wicklamulla

They are the same chassis as the old Vauxhall Brava which in turn shares some of the Isuzu MU / Vauxhall Frontera components. They were officially available with a 2.5TD and a 2.8TD but mine was imported from new with the same enjun as the 3.1 Trooper minus the intercooler kit, but i will retrofit one. @billpierce this is the fiorst vehicl i have owned with a winch fitted, it's a 12000lb winch with a plasma rope. I will have a better winch tray fabricated or a complete winch bumper fabbed up as the current winch mount looks good enough for self recovery only. A local engineering works make this kind of kit for Disco's and Defenders and all manner of trucks, they have a full powder coating facility too so satin silver would look good.

ya never see many of dem V6 Navara's Rats. I tink they only come with an auto box with no manual option. You done any research on them yet?

@billpierce Here are a couple of pics. I'll get her on the 2 poster and take some pics of the under side in a few days time.

@woodwizzard

local lad had a cummins in his defender and it made a mess of the transmission.

Hi Bill, thas not a bad looking Hilux but me Isuzu is way better in terms of condition and Hilux's are a bit under powered in my experience. 3.1 power does it fir me. That Land Cruiser looks well worn too and i bet it's a bit rough when ya start looking up close and personal. The Land Cruiser i was after was not advertised, i have seen it locally and was interested to see if the owner wanted to sell. oil sort pics later as i'm tinkering in the garage atm.

@Matthew Storrs i went for tried and trusted as i already have an old Isuzu from year 2000 (owned it fer nigh on 11 years now) so i bought a fresher 2002 model. It is almost identical to my old one but the silver one is near mint and less than 68k from new, plenty of old MOT history to back up the condition and mileage plus the seller has known it from new, he is a mechanic. This truck is ***mint*** underneath as it was waxoyled from day one and it is on par with a 12 month old truck as regards corrosion. He sold it as he wants a more economical dedicated works van like a Vivaro / Transit etc. It's a job to know what to buy sometimes but a Yank truck with a gert big enjun wood be great but they are a bit too large size wise. I was gonna buy a used Double cab Hilux Invincible or Isuzu Rodeo but i reckon i have literally saved myself £9000 -- £12000 by opting for this ole gurl! I assumed Wifey poo's would not like it and want summit newer with leather seats etc but she was keen on it too. It won't do a lot of mileage and is an occasional tow tug and quote motor. I will swap the chip box from the old one to this newer one and may opt to have an air locker (diff lock) fitted to the front axle to help it in the mud. I have an Isuzu Trooper intercooler kit to go on too which will help up the ponies a bit. I was chasing a 100 series Land Cruiser 4.2TD that had the back end chopped off and a smart looking pickup tub fitted but i got nowhere with that. I reckon if it was a 2002 Hilux double cab in similar condition it would be advertised for £5k but seeing as these Isuzu trucks were never as popular they are quite a bit cheaper.

Jimmer, i woodn't touch an Oregon Control cut or Versa Cut bar again as they are a laminate bar that is simply vulcanised together. Mine had an ever so slight bend in it. I placed it in the vice and went about straightening it only for the 'glue' to fail when slight pressure was applied and it was toast. I'd be concerned that this could happen if it simply got pinched in the cut, rendering the bar useless.

'She' is mine. I have just paid alorra money for a 'newer' pickup truck ?? George Coletti, Woodwizard, etc, etc I was looking at newer Rodeo's but i had a last minute change of mind and spent alot but also saved alot if ya know what i mean. I'm back up to Surrey next week to collect her. Pics. to follow. I might be ever so slightly excited!

well the time may have come to replace my 19 year old (low tech non ECU controlled) pickup truck. Looks like i may have to 'modernise' and buy something newer.

whatever works and whatever yer happy using. If people climb on 3 strand and are happy and safe doin so then so be it (actually a mate stihl climbs on it!)

Mick shurrup will ya. Yer full of....! Some of these over complicated friction devices may have their place in tree work from time to time but 9 times out of 10 the task can be simplified. I get the impression that some people struggle to decide on whether they need a Prince Albert or a GRCS as an en vogue accessory, 'ahh i knew i could have the best of both worlds so i'll buy a AFD or a McDermotts rope brake as either looks cool when on show'. I reduced a TPO'd oak on Thursday, it was all lightweight rigging over a nice patio so i actually used the end of my climbing line to lower off each 'piece', for added friction i placed the line thru a natural crotch and stood on the rope to increase/decrease the required friction and control descent. Absolutely safe and fine to do so in my opinion and less messing about with over complicated devices when simplicity is the order of the day. As fer yer man in that video with the rope brake, i'd most likely cut and hold some of those pieces or step cut them and then snap them off, or cut and free fall, but i do appreciate he was simply demonstrating the merits of the device.

looks like a running machine from a gym.

good idea. Que Kate Bush, 'Running up that hill'.

660/661 or 390/395 will cover most bases i reckon. I considered a 3120 recently but opted ferra 395xp instead as it'll get more use.

fair play to ya Wes. I own tree Echo climbing saws but not one single ground saw. I do like the look of the 390 and 501, 620 etc. What irritates me is Echo sells climbing saws with 'lumpy and aggressive' cutting gear which can make them a pig to use. I bought a 280 TES and i hafta say it is quite frankly a horrible little saw which appears quite gutless as it was on 3/8ths which caused it to really struggle, i converted it to 1/4 pitch and fitted a 0.43 bar and chain which helped so calm tings down. I reckon a de-catted muffler and a re-tune is the way ta go. My Echo 2511, 280 & 360 climbing saws are all sporting 1/4 pitch 0.43 chain and bars. Anyway i need ta rebuild me 2511 after it got destroyed a couple of weeks ago as it tried to leave me with a massive poplar limb that was earth bound, bar retaining stud get pulled out and the AV's got all twisted up and crooked looking but i reckon it's fixable. @spudulike You 'pepped up' my Echo 360 TES a while back by fitting a de-catted muffler and re-tuning it for me, but would you be interested in having a go at porting it and an Echo 280 TES too as you ran out of time previously due to work load / demands on your time?

New Order.

Just converted the 360TES to 1/4 pitch. I cud only get the .043 bar at a max length of 14" and not 16" as I originally stated but I did get a 16" .050 gauge too so let's see how they perform. Oil test it on the morrow as I have a big job starting locally. Bought this clutch removal tool from Rob D as it makes it a super easy job to remove them for re-greasing or in this instance to upgrade to the 1/4 pitch sprocket. The 360tes is nice n' smooth in the cut now. A decent upgrade.

Good vid Reg, any idea how long ago it was cable braced? Did ya have to return to ring it up and clean up the next morning as daylight looks to have deserted you?

F650 !!! yew guys don't mess about! Keep us updated with pics. please and feel free to tempt us all with regular updates.

How Ya Paddy, How come yer downsizing as i assumed everything was bigger and better 'over there' or is it a case of you running 1 large and 1 small chip truck to cover all the bases?

Wes i'd love one of his modded 395XP's.

Bill it was fairly simple to do on the 360, BUT there are at least 2 different types of muffler available for the 360 and one is easier dan deudder to cut open and extract the 'Cat'. If ya remove the muffler and put it on the bench and remove the silver coloured exhaust gas deflector it will expose an area large enough to cut with a dremel and remove the 'Cat', i then simply refitted the silver coloured deflector without welding or brazing the slits created by the dremel. As Spud or someone else said previously there is a 'Cat-less' muffler available for another brand which i believe is a re-badged copy of the Echo.

15 plate Isuzu Dmax?

are you limited to 1 truck then or can you expand the fleet by applying to DVSA etc?