monkeybusiness

Can you remove the pins from the Botex and fabricate a flat(ish) floor to low-load a digger? Or get a low loader trailer and take the lot? Chuck the chipper and/or mulcher on an Ifor Williams (or stick it on the front linkage if not too heavy - not an option with my set up though). That’s what I do, but it costs a bit more (and isn’t as versatile if you just want to drag a little digger to the job).

You can get the new 2.7 tonne zero Bobcat on 0% at the moment, can be spec’d with double proportional aux and a canopy if you are worried about weight... I don’t know if they are any good, but I can’t see it being too hard to get enough work to cover the payments!

It looks better without it, I’m with your mother in law here!...

I seem to spend my life dealing with people wanting a different piece of paper to the guy on the previous job (I’m talking about our generics/qualifications etc, not SSRAs which are obviously completed site specifically). They all want the work their bosses are paying us to do to be done yesterday, but seem to have issues with irrelevant minutiae before the get-go. And our paperwork is genuinely bang on (it has to be with some of our clients, which is fair enough!). I can’t believe how many of these people exist, and how much it must cost to employ them all, as none of them ever seem to do anything other than generate filing cabinets full of arse covering crap!

How do they prove competence / set benchmarks for safety etc in Scandinavia? Or are they a bit more pragmatic about it and don’t subsequently answer to industry governing bodies in the same way as we do here? You could run the risk of introducing a whole new raft of requirements to work on top of the not-fit-for-purpose load of crap that currently exists - I’d be more inclined to suggest tying in with (and trying to influence) a big player such as the FC that is a widely known body whatever your background, and subsequently carries weight (in terms of ‘trees are trees’ to the layman/builder/civil engineer etc etc). Mechanised deveg is not in any way a new idea, and the FC (for all of their faults) have more experience than anyone else in the U.K. in putting soft, breakable human beings inside big strong machines to keep them safe and make them more productive in a dangerous environment. The AA and the NPTC aren’t going to help here - IMO they’ve done nothing to get our industry specific accreditation recognised by the CSCS mafia (they handed it off to BALI, who introduced the total bullshit ROLO tax) - that’s the main problem I see you facing, anything more task specific won’t be recognised in its own right. It’ll all come to a head when someone has an accident with a machine, and the task specific tickets are looked into (and found not to exist). I’d be hedging my bets with the FC/FMOC route personally, and think that the owner operators with the biggest investments and subsequently the most to lose if/when the shit eventually hits the fan are best placed to try and steer it from the beginning. But that’s just my view.

This is true, but for the price they offer something very well made and recognised that shouldn’t cause any HSE issues in the event of something disastrous happening... I had my fabricator mate look at making me something and whilst you will never really beat something designed and built bespoke for a particular person’s application it wasn’t worth messing with this time when Cabcare’s offering is as good as it is for the price it is. Talking to them at the APF I got the impression that they are in discussion with the FC with regards a benchmark for this type of excavator guarding. They are also apparently open to suggestions from operators about industry specific improvements to their guards. If you don’t already know him, give Adrian Grew from there a ring and bounce some ideas off him - he’s a very decent guy who knows his onions.

It’s a very well thought out guard on that Kobelco - makes my cabcare (which is spot on to be fair) look rather second best! Cabcare were great when I ordered from them to their credit - I wanted the top section of the screen guard easily removed for when not ‘treeing’ and they adapted their design so that it’s a 1 man lift-off with 4 bolts (previously the whole front piece needed to come away as the bottom section won’t self-support, which is a much bigger job). No extra cost, still certified, happy to help sir! Great company.

I bet it’s because it’s a really low volume machine specific part outsourced (and because of the low volume subsequently supplied at a similar price to JCB as something you could buy as a customer direct from CabCare or whoever). JCB will then need to put their margin on it, potentially stock them somewhere for forward distribution, get them to a relevant dealer etc etc. I’m not trying to justify it, it’s bonkers money, but I can sort of see how relatively specialist parts like that quickly become expensive. I’d imagine you saw the guarding on the 8 tonne Kobelco on the Molson stand at the APF? I’m not sure who supplied that but it was very well thought out IMO, with the bars angled to minimise line-of-site obstruction. Might be worth investigating it’s source?

I’d want to see the inlet manifold downstream of the air filter personally, and see what sort of built up residue is present. There shouldn’t really be anything if the air filter set up works properly. If it’s clean, you need to look elsewhere for reasons for continued failure (overheating/oil starvation etc)

I think that Bartletts vid (and the apparent lack of obvious consequences with regards approved contractor status) did the AA no favours at all within the industry unfortunately.

I’m not sure I understand - what are they all shooting at? A hill?

Yeah, this is a terrier!

I’ve had several moments when I’d like to shoot my own dog - once he cocked his leg on a toddler on a beach, he used to bark at/attack wheelchairs, out of nowhere he will want to do nothing other than hump someone he’s never met before, he’s locked himself in the van (with the keys) more than once... Absolute bellend - I can’t actually describe how much I love him though!

Not wrong. Also great for in-tree pre-tensioning of bracing (where relevant).

That’s what tracked chippers are for...

Two ratchets, two straps - they are both essentially doing exactly the same pull, but you tension/winch with one of them, then do the same with the next before releasing and shortening the first.

And it does help if you know how to run the webbing through the ratchet correctly too...

Both straps are hooked to same anchor points if that makes sense? It’s actually easiest to hook the second strap into the first straps hooks I find.

They aren’t joined together lengthways, they are both joined back to back.

Winch until one ‘spool’ is full, then winch with the second, undo and shorten first, repeat...

That's where they grow, it's a pin oak.

Without seeing the site in person I think this is a bit of a sweeping statement (unless you do actually have personal experience of this very worksite). MEWPs are great, but they aren't the right tool for every job. There might not be the access for one. The ground conditions might not be suitable to set one up. There might be restrictions in place regarding their use because of the proximity to the overhead network. From the vid, the tree looks perfectly climbable. I'm going to assume there is a decent clear drop zone (from the fact the guy is going for a big fell), so no rigging required. For all we know the management team have sent out a trained, competent workforce with the correct kit to undertake what appears to be a relatively straight forward removal from a rope and harness. You may be correct that the management are at fault, but if the climber is trained and deemed competent by a recognised awarding body, and he hasn't been forced to do what he did then I can't really see the blame lying with anybody other than the climber (with the possible exception of a team leader if there was one on site more senior than the cutter himself - they should have instructed a different approach IMO).

What is Predator’s servicing intervals/schedule for the air filter, and have you followed it? And did they fit the new engines? If so I’d try speaking to them personally.

I got a month ban for swearing a couple of years ago - I guess the moderators’ are a bit more lenient nowadays!

Are you going to do much road work with it? You could ballast the wheels with water too.