LGP Eddie

What’s on your joysticks? Roller one side, buttons the other? Looks 4 piped to me, hammer switch basically moves the valve from two way to free return. Eddie.

By live heel I mean a setup like this. It would enable longer lengths to be trapped against the heel and moved through narrower gaps in control or even threaded into the back of trucks. The base also allowing you to ease the tracks up a bit for turning or dragging/lifting yourself around. The fact that the Bucket Ram service is made available to Rotate the Grab and use the two way Auxiliary which most older machines will have to Open/Close the Grab makes it a very realistic cost effective prospect. Have to say the old Takeuchi TB016 with its expanding tracks, great power for it’s weight would have some serious potential as a cheap mini Loader/Skidder ? One track in, one track out working on plastic bog mats always facing direction of travel would be possible? Eddie

Fully powered rotating grab or forks is easily possible with a reasonable lifting height. As for Travel Motors, cut the oil change intervals in half and weigh up the likelihood of one going with how much labour this may save? This with a latest CAT mini that offers tracking via the Joysticks would be a very interesting prospect? I have to say I think a short live heel and rotating grab would be awesome on it. Eddie.

Yes, but you can’t go digging footings next day with a loader! Eddie.

Forget the Rotator end of! Get a 90 degree Twin Headstock mount and save yourself the hassle. Rotators and Tree Shears/Grapple saws is a very contentious subject at present. I’ve blown 7.5k on a Grapple Saw setup I supplied due to the Rotator and the solution is only just coming available 18 months on. Not a worm drive I’d trust out there on an Excavator at present unless it was a Tiltrotator Any will do the job but only TMK as I know will offer you a Ram to match the machines pressure. If you’ve not the pressure for the Ram it’ll not cut end of, flow just makes it fast/slow. I have a TMK300 with Turbo Ram and Automatic Collector, it’s really powerful and quick. Eddie.

This got absolutely slaughtered before, but for anyone wanting to switch from an Excavator to a Skidder with minimal hassle and then have the ability to power the Rotate and Grab, provided the machine has one two way auxiliary circuit which most have, it would make an interesting option. Simply drop the Dipper off and pick up a nose bracket with the Grab/Rotator on. Closer in you could get a good big Grab on and having the powered rotate will make things much nicer. Eddie.

Just thrown this one in, not hard to take the Dipper off, great mounting point at the Boom Dipper connection for a decent size grab with rotate with the bonus you can intercept the pipes and now have a Grab/Rotate setup on the actual joysticks. Yes you’ve only got up down and slew with limited height, but no worse than a 3 point linkage or small loader setup, full power/control for each function and loads more balance. I think I’ve just invented a cheap micro skidder!? Eddie.

All credit to Kevin Russell here, lovely machine and I’m certain serious work/thought has gone into this. Certainly that’s where the machine is going to be pulling the most and you can face the direction of travel. The grab weight won’t be as critical either, but to load it you need a rotating grab really. Eddie

For skidding you really want to consider a ‘knock around’ mount, basically just free swivelling with no rotator so the material and the machine aren’t fighting each other. If you’ve plenty of actual whole tree/limbs to move rather than just brash you could consider mounting a grab upside down on the blade to get the maximum from the machine, but that reduces the ability to steer a bit with the arm. I’d take a look at these from Intermercato with 3 tines that could be significantly stronger than standard log grabs that bend so easily. If you want a price message me I do Intermercato right money. Eddie.

I used to be able to drop my Farmi onto an Ifor when required, a hydraulic top link is the secret. Eddie.

Fully Experienced 360 De-Veg Excavator Operator seeking ideally Nights/Weekend/Occasional Days work. Full CPCS, Lifting Ops, and PTS, well used to high compliance applications and keeping up safe production. 30 years experience, happy to run Wheeled, Long Reach etc and experience of most De-Veg attachments out there. North Staffordshire based, but Travel/Lodge no issue. Van contains most kit to keep things moving and I don’t need my hand holding. Rates negotiable, and I can help source/setup a machine/attachments to pilot if your just looking for temporary extra capacity. Eddie. 07973 729424

Be interested to know why a Conservation area had any bearing on your thoughts? If it was a big Gas main or the like going up the road it would be shut if required end of for essential works. Traffic lights on all reds is a total nightmare in comparison to a full closure in instances like this. It ends up with chances being taken of snatched cuts, often just with one of the operatives stood in the live lane trying to hold back traffic that will inevitably drive through on red whatever the precautions. Plenty of chancers out there with no Slew restrictors on the machines working single lane/snatched all reds, and as one claimed when offered the latest technology by the supplying Dealer he doesn’t need them because he’s got good Operators. If they took the time to look back at the instance in Derby where the Excavator Bucket fetched a young girl out of the front of a Double Decker Bus they may take a second look at the job. Forestry Contractors are breaking out onto roads with kit and unfortunately for many it’s alien terrain however skilled the Operators may be. Laugh all you like at 360 Cameras, Slew/Height restrictors, Seat Belt Beacons, Cab Guarding etc, but come incident they’re all available and no getting away from the fact if required they should be installed. Someone paid an awful lot of money will ask you if there’s anything you could have done to have prevented an incident and if it turns out for example 3k of Slew Restrictor could have saved someones daughter being ripped out the front of Bus, then you’re going to get torn a new one, plus the Operator will basically be finished and living with the mental scars. Road closures where possible are the way forward, get the kit in and the job done, just as if a main utility needed to be replaced the trees need to go for safety and better with a short burst of interruption than drag it out for weeks. So few Managers are up to speed on what’s required in high compliance applications with machines they’re really leaving themselves wide open and plenty of companies out there would be well advised to take a second look at what their procedures are. A quick google turned this up, but I recall the incident well. Just imagine the fines now! Anyone who wanted some advice or to discuss machines and compliance it’s not hard to find me. Eddie.

