doobin

Guilty. it’s for the father in law. Honest.

As above. Going to purchase a Panther mill from @RobD. Thinking 54" or 64". Primarily for edging off and creating cants from larger butts on site- the 14" depth of cut would give me a cant which I could just about squeak four nominal 7" oak posts from back at the yard on the bandsaw. Milling the cants on site has got to be better than hauling back all of the tree, and I can only fit 30" on the bandsaw anyhow. Has anyone experience of using low pro on this size bar and saw? The thinner kerf appeals- am I right in thinking that problems with the chain snapping are usually on longer lengths? How is it for chip clearance? Not worried about finish. I want the fastest cutting combination.

Another vote for tractor here. I'd get (well, I do have!) a 25hp compact with a mid mount deck, ideally Kubota for the bi-speed turn feature (where the front wheels speed up to pull you around faster at the headland). Hydrostatic best, much better than gears for mowing. That will be a supreme ride-on mower, you could mulch or collect with it if you wanted- second hand vacuum collectors for the rear can be had all day long for £300-500. Then you can rent a 3 point linkage scarifier, or buy one for a couple of grand when it comes up. You could have a loader on the tractor if you need to do a bit of lifting. And you'd find all kinds of other uses. @Muddy42- you didn't say if you were a contractor or looking to do your own lawn. Where are you based?

That local garage called me when the missus had her car in there for a new bumper and air con radiator (I flat out won’t do fiddly shit like that plus don’t have regas gear) and told me the water pump had gone and it wouldn’t bleed. VW only part, £300 plus vat. I told them that doesn’t happen, bleed the fkin thing properly. Called me back ten minutes later, surprisingly it had bled ok. I want to like them and use them, but since that I’m wary. OP- I service all my own trucks, usually costs around £30 for oil and filter. It’s really not hard.

Just saw this on eBay. Seems well priced, lots of lift capacity. The 7.3s would lift nearly the same as an 8 series, but didn't have so much hydraulic flow at the time. Now with the 8.4SK restricted to 26hp, it's pretty much the same. The main difference between this and a new 8.4 is that the 8.4 has two speed drive, piston pumps, opti-drive and other electronic and hydraulic wizardry to get the best out of the engine. A good starter machine for a tree firm who want to mechanise and start lifting and shifting large bits of timber. You'd be better off going for this than a 5 series if tree work is the game. Multione 7.3+ compact loader WWW.EBAY.CO.UK Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Multione 7.3+ compact loader at the best online prices at...

High tip bucket and the right size machine for the rest of your work.

The Honda mountfields are great mowers- much more reliable than my £1000 Etesia or the £700 Viking.

If only employing were as simple as just buying a machine, I'm sure may on here would be pushing their businesses to the next level! I'd stick with subcontractors, and look to bring them in on a profit share/tonnage rate. Your game is nicely simple, in that if you want to expand, you need to process more volume. It's easily quantifiable, and therefore easily paid by results. Where you need to differ from others is in offering a reasonable share of the pie. Nobody will stick around grafting in the woods for 26k per year. Pay by results, fix your costs, but be fair. A forwarder costs a lot more to run than a saw, cutters need to appreciate that. If they are motivated enough to help find work and markets for the timber, then pay them for that. Etc. A collective, if you will, with each bringing skills and machines to the table and each taking a fair proportion in return for effort, capital and risk expended. If your existing cutters are really that good, then bring them on board further. Or you can have the stress of a churn of cheaply paid, un-motivated staff. Either can make money, it's up to you how you go forward. I'm done with the days of seven blokes on the books.

My missus gets 28k a year working from home in a marketing job, she started with no experience a couple of years ago. The problem UK wide isn't wages. It's that the cost of living, primarily that of putting a roof over your head, has at least trebled since the 90s. So to answer your question, £26-28k became a shite wage when house prices were allowed by successive governments to soar past 3x average annual earnings.

Smart move. Stick with the Jap ranger.

Briggs are total shit. Always have been, always will be. The only people who think they are good are people who think Black and Decker is a good power tool brand. All marketing, no substance. Let this be a lesson to anyone reading. Briggs and scrap em. Many a true word said in jest.

No, but you can share the chains with your existing saws which is a plus. I don’t have an 881, so is the consensus that the bar mount is the same as, say, the 661?

If bar mount is the issue, then surely a question for @RobD?

I've ordered these for use in the machine- hoping they will let me just answer calls whilst driving and the other person be able to hear!

Thread redirection! Finally bolted our extension together along with a subframe extension. Cut some weatherboard to test it- perfect cut with no deviation.

I would imagine the seals in the injection pump area refers to the wire threaded through all the adjustment bolts and crimped with a Kubota seal- tamper evident.

Then just open them up and measure them to order them.

Looks like such a two bob operation I wouldn't waste your time.

The only machines that collect reasonably in the wet are the fan assisted ones, be that the Kaaz pedestrian design or a fan vaccum collector behind a compact tractor. Even then it's not great, but sometimes needs must!

Any decent hydraulic repair shop will be able to reseal for you. They are not too massive to courier either.

I really, really like that. You get so much more interesting and better value machines in the Nordic countries. What money? Will it suit your work?

And if you're complaining about a lack of power, how much worse will the 26hp version be??

All set for a couple of hours flailing for a local farmer prior to him fencing. The offset flail is a bit of a pig to set up as you have to change the hydraulic link to a solid one as not enough spools and adjust the link arms too but it’s very quick and agile once it’s on- makes it easy to get right up to the hedge and along banks. I leave the head angle on the float setting, it does a grand job.

No, yours is the full fat version and turbo to boot.