rovers90

There are two rules when buying a Freelander: 1) NEVER buy a petrol version, under any circumstances, 2) ALWAYS obey the first rule!

Hi Andy, Just tried a sample pack of briquettes from a local producer, a lot of customers were interested and my friend tried them in his range but stated they were definately no substitute for coal. Could you please e-mail the details to [email protected] Many thanks Derek

After 20 years of Defenders, I decided I would like a vehicle with a heater that put out..........heat, wipers that................wiped, you get the picture and bought a TD4 Freestyle 3 door. It has been a superb car, apart from the fuel sensor going kaput in the summer, and during last winter it was a joy to be able to open the door, demist the screen, drive away and put on the heated seats in the same time it would have taken me to actually defrost the Defender lock enough to get the key in! I have never towed with one but it has been a superb all round car and is very impressive in the snow, which we have lots of Newcastle at the moment. As I have recently gone in to the firewood world I have decided it is too nice to spoil so am thinking about a Discovery commercial - but cannot decided on a TDi (cheaper parts,less electronics but old) or TD5 (more comfortable, capable cruiser,bigger cargo area but more electronics).

Try Tread Patterns - L W Vass Ltd or BUP63 750R16 Michelin XZL Tyre fitted and balanced on Wolf Rim - new take off or Michelin XZL Tyres - Cheap Michelin XZL Tyres Online | Blackcircles.com

Just take the breasts off the birds, thinly slice and pan fry with some onion, chopped up bacon or pancetta, black pudding and some sliced brussel sprouts (after par boiling the sprouts for about 15 mins)

Be careful when looking at the above. A friend of mine was thinking about a Bedford with crane last year and when he contacted Withams they stated the truck was £12k plus another £10k to put in on the road!! Don't know what they had to do to it as it seemed to have lights, etc but maybe they are not always what they appear to be!!!

Found this on the companies web site whilst looking for something else http://www.jsharples.co.uk/images/Tree_lifter_Eurotec.JPG Do not know if it may be of interest to somebody on here. They have some useful gear on the web site, especially in the reclaimed section.

A good friend of mine has a Ranger double cab and loves it. He regularly gets 34mpg,uses it for shooting as well and we have been on days where there have been four of us in the cab, dog cage in the rear with the muts in and four peoples guns,boots,bags etc in the rear and it just swallos it all up whilst performing like a car on the road. At one of the big estates he picks up on, all the keepers now drive them. He used to have a Mitsubishi Pinnin and I am in the same position as yourself in looking for a new vehicle and he said to stay clear of Mitsubishi as the service intervals are short and the parts very expensive. His throttle linkage needed replacing just outside warranty and cost him £1200.

That was my thought when I first saw it!

Another interesting machine MB TRAC 800 FORESTRY READY TRACTOR/SKIDDER/FORWARDER on eBay (end time 14-Nov-10 22:00:12 GMT)

Might be of interest to some of you Ford Transit tipper 4x4 on eBay (end time 15-Nov-10 17:56:04 GMT) although I have no idea what a banana engine is!?!

Thank you for clarifying that Quickthorn:thumbup1:

I am VAT registered,that's why I mentioned it:001_smile: I volunteered for VAT registration to claim back the money I have outlayed on machinery and stock. "hi rovers90, the 110 hicap is more like 1.5cube for a level load if you count the wheelboxes and the fuel triangle but thats being really picky because i measured mine lastweek" Nothing wrong with being picky, I had forgot those bits! Glad to know I'm not the only one going round measuring pick up beds!! As far as I understand the VAT rule, you charge 5% if you are supplying domestic customers but if its a commercial customer you have to charge 17.5%. (Haven't figured out how to quote more than one reply in a post!)

Hi every body. I have just set up a firewood business this year and made a couple of small deliveries. Have been asked to give a price for a pick up load. This is where it is difficult to compare - the guy buying it did not know if it was hard or soft wood he was buying (it was mixed)and had no idea what size pick up delivered it. I supply mixed hard/soft wood at 20% moisture content and can use my mates Land Rover hi cap pick up. We have measured the capacity of the load bed at 1.6 cubic metres so I was guessing a load should be approximately £130 including VAT and delivery. (its a pub I would be delivering to so I believe VAT would have to be at 17.5%?) Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I have found this site to be a real gold mine of information and entertainment!

