Big J

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with changing the GVW of a vehicle? I am looking at a Mercedes Sprinter 4x4 as a tow vehicle for my forwarder for later in the year. As standard, it comes with a 5500kg gross train weight, of which 2000kg is towing capacity. However, Mercedes offer an uprated towing capacity by uprating the tow hitch and this can be increased to either 2800kg or 3500kg. There is also a corresponding increase in GVW up to a maximum of 7000kg. As far as I can tell, the only difference is the tow bar. I have not been able to get any information out of anyone, and that was me spending an hour on the phone to Mercedes UK, the local Mercedes commercial dealership, the DVLA and the DSA. My best understanding is that I would have the modification made to the vehicle (ie, tow hitch installed - the vehicle in question does not have a tow bar at present), then it would be inspected and replated accordingly. As I am sure you can appreciate, a 2000kg tow capacity is not much use, and I need a minimum of 2500kg. I love having a van and the only 4x4 option is the Sprinter. I just need to get my head around the process of uprating the towing capacity and GVW. Thanks in advance

Make more money from sawmilling. I hate selling firewood as the majority of firewood customers are idiots. Selling the unprofitable to the ungrateful, as another Arbtalker once put it.

You need a bigger mill. Only 66cm above bed is severely limiting. Serra has a good reputation and resale value should be high. My previous mill was a brilliant machine (Logmaster LM2). It had the same 90cm capacity, but went to 88cm above bed. I replaced it because it's capacity was too small.

No, we just don't kiln dry firewood anymore. All our spare biomass is taken by a local biomass company, so it's all off site quite quickly now, which suits us better.

I ask regarding the Sprinter as there is an immaculate, one owner, full Mercedes history, never towed 313 MWB 4x4 close to me for £14k. More than I wanted to spend, but perhaps worth shelling out for.

Well I had a chap pop by today in a Discovery 2 so I took the opportunity to sit in it to see what the space was like and it wasn't good. There is no chance I'd be able to drive it with boots on, and any kind of PPE (chainsaw trousers for example). Very cramped driving position. Does anyone have any experience with Mercedes Sprinter 4x4s? I much prefer vans than cars/normal 4x4s and whilst they are as rare as rocking horse sh*t, they tick all the boxes. As standard they have a low towing capacity, but with an uprated tow hitch will tow 2800/3000kg

You might want to add your location, though from the area code it suggests you're in Barnstaple

That's the picture of the spare. The other one is installed outside but under cover. The thermostatic control unit on them isn't great, so it's easiest with a manual switch. An on/off for the flue fan and an off for the circulation fan. They require regular (once an hour or so) stoking for maximal heat output due to the small firebox, but we were able to get a 40ft container up to 65 celsius with it. Looking for £700 for the two boilers and about 40ft of double skin stainless steel flue.

I might have misremembered the name. I'll not in to work today, but I'll get my colleague to send me some photos of it. It is fan assisted for both. Two large fans distribute the heat and a smaller fan helps the combustion.

I have a 240kw Ravex biomass boiler going spare (with loads of flue pipe and a complete spare boiler). Let me know if it's of use. Only requirement is 3 phase for the fans.

Chainsaw milling all day is something you can maybe do for one day, but not again the next. Cut rates on my Trakmet through (hard) hardwood on a 3ft cut are about 6ft a minute or so. However, the amount of physical exertion for me to do that is precisely zero, and the only effort is on the unload, which is usually really easy and quick with a forklift. Additionally, versus a chainsaw, the sawdust saved on a narrower kerf (2mm versus 9mm) means on a 3ft log cut to 2", I gain an extra 2 inch board and an extra 1.5 inch board that would otherwise have been reduced to sawdust. Do 8 logs in a day and on 10ft x 3ft diameter logs, you've gained about 58 cubic foot of timber, which if it was oak and sold green would be about £870. That's some very expensive sawdust.

I understand the resale value on the Ifor Williams is very good, but I just don't like them very much. Agricultural, rattle around constantly, you have to take a spanner to them to take the corners and half way posts off, the flat bed isn't actually flat due to the one inch lip around the edge (huge pain in the ass when loading and unloading with a forklift) and my 12x5ft 8" Ifor towed awfully compared to the German trailer I have. I think that Ifor have a bit of a cult following now, and their value is a reflection of that cult status, not their build quality or practicality.

