monkeybusiness

Sorbus are there - I find their prices are as good as anyone’s (and they are a great firm to deal with IME!)

Seriously consider the Takeuchi TB225 if you are purchasing new and want to stay legal weight wise - it isn’t zero but these little diggers don’t have much overhang anyway.

I think you’ll be surprised what the crane won’t lift - the maximum capacity will effectively be so close to the slew ring it is actually within your forwarder so loading anything heavy from alongside/behind will quickly reduce capacity. Also loading height isn’t always great with a forwarding crane at full capacity, particularly if you still have the grab and rotator attached. These cranes are amazing at dragging heavy loads towards/onto themselves - I’m not sure that loading machinery that way will be the best idea though. I’d also second the speed with which you could crane-feed a small chipper. You’ll soon get fed up as it is generally quicker to feed little machines by hand. If you do go down this route then make sure you have visibility of the feed hopper/rollers from wherever you control the crane - if you can’t see what’s going on then it’s difficult to operate the machine effectively IME.

Sunday roasts are very good too (and good value imo).

Try flicking the switch a couple of times. Mine does that sometimes but the second press sees it dropping quicker.

Proper lasers are hard to beat to be honest. I've got a Trupulse from Sorbus - dear but accurate (enough for trees anyway!).

Is it your picus Steve? Aren’t the hammers about a million pounds?!... Sounds like a bad day.

To be fair, I did used to shout about it so I suppose I was fibbing earlier. If you watch that video and listen really really carefully you still won’t hear any alarms going off, even though that 60 tonne Tadano crane was working right on the limit of its straight-rigged radius. The crane was ‘good’ for 2 tonnes at that reach so we halved it in the lift plan and still had 4 trees out for dinner time (2 forwarding trailers of timber plus all the woodchip, so whilst not the biggest they weren’t tiny trees either). On any large dismantle the first thing I look at is getting a crane to it nowadays - they earn me far more money than they cost. Crane jobs have become pretty normal to us here as we use them whenever the job will allow.

Lol!

I would say what you’ve posted here proves why you should go for a contract lift tbh. When you do crane dismantles commercially the client usually insists on a lift plan (ours do anyway). We had done plenty of domestic crane work in the past (and continue to do so now) with a similar old boy who knows his onions and would tell us what we could and couldn’t do. No crabes fell over, everything went smoothly from where I was sat, happy days! However, we had a pretty tricky job for a big commercial customer so I put myself through the crane supervisor qualification and it was a real eye opener! You should never get anywhere near the crane’s rated capacity when applying a suspended load of unknown weight - it’s all well and good having a driver telling you he’s good for 2 tonnes so take a big piece (as in reality he probably wants to get home for tea - it’s basic human nature) but it’s a very different story when a 60 tonne crane working at 35m starts lifting its rear outleggers off the ground with the boom directly over your climber, and nowhere to drop the load... Measure the job out, specify what size crane you need, write a lift plan and stick to it - you shouldn’t here any alarms as long as you don’t play Bertie Big-Bollocks.

That’s all well and good when the load is on the floor - things are a lot different when the load is up in the air already!

I’ve done plenty pal, just don’t tend to shout about it as they are a pretty normal part of our operation.

It'd be the hirer's (ie the tree firm's) fault/responsibility if the crane tipped over if it wasn't a contract lift, whether the driver said it was fine or not. The crane driver has no say so as to how big/heavy a piece of timber is - once the climber has fixed the chains, wherever he decides to make the cut determines if the crane falls over or not. The driver can't necessarily control what the climber attaches to the crane, and as it isn't being picked up off the floor (whereby the lift can simply be abandoned if found to be too heavy) once it is cut it is instantly a suspended load, hopefully within the crane's capacity! Likewise if you go for crane hire and the ground gives way, it will fall to your insurance (who may subsequently pursue you for damages if you aren't qualified to draw up lift plans). You are correct in that it is unlikely a driver will purposely make an unsafe lift. Tree dismantles are too much of an unknown quantity to save a couple of hundred quid on the cheapest hire possible though IMO. If you've ever heard the crane alarm going off (even just a little bit) then you are sailing very close to the wind - you should never hear that noise if the lift is planned and undertaken correctly.

I think it largely comes down to LOLER tbh. A crane isn't necessarily designed for lifting people (although some are equipped for that specific work, but with dedicated man baskets) so for a start don't need to be subjected to 6 monthly inspections. Crane hire and contract lifts are two very different ways of booking/paying to have a crane on a job. If you go for basic crane hire, you are essentially responsible for the entire job (draw up the lift plan, specify the crane, blah blah blah) - if the crane tips over/the load falls etc then you should have the insurance in place to cover the issue (the crane company will seek damages from you for a start, before the householder who has a crane through their roof wants their house rebuilding at your expense etc). If you have basic crane hire then you may be able to ride the hook, as it is on your head (providing the driver is willing). If you go for a contract lift (which you really should, unless you know (and can defensibly prove you know) what you are on about) then all of the risk/insurance falls to the crane company. For the simple reason that the crane/lifting chains etc aren't designed and tested to lift people they are likely to refuse to lift you unfortunately.

It’s a joke with the police - as soon as you cross an imaginary county line the issue drops off the radar as it is into another force’s patch. It’s amazing any thieves ever get caught (I think it is only luck when they do tbh)!

I don’t know anything about L200s I’m afraid. If they are manual hubs (ie you have to physically get out and turn something on the hub itself by hand) then I doubt you’d get any sort of indication on the dash though.

Check your free wheel hubs are locking. Lock them whilst in 2wd and get underneath - you shouldn’t be able to turn the front prop shaft by hand if they are both locking correctly.

Yeah, my rotate is left thumb. Left trigger switches between tilt and extra service (ie grab) operated by right thumb. You’ll want rotate more than tilt when using the grab IME.

Sorry - mine cycles between the tilt, not rotate. All good either way!

Exactly the same as my Rototilt/Takeuchi - ace set up!! Wait until you drive a digger without it, your thumbs will become very confused....

Does that include the Engcon?... Do you switch between tilt and grab/extra service using the Kubota’s original joysticks? Who supplied/fitted?

That’s a cracker!!!

Or the weight of a 200 that cuts like a 200?!...

Looks a great saw - I just hope they get it right from the start. Their early electronic carbs were terrible and they did nothing to acknowledge it - I definitely wouldn’t rush in to buy any new Stihl tech again unfortunately.

Can probably get some in the morning. What sort of sizes are you after?