LGP Eddie

Could you add a little more info please about the make and model of machine? Most mini's have a two way auxiliary circuit which is obviously easily identified by the pedal operating both ways? This would obviously rotate the grab either way, and it's usual to tap into the crowd for open/close. If you're unlucky enough to have a breaker circuit fitted (flow and free return) then the grab will only rotate one way. In reality on a mini the next point of call is to simply tap into the two way offset boom circuit that will already exist (usually on a pedal) and piped to the base of the boom. You'd have to be in a mess to need offset boom to feed a chipper, so it wouldn't really matter having the function disabled whilst on grab duties. Post up the model and pics of pipework and pedal would help. Eddie.

Absolute nightmare, the jobs hard enough without someone coming along at the very last and walking away with your hard earn't efforts. If this is something that is happening regular on your sites and you're prepared to spend a little to get access to who's doing it I might have a solution? I have a contact who will basically build you a tracker into whatever you want within reason? He could do a 'working' Chainsaw to leave with your others or almost certainly do a length of Hardwood for you? I was working at his place and his electric fence battery kept dissapearing? I watched him build a battery up complete with tracker and within 3 hours of putting it into place it had gone! He tracked it to the exact house, drove off a safe distance and called the police. He then proceeded to instruct the stunned officer how the tracker worked and he promtly went straight to the property and bust the lot! Turned out the guy had literally hundreds of stolen batteries and was paying kids a few quid each for them. They run the lot through and even got the scrap dealer! The police came to this guy and he's helped them do about 50 trackers in all sorts or gear? If you're having a lot stolen it could be worth a try, but I'd just miss that calling the police bit out? Give me a call and we'll give them a ride on that infeed conveyor on the chipper!! Eddie.

I believe that machine was abandoned in an RSPB reserve after the Insurance had paid out and a recovery was likely to cause too much damage? Diggers and soft going is my game and not the sort of conditions to take lightly however much experience they can catch you out! Regarding the track marshall, surely a pretty big donk for tricky going and certainly wouldn't be on my list? However there is a beauty lurking on the P.V Dobson website that would be simply perfect? http://www.pvdobson.com/images/vehicles_farm/images/_08m7kqvu3q_1.jpg Eddie.

The tracked dumper is struggling a little to contain the flow! There is chip stuck in every corner and panel of the whole machine, it'll take a bit of cleaning out! The chipper has seen no rough stuff yet, but it's going on a large Rhodie clearance job and obviously the hope is the conveyor will aid getting the stuff through? The blades have been fantastic so far with good clean willow, but we'll decide as we go along what's best course of action with the Rhodie. It may just be a case of killing one set of blades if we can keep them reasonable and then send them away for a decent 'hollow' grind as per factory. Caledonian Bob are your blades 'hollow' ground and any idea of cost? Eddie

Just getting to real grips with the Farmi 260HFC Chipper, I'm really impressed so far with the build quality and simplicity. Hydraulic spout and Shaft are nice, and I'm currently using the manual feed control box but do have a nice set of pedals that would be ideal for a reversing seat Valmet. We have been putting a large volume of willow through running the machine behind a New Holland 7840 at 540 on the shaft, and despite being advised that the Farmi aren't great on brash the steel conveyor seems to really work. It obviously helps draw in material and any blockage is cleared straight away by reversing with material drawn back out by the conveyor. I had been advised that around 180-200hp would be needed for 1000 pto running, but we gave it a go on the 7840 as the anti stress had never kicked in. The video is our first attempt at running at 1000 pto and shows the anti stress just kick in on the first piece but we were pleasently surprised how it went? I've been looking for a Radio Remote setup (Hetronic) to operate the feed from the loading Excavator with little success (over 3k!), so may opt for the Lodar route. Hoping to offer the chipper as a package with a full spec 5 tonne Low Ground Pressure Excavator with Tiltrotator and selection of grabs with low loader to carry them both. Either tow them and power the chipper with your own tractor, or I can source you one. I've had all sorts of sharpening advice, with people telling me to send blades here and there to get this and that angle on them? I just want them same as factory and wonder where to try? First effort on 1000 pto but I estimate another 40hp should be perfect? [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZWshqt9oB4&context=C310ba8dADOEgsToPDskKasH3_hsZheI_PAegpIGbD]Moorlands Specialist Excavations Farmi 260HFC Chipper. - YouTube[/ame] Eddie.

Ted, that is a modified artic trailer I believe? Guessing at the bed length it must be about 22x8 going off how a 5 metre bog mat sits on it. It's certainly well balanced and leaves little impact on decent sites, but it's main use is to fetch in large pieces from call out jobs etc.

Here's the one we hire from N.J Services Stoke. Really useful tool with plenty of reach and lift, and we find it invaluable to transport bog mats.

I never even gave that tyre a thought, but several people clocked it even as they lay flat on the trailer. It's floating well up to now and if it can live with the 8 tonner and Tracked dumper it should go most places. I'm still learning and really need the smaller machine and grab but we've certainly shifted some gear and made some lovely chip. Needing an outlet around Shrewsbury for the chip though? We need to catch up at Thorncliffe as I think you'll like the results?