I checked with the manufacturer and he reckons the empty weight of the machine is 1550kg, or 1750kg if the tipping body is attached. It might be a bit more than that, but still well under the 1900kg legal payload. I do see your point though, and would consider the 3500kg version.

I don't need 3.5t, only 2.7t. That puts it down to £2404

Does anyone have any experience with Woodford Trailers? Their 16x7ft flatbed looks solidly built, includes ramps and is only £2404 plus VAT. I'd want larger wheels on it ideally but otherwise it looks very good. http://www.woodfordtrailers.com/flatbed

It's the TTS 800 Standard, with a wide cutting head. You'll get 115cm between the blade guides, 126cm between the vertical posts and the blade will rise 120cm above the cutting deck (with a circa 33cm throat above the blade when the board drag back is installed). It's a big capacity, but obviously there are larger logs. It's a good mill. Solidly built and excellent value. If ordering with the extra large capacity, I'd ask them to uprate the hydraulics. Past about 3000kg, the turners (and I have two) struggle to rotate the log. If it's especially gnarly and quite heavy, same issue. They aren't the most precisely built mills on the market, but what they lack in attention to detail they make up for in quantity of steel. I would buy one again. The blades that are offered with it from Poland are awful. Flimsy and cheap. Buy something better there. Ripper 37 from Dakin Flathers is always a good bet. I've just bought a dozen Hakansson M42 blades (which at 6204mm long, 54mm wide and 1.64mm thick cost an eye watering £90 each) but they perform superbly. I love a thick blade and if you are going to routinely do wide cuts, I'd recommend them. Remember that you are asking a lot of a 50-60mm wide blade to cut perfectly true when unsupported for over a meter between the guides.

My Trakmet with the widened head cuts 1.15m. I've Frankensteined the guide on the idle side a bit (sandwich block and roller together, like on an LT70) which has probably reduced that to 1.08m, but that's plenty wide enough. I've cut boards to 1.7m wide with chainsaw mills, but I honestly cannot see the point in wide boards. They are impossible to handle, the accuracy of the cut reduces, they rarely dry properly and did I mention the moving and handling issues!?!? Best to just shave them down and produce boards where they don't weigh over 100kg.

Well it's not firewood, but we put 17 tonnes of mostly lawsons cypress and some japanese red cedar through the sawmill today. We shall do the same tomorrow, with a minor diversion into a large elm log that is needing to be cut for a customer.

Good luck with the milling! I'm not sure that there are many of us who's first tree milled was a walnut. Most of us just practice with some crappy sycamore or beech! Looking forward to the photos.

Quite inexpensive for tippers: https://www.ahrens-ullmann.de/epages/61364809.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61364809/Products/CHPW1.2 I'm not sure about chippers, as I've never had a need for one so haven't researched. The trailers were cheap when the exchange rate was £1:1.30 Euros, but they are still the budget option even with the poor rate we've had since the Brexit vote.

Absolutely! You do start to question your sanity though after battling through 20 reps, and then as soon as you're done thinking "that was awful, but I quite fancy a second set". Plan is to squat heavy every couple of weeks, but just keep slowing and steadily building on the 20 reppers (2 sets every 4 days). 80kg next, and then I'll go to 2.5kg increments and hopefully eventually end up on 100kg.

8x100kg bench this evening (big milestone for me - only another 7 reps at this weight to equal my pb from 10 years ago) and 135kg back squat the other day for a single. Followed by 2x20x75kg which was deeply, horribly unpleasant

It is really simple if you are taking them straight out the country. No need for registration, tax or insurance. That's what I did with my Unsinn trailer 3 years ago.

I had thought that! It's going to be 2 tonnes or just under. I''ll check with the manufacturer

10x5 electric pump tipper, 2000kg gross, £2350 plus VAT with the stabilisers on the suspesion (about £180 less without, but would always recommend): https://www.ahrens-ullmann.de/epages/61364809.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/61364809/Products/CHPW1.2