially called us to get it all sorted - as far as I and my bill were concerned it was one single job and I wasn’t going to fanny around apportioning costs to the 3 affected houses, as individually each job would have cost the same as the whole job anyway (and potentially more if one of the houses didn’t allow access).

Any idea what the 230 actually weighs? They look massive next to my E27 (which is already on the limits for towing).

The only reason I can think keeping the revs low would be of benefit is if you suspected it was too deep and water was likely to be sucked up the air intake - tick over would allow the engine to stall easily, hopefully minimising valve damage. Idiotic to be driving through that depth of water though!

You have to be careful with insurance companies as often the policy doesn’t cover removal of arisings, and I’ll bet that’s what they were angling for (to pass some of your cost on to the policy holder). We took a massive beech off/out of a house - 2 days with a 60 tonne crane, tractor and forwarding trailer etc etc. Price agreed before hand, job done to satisfaction, invoice submitted to homeowner (who happened to be a retired insurance loss adjuster!). The following week I received a call from his insurer questioning how much of our bill covered removal of arisings (I don’t tend to break invoices down, just stick the big number at the bottom). I explained that it wasn’t possible to break that aspect of the job down as we had to remove the material as we went to be able to work, there was nowhere to store material on site. Disposal was cost-neutral to us as we don’t have to pay to tip, and is all included within our rates. They kept trying to find an angle to knock their payout down but I sensed where they were going with the conversation. Tread carefully with insurance sharks….

Whatever you go for make sure it has 2x double acting proportional aux supplies (ideally operated by joystick rollers) - this will make adding attachments far easier in the future.

The globules are quite a bit bigger than frogspawn (which is hard to tell from the pics).

It’s a very similar consistency to frog spawn, yes.

Nothing ate it last year, it eroded over a couple of weeks.

I’m certain it’s not deer, they are very rare around here and the ground is so wet that their presence/tracks would be easy to see. Part of me thinks it might somehow be fungal. It’s almost exactly 12 months since it last appeared in the very same spot.

Alright then hive-mind, can someone identify this clear jelly substance please? It has just appeared on paddock grass next to a pond, and also turned up in exactly the same place this time last year. It also has what looks like lumps of scat in it.

I’ve scaffolded a tree like that before removal to prevent further damage (not personally, I employed a scaffold firm to do it).

What model branch logger, and what does the finished product look like?

Were you towing anything? If your load was being sold then a trailer would take you over the 3.5 tonnes ‘hire and reward’ threshold whereby you would have needed a tachograph etc.

The only power station in the whole of the uk, silly me.

You clearly don’t know what you are talking about!

Where’s that Eggs? I’m in France so not relevant but interested to know where gigs are happening.

Ordering a single new-order van from a dealer leaves you wide open to being bummed - list prices are always mental and they charge extra for everything on a factory order. You’re better off finding a dealer with pre-registered stock as you’ll have a better chance of negotiating a deal. Fleet orders trigger big manufacturer discounts and some leasing companies will bulk-buy - have a look online for the type of van you are after and be prepared to do a deal at the other end of the country. Vehicles sitting registered on forecourts are about to be a year older (even though they are essentially brand new) - this makes them cheaper to buy too.

Only if it had been soaked in liquid uranium.