I recently purchased a Palax KS35 Ergo after much research and I am very pleased with it. You don't say where you are but it might be worth having a trip up to Caledonian Forestry Services, Jim and his tean were very helpful and the set up service was excellent. I saw the Hakki Pilke at the APF and didn't feel it was of the same build quality.

People definately want convenience - stove sales are going through the roof and more of the new purchasers are your "Marks and Spencers" type customers who are used to the retail experience:you want something, you go to the shop, pick it up, pay for it and take it home. You certainly don't want it dumped in a dirty great heap on your drive and left for you to sort out. They've spent a lot of money at the stove shop who have told them they need to burn hardwood at under 20% moisture content so that is what they will go out to get in the first instance. They will then explore their usual retail haunts for logs - garden centres, the DIY barns, etc - because this is where they are used to shopping and getting what they need. Hence B&Q are shifting pallets of plastic bags of logs at £7.48 a go - its clean, its convenient and its from somewhere customers know and trust.

I paid £40 plus VAT per ton delivered in July for firewood grade,mixed hardwoods. A friend of mine has recently paid not much less for softwood.

As far as I am aware the chip has to be dry. A friend of mine supplies G30 chip to commercial users and the moisture content has to be below 25% (I think) so he usually seasons soft woods for about 18 months. The cost of installing such a system I believe is quite prohibitive and you may not see any savings for a considerable time.

See what you can find at lunch time on e-bay.....forestry ford county 1164 m reg crane , winches , on eBay (end time 02-Nov-10 19:06:15 GMT) AEC MATADOR DIESEL 4X4 CLASSIC FORESTRY CRANE LORRY on eBay (end time 20-Nov-10 03:38:20 GMT)

So sorry to hear of your loss, at least your mums suffering is now over. From an experience I had some time ago I would say it is important to talk about your feelings, do not let them bottle up inside;posting the thread on here today is the first step.

Thanks Tom but I do not own a tractor! The processor is kept at my friends farm and as it was part funded by a grant I need to prove it is insured and I presume that insurance would have to be in my name to match the grant application.

Having recently taken delivery of a Palax firewood processor I want to ensure that I keep it. I have received a quote from TRUST for £530 per year. Local NFU stated they did not cover firewood businesses and Tree Surgeon Insurance Services do not cover processors. So, two questions: 1) Who do you insure your processors with? 2) Has any body fitted a tracker, tagging or marking device to their processor and if so which one and how much?

A friend of mine has a waste reception site where he takes in the garden wheelie bin collections from the local councils. They pay him £20 per ton to take it in. However, as per previous comments you need a very large investment in machinery to actually take in green waste and end up with compost (it is excellent compost mind you - my allotment certainly thrived on it this year). You will also receive a lot of complaints from local residents. The locals have even formed an action committee against my friends company - even though the Environment Agency state his is the best run site they have in the area! Complaints range from smells (even on still days) to the reversing beeper on the loading shovel (even at times when the site is shut). The site is on an industrial estate but it seems the blame for anything unpleasant gets dumped with my friend. And then there is the Environment Agency. They have new rules in force and as I understand it up to 500 tons per year you do not require a permit. If you take in between 500 and 75000 tons per year you need to apply for a permit. The price for the initial issue is a five figure sum followed by a four figure sum annually. Now if you are taking in 50000 tons per year the fees are affordable. If you only take in 3000 tons per year, it makes it uneconomical. Why they have such a big range without a graduated scale nobody knows. If you can find someone locally with a green waste site who would charge you £20 per ton to dump it and you can charge £40 per ton to remove it, you may make a bit but I certainly would not consider processing it yourself.

It must be quite common as the symbol is on my Freelander, my wifes Focus and it was a relative who told me and she has it on her Micra, her husbands VW and every hire car she has had , here or abroad, has had it apparently.

I only found this out today after 24 years of driving....how do you know when sitting at the steering wheel which side of the vehicle the fuel cap is on? (assumung it's your first time in the vehicle) On your dashboard there is a picture of a fuel pump and it has an arrow pointing to the correct side!! Have a look the next time you get in the car!!!