doobin

Developers are no doubt lobbying behind the scenes for more government ‘help for buyers’.

For that application I’d ring up rather than cone split any day. Easier and less mess. all assuming you o my want to make the timber into small enough bits for the digger to handle.

Tree won't even notice that smidge of damage from ivy removal. If your house is the white building in the background it looks from the pics that it won't even come close if it fell in that direction.

Bang on

A pleasant morning doing some very tight ash extraction. would have been a lot easier, cheaper, neater and more efficient if they’d just had me and the three tonner fell and extract the trees rather than task a gang of tree surgeons with a forestry operation but it’s by the hour so who cares.

That’s exactly how I see it, but you put it far more eloquently than me. Birders can be just as bad. Anywhere there is blanket legislation it becomes a game of top trumps, and associated ‘professional costs’ Take bracken control- only way is mechanical these days, and to be fair has been for a while on a lot of my work due to the landowners wishing to stay organic. That means three cuts throughout the growing season if you want to put it into remission. Trouble is, a nature reserve will normally be a a matrix of different habitats, including scrub. So there might be ground nesting things around. It’s probably only be a pheasant, but it might also be a nightjar. So on one hand you’ve got the birders kicking off about that. But on the other hand, the habitat in question is the last refuge of a red list insect in the UK. And if you don’t control the bracken, it goes extinct. But birders can claim top trumps- it’s an absolute offence to disturb any nesting bird. If it wasn’t for volunteer ornithologists and conservationists who tick the survey box each time we cut, either the work to save a species from extinction wouldn’t get done, or ‘professionals’ would be have to be engaged on the taxpayers pound. Charging more for strolling about with a clipboard than a contractor does for providing £60k of machinery. I like the suggestion about using AI and a camera to count and identify bats. Something like that is needed to bring down costs if we as a society decide that bats are worthy of such veneration. Don’t think I’m bashing conservation- it’s a mainstay of my work. The issue is the same as in many industries- gatekeeping and associated high costs being forced upon the rest of society by ill thought out legislation. Whilst I’m at it- badgers. Should be on the general license. No shortage of the bastards, and if we really care about ground nesting birds they are a major source of predation. By all means make it a capital offence to engage in badger baiting- but if we can control foxes then why are badgers any different?

Never had a tick on me (to the best of my knowledge) but I've just ordered five pairs of combined fine curved tweezers/slotted tool so I can keep a set in every vehicle.

So they can get double bubble by charging you for more people sitting in deckchairs. Who are also paying for the privilege of sitting in the deckchairs under the guise of ‘training’ so that they can join the gravy train.

Don't trust Trust. Another example of them simply being out for all they can get. They are salesmen, nothing else. Lying pricks also.

Good luck. Bat surveys are a licent to print money.

That’s the odd thing- as mentioned in the posts above, there is no reason it should give issues! A direct lever on the spool block to actuate the aux. Yet it does, and I can’t work out why.

I didn't realise that about Holmbury! Bastards! Hydraulic fittings are often referred to as '3/8' or '1/2' body but this is a terrible way of doing things and it drives me nuts that people do. Basically, no part of a '3/8" body' quick fitting measures at 3/8". The thread may indeed be 3/8" bsp, but it could just as easily be 1/2" bsp, metric 12L, or 7/8 JIC on the same fitting! Two main standards are used to ID the body- or rather, should be used. Even buying from 'hydraulic specialists' I've had the wrong thing sent. These standards are ISO and DN. For a Sherpa you need to ask for a pair of DN06/ISO10 couplers with a 3/8bsp thread.

I have no problem with quick connectors on anything other than the damn Sherpa!

Accumulator. Stores hydraulic oil at pressure, used to supply pressure to the servo levers when the machine is off so you can still lower the boom etc in the event of an engine failure. There isn't one on a Sherpa.

I have no idea, it's got me stumped also (Sherpa 100). There is no logical reason for it- the auxillary lever is a direct mechanical connection to the spool block, so wiggling that with it off as @AHPPsays should depressurize it. I'd have to disagree with him about pressure left in the implement- so long as you bleed it first, it will not 'build' pressure except possibly in extreme heat. These are tiny lightweight grabs, and any pressure left from not closing the grab fully shouldn't matter when reconnecting (and it shouldn't even be an issue if you bleed it to a relaxed position before disconnection) The problem is more that for some reason the machine doesn't seem to depressurize properly. I've changed the quick connectors from the original to top quality (Hombury). which made a good difference but didn't totally solve it.

No, they wouldn't fit. Or at least, very unlikely to! Pin centres are different for almost all mini diggers brands and sizes. TB216 isn't the greatest mini digger either. Bit weedy, very erratic slew. Try before you buy.

I'm in Sussex so £35 less for Derbyshire might well be about the going rate. I've no idea what the going rate here is though, it's just a guess. The going rate was £150 pre covid and even then that wasn't enough.

Not down any for a long time but got to be £200 upwards I’d say.

As above. Lowest of the low. Full of desperate tradesmen paying to be the the tenth contractor to bid for a job for a customer who wants everything for nothing. If the job even exists. I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. You'll get far better return from flyering a the street when doing a job in a good neighbourhood.

It's a little flail arm hedge cutter. Needs some new control cables which I have and will fit one day, plus a bracket making for the tractor to hold the valve block and levers.

What I mean is, common sense isn't common any more!

Mine was similar, looked like new after 500 hours. With the volume of oil in them and running at relatively low pressure through a little 13hp driven gear pump, the oil is far less stressed than a similar volume running through a triple piston pump on a 20hp mini digger, regardless of how hard we think we are beating the machines 🤣

And pigs will fly!!

Am I the only person who keeps half a dozen 5l cans of mixed 2t petrol and refills them all at the garage at the same time? same with neat petrol but 10 litre cans rather than 5.

I didn’t think there was any other way people did it!