monkeybusiness

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!

That's not the best of it - they gave me £16500 plus vat back for my 12 month old 65 plate 12000 mile old shape Navara in part exchange (all I'd done since I bought it was put fuel in it). They had sold it to me for £17500 plus vat! Chorley Nissan - seriously good value there. And the Nissan comes with a 5 year warranty. Just saying like...

Definitely try the Navara Pete - they've got all the bells and whistles, 18k service intervals, pull like a train, super comfortable, and there are mega deals to be had (I gave £19500 plus vat for mine brand new, top spec). Best truck out there IMO.

There's only one size option now - 2.3l. Mine is the twin turbo (I think it's 190hp). The upcoming Merc pickup is based on the Navara and will apparently have a 3l V6 - that will be a good tool (but undoubtedly be horrendously expensive). If Nissan fit that to the Nav I'd seriously consider it.

I know this place is full of haters, but my new Navara tows very well. I wasn't sure about going down in engine size but it is very very good - loads of grunt.

Yeah - it's too slow for most stuff in creep (and a faff to change between ranges unfortunately) and a little bit 'keen' for the bigger trees in 1st low as it is running at full revs for the mulcher. This particular site was mostly cab-height stuff though, and it was largely happy at it's own speed in 1st. It's 150hp and manages the mulcher well to be honest - you definitely wouldn't want any less power though (I think you could always use more than you've got with these machines to be fair!). The mulcher is a Berti/Teagle DT ECF250, and does a great job for a swinging flail machine. I hear/agree with you TCD regards the risk zone - the guys were well to the side (it's a bit deceiving in the video) and the machine only sends stuff 'at pace' straight forwards and backwards, but they have strayed a bit too close really.

A little vid of my Deutz Agrotron having a workout on the mulcher. [ame] [/ame]

They arr a great idea but the ones I've seen appear to have deformed a bit (possibly due to the sun on a hot day?). The toolbox doors don't look amazingly secure.

I run older out-of-warranty Greenmechs and know them pretty well (with a massive amount of my knowledge gained hands-on with direction over the phone from their very helpful technical support). Two of my machines cost less than one new equivalent (whatever the manufacturer), but they do require good maintenance (but so does a new one). I certainly wouldn't consider them worthless/unreliable after 3 years (with the exception of cheap Chinese crap, I don't think there are any manufacturers who supply woodchippers into our marketplace that are as poor as you suggest). When looked after properly chippers are not unreliable - we've got a 1928 Safetrac with over 3000 hours on it - it isn't pretty but it turns wood into chip. My thought process for operating this way is that if/when I suffer a breakdown, I'm not totally reliant on that single machine. It gives a bit of breathing space in the event of a serious failure. Big expensive failures are pretty infrequent in reality if you are handy with the grease gun and keep an ear out for strange noises. It becomes harder if you are sending lads out operating older machines - the maintenance regime needs to be top notch then, with potential issues picked up in the workshop before they aren't noticed out on site... And a brand new machine can become unusable just as quickly as a second hand one if abused/not maintained. As for the subject of this thread, I take my hat off to Forst. They stepped straight into the marketplace with a viable product and appear to stand behind it/support it wholeheartedly. If I'm honest I think their appearance forced other manufacturers to up their respective games, bringing new machines out with further advances in design that we perhaps wouldn't have seen so quickly. I have read/heard about various issues with Forst machines, but have seen/experienced issues with all of their competitors at one point or another. It has been said before many times but is worth reinforcing - parts availability and dealer/manufacturer backup is worth far more than the badge/colour of the machine you end up operating. That is what will get you back up and running WHEN you experience issues.