doobin

I've just ordered an extendable shaft from the Stihl polesaw range. As the handle is now integrated into the engine, just two bolts to loosen and you can swap the whole shaft over with no messing about. This one engine will do my polesawing, light strimming, hedgecutting and tilling for the next year. Once the warranty is up it will be reunited with it's still shiny original shaft and sold on eBay to some mug for 2/3rds of what I paid for it.... That's approximately £85 for a years hassle free, covered by warranty use of this engine to run all those Stihl attachments I already own.

Yes It was a first attempt at meeting the EU emission standards, using a system of valves requiring frequent adjustment and prone to failure. After a year or so and many complaints Sthil said they wouldn't fail, so long as you used their super duper, arm and a leg fully synthetic two stroke oil. By then it was a bit late for people who had them fail in less than a year, including myself. And then there's the horrible farty noise they make! As described in the OP, there are also many ergonomic improvements to this new engine, which I believe make it an obvious choice to buy instead of a 4-mix FS-90.

I've told him I'll have it so long as he has the original sales ticket. Let's see what happens. Waiting for the email telling me to send money via a fake PayPal site....

I wouldn't bother. They're un-ergonomic and gutless. I'd sooner spend the money on a BG-86 as small second blower for little jobs.

Wouldn't say there would be much call for a bloke and chipper.

If that's a 1.5 ton then it will lift a full bag. If it's your only lifting machine then I'd weld a set of pallet forks up to make holding the bag open and moving easy. And don't even think about not getting a grab for it!

200-250KG if dry wood.

If an Almighty mod could edit the title, I would be Eternally gratetful....

But plenty for two 0.7 cube loads of logs, otherwise known as the bulk bag. A trailer like that behind something like a Pug 106 diesel is the cheapest way by far to do two bags at a time. I used to do it and I may well do it again this winter. A thirty mile round trip cost about a fiver in diesel, with diesel at around £1.30 a litre. The same trip in the HiLux cost a tenner. Not to mention all the other 4x4 running costs. Per mile a car and trailer is about as cheap as you can get. If anyone is starting out it's a no brainer if you already have a car. Particularly in the log game where it's often all about cost. Worry about your 'image' later when you've sold enough logs to buy big boys kit and trucks.

I beg to differ. Mine pulled like a train, and blasted up the M6 all the way from Sussex to Scotland at 80-90MPH. Mind you, I did have to fill it up a few times

Hi all, I can now confirm that the Stihl FS-70RC (2-mix engine, proven over the last two years in Stihls big strimmers and smaller chainsaws/blowers) is a good replacement for the hated 4-mix engines and tiresd old school two strokes. Power wise it's pretty much the same as the FS-90 or FS 85 at 0.9KW. Vibration is certainly no worse, probably better, and it has the automatic choke and single push on-off switch that the big 2-mix strimmers have. Nice. The handle is semi integrated into the engine end, and is more ergonomic and throttle control much more precise. Like it. It also has ErgoStart, which looks like it might be handy when starting the engine at the top of a ladder. It's the same fitting at the tool end for all the hedgecutters, polesaw heads etc. Only a flexi drive shaft so be careful. Or do as I have, and drop the engine onto a knackered engined 4-mix pole cutter or combi tool. There is a slight cut away at the engine end of the drive shaft, I guess that's for keeping it from moving in the clamp. I've not bothered cutting the old FS-85 tube to fit and it doesn't seem to matter. I'll update in a week or so after we've finished the contract I bought it for- a couple of kilometres of field hedging to knock back. If it's anything like as hassle free and reliable as the 2-mix engines in my FS-460s I shall be very pleased. Hope this helps someone.

I'll try and do you some pics of the fat splitting wedge later. PM me if I forget.

The last person you'll get a H+S lecture off is me... :lol: Thanks for those pics mate, much appreciated.

Just spat me coffee out! :lol:

Daihatsu will pull far better than a Landy, but decent S/H ones are getting rare. Look out for tired springs, particularly on leaf spring models (pre M reg)

Spot on. My digger hasn't moved for a month. But it's paid for, not depreciating any more (if anything rising slightly), and when it does next get used it'll make me a hundred for two hours work. Having said that, I bought that digger on finance! Second hand from my mentor however, which is a very different kettle of fish.

Haven't made it one handed yet. Let me know if you work out a good way to do it, I haven't had time to look. I cut the side wings off then welded them back on flush to make a fat wedge.

powermac g4 in Desktops & All-in-Ones | eBay Anything with a mirror CD drive door (MDD) will be good for around £40.

If it's some serious power cheap that you require, I'd be tempted by one of the last 2.5GHZ quad core G5s (2008 I think). As they're pre-Intel and stuck on a legacy operating system (still perfectly good with ample software available) you can pick one up maxed out to 8GB with 2x 1TB HDD for £200-250. Some shipped with a 512MB graphics card as well. I'm constantly tempted, but I don't really need it! Would be awesome for photos as well as general stuff. Those dual processor G4s are good, I have a 1GHZ dual with 2GB ram- they can be picked up for around £40 all day long, and I would recommend anyone looking to ditch their Windows box and dabble in Mac starts with one of them- at that money how can you loose? Run both with the one monitor/keyboard/mouse until you see the light (should take about a day)

If you really want to know, it was the Garden Machinery Centre in Midhurst. They're hardly going to send it to Liverpool though! Go with the cheapest you can find at one of the online dealers. Nice work on discovering the difference between the two pumps, I had no idea. I would recommend the Mitox to anyone who does logs as a bit of a sideline, just to speed up the Saturday boy's work. Easier than an axe for arb arisings. Being able to split up to 1m lengths is nice for making billets, but it hasn't the power for anything other than dead straight and sub 1' ash at that length. The Mitox also comes with a 4 way wedge which is handy. However, buy an additional 4 way wedge as you will end up cannabilising the first one to create a wider wedge for normal splitting- their wedge (which the 4-way slots over) is nowhere near wide enough. HTH

Running 2003 PowerBook G4 here. Still worth £100-£150. Does everything I ask without hassle of any kind. Do a search, there's loads of threads on this. On pretty much any forum too! It's like buying a new Husky/Stihl vs a new Chinky saw.

Local dealer.

I paid £450 for my Mitox.

As long as they're winter cut, they will last a lot longer than treated softwood. If you're putting them in with a machine, you can also get them much larger than normal strainers, for the same sort of money. Although given your location I'd imagine you will have to factor in transport which is the expensive bit.

I have one of those too, but it's annoying having the ram auto return all the way to the stop. Don't use it anymore as have the vertical one now. If anyone is looking at a horizontal splitter, I'd say one with a ram return stop is a must. Or one of those that splits from either end so you can load the other end whilst the first side is being split.