doobin

Dog's bollocks. Do all mine with one.

Jealousy is a dreadful thing.... PS. I take back the yokel thing

You paid them that?????

Smart move

Missed that bit. A large (150HP) tractor and loader would do it (very popular size in Germany for loading biogas digesters), or failing that a toe tip bucket on a smaller tractor loader Or an old matbro and hydraulic splitter- might be best value if OP doesn't envisage using anything linkage mounted. What sort of budget are we talking?

If I were local to you I would be that bloke. OK, I wouldn't threaten to do your mate over, but if you haven't got the nous to get some signs and adverts out then don't think you can sit on your arse, expecting all orders to come your way because your the local yokel The bloke was honest, as previously mentioned 'a builders bag of logs' is not a description that will see you prosecuted by trading standards. So to take down his adverts smacks of throwing your toys out of the pram. If you're not charging £50-60 a builders bag delivered (half cube) then you're what I'd term 'a busy fool'

You should always use gloves when doing oily, dirty mechaniky type jobs. Nitrile (food prep) gloves are great, much tougher than latex ones. Your hands only generally itch if you keep them on and sweat inside them (great way of cleaning already oil hands btw) so what I do is throw them away every ten minutes or so, wipe my hands with paper towel, apply talcum powder and don a fresh set of gloves. Never had a problem. Gloves, talcum powder and paper towels are cheap- your health shouldn't be.

That's only because your average 35x or whatever doesn't have the flow rate to drive a big ram. A telehandler certainly would, so it's not likely to be a problem. Personally, I'd get a good loader tractor. The money you'd spent on a half decent telehandler even without PTO would get you a cracking 120ish HP loader tractor.

Reasonable quality oil and REGULAR filter and oil changes. A small 3-cylinder (digger, chipper) engine should have an oil change every 150 hours or preferably sooner. No point buying anything from Halfords all the like- intelligent molecules my hairy a*rse! Just make sure the API matches or exceeds your machines spec and all will be well. Do the finger test- smear some oil from the machine between your thumb and fingers. If it leaves any sort of black smudge, CHANGE IT! and the filter. Quite a fan of the Lucas oil stabiliser myself. Some say it's snake oil, nobody seems to know for sure but the digger certainly runs quieter on it and there's a noticeable better oil pressure in the tractor.

Mate, you're either someone's bitch or your not. If you work for yourself, you need to do all the arranging etc. Put money on the cost of the hire rather than charge travelling time- looks better.

What's worrying is that the bloke you outbid was willing to go to £310!

I'll see you... and raise you a G......

I've heard various ways of cutting down paperwork, but that's just ridiculous...

Could just use a less aggressive plough on the tractor An increasing number of farmers worldwide are actually ditching the plough and using minimum tilliage or direct drilling (straight into stubble) in order to keep the land in better shape and reduce the amount of horsepower and diesel needed to grow a crop. This can however result in a greater need for chemical pesticides.

Ditch the expensive ATV and buy an old tractor. I can skid far more timber in a day using minimal diesel with a cheapo £1000 tractor than a horse could ever hope to match. Tractor rarely breaks down and it's never anything you'd have to shoot it for.... Sorry mate, this is the 21st century. Tractors ARE tried and tested! Seriously though, good luck to you if you can make it pay on real difficult access or sensitive sites. On a commercial, price per ton basis, no way.

Nobody down here in Sussex would pay those rates, and this is a fairly well off area.

Don't piss about with thumbs and the like. Get a dedicated grapple. Was using mine the other day to top a blackthorn hedge- one man chainsawed the stems (about 4-5") then stood clear while I simply grabbed the tops and positioned them behind me for the loader to push up onto the fire. Bugger doing that sort of work by hand! They're great for timber handling, but have limitations compared to a proper rotator and grab. In the right hands, you'll be amazed what you can do with them. Here's mine.

I doubt the suppliers 'aim' to loose £65 million...

Does that stand for 'Pain in Lower Gut' or did you think the swear filter might block the word pig?

In all seriousness, yes. Pull the cord two times then wake up on the third.

What did you do with the person you caught? PM if neccesary!

Got to bed at half one this morning. Three AM and I'm woken by the phone. It's the yard alarm. Beam sensor is being tripped every couple of minutes. I occasionally get one blip as a bat flies through, but never this. It's Saturday night, and weather is windy. Prime robbery time. No way I'm going alone. I ring the local security firm on speedial and they pick me up within three minutes. We have no bell on the alarm yet- it just rings me. Despite him seeing the police in town (which is all quiet) five minutes ago, they won't answer the radio. You have no idea how much of an adrenalin rush this was giving me! Got to the yard, and all quiet on the western front. No floodlights on, but as they're on an 8-minute timer and we'd taken slightly longer to get there we assumed they'd had a walk around and decided it was too much bother to try to rob anything. So we had a cuppa together while Mike from ProTec security filled in his report sheet. By this time and with the caffeine I'm wide awake and so go along on patrol for the next hour with Mike. He was a copper in South Africa, and let's just say i wish our police were allowed the same methods of operation four our theiving scum back here! So come ten past four and Mike's dropping me back home. As I go to open the van door, the phone rings again! Two trips on the sensor come through on the texts. We're back towards the yard like a bat out of hell. I'm convinced we'll catch them- if there's two trips on the sensor as they walk into the yard then that means they're still there having a nosey. I'm watching the clock as we approach. We're rounding the final corner within six minutes of the last text. Lights should still be on. Imagine my disappointment to find it quiet as a church mouse with no floodlights on. I test them and they all work fine- I don't get ten yards from the beam sensor before the lights come on. So I think we've got a problem with the sensor. Forget rollercoasters- if you want adrenalin, get yourself an alarm system connected to a sim card. Might even help keep your gear safe too.

I had no nose weight at all- the trailer was perfectly balanced. Was thinking some nose weight might actually help with traction but I think turning issues would still be the same. Any more thoughts chaps?

My mistake, I thought you had a normal vertica; 'tractor' type splitter. Best get a s/h one and weld some bobcat brackets to it then, should work a treat.

Did anyone actually ready my post? Steve, what's out of budget about welding a bit to you existing splitter to mount it to the bobcat?