richy_B

Drax in n.yorkshire I expect. My understanding is there is good availability of dry wood (shredded pallets, wooden construction waste, etc) which will obviously be far easier to burn than wet chip so hardly anywhere wants it now. I've heard £2-4 a ton plus you have to have a machine to load it. As you say, now it's hard to give it away. The logistics, as you mentioned, must be a killer. I can't remember exactly but in the past we had a lorry collect it to take it to Slough and they could only get 16 or 17 ton in at a time. We're relatively close but it would easily be an hour coming to us, 30-40 mins loading etc then an hour back plus whatever time to queue/tip at the other end. Once dried it's probably only 9-10 tons a load.

Permanently or a temporary stop? Since Slough stopped taking woodchip for the power station dispose g of chip has been much harder across the while SoE.

If you travel directly to the site then these hours will count. If you travel to the company yard then head out then they won't. I presume most people start and finish at the yard in arb? In reference to the OP it is really down to you to decide what your time is worth. The PPE, climbing kit etc will actually be a small percentage when you look at it over 18 months/life of kit. I'd have though if you are a ground in the SE you would be looking at £8-8.50 an hour. For an experience lead climber £14-18 per hour. I know a lot of places work on day rates but for me a working day is 9 hours with a reasonable allowance for breaks. 10 hour days on a regular basis should be compensated.

If my power tools are going away for more than 4 weeks I run them dry. Just what I was taught.

My advice is buy equipment/machinery you HAVE demand for currently. Do not buy equipment for what you WANT to be supplying. Without an established market you could find yourself with £25k worth of ornaments sitting in the shed. Costing space, insurance, etc.

Depends where you are? Forestry flail seems like the obvious choice. If you can't find anyone free a big excavator would be my next choice.

Could see it working well on domestic jobs (provided you can get it down side access etc. Small petrol chipper 'driven' in. Chip into the truck and then back to the truck.

I've used a muck truck a few times. Definitely an advantage over a wheelbarrow of steeper ground. Not used the arbtruck version, which appears to just be a change of 'bed'.

I appreciate what you are saying but for me being able to sit down with someone who knows what they are doing is valuable. Face to face contact is preferable for me, or atleast the option of. Everyone is different but i try to concentrate on customers and generating business. I do not want to spend a lot of time doing payroll, my personal tax and accounts. I think I am good at what I do and ultimately spending my time on that is more profitable. It is spend 3-4 days a year working on tax (or googling it!) I'll be a couple of grand amd no guarantee I'll get it right. Also I don't like to fall into the trap that many of us on here moan about (not that I am accusing you of) - People assuming they can do it themselves and paying a 'professional' is a waste of money. We've all had customers who had said 'it's just a tree, I'll give you £50...' Accounts spend years training to become chartered so I certainly don't think I can muddle my way though it.

Agreed. You should be an employee taking an £8k salary minimum.

I pay around £3k for LTD company covering all the usual plus my personal tax and a couple of employees. I shopped around, near London it seems about right.

I did my b+e a couple of years ago. Prior to that I had been pulling trailers almost daily for years. Despite this I thought it was worth having some tuition. After all they don't necessarily teach you to tow, they teach you how to pass the test... From what I recall the actual test isn't cheap so having a few goes to get it right didn't seem like a worthwhile option. Not when a two x three hour training sessions was only £200. One of the big thing I learn was if you caused another drover to slow down, when you you were pulling out for example, it was a straight fail. This sounds common sense but in busy areas you really need to watch this as you also score minors for hesitation. Edit - a quick Google says it £115 for the test on a weekday. £141 for the weekend.

Thanks. Its a L200.

Looking at taking the original body off a pickup and building a custom one. Straight forward enough but I wondered about the electrics - is it just the case of buying a led light board for example and wiring it up? My first thoughts are it seems logical enough to just remove a bulb/wire at a time and connect/solder up to the corresponding wire on the light board. Is there any easier/quicker/better way? Any thoughts?

A potato fork is also a good one.

Me too. Good tip!

Sounds like it could work well then. It would be an awesome set up for grinding out stumps in pavements ready for replanting. I was looking at getting an auger unit to go on a kubota u25. Can I ask how much the drive unit was?

10hp per ton is often mentioned when it comes to towing. So maybe 120hp+ for a ten ton trailer.

I wonder more about the flow rate than down force. They have a small 'corkscrew' at the tip that helps pull the plane in. It is definitely the torque that will be the issue. On the 4cx it seemed effortless but obviously it's got quite a bit more grunt.

I'd be interested to hear as well. I've seen one used on a 4cx and it was pretty impressive (but it was a demo and was on some choice stumps).

Not to piss on your chips but I think you might have a tough time on this. I went to quite a few auctions and found there were lots of ex lease (lex mainly) stuff being sold. Loads of double cab hilux's, ranger's, etc. Nearly all was 5 years and about 50-60k miles. Decent condition and service history. Cheapest I ever saw was a basic model ranger which went for £6500+VAT. The majority were £8.5-10k plus VAT. Bought by, what I anticipate to be, car dealers (they bought several cars each). Most lease vehicles are 3-5 years old when they go to auction.

Nice one. Thanks.

Solved! That works. I could barely see the magnifier (colour blindness might not help). As a item for the developer, perhaps button could be made white?

Did you order directly from Load handler USA?

Is there any update on this? I've been keeping an eye out for ages for my L200.