Dean O

I would really like to have that trailer!

sorry just re read your original post you already have a 4x4 and tipper trailer... just add a tranny, then your covered for everything. maybe a plant trailer so you can load the tipper trailer up without having to tip off prior to end of day. I like trailers - their always handy..

how about a cheep but tidy tranny, a 4x4 (eg a defender 90 or other) and tipper trailer. 90 can be for tool storage and tow the chipper off road and if your having to remove chip from a muddy site could tow the trailer in and out too tranny for the every day use, but the 90 could be taken along where the trailer would be handy for extra capacity. all bases covered. 6 k for a 90, 4 k for the trailer 6 k for the tranny? what's the budget? I'm biased because I like landies and they just happen to be what suits us most of the time.

we are doing similar at the moment, but maybe only sixty trees over 10 streets. I've approached it in the same manner as you, 2 climbers 2 groundies working together. one chipper the efficiency breaks down when parked cars split the work area though - its in a residential area but many seem to park up and walk into town to work - so owners are untraceable. much of it is silky work and ive been trialing an electric topper - so night time would be possible but even less likely to get cars shifted.?.

might add a bit of wear on the clutch/ drive train if its hilly there? Would it struggle reversing the heavy chipper up and into a sloping drive way when empty? I know our cabstars very light on the back end and I wouldn't even attempt to push our ifor up some of the driveways around here with a bit of weight in it.

I personally wouldn't worry too much on the remaining shelf life. I would retire it when either it looked like it needed to be during weekly/daily checks or when the loler inspector condemned it. if your the type to be using a cambium saver daily then 5 years is a long time to keep a piece of kit in use, though I must admit that mine doesn't see the light of day very often. Although the response you've had from the retailer sounds a bit poor.

someone mentioned their new 230 was doing the same - but replaced on warranty I believe

Thanks for all the suggestions guys - I managed to get hold of some uber sealant so I've tried that for the short term and seems to have worked for now. It wont last forever but Ive had so much on the 'quick fix' has had to do. I was worried that the concrete fillet might be porous enough to allow some water through, I think the best idea might be cutting a slant into the plinth, I had thought of it but discounted it as I thought it likely I'd make a mess of it - but I hadn't thought of a render finish to tidy - so might give this a go in the summer. Thanks again Dean

Think I agree with Billy there, have you got any neighbours that might complain about the light tho? a few good sensors and a light switch by the back door, for when you go running out the house in only your boxers, baseball bat in hand for the burglars, would solve it otherwise. on the other hand if your targeted a light on would help them if they know your not about...

Its more rain running down the outside of the wall then travelling in, but the length of guttering's a good idea as it would still work, unfortunately Id have to make the gap bellow the wall sheets bigger, which seems counter productive. Scraggs - as you say - The walls move about in heavy wind, not much but enough to pop the bond between the sealant and the concrete, this was the thinking behind not trying to seal the wall gap and instead using a 'dam' approach a little further in. looking at Sika sealants.... 'Sikaflex 291i Marine Adhesive & Sealant' might be the one to go for? Tiger seal's got good review too, thanks David

Long shot but thought I'd ask... Water runs down the wall of our steel shed, gets to the concrete base then flows into the shed. the walls should overlap the plinth so the water never gets chance to get in - but they don't on this side of the shed due to a measuring mishap and some bulging shuttering . I cant change the width of the shed, Id thought of chamfering the plinth, but I cant think of a quick way of doing this that would leave a good finish. I had put a bead of sealant around the inside and outside, this helped but not completely. I felt that while stopping some water getting in, it might also be stopping it getting back out too, so I pulled it all off and put a new length of silicone sealant along the floor, an inch or two inside the wall to act as a dam. it didn't work, and is worse than ever, not sure if it didn't cure before getting wet, hasn't bonded to the painted, concrete floor (or other?) any one know of a product like a self adhesive rubber, waterproof weather strip, or whether an alternative sealant might work better? thanks in advance.

how are the other boards held up? could you just use an antiluce pin (not sure if that's what its called) with a padlock thro'?

