Treewolf

This just cracks me up, the sound is absolutely spot-on! Genius! I'm also glad that kid 1 did actually manage to pull kid 2's arm off, he's giving the starting handle a pretty vigorous cranking! lol

One of the things I find interesting about this, which I haven't seen receiving much comment, is that originally the tax was applied to road fuel. If you had a vehicle that never went on the road (and wasn't capable of going on the road, i.e., unregistered and not taxed) it could run on red. Now it would appear that this is no longer the case. Therefore if you own something like an unregistered vintage tractor that isn't used for ag, forestry, or horticulture but just as a hobby or for low-loadering to shows etc., it appears it must run on white.

Not the gunbus, though, it's a very long Td5 pickup (and, yes, apparently there are two)....

Sadly no longer true, you can get cordless 12" angle grinders now. Nothing is safe any longer.

I thought that it was illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender.

Have you considered oxy-propane? Much safer than oxy-acetylene especially if you have to transport the bottles.

A little off-topic perhaps, but has anyone here used the Festool Sword-Saw? If so, any feedback? Also can anyone tell me if Festool and Mafell tracks are interchangeable? Thanks!

I drilled a series of 50mm holes in the sides and ends of a 20-footer I use for storage using a mag drill and rotabroach cutter, then stuck a square of mesh on the inside over each hole with Sikaflex. It has made a huge improvement to the condensation problem.

Which you can because, as an oil, it is not covered by the petroleum spirit regulations (although many fillings stations, especially those at supermarkets, don't seem to realise this).

What's the verdict on Mafell, I've been told they are good?

If that is the case, would a dose of Adblue work as well? That is supposedly mainly urea.

Wonderful film, and they don't make narrators who sound like that any more! I imagine that H&S people will be shocked by that film too, it's a wonder that anyone survived a day at work, but it was an era when common sense was, well, common.

None of the official databases record the unladen weight of a vehicle, which is the one that determines DPV status, and most manufacturers don't even declare it. It is therefore utterly impossible at present for any ANPR or camera system to determine if a vehicle is a DPV or not. Even human plod or VOSA has no way to determine the unladen weight easily. The kerb weight or mass in service is not the same thing as the unladen weight and is invariably heavier.

Unless a Ranger is over 2040kg unladen (which I don't know) or is the 4x2 variant rather than the 4x4, then it is a Dual Purpose vehicle and is subject to the same speed limits as a car. This suggests that either (a) you received an incorrect ticket which you should/could have contested, (b) you were actually in a 50mph limit, possibly without realising it, (c) you were towing a trailer, or (d) you don't have 4WD on your Ranger. I suggest that (a) or (b) are probably the most likely.

I would only use genuine Hi-Lift myself, I have several, the oldest of which is perhaps 45 years old and still works perfectly. I'm told that Jackall are also good, but I've never owned or used one. As with all tools, (especially Tirfors) most copies are inferior, some dangerously so. The Hi_lift "First Responder" is a great tool but absurdly expensive unless you simply must have the extra features, and very few people actually need them. The only real clever bit of the FR is the redesigned foot, and it isn't difficult to make one. I reckon you could make about 100 feet for the price of the jack!

If I recall correctly that is the safety catch for the rope release lever and does only stick out on one side, it's flush on the other. You'd press that in in order to be able to move the release lever backwards (towards the anchor point) to release the rope and allow it to be pulled through towards the load. It should pop out again when you push the rope release forward to re-engage the jaws and grip the rope. It should stick out on one side only, but be flush on the other. When pressed (against an internal spring) it will stick out on the normally flush side. if you look at the video in the link on page 4 of this thread, especially at around the 5m24s mark, you can see clearly what is inside the box at this point. It does look as though there is something amiss with yours, I'm afraid. That does look to be a fairly old machine, I think,

Big difference on VED, for a Defender it's the difference between £270 and £580 pa at present. If you don't 'fess up to the change then it's not tax avoidance (which is legal), it's tax evasion, which is illegal. If you get caught, expect uncomfortable penalties from HMRC. Remember also that your insurance will look for any excuse not to pay out, and undeclared modifications are way up their list of exciting discoveries. That also probably means you're legally uninsured. Then of course there are the type approval aspects, which require that any seats fitted are of a type which has been type approved and fitted in a type approved way, otherwise you'll require SVA. It really isn't a good idea even to think about it nowadays. Those days are over.

That puts it into perspective very well. It's also around £3k for every UK taxpayer.

Remember though that the max gross weight you can tow on a ball (or for that matter with over-run brakes) is 3.5 tonnes, so a ball & pin hitch with a 4 tonne rating can still only tow 3.5 tonnes gross on the ball, but can tow 4 tonnes gross on the pin with coupled brakes.

Yes, this is normal on a Puma (and 2008 will be a 2.4 Puma). It is a feature known as "idle jack" which has the effect of raising the tickover speed of the engine when (a) the t-box is in low range, (b) the clutch is in, and (c) there is no throttle input from the pedal. The reason it was implemented is because it was found during testing that first gear low range was so low that engine braking on steep loose descents was sufficient to break traction and cause a loss of control. The "solution" was to raise the idle speed and hence reduce the amount of engine braking. It can be a minor inconvenience under certain circumstances (such as precision manoeuvring of a trailer) but generally is just one of those things you get used to after a while. Landrover forums are full of people asking how to turn it off, but there is no practical way to do so. The engine ECU doesn't use the high/low switch to determine the transfer gear, it does this based on matching engine and road speed, so really the only way to stop it is to do an ECU hack. Then of course you'd have the "problem" that idle jack was intended to overcome. You will also find that, as in all post-TD5 Defenders and Discos, the mapping of throttle pedal deflection to fuel delivery changes in low range, so a greater movement of the pedal is needed for the same rev increase compared to high range. You do get used to it after a while, but it is odd when you first drive a Puma after an earlier Defender.

It's hard to understand how they ever thought that that would work! The bloke with the saw looks completely unconcerned afterwards when he walks out into the road, I'm not convinced he was even aware that a cyclist had had such a near miss. Unbelievable!

I said it in the very first reply! It doesn't matter what the pated weight of the trailer is, provided that the actual weight doesn't exceed the maximum allowable towed weight for the vehicle. Nearly 7 pages of red herrings and piffle later we still have the same conclusion. "Justme" - thank you for also talking sense!

It is not an offence provided that the gross weight of trailer and load does not exceed 1800kg, and the overall gross train weight does not exceed the gross train weight allowed for the vehicle.

This may be a question that everyone else knows the answer to, but I don't.... If you are a freelance self employed climber, is the provision of appropriate rescue arrangements down to you (as you are your own employer) or the outfit you are contracted to?

Under the circumstances described I'd be inclined to rig a pair of single or double sheave becketted blocks for a two or four part pull and use a long rope pulled manually. Pulling up a near vertical slope there shouldn't be too much to snag, and since the cut parts are to be wheelbarrowed away they can't be too heavy. Looking on eBay you can buy a brand new double-sheave block (ship's style) for around £20, and I would have thought, bearing in mind the proximity to the coast and fishing boats, second hand blocks wouldn't be hard to find. It's not a commercial operation and no-one is underneath the pull, so LOLER etc isn't an issue. I have to say that I greatly admire the OP's determination and effort, and I only hope that when I retire I am as fit as he clearly is! Repeatedly pulling logs up a 30m slope with a Tirfor - the thought alone makes me hurt! I'd consider it for a single log if it was worth it, but repeatedly, no way!