With that oversize selector grab the first scratch wasn't long in coming! It is strictly grab fed only and matched to the excavators we run. That conveyor runs steady enough but the thought of even going near it makes me bad. I'm certain a few bad payers.will be looking for the cheque book after a bit of clog dancing on that! Eddie.

Finally managed to put all the jigsaw together and get the Farmi 260hfc mounted onto the New Holland 7840 complete with duals. It's first tackling a vast amount of willow stacked on a very wet SSSi we have been working on. First impressions are very good and the conveyor really does aid feeding. Another bonus is reversing the conveyor gives everything a good clear out of small brash that accumulates and I believe the Farmi is especially bad for this. It has hydraulic flap and rotate on the spout and is a pleasure to operate. Unfortunately my timber grab hasn't been converted yet so I'm struggling a little with a Selector grab on the 8 tonner, but more than happy so far. Any tips on the Farmi would be much appreciated, it looks a well built unit and matches nicely to the 7840 on 540 speed. The hope is to get some Rhodie through it with the assistance of the conveyor, but none to try on this site. I'll hopefully get some video shortly. Eddie.

Having worked flat out in some seriously cold conditions that helped keep the ground frozen for most of the day we were able to extract all timber and brash accross the valley and up onto the field. The weather was due to turn today and it certainly did! So we worked on very late the previous night to ensure all timber and bog mats were transported accross the field to the roadside access thus ensuring hardly a trace on the field. The New Holland and Trailer made short work of moving everything off site and the brash awaits a final site visit when conditions are favourable to take trailers accross to remove the chip. The final piece of access road will then be reinstated and hopefully job done. I'm very pleased with how things look accross the valley now and the scar from the access should heal very quickly as most of the turf was replaced. Eddie.

Not my problem!

Yes we're up there tomorrow to clear the last of the brash and the lads are taking the non technical appproach to remove the trees you felled on that bank side. It's looking like a long wire rope and drive off down the field with the tracked dumper! We have a big New Holland and Forwarding trailer coming Wednesday to move the timber down the road for us and take the bog mats from site. Nip up if you can as it's all coming together now. It'll be a close call as to the brash possibly going through the Zago shredder I think? The Chipper is being fired up this weekend down at Shrewsbury as the PTO shaft has now arrived. Desperately seeking a set of 16.9x38 Stocks duals with clamps and eye bolts to fit Neils 7840 to help float her a little better. Eddie.

I'm certain Charlieh won't mind me posting this here as it follows on from the Harvesting. We finally got the break in the weather and have taken full advantage of this frosty spell to remove all the material from the site up onto the neighbouring field. This will allow the access to be reinstated and any Chipping/Shredding can take place at our leisure. Charlieh had kindly looked after things for us whilst the Harvester was on site and felled the trees on the opposite slope which is basically stupid steep! The pics show the huge volume of brash to be removed and as the machine has to go off site each night for security I opted to take my new Low Ground Pressure 5 tonne Kubota as the 8 tonner is 3 metre wide and needs a bit of care to move. The 5 tonner has the Engcon tiltrotator and grab setup, which made light work of cleaning up. The Kubota tracked dumper followed the torturous route to cross the valley and and windrowed the brash. All is going well and the that's the last grab of timber going on in the dark! Hope to finish the brash tomorrow and start covering the access road back over. One things for certain I was pleased not to be on that dumper without a cab! Eddie.

Hi Woodworm I'm in the Staffordshire Moorlands, but unfortunately we are burdened with a Stoke-on-Trent Postcode:sad: Eddie

Hard to see, you may have to zoom a little to catch the range of holes in the two vertical plates between the rams. We have a short standard top link but will use rams for most of our applications It picked up the monster lump of a Farmi 260hfc Chipper with steel feeding conveyor up and travelled with it no problem. It's meant for a Bryce post knocker but will come in handy for many jobs I suspect and the additional hydraulics now fitted for a decent tailgate setup will help in our applications. Eddie.

They would certainly handle a blade with ease, and for a reasonable size land drain or topsoiling job would be worth considering. There is a vid of the Kubota in action demonstrating they can carry s surprising amount and cover the ground quickly with no damage. We're still headscratching a little on the perfect way to get a crane on and remote control for the ability to get vision all round would add significant cost. Eddie. YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

As promised a few shots of the 3 point mast setup on the Kubota Rg60, it's had no time for a coat of paint unfortunately but you can see it's basic construction. A couple of the 8 tonner and 5 tonner also. The mast wasn't fully raised in the side view I must add it does come up higher as in the first pic. Eddie.