I've sold equipment on earborist before. Few years ago so I don't remember the cost. obviously not as many lookers as ebay, but I didn't have any time wasters or chancers, it sold quickly. there's always an element of luck

I bought a cabstar to replace a landy 130 tipper its a 10 plate with around 65k miles on it. its been a good vehicle but not without any issues at all. it was a lease vehicle used by an LA somewhere down south as a plastic recycling collection vehicle, no tow bar on it either so hadn't been worked too hard. about six months into having it - it needed a new clutch, I put this down to continually stopping & starting and crawling along in its previous life. to be fair I was expecting a massive bill but I'm sure I remember it was only around £500. it failed its second MOT on worn suspension bushes and a knackered calliper on the rear. Unfortunately you cant get bushes alone so it needed whole new dampers, I did all round while I was at it as again It wasn't going to be a big bill - sorry cant remember the total cost. I remember thinking that the calliper was expensive. To be fair on the van I think the brake problem was caused as the handbrake lever gets held up a little by the seatbelt clip in the middle seat, The member of staff who drives it likes to use the handbrake to its full potential, so I think it possibly seized on over a weekend after wet weather and stayed on? Im used to landies and tend to only lightly use the handbrake and park it in gear any way. its the 130bhp engine and pulls really well, its fine with the chipper, though I wouldn't use it regularly with the Ifor Williams brimmed with logs, its hilly in places around here and you need a bit of weight on the truck for traction - as with the old ones they re pretty light on the back I'm sure your old body would need some fabrication to fit as D-D-Dan said its almost certainly a different chassis - so I guess it depends how handy/how much time you've got for a project versus having one ready to go to work. Just in case you notice - I've got one for sale - so I feel I should say that this isn't a sales pitch, and explain that for us - while its great at carrying people and a payload, narrow for domestic driveways, great turning circle, comfortable, you can hear yourself think in it etc. - its pants off road and that's what I need right now, so I've replaced it with another landy. the older cabstars are still in high demand, theres no denying they were good, but I think there's always a mentality of - they don't make them like they used to... however I'm not sure that's right, and they are starting to get on a bit in age now.

I don't know if its just me but Ive had to watch that so many times to work out what the heck was going on and how it managed to go so wrong. A proper balls up to get it to come off sideways and slide back towards yourself like that. Now I've seen it done I'll make sure I'll try and avoid doing it.

Just noticed that this thread had resurfaced for those looking into it or had contributed to it, thanks..... with what some people had recommended and from the bit of research I did I actually didn't purchase the perfect rope at all. we use double estleron for our rigging applications but the outer core isn't great against friction so I avoided it. also anything with polypropylene is to be avoided. I wanted to avoid anything with a tendency to stretch for fear of any recoil. The job I used it for was hauling small clumps of cut rhody up a cliff (no target bellow), with nowhere to place an elevated redirect to keep the rope out of the mud/shale. so at the time it worked out best to purchase small lengths of off cuts like: Braid on Braid Polyester Marine Rope 12m x 12mm Reel End Offcut Fender Mooring | eBay and just keep replacing they are relatively local so I could pop along as and when needed I'm not sure if 'braid on braid' is what I know as double braid? - if anyone can clear that up for me? but it seemed to work well for the application we used it for (relatively light)

I would say that the salary you are offering is reasonable. |It is more than I would expect a foreman or charge hand to achieve in this neck of the woods (south wales), however your location would have to be taken into account. As you mention the achievable day rate is often the limiting factor. Up your rate to pay the increased wage bills then find you loose the majority of jobs you have quoted for and no longer need a foreman..... If the local subbies are charging anything up-to £200 there must be a glut of work? In my opinion don't bother detailing things such as allowances this just muddies the water and begs questions, focus on what you expect an applicant to give you and what you expect to give in return. We too are a AAAC - as of October last year we were looking for 4 new, extra, guys for work over the winter period. it took me till January to fill the posts and ended up taking on some temporaries to get us through the workload - I put it down to the time of year - and possibly the worry many people have regarding changing jobs. It can be a big leap for many - leaving any permanent job, even for a new one can be scary, I know of many people (not necessarily in arb) who simply cant get a permanent job and flit from temporary to temporary position. another factor may have been that there seemed to be a wage hike for utility cutters which tempted many arbs over. Good luck with your search, however tempting to get some one in don't rush to get the right guys - the finance side of things cant be changed.

I wouldn't have thought of weldmesh - this would be great for removing the need for cleaning the trailer floor... I can put my hands on plenty of Norway spruce planks (if I mill them), this is pretty light when dry, but would they be strong enough, or durable enough.. say at 1.5 - 2 inch.?

