doobin

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?

Just had a play with this idea today- great in theory but in practice the tail wags the dog so to speak. Digger kept sliding sideways when trying to straighten the trailer out of a turn. Hopeless on hills. And trying to 'reverse' (ie. push the trailer) is impossible in anything less than perfect ground conditions- the digger just slid sideways. Any ideas? Trailer was 'balanced' so admittedly some nose weight would help. How much nose weight I'm not sure as track motors are very expensive to replace.

Why not just weld bobcat brackets to the back of the vertical splitter? Might need to cut the log table down a bit (though probably not if you only want mechanical assistance lifting really huge rings) Then you could just position it over them and activate the ram (plumb it in to the bobcat 3rd service, lock the 3rd service on and have a bit of string attached to the splitter spool lever leading into the cab) just enough to grip them. Crowd back 90 degrees, get out the cab and start splitting. Cheques payable to 'Bodgitt and Scarper' please.

Sorry bud, that's called a false economy where I come from. Sleepers may be hard on the engine as you say in your later post, but a Stihl will put up with that hard work and all you'll need to do is renew the bar and chain. On a cheap chinese saw, the engine will fail along with the bar and chain.

Not being funny mate, but if you care enough to ensure the decals are correct then I'd have thought that you'd care enough to have decent equipment that won't let you down on site. Railway sleepers are hard work. If you have a decent saw then keep a spare bar and chain rather than a gutless Chinese saw. If you don't have a decent saw you'd do well to look at something like a Stihl 023.

Agreed. Compare the ram sizes on a 1.5ton Shaeff (now sold as Terex, also sold as New Holland for a while) with that of JCB. The rams are almost half as big again in diameter, which equates to much, much more power. I can't stand JCB minis, they're gutless. My 1.5 ton Schaeff has the same engine and pump as they put in the 2 ton version. You can pull it up and over the blade all day long- a JCB will just die. I have a friend in the professional tarmacing business, and all his machines are Cat. He says the after sales support is unbelievably good. Don't even consider buying a mini digger without getting a grab for it. A good operator is what makes a small digger safe. With a mini and grab you become part of the machine, it's like it's your hand out there on the end of the jib. You don't get that feeling with a larger machine.

Indeed. I'm a great believer in feng shuing my house by chucking everything that's rubbish (and I mean everything...) on the fire. It's only going to be burnt anyway, or go in a hole in the ground. Old clothing/oily rags are great fuel.

So you won't even sell Stihl files or a helmet?

Inner cable pulls into the outer cable when you brake, right? Have a spring or a couple wound together over the inner between the end of the outer and where the inner is clamped to the drum lever. Get the length so there's a bit of pre-tension, then this will act as a return spring of sorts. I've never managed to get the rear drum feeling all that positive though- this is technology that's over a quarter of a century old!

Excellent third post, thanks for your help. Could do with more on here like you I ran the pump backwards manually with my thumb to draw freshly boiled water through it- problem solved!

That's what I'm hoping, but have two backups just in case

Oops, wrong forum! Sorry

Hi all Need to get the oil pump out of my 036- it appears to be supplying OK when revved up high with no bar on, but is not oiling anything like enough in normal use. Almost certainly the result of being left for two months with veg oil in I have a pair of donor 034s. How do I go about stripping the oil pump out? I've searched the forum, but apparently the words '036' and 'oil' are too short. So '036 oil pump' just searches for 'pump' Thanks

If you've got the kit to move big lumps of timber, then you might as well buy standing timber for your firewood and do it that way. Even if you charge a small fee to collect from domestic jobs, by the time you've driven all the way over there, managed to locate the job, squeezed the wagon up the drive, running over the customers dog in the process, waited around for three quarters of an hour, sweated to load and secure all the piddly little bits of timber, then got stuck in traffic on the way out, then had the tractor break down right next to a revenue checkpoint, you'll wish you'd just bought standing and chopped it down, loaded the big bits and left the brash and crap on the floor!

What's the opinion on these then? I've heard various people say they're not a patch on the older models. However, I've run a pair of the new 2-mix engines exceptionally hard in two FS460s this summer, and they've been faultless. Powerful and I reckon the fuel savings to be even greater than Stihl's claimed percentage. As far as the new engine technology goes, I'm sold. Like the idea of the quickstop chainbrake activated by the handle, and the heated handles!

Trust me, with the gaps around the front door and the like, I won't need an air vent! Just lit the open fire and had to put my boots on as the amount of air coming up from under the floorboards is unbelievable! Any more ideas on models?

On my ATC 250 I just fitted a much stronger spring over the cable inners between the outers and the brake actuator on both the foot and hand brake cables- seemed to do the job.

No problem, I'll just open the cupboard next to the fire Seriously, it's bad! Already have draught excluders fitted, and thick curtains over windows. What I'm looking for really is to improve fuel efficiency and to try to store some of the heat produced to radiate it into the room rather than straight up the chimney. Any model suggestions? Thanks

What he said.... BTW, the fact that the website says 'out of stock' is probably a computer glitch. By coincidence, before I first read this thread I was examining a bag of their logs in my localish garden centre that very day. Lovely, kiln dried logs...9 for £7.99! I'm not doubting that kiln dried to 10% is more efficient. However, I'd rather have four times the quantity at only double the moisture content (20%, and we all know they burn just fine at that) for the same money.