Hi Blades, some very interesting points and everyone will have a favourite brand often dictated by a very good local dealer backup which is vital to any machine. It seems you are settled on the sub 2 tonne category to suit your needs, and indeed the CAT 301.8C is a good strong reliable performer that has always commanded quite a premium at resale. However at this point if you are after new I would shy away from CAT mini's as they are currently offering a new range of badged models that the jury is out on and this may affect resale values? Plenty of votes on here for what is without question the toughest out there in this class the Takeuchi TB016, I have vast experience of this model and it simply punches above it's weight like nothing else and is so simple and straightforward to operate and maintain. The downside is they don't come with any frills (great if you don't want them) but compared to their only rival the Kubota they seem aged. Depending on your own applications my advice would be if you intend the machine to have several operators and perhaps the odd bit off self drive hire go for a Takeuchi. They excell at this being basic and easy to repair with very strong residual value many self drive hire companies go this way. They now offer a new larger TB219 which takes this category to another level with longer reach and more power and could be exactly what you need. However all that said, if it were simply to be my own machine then I'd only knock on Kubota's door and ask for the KX019? it's a special order machine but is available to uk customers. Again like the Takeuchi Tb219 it competes with, it has more reach and power. However the fit/finish and quality of the Kubota will show through and for an owner operator make the machine nicer to live with. Don't discount Kubota will give you 3 years warranty if you're ever unlucky enough to need anything and their resale value is rock solid. Regarding the actual cost of such machines against hiring? I have actually bought machines (Takeuchi's) for Clients on larger projects and Operated them myself. The clients have gone on to hire them out to local contacts and eventually move them on after their projects have finished. In all cases the whole cost of machines has been covered in saved hire charges and actual hire, combined with the machines hardly dropping in value and needing only basic maintenance. They soon end up with a nice profit from what would be dead money and plenty of fill in work for me. As we always say the mini digger is the 'Cheapest man on the job!' Eddie

I wish it did include the machine! The pictures Charlieh kindly posted show the machine at about 14 months old and it has a spec all of it's own. The pictures don't really show just how wide the tracks really are (3ft) and you can't see the 13 Tonne Hydraulic winch with 20mm rope fitted at the other end! To replace at current rates would be around 80K! If people really want to see the spec on both (the one picture shows it's little 5 tonne brother) I'll do another thread on them when I'm back. The dumper is looking good and it'll be good to compare notes as we probably need a crane setup like that and you'd benefit from a 3 point mast like ours. Eddie.

Thanks for the very kind replies and to be quite honest I've been quite shy about dipping a toe in as yes I do get involved in an awful amount of tree work but come at it from another angle so to speak. Some 25 years in the seat of most types of construction plant and coming from the Staffordshire Moorlands well used to some steep and wet going. I can provide different solutions to many tasks with the kit I have but certainly don't want to jump in here as a blatant advert. I'm currently away until next week so little access to the best stuff to post, but Charlieh will probably dig you up some more pics and links to you tube if you bully him enough. Regarding the Engcon setup I'd rather explain it with a few pics as it has a few extra's but with the grab and proportional control setup there's about 20k on the Kubota. Eddie

I've been bouncing along the outside of this brilliant Forum for all too long, but the fact we run a similar machine has made me dip a toe in! I was actually tipped off about this machine and to be perfectly honest if I hadn't just blown all my funds on another Low Gound Pressure Kubota excavator then I'd have been after it. Congratulations on getting hold of it and you'll certainly not regret it. We run a Kubota Rg60 which is the same machine apart from the engines, ours runs a 5 cylinder naturally aspirated Kubota which is incredible on fuel and ultra reliable. We had the choice of the Mitsubishi turbo Ld400, but as our main application was to be Post Knocking we decided it could be a little more thirsty and something else to go wrong. We have made many mods including full bio oils, full skidplates/guarding and a front mounted 3 point linkage. Having lookes at all the other 3 point linkage conversions we decided they took too much away from being a standard dumper and would restrict a crane setup such as on this machine. We had professionally fitted a modified forklift mast to give a true vertical lift and be as close fitting as posssible. It also gives the ability to simply lift off the sliding portion leaving a very substantial front plate that has the no restriction on approach/departure angles. Since fitting however we have found the mast actually helps to balance the machine better when loaded (especially longer timber) and has no effect on approach/departure so remains in place at all times. It has two way rams with substantial lift and enough pushdown to easily lift the machine up. In addition a separate valve block was added with a nice set of joystick controls giving auxiliary hydraulics for things like a hydraulic powered two way tailgate and a full flow/free return for a post knocker or patu stroke delimber. It has turned out really well and the perfect addition to such a machine. Regarding the crane, we have looked at many ideas for the perfect setup but not taken the plunge yet as we can't quite get what we want? It'll be interesting to follow this machine and your thoughts from actual experience to see what you would consider changing. For now we load the dumper with my LGP Kubota excavators fitted with Engcon Tiltrotators and grabs. We can get a load on in seconds with the 8 Tonner and once the Dumper Operator is trained to tip in a sensible manner then the excavator simply stays over a little longer at the end of the day to stack everything neatly. We find Brash best handled into the standard skip with no tailgate and piled accross the skip overhanging the sides if access permits. This means huge loads can be carried safely with the operator facing forwards, but once at the tip site he can reverse the seat and drive up the stack silage style making large tidy windrows. The material being at 90 degrees to the tracks is easier to drive on without track damage and the material is left nicely ready for the crane on the big Zago shredder we usually hire in. I'll post some pics of our setup and it would be useful to swap any contacts for parts as they are pretty expensive if required. Eddie.