doobin

I've never tried a thumb but I'm convinced I'd always prefer to put a proper grab on!

It’s all a compromise. Even if you spend big bucks on a fixed rotating grab, then a little machine will run out of lift height quickly and will also struggle to lift much extra weight- an intermecato grab and rotator will weight in at over 100kg. A fixed grapple or intermecato type grab without a rotator will stack logs as well as you can wish for with a 1.7t. It’s a mini digger not a forwarder. Still beats doing it by hand. I’d start with a quality grab such as Intermecato. Then if you want to add either a fixed or dangle rotator (plus extra aux lines) you’re halfway there. that wsl grab will be utter shit. It’s what they sell on the wanky single cylinder Chinese micros. Won’t even fit a normal digger, don’t waste your money. Get a fixed grapple made up to fit your digger if you want to go down that route.

Option 1- you mean a grapple with a backstay? If you make this backstay hydraulic it becomes surprisingly versatile, allowing you reach right out or bring the weight back right under the boom. You can knock lengths into the right angle to pick them up- I did five years with one and became surprisingly adept at it. Very good at handling lumps of concrete etc. But a basic fixed backstay grapple was £400 ten years ago so not sure where you get that figure of £260 from? Option 2- with a dangle mount rotator, you'll still have the problems of adding a second pair of aux lines that you allude to in option 3. OK for handling timber but limited on a 1.7t. Massively increases the stack height, you won't be able to swing very long lengths about. Momentum will rock a little digger about. Option 3- you will need a 'fixed' rotator- that is to say, one that is axially rated for the load. This will cost you £1200 on its own so I'm not sure where you get the overall figure from? Most versatile, you can grub out things and reach out further with it, subject to the limits of a 1.7t machine. If running a fixed rotator then you need to spend on a decent grab too, Kelfri will just bend as soon as you show it a reasonable load. The stack height is a big issue here too, 1.7t machines just don't have the lift height as they are desined to dig deep as possible. I speeced short dipper on my Bobbcat E19 and it's still a right pain the in arse compared to the same thing on the E27. Option 4, which might be best for you, is something like an Intermecato TG12. Picks up on the quick hitch, you can hold it out in front of you or back under the boom (but with lots more leverage acting on it than a grapple). You can mount it in either plane, tines top and bottom or either side. Easy to share between machines. Can be used to grub out and handle concrete. I run all these types, I'll try to find some pics.

How many hours are you up to on that? Any issues?

Sounds like a needle is the answer here.

A top hitch is the soloution.

I’m sure they are strong enough but I’m just going to change my current grab and rotator combo to s30 and keep using that. No point abusing the engcon when I know the current rotator will take it, plus the grab ports through the tiltrotator are tiny, I reckon it would slow down the grab too much. and then the tiltrotator can be on the e19 when the grab and rotator is on the e27

Currently people are getting away with winging it. Very little enforcement and indeed the law itself isn’t totally clear.

Love dry larch offcuts from my sawmill. Even the spruce is OK.

Somewhat ironic. We had a romantic weekend in Yorkshire in the camper van.... ...because that's where I had to go to collect the tilty!

It’s the cost. They are silly expensive. I went down the route of purchasing mini loaders rather than tiltrotators for my diggers and I reckon that’s made me a lot more profit. If I only did excavations it might be a different story. tilty prices have gone mad in the last few years. At the end of 2019 I had a quote from engcon for an ec02 and top hitches to share between a 2.7t and 1.7t- see pic. Nearly 9k for the unit, two top hitches and three buckets. That would now cost you around £15k. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. after three years of waiting, I’ve finally picked one up second hand. £3k. Great you say. But adding three buckets and a two top hitches is another £4k, and then I’ve got to spend a bit more and a lot of sweat and workshop time converting any ‘standard’ buckets I want to use in the future, as everything needs to be s30 hitch, even if direct mounted to the top hitch. Should have just bought it in 2019! Easy to say that, but 9k in machinery in 2019 seemed a lot more expensive than it does now post covid and inflation. plus that price was for an ‘ss1’ control system, whatever that is. This secondhand tilty I’ve bought is a ‘dumb’ tilty just with four pipes- although it does have the ports through its slew ring for a grab plus it has a hydraulic hitch which is good. I can see why people just buy a new digger on finance with engcon fitted and a bucket set on the finance too! This had better be worth it. I specced both my e27 and e19 to be optimised for both a grab and rotator and possible future tiltrotator when I bought them. Twin auxiliaries with joystick rollers, extra counterweight each and a short dipper on the e19. If anyone is thinking about a new digger but not wanting to commit to a tiltrotator just yet, think about how you spec it would be my advice. At the very least start off with an s-type hitch and buckets. Wish i had! I share an oddball pin centre between all three diggers, if it has been s30 I’d have saved a few k in time and hassle now.

You sure that wasn’t the advice on the quenching temp? If you say hand hot I’m guessing you mean 100 Fahrenheit, that would be a sensible quenching temperature but not enough to make the steel bend any easier when trying to straighten it.

What, in 1987? Never heard of them.

If you can bash it back cold it’s the best option with these grabs. If you heat them up it’s easier to get them perfectly aligned, but you’ll have to quench them right otherwise they will bend where yo heated them with the slightest knock in the future.

Yup, I’ve run three Intermecatto for a long while. The only way I’ve bent them is by doing something stupid such as trying to grub out a massive stump because you can’t be arsed to track back for the ripper, or trying to pull out a steel gatepost. Usually happens just after you think “I’m gonna bend this if I keep abusing it!” as said, learn from the experience. A bad workman blames the tools. My Intermecatto have done thousands of hours of hard work for me, and the only damage has been due to abuse.

Ok if you like banana shaped fence posts! You might get gate posts but they would be very low quality.

Just suck the flesh off and spit them out. They are pleasant. A little treat when mowing churchyards.

Chainsaw mill on site into slabs. That butt is worthless for anything other than ‘decorative’ river table type stuff where warp and twist can be called character. id consider it a win if you found someone willing to mill it, take it away and clean up for free. Or just take it for firewood.

Interesting. Kind of like a geological root barrier? how long ago was the house built? How far away from the trees or house are they proposing this trench?

Whatever they want ill build you it for less!

Same ol same ol every time a girl asks for arb advice. I wonder how many thirsty simps have tried to 'slide into her DM's' 🤣 I seem to recall that was a bit of an issue last time a female asked advice and posted some photos of herself...

If you can find me a skilled welder/fabricator who works for £13 and hour I’ll give them a full time job tomorrow.

Depends a lot upon what kind of work you want to us it for! The 4-in-1 bucket is essential for any kind of earthmoving or groundworks. A standard bucket doesn’t even come close. Pallet forks are useful for all sorts, and I’d consider them standard fare. a post knocker or an auger is handy for field and domestic fencing respectively. What kind of grab to chose is a contentious issue- a lot depends upon how you work jobs and what you want to use it for. Really we need to know what kind of jobs you have lined up for it!

You'll need to pull the bars past straight in order to convince it to bend, even with heat. A loader or digger plus a chain has worked well for me in the past, just go easy. You can hook the chain over a section of angle iron cut to the right size in order to try to limit kinking it the other way. Basically general metalworking knowledge, which it sounds like you have. Much easier with two of you. And keep standing back and looking at it as a whole- if it looks right, it is right.