monkeybusiness

Hi - we are felling a couple of big ash trees and a few sycamores in the middle of Usk next week and need a home for the logs and chip. If anyone is interested please give me a ring on 07970188050. Cheers, Dan

Dunno really, I'm open to offers. It's got Mot etc, is the big 3l engine (amazing tow truck), huge chip box, uprated springs. Needs a couple of tyres and has an occasional intermittent starting fault but runs perfectly once started.

Where are you in the country? I've got an Iveco daily double cab and Toyota dyna tipper both looking for new homes but haven't got around to advertising. They are a bit rough cosmetically and might need a bit of spannering but both have decent chip boxes and are ready to earn money. I'm in Cheshire, not far from Crewe if of interest.

If the groundy kept up with the brash with that chipper on that job then you need a quicker climber!

I know JPM will build them in from the factory if you want.

Attach a ball hitch to the headboard to help secure, and winch it in/out via a strop around the chipper's axle as it gives the ability to steer it still. It's at least a two man job loading and unloading though!

This is great advice. We sub to a number of these large outfits, GC are pretty good to be honest but it would be easy to grow your business on the back of any one of them promising/requiring/demanding all of your resources right now for a really important project they are struggling to deliver. The problem is none of them (IME) offer sustained, guaranteed long term work - remember that you are simply providing them with a resource that they can pick up and put down at will - don't get too dependant on any one of them as the workload can dry up very quickly and there is no loyalty with any of them, no matter what they tell you. Also watch how much you end up bank-rolling these firms for - it is very easy to have them owing you £30k, then £40k, then £50k etc. You never get that money out of them until you stop working for them as their payment terms can be pretty poor (Ground Control tend to be 30 days which isn't too bad). If they go bump (which unfortunately appears to happen frequently in this game - look at Fountains and Man Coed as examples of firms that have gone bust and taken subbies for hundreds of thousands of pounds, sometimes more than once which seems ridiculous but is the world we live in!) then you will lose whatever money they owe you. Use them only as an additional work stream (in the same way that they will use you) but don't ever get into any of them for more money than you can afford to lose would be my advice.

Get a lorry and a box of matches pal.

I largely agree, but at the same time some trees/shelterbelts hide unpleasant views also. What do the apartments look like when viewed from the sea/opposite shore etc? I'm into the Ozzy approach apparently used under such circumstances around Sydney harbour - replant and at the same time erect an enormous billboard that blocks the newly acquired view with information as to why said billboard now exists.

I've got a 3l 2006 Iveco daily 3.5 tonner (same colour/shape as your 6 tonner) with a good engine that's due to find a new home. The rest of the truck is tatty but the engine is a peach. I'm not sure about the electronics on these with regards ease of swapping though.

What he said. If you want to make a really good job of it run some leads from your 4x4's battery to your towbar terminating in an anderson connector, and have a lead from your trailer's battery with a similar connector so you can charge the trailer whenever you tow it with your truck.

Take your hat off to the man - he's investing his money and doing something that will be everywhere in a couple of years I'd imagine. He is ahead of the curve with this and I'd imagine will make some decent money quickly if he can find a market for the products.

This is the sort of strengthening that should help (hopefully!)

Get two cheapies (non genuine Isuzu) or get yours repaired and keep one as a spare - they are prone to failing every so often (normally when someone turns the key with a bit of timber jamming the flywheel after running down with the feed rollers engaged). You should pick them up from any decent auto electrician off the shelf, or next day if not. You are potentially in the mire when they fail as you effectively have 2 tonnes of immobile deadweight parked wherever you last turned it off. The starter is quite awkward to remove/refit on that model too, but can be done without removing any of the exhaust. Refitting the winch loom (where fitted) is the most awkward bit...

Have you had any issues bending the grab shells? I've got a Cranab timber grab (which to be fair is built very strong for what it is) fixed on a 6 tonne machine and it doesn't like abuse to be honest. I'm going to replace it with a demo grab that closes tip to tip as they are much much stronger - timber grabs are designed to free-swing and in my experience can't handle twisting forces.

I've just done NPORS excavator, excavator as a crane, lorry loader and road roller (needed that one for a particular job). The assessor came to my site for the day, did a written test for each item of plant in the morning, then he set me various tasks to complete so he could assess my competence with the machines. I updated my touchscreen health and safety test and now hold an NPORS card with the CSCS logo. The card lists the attachments tested on the assessment too, so states 'Attachments: Includes Tilt Rotator with Grab, Fully-automatic Quick Hitch Awareness'. It cost nowhere near the CSCS prices suggested on here, in either time or money.

What is the frequency of the future refreshers going to be? Will it be a similar case of refreshing every unit? Will there be any crossover with CS units (at present there appears to be confusion whereby you can refresh UA2.1 - 2.3 but still need to do CS climbing/chainsaw refreshers, basically covering the same things twice. Has this lunacy/NPTC cash cow been addressed?).

So there's no point doing UA refreshers at present then? Are these live now?

I couldn't make it down there unfortunately, but thought it worth adding my thoughts on show deals etc. A few years ago at an APF I was doing the usual stand-to-stand price comparisons to tick off my shopping list. I had a good chat with one supplier in particular, ordered everything from them, had a better deal than I would have done by shopping around for the individual items, and have continued to use them for all kit/uniform needs to this day (other than chainsaws, which I prefer to buy local for warranty purposes etc). Building a decent relationship with a supplier can pay dividends IME. These shows are a great way of putting faces to names and seeing new kit in the flesh, but I can't be bothered with the faff of trying to save a fiver here and there.

So the dipper holes are above/below each other? If so, (and equidistant from the tipping link hole) they will alter the crowd. Go for the one closest to the cutting edge.

361 was the best saw out there - don't expect to find anything that will match it nowadays though. We've had a number of 362s since they first started making them - the first ones without autotune were flat (compared to the 361) but were reliable to be fair. We subsequently ended up with 2 of the early autotune saws and they are absolute dog toffee - been in the dealers more than with us and every time within 2 weeks of coming back are as bad as ever - they won't idle, they have no power - basically I won't ever buy a saw of this size from Stihl again. They are absolute crap. Buy a 560xp - we had a few problems with one of the first ones of those, but every one since has been mega (and will outcut every 362 any day of the week).

Widest between the pins will give most breakout. A 15 tonner shouldn't struggle too much either way.

Cheers Paul. All good here sir, have a great show!

In addition to NPTC, in competition with NPTC, instead of NPTC?

Back weighted trailer - exactly like the demo above. I bet the Land Rover driver made a brown fish in his panties!