doobin

1 hour ago, GarethM said:

Yeap, never fill it full, just enough to cover the gears is more than enough.

 

You'll not only waste it by squeezing it out but possibly even cause more damage by it working against itself. The hedge cutter equivalent of hydrolock.

Not the case, excess just oozes past the plastic 'seal' at the front. This is where it all escapes from when warm too. It's not really a seal, just a nylon packer.

I've seen dozens of hedgecutters with broken con rods from lack of grease (old grease just sitting emulsified at one end) I've never know one die from being pumped full of grease.

Grease nipple in the nut and lithium grease regularly is key. You won't believe how many pumps it will take after a days work. It all runs out when it gets hot, so replenishing it regularly is important.

Self unemployable here. 
 

In late to work today because I can. And on the one rare occasion my body will let me actually enjoy a lie in without being in pain, I’m bloody well going to. 

4 minutes ago, AHPP said:

 

Which other brands have you used over the years?

Just niftylift trailer models which are total wank. 

27 minutes ago, AHPP said:

@doobin Honeymoon report for the Oil and Steel?

Dealer are fantastically helpful. It’s been ok- I’d definitely agree with you in that there’s not much to go wrong!

Should have bought the 14m version but this was available, low hours and cheap ish. 

hopefully won’t loose much from the 8.5k I paid. The nigh on 1k a year to keep it in loler is a sting though. 

10 minutes ago, JBH said:

I am not an employer, thank god

 

Can see why a lot are investing in kit over man power, although that might prove a slippery slope

How so?

Definitely here and getting worse. 
 

7 minutes ago, JBH said:

DAYRATES

£70 Brash dragging

£80 Brash Dragging in PPE

£90 CS30 or Chipper

£100 CS31 & F+

£110 CS38

£120 CS39

£130 CS39 and capable

£140+ CS41, MEWP and capable

 

Remove 20% if PAYE

 

You do realise minimum wage is £11.44 per hour now? 
 

Thats £91.52 for an 8 hour day. 
 

Makes £2500 finance per month look cheap. 

Minimum wage is now £11.44 for anyone over 21. That’s savage inflation and will lead to further pay inflation. 
 

17 hours ago, Stubby said:

That is what I was hinting at . What do mean by " block cropping " ?

Block cropping is simply planting your combinables in fields all in the same area. As different crops require inputs (fertiliser, spraying) at different times, as well as needing to be drilled and harvested at different times, it makes sense to keep all your OSR in one block and all your barley in another. It reduces time spent on the road considerably.

On 31/03/2024 at 11:13, Stubby said:

Its not just the fields near the roads Rubin . From Lavant  village all the way up to the top of St Roches hill is OSR .

Depending upon the layout of the farm tracks etc, that could still be considered block cropping.

Possibly the estate have decided to up their planting area based upon a good forward price?

1 hour ago, Stubby said:

Can I pop your farming hat on for a second ? Round here , on the chalk , its usually barley . Crops are rotated of course but predominantly barley . Thing is there seems to be an abundance of oil seed rape everywhere this year . Is the price per ton expected to shoot up come harvest ?

I’d say it’s block cropping and it’s just all the fields near the road this year. OSR is always a gamble with regards to the weather and establishment and even more so without flea beetle seed treatments after the ban. 

2 hours ago, Squaredy said:

Maybe you should say why you want a sawmill with a bandsaw.

 

 Are you hoping to buy it?  Are you hoping they will do some re-sawing for you?

 

 If that latter perhaps put details on here as there may be other ways.  Or it might be what you are hoping for is unlikely to happen.

 

I run a small sawmill, but we very rarely take on re-sawing jobs.  Not because we don’t get asked but for commercial reasons.

Why not? 

LTS went bust years ago.

It's just a Honda copy with a 12v battery starting system. If you're getting strange voltage readings replace the rectifier and battery.

Or just use the pull start instead.

That's literally all there is to it. No manual would help you.

58 minutes ago, Joe Newton said:

That would be quite funny, but he's probably just making it up for another bit of attention. 

Yup, who ‘firewood’s’ an alder?

23 hours ago, Trailoftears said:

They are old stock now,but if you can find one-Stihl used to offer a kit,only in 16" for the 260/261.2 picco 3/8 bars/2 rims plus 3 picco super chains as a performance kit,they were sub £80 when I bought one,so really good value.Tho the bar was a standard rollomatic bar it was the same weight as the light 04 bar.

You can get an 18” picco bar for the 261. I like it, I prefer picco to 325 for that size saw. Although some of the newer low profile .325 chains are very nice, they are pricey whereas a roll of Rotatech picco chain is not and it fits all my smaller saws. 

2 hours ago, lux said:

Running Maxis Bighorn M/T currently.  Pleased with them so far and very good value. Noisy on the road as you would expect but give more wet rd grip than my BFG KO2 A/T did. 

I think I will buy a second set of wheels and run AT again for the spring and summer .... if it ever comes ..

 

Weren’t much use the other day were they 🤣

lucky your petrol winch saved us. What a bit of kit that is. 

13 minutes ago, swinny said:

Exactly. Cut the bugger off with angle grinder to make easier to remove. Throw in scrap and buy a new one

Did that only yesterday 🤦‍♂️

1 hour ago, Kia said:

Great, theres know problem with a tractor, which have many, its the distance between jobs.. Since posting this we have had two enquires, one 38 miles away and another 12 miles, well, Im not carting a tractor that far..

Up to you. My medium size (16” capacity) jappa 355+ runs great behind my 26hp Kubota and the whole lot

weighs around 1.7t, same as a mini digger. 

Stick it behind a cheap (but quality) compact tractor. Win win, and cheaper. 
 

Iseki are good secondhand value. 

1 hour ago, dig-dug-dan said:

Had one of these myself, until it decided to spit the innards out along with puff of smoke while trying to start a 9hp diesel engine.

Yup, I’ll stick with Noco. 

48 minutes ago, sandspider said:

That's neat and compact. Can't read the make?

Huanhunglow

On 12/03/2024 at 17:37, openspaceman said:

I now worry about getting ferrex stuff from Aldi, not that I would knock it, my 40V 4" grinder has been a game changer for cutting hydraulic hoses and wire rope cleanly in the field. The problem is they sold the batteries too cheap, people bought them just to strip them of their cells such that spares are no longer available. I have the grinder, impact driver, drill and tyre pump with only three batteries to go between them and nearly got stuffed when the charger broke. I managed to get one off ebay from a bloke who bought surplus stock of chargers when Aldi bailed  out.

 

Now I'm thinking I will buy milwaukee stuff; has anyone tried their M18 chainsaws?

My M18 top handle is good, but you do need high output genuine batteries for it to shine, which cost a pretty penny (but no more so than Stihl). 
 

It’s considerably better than my 36v Makita, which also took offence at the new addition and promptly gave up the ghost after four years light/sporadic use. So I will be replacing that with a back handle m18 too. 

9 hours ago, monkeybusiness said:

If you don’t care about noise get Insa Turbo Special Tracks. Not much available that are better if you are truly off road. The lugs come off them if you do extended periods at 70 mph plus though…

This, or a clone with the same tread pattern. Maletesta Caimen etc.  
 

Horrible on the road but about the most grip you can have and still be road legal. 
 

I really rate a 4wd pivot steer for churchyards. I have a Husqvarna with I think a 90 cm deck.

Was never a fan of mulcher mowers but this actually does a surprisingly good job on quite long stuff too.