doobin

That’s not so much the issue- you could just lay the grab down to pick it up. The issue is that you never need to grab your own boom- but you quite often need to do things like hold a pole out vertically! So optimise the geometry for this. Here’s me when my E27 first arrived- messing about optimising the grab geometry and sorting the bolt pattern prior to welding the hitch. Ah, memories!!

If you’re doing hedge coppice, you deffo want the angled headstock in order to be able to reach out in front of you.. Don’t be fobbed off by a dealer who only makes normal headstocks. Turning it with four bolts is child’s play with an impact wrench.

It’s all a balance, but that’s why it’s important to spend a little more and get the lightest and strongest grab you can. This is the optimum setup for a 1.5-2t machine in my opinion. Intermecatto TG12SR5 with an angled hitch plate that can be turned 90 degrees. Even in the photo below the quality of Intermecatto vs something like JB is evident. You can also get a good look at the angle on the headstock.

As I thought- it’s some guy (although turns out not you) trying to be too much of a big cheese on poxy domestic type jobs. So he employs a load of dross, gets you to quote, and surprise surprise, expectations don’t line up. He was probably only going to make a couple of hundred out of the job anyway. Any local firm with a small machine would make that extra £200 with no hassle in an honest way, without needing to rush around keeping a dozen brain dead morons off the streets/ketamine.

Light but not the right thing for handling concrete or grubbing out. Really that kind of grab is designed to be mounted under a free swinging rotator. I do have one set up fixed for delicate jobs or use on the Sherpa but you have to be careful with it. @woody paul what size machine and what do you want to use it for?

I wouldn’t look at anything other than Intermecatto. Well proven for strength and much less weight than others, in particular the JB one which is very heavy to make up for not being Hardox steel.

And then sack them. I thought exactly like you but that’s an easy job. I take it OP is already making a loss on this job? the problem with jobs like these is that they are really a gardeners job. Any subbie worth their salt would be capable of doing it in a day- for themselves. Can’t be much of a margin in it unless you are leading a team from the front Got to be honest, I know a few people who run companies doing work like this, and my advice to them is always- buy a machine. They have a steady turnover of uninterested losers, and they themselves always seem stressed.

Any grab can be made with a hitch plate that allows you to pick it up in either orientation. However, be aware that you won’t be able to have the pins set to reach out in front with the grab if you do that, which will limit you for certain applications. personally I’d get a hitch plate made up with an angle on the pins, and be prepared to take a couple of minutes with an impact gun to turn it 90 degrees. ok so this pic has a rotator but you see what I mean about the hitch.

Ten foot mature blackthorn? You utter sadist! I bet fetish clubs put on special nights just for people like you.

This, or at the very least have a digger and grab on site to stuff it into the truck. I won't touch the stuff by hand, it's not worth the time off with an infected stab. Wouldn't ask my blokes to either.

Not an Arb digger, but I will get round to fitting a grab one day. Just wants a few pins and bushes doing first.

We found an old panel saw to be a help in freeing it also, as well as a thin SDS bit. Also look underneath the ram box, especially if it's not returning alll the way home.

I would imagine shitloads was left on site given that they couldn’t even find a contractor with a big enough bar to fell the tree properly. So they cut it off 6ft high? sounds like an absolute cowboy job to me.

Are you sure the two spare holes aren't threaded, and are there to assist in separating the flange from it's mount when disassembling?

Miles away from you on the South Coast I'm afraid!

Would be far too slow for repetitive use and would also exceed the motor duty cycle and battery capacity very quickly.

I was thinking more Sherpa than Avant.

Anything that makes life easier and saves manual labour is a winner for me. But for £15k I would just buy a mini loader and then you've got something to load the trailer and drag the logs round from the back garden!

I've got the exact same hitch as you. They don't play nicely with grapples as you rightly expect- the stack height means that the opening mechanism is very snappy with little grip. Taking it off and fitting a rotating grab would be the best thing you could do for timber work. Grapples are OK, and yes, you can load with them, but a the difference between them and a rotating grab is night and day. I run both rotating grabs, fixed grabs and grapples so hopefuly an unbiased opinion. If a small machine I'd go for a fixed rotator on the grab too- that's to say, one that is axially rated. Not only is it great for helping push over trees when felling but it gets around the problem of dangle rotator on a small machine- that's to say that you can only handle short lengths, as long lengths hit the boom as you swing them. With a fixed rotator you just angle it away from you a bit as required. If that's a 3t machine then you'd be looking at around £3500 for a decent grab and rotator, and the only one you should really consider is an Intermecatto Tigergrip with a Balfors rotator. For rotation, a quick and dirty tee into the offset pipework and extra pipes clipped to the boom is the easiest way.

This. When our Jappa has the same issue it's due to crud in the slot at the end of the ram stroke.

I want a real time tracker in everything. The automatrics are the insurance on the most expensive ones, plus can be moved between machines if one is to be left overnight away from the yard.

That aligns with my research. What I've done is this- I've ordered a Teltonica FMC920 at £52 inc VAT. That appears to be the most basic one that is also 4g, therefore futureproof. A GiffGaff sim on PAYG should run that at minimal cost for the data. For tracking services, gps-server.net is what provides white label tracking services to most of the companies out there. Tracking for ten objects for a year is £110, or 5 objects for £60. Basically, all the little tracking companies out there are just buying a cheap tracker, programming it to their white label tracking platform, adding a cheap data card and then adding profit. Maybe OK for one machine, I'm not doing it for a dozen. And who knows how long their trackers will last? This way I have control of the whole process.

Playing ‘parts bingo’!

I feel like I haven't lived!

Jesus, reads straight like the judging from our local horticultural show.