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I've just been looking on Ebay at PTO chippers and there is one on there for £1395 new! It's marketed as a Shire? I've seen other listings for the same price so it's not a typo. I have several thoughts on this but at that price it must be made of plastic! Has anyone used one of these things? It chips 6" (roller fed) and weighs 370kg, so isn't that light. I just get the feeling that if you sneeze on it something will fall off? It looks good but it's just too cheap!

That's some serious kit, I'm quite jealous! I noticed a snatch block on the winch cable on the Mog? Don't tell me that was to double the line pull?!

I was talking about you SB. I could have sworn I read an old post saying you wanted to rush around less and spend more time with the family so were slowing down a bit? I could be mistaken though. It would have been on a Mog post as that's pretty much all I've done searches for so far! The climber I know is new to it. From what I've seen of him he is very good at his job but just hasn't found anywhere to settle yet. He told me he'd rather work for £65 every day and stay fit than wait around for better paying work. He recons you need to climb regularly or it starts getting hard, which kind of makes sense? Either way I'm not paying him £65 if he works for me. I never pull a profit from a skilled bloke or take his credit. I'd rather see him do well for himself, keep at it and still be there for me to hire in when I'm out of my depth. Too many people are all out for money these days and it's not my thing. As long as I can get by I'm happy and I pay my lads well over the going rate. I remember slogging my ass off for £40 per week when I left school. I was doing an NVQ in habitat management for the local wildlife trust and I worked bloody hard for less than a tenner a day. It was what I wanted to do so I stuck with it, but I could never push blokes that hard for so little. If it wasn't for the fact they were a charity I wouldn't have lasted five minutes!

I have a really old Jonsered can which is the same design as the newer Husky ones. I found the seal washers didn't last long on the Stihl cans so although they seem more sturdy they didn't take that long to start dripping if they fell over? I know what you mean about the angled top on them though. In that regard the Stihl can is much easier to fill and it's also nice to be able to see the fuel in the clear can so you don't over do it. I do like being able to turn the spout on the Husky/Jonsered inside the can to keep it clean when it gets chucked in the chip at the end of the day.

I know what you mean regarding the saws. They are the models I've found that suit me best. I did have an MS260 as a mid range saw but sold it as I didn't use it once I had the 200T! I use the 200T for most jobs, pruning branches etc. I work off of low ladders quite a lot (maybe up to ten feet or so) and found that a one handed saw was ideal. As long as you understand them and respect them they're ok. Using two hands on the saw whilst standing on a ladder is in my mind more dangerous than one hand on the saw and one on the tree/ladder! I bought it because I was planning to do the medium section felling certificate but never grew the balls to actually get up there! I hate heights! I may try it in the future as I know a guy who is an NPTC/LANTRA instructor. He's taught me a lot but I just can't face getting high enough to pass the test! The 660 I bought because I had a lot of big timber to deal with. I have a 3' bar for it which I've used on a couple of fallen Beech trees on a mates farm. I also have a 25" bar and an 18" bar which I use the most. I just like the speed it cuts when I'm doing firewood! With the short bar it's very stable in use but cuts really fast! EDIT... Haha, I just read your signature! I am listening, promise! Is using a high powered saw with a small bar really that bad?

I'd like to be in that position! I'm not sure if I'll ever branch over to tree climbing work though, heights really scare me! I'm looking towards large garden clearing work. Trees up to 8"ish that I can just fell and chip and topping conifer hedges up to about 20' from the ground. Anything higher than that and I'm done. I give the job away! I'd like to do more woodland work too. Pulling firewood and chipping the brush. Anything that means I can stay on the ground and get someone else to climb. I found a lad a couple of months back who will climb with his own rope kit and saw for £65 a day! I find it really sad he'll work for that. He hasn't done a job for me yet but if he does he'll be getting the same money as I do. I couldn't pay a skilled bloke that little but it seems he just can't find the work.

Broken down? Yeah right! I assume you've never owned a Land Rover then? The more complicated your kit the more it will break and the more it will cost to fix. At least Merc build quality is pretty good and it shouldn't happen too often. I used to drive a 2wd pickup when I was employed. Ok it was reliable but I can't count the number of hours spent trying to push it out of a slightly sloped field with dew on the grass! It was a joke! I recon the time spent pushing and the time not spent working because we were stuck would have easily paid for a 4x4! Maybe not a Mog mind but why go through life being sensible? There's little point getting to the end and lining your box with £50s when some cheap foam would be just as comfortable!

I looked at the TP200 and it's the sort of thing I need. Light and compact is perfect as I don't want to A. have to store too much large kit or B. work an old Mog too hard! I think I could make good money with it on the days it gets used but that will be more than offset by the days it gets taken mowing unfortunately! If I can get it to break even I'll be more than happy because no sensible reasoning has gone into this. I just want one! Your post made me smile. Every Mog topic on here has you in it somewhere! I can only assume you're a fan too? I'm quite jealous of that big Mog setup you had but assume that it was just too much money to keep sitting around when you slowed down? A good U900 is the perfect half way point I think. It's a Mog, but not a big one. They're old (read simple to look after) and basic trucks and I'd have thought they're quite capable as long as you don't ask too much by expecting them to keep up with the modern trucks with double the power? As a side note, has anyone here done many miles in the passenger side of a U900? I sat in the drivers seat of one on an off roading day a few weeks back and it was tight (I'm only 5'6). The passenger side looked even worse!

Hi Chaps. I'm new to the forum (see introduction in general chat) and am wondering if many of you use a U900 to run a light chipper or for other light tasks? I'm looking at getting one as a toy as much as a work vehicle so it wont be used hard. I'd like to use it to run a small chipper, 4-6" and roller fed and may get a chip box on it. I've read that you really need a trailer to make full use of them but I'm not that large scale. I get by well with a Truckloder and a Land Rover Hi Cap, but I just want a Mog! It's by no means a profit making scheme, I know what they cost! I guess my question really is how capable are they? I've seen them off road and they're good but I've never seen one working. I'm under the impression that a modern large chipper needs more like a U1600 to run it well, but as I've said I don't need that and couldn't afford one anyway. For light part time duties, I assume they manage fine? Thanks in advance for any replies.

Hi Chaps. I'm new here so I thought my first post should be a quick note to let you all know a bit about me. My name's Neil and I'm a 29yo self employed landscaper from Gloucestershire. I do a bit of small felling and have my basic small felling ticket but I'm pretty limited when it comes to real Arb work. I usually pass it on as it's too skilled for me! For the tree side of my work I run a Land Rover Hi Cap and a small Entec Truckloder chipper for clearing and heavy pruning. Chainsaws are a Husky pole saw and Stihl MS660 And 200T (don't shout at me, I know it needs careful handling!). I stumbled across the forum when I was looking at Unimogs. I want to buy an older one as a toy and thought that as they have a PTO I may as well make use of it on a small scale for work. Now I know it's not going to make me much money because I can't use it all the time but as I said, it's a toy too and toys cost money! I'm off to have a read and maybe post a few questions so thanks for reading and I look forward to getting to know you all. I'll try to keep the newbie daft questions to a minimum but can't promise there wont be any!