I’d be straight down the micro digger and auger route! Eddie.

Made my day this one!? However if it was detached or the garage is, you’d get away with wrapping a rope right around the base of it and protect any corners. Burying half a sleeper in a slit trench a bit like the spare wheel technique would provide a serious anchor, it’s what’s holding a lot of electricity poles up. Eddie.

Small clip kindly sent to me of the 22 metre long reach and felling head working last week. Helps to convey how productive the Felling Head can be on an Excavator carrier in comparison to a Truck mounted crane. I’ve put serious legwork into this latest head setup so it can fit on a huge size range of machines, and I can basically turn up on site if required, plug it into my own machine, the clients or a hire unit and be up and running. Basically a Felling Head and Experienced Operator service with the knowledge and tools/kit to get the best from it. IMG_1564.MOV Eddie.

Job done. That’s a 6 tonne Hyundai on the far side for scale, from a cab eye view. Sound bunch of guys to work with, no slackers on here, and boy can that Takeuchi Tracked Loader move some stuff. It’s built like a Tank and shrugs of some serious work. Eddie.

New Felling Head setup going well on a 22 metre. Eddie.

Could pick it up backwards I’d have thought, might just be enough crowd at full reach away from yourself to actually use it to move the odd big piece.

Had a few messages about running a Flail under a Tiltrotator and can you simply ‘T’ into the lines and run the Flail with the Tilty piggybacking off it? This is my own experience some 10 years ago now and yes I was able to simply ‘T’ into the lines, the SVAB controlled the Flail via a latching button, and the Tilty would work normally by robbing a bit of flow when I activated a roller to manipulate it. Trick was to use small movements and adjust it out of the cut to keep the head fully spinning. I only did it occasionally, as I never really had much I couldn’t get with the head fixed. With regard to Case Drain, it was simply T’d back into the return on the mower itself, no need to run the pipe any distance, and to protect it come the worst, just install a 5 bar crack off one way valve free to air. Basically if you ever get up to 5 bar it would allow a tiny bit of oil past to prevent the motor seals blowing. Pipe it and catch it if you like, but I only run bio oil and in all the time I used it, it never blew off anyway. Eddie.

Just an example of exactly the same thing installed on the same machine, no names of installers. You have to remember that the cost of either would be the same, but one installer might be making a bit less than the other due to using up a bit more pipe than the other!? Which one would you want on an Arb machine? There’s quality out there, finding it’s the hard bit, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for in the first place it’s even harder! Eddie.

If you haven’t the kit skills or inclination, best thing is to do what you’re best at and leave others to it. If I send you an order for a 20/13 multi head bracket with dog bone and normal pins, converting down to JCB JZ70 Semi Hitch on a Wednesday in Scotland with no drawings, could you have said item to me Saturday morning in Staffordshire completely finished by Coded Welders, Traceable Steel, full computer design etc and my arse completely covered should the worst ever happen. Go poking about for the Cheapest kit and your pound saved could often be the most costly or expose you to the maximum risk. It all depends on your applications, facilities and ability. Not everyone out there is shite, some incredibly talented guys all over the country, the hard bit is finding them, and generally when you do they’re flat out with no need to particularly advertise their services. Eddie.

No hoses is the way that things are normally supplied unless you pay the extra and have a full install. You simply can’t account for everything on attachments, so the best installs are always made on the machine. The standard of pipework you see up and down is atrocious, I really wonder if people actually stand back and take a realistic view on installs with regard to working in this type of environment. It’s unreal how much downtime I’ve witnessed from badly setup Shears, Grabs and Flails just in the regard of hoses, when with a little thought most could be eliminated. As for the service issue, I’ve been at this a lot longer than most and I generally know who to use and more importantly who will be there when the s@@t really hits the fan. No way of getting away from the fact that driving suppliers in the ground for a deal and going elsewhere for a couple of quid saved doesn’t make for the type of long term relationships that can be called upon when you’re up against it. If there’s no fat left in the deal, there’s generally not much backup either. I’m lucky, only this week I call Wednesday for a specific bracket to be made, quite a task and would be three weeks of a job ringing around getting someone to do it. It’s now in the back of my van collected direct from the distribution centre this morning and I know the owner of the company was burning the midnight oil on the welder himself for me. Like everything it pays to shop around, but won’t pay if there’s nothing left to go back to. I won’t buy tyres online for the simple fact I pay a tenner more perhaps at my local tyre place, but the internet won’t help me Saturday morning when yet another tyres blown off the ifor. Eddie.

Some good points here and that’s why I figure a dangle mount Felling Head will be a nightmare. At least with a shear and collector you can take a couple of bites, hold it vertically or steer it if required and land it fairly gently. Logbullet certainly won’t be going down any other route than making provision for a Felling Head I’d imagine. Get a call in to John Craig J tell him you want a narrow Elliator building but leave the Excavator dipper on for a Shear!?? Eddie

At a couple people of hundred pounds a week for a machine, hire one and buy the Shear which will always sell on without losing a huge amount. Eddie.

If you’ve any cables down to the business end, the only way to get reliable operation is to run them inside a hydraulic hose if possible using bulkhead fittings. People put up with all kinds of control setups, the Sennebogen was one of the worst I’ve ever come across. The difference was unbelievable once I’d shaken it all down and switched it around to something more intuitive to use. Manufacturers would do well to review their Dealers more often and add a few Product Specialist. Far too many machines and attachments being sold by people who have the Dealership for nothing more than profit and no practical experience or passion for the industry. Eddie.