I need to replace the floor on one of our plant trailers. last one I did I removed the old phenolic, replaced with ply and the covered with ali... right or wrong it worked and has lasted well enough. this trailers a bit bigger - it carries a tracked chipper so has to be a robust floor. would it be more efficient to use a 3 mm ali chequer plate without the ply base? ie would it be strong enough alone?? It may well be a silly question - ive got a large list of tasks over the xmas break and this would cut the job in half if it would be sufficiently strong. I'm guessing not and would largely depend on the strength of the bearers but thought I'd think out loud - anyone done this? the alternative at the moment is to take all three of our trailers into an ifor dealer and see what I can get for them against a new larger tipper with ramps that will carry either the stumpy, chipper plus tip arrisings if required... thanks Dean

Fen 01 - go for standard parts unless you want to go down the routes of lifts etc. standard parts are hard to beat, and cheap. I've replaced standard items with 'heavy duty' parts in the past - with the idea of reducing body roll when loaded etc and it turned out more boat like than it was with the knackered standard parts.

if I put in 35mm cable from the landy battery to a 175 amp Anderson socket at the rear.... then wire from the ifor battery terminals to a socket and connect it to the landy when in use..keeping the battery in place on the ifor and connected as it would be otherwise.... will this passively charge the ifor battery (or cause a problem somewhere)? or should there be some sort of charge diverter like when running a second battery for winch use, and having it charged from the alternator?? sorry Im a muppet when it comes to electricery

Tom D - have you gone for that sort of plug because of melting other plugs? I was thinking the shape of the Anderson would mean I could tuck it away neatly on top of the rear cross member (tho a minor consideration) I was planning on getting rid of the trailer battery rather than going down the route of trickle charger. I think a trickle would do the job if I was using it frequently, but this isn't the case, and when used might be required to tip once or twice in a day to tip logs from a job. what sort of heavy wire do you use, I was looking at 35mm2 battery wire with a 75 amp connector electrics is something I just don't get. Eddie - its amazing how cheap solar is now. Tommy 7840 - to save me getting the measuring tape out - was this on a 110 what lengths of wire did you require, and what wire did you use? Thanks Dean

thanks guys Id considered a trickle charger - but its the periods of inactivity on the battery causing the problems I think The solar panel idea is a good one, I'd have it so that I could un plug it when the trailers in use as its bound to loose its efficiency being covered with chip dust (which seems to get everywhere somehow) and muck... or just plain broken. The only draw back of the Anderson connector idea - I had thought of is that unless I carry out the fitment to all of the vehicles it ties the trailer to one of the trucks for its use.....

has any one linked their tow vehicle to a tipper trailer by way of an Anderson connector. we use our tt85 so infrequently that every time I return to it the battery is flat. I appreciate a new battery would probably help but thought this might be a good way round it?? any one know what ampage rated connector would be appropriate for this application? thanks Dean

I don't know any freelancers that use t and c's, however deciding on some would be worthwhile, from conditions of payment to what you bring to the party should all be detailed, stops any argument. if you are a contract climber you turn up to their site and work along side them and for them, under their instruction. you are under their employment for the day. your employer must look out for your health and safety under H&S legislation - dems d rules. so... if its un-climbable (and clearly so) when you get to site then this needs to be discussed between you and the employer - the result being it isn't climbed - granted, not always that simple when the safety is iffy in your opinion and the employer recons it OK. The working at height assessment should have covered this. If it hasn't and a mewp should have been scheduled you cant be expected to climb it. do you still charge him a full rate? this depends on your working relationship. we are all human, we all make mistakes, if he didn't notice the panic fruiting gano on the back of the tree at the time of quoting that's one thing but if he's simply pushing the risks then that another. I think it would be up to you to decide if you follow through with your terms and conditions of charging a full rate half rate or whatever. just because you have tandc's in place doesn't mean you have to use them. " should you check for TPO's yourself or trust them to? If you have insurance but were working along a road and the company you contracted for had no signs and cones or you liable?" I think these scenarios are only relevant if you are carrying out works as a bonafide subcontractor. when working as a freelancer its their site and the employers responsibility to organise your days work.... but again this sort of thing is worth mentioning in your t and c's.