doobin

I fitted my splitter with a spool block and lever with a detent on the return, so you can set it going back up and throw the split log onto the pile whilst it does.

I’ve been amazed at the punishment my tiger grip has taken. You must be near retirement then.... Buy exponentially more machines as you get older and your body gets more ****************ed, then sell them all for cash come retirement!

Eat it.

Agree, my FS460s are up to seven years old and have been worked hard. Not much goes wrong with them. The 490 on the other hand is a disappointment. More weight, not much more power, and noticeably worse anti vibes. Best avoided and step straight up to a 560 if you really need that kind of horsepower.

If they can’t drive a rotator and grab then they won’t be much use with a grapple either. I dunno about ten times easier. Maybe five times. 😂 I run both and both have their merits, but for handling timber and brash the axial rated rotator grab is much better. i used to think like you (in truth I didn’t want to spend on a rotator) but I’d never go back.

Interesting that you went for the log grab rather than grapple yet axially rated rotator. I'd have thought that will limit your grubbing out with it. It's amazing what you can grab backwards like that, especially downhill! This lot was whole ash trees, dragged down to the fire area for processing. Then I went and felled/fetched another tree or two before dragging that down, loading the fire and stacking the timber. Amazingly efficient, two men and a machine. Although this was an ADB scenario, it would have almost paid it's way in timber alone.

Or travel five hours to a job?

You shouldn’t be claiming any breakfast food...

You need anti vibe on the strimmer. Might as well up it to an fs460 and have the power too. also the cheap one you currently use probably has a flexible drive shaft which will snap first time you give it real use.

Fixed rotator grab all the way for Arb work, even down to 1.7/9 mini diggers. I have a grapple too, but the rotator is a game changer. It’s a beast on my 2.7t. grapples are ok for site clearance but a rotator grab (fixed not swinging) is so much quicker and a must for tight or domestic sites where you need to load precisely.

Rapeseed smells nice too! Just don't leave it sat in the pump as it'll emulsify and gum it up. If this happens, run very hot water through the tank. I did notice a fair bit more bar wear using rapeseed, and for the quantities I use it wasn't worth it.

Anything will do mate. Even motor oil in a pinch.

Plenty of staff, whilst capable of their job, would not be cabable of saving for their first chainsaw, let alone taking your jobs.

The 100k is made up of a BBL of which I've spent 35k, and finance on three excavators and a dumper. I'm pretty chill about that, as my fairly realistic table of values has all my equipment at over 160k. I've always believed in buying kit to make the job easier and as a store of value. Most importantly though, I have the skills and contacts to use those assets in a variety of ways and industries to create a wage for myself. The house is maybe worth 350k in the current overheated climate, I was just happy that we were offered a mortgage before lockdown and managed to find somewhere before the offer expired and also before prices went even more mental. Can't see self employed people getting many offers in the near future. It's a nice house and somewhere we both want to live for a fair few years yet, so I'm pretty chill about that too. My only 'regret' would be not fixing the mortage for ten years (went five), but who knows what else the government will pull out of the bag to try to prop up the housing 'market'? I can't really do much other than try to ride out the coming crash with my skills and tools, I'm not at the point in life of having much spare cash, especially after taking on the mortgage. Timing has never been my strong point 😜

I owe the bank 100k plus another 200k for the mortgage. Any advice?😬

You an me both mate!

100% this. We've seen recently how machinery prices have shot up. Machinery is better than money in the bank right now. Even if prices return to pre covid 'normal' (unlikely, given the increases in new kit), you can still make more profit (even excluding labour) in a day with a 10k machine than you can in a year's interest with that 10k in the bank. Regarding BBLs- you have the option to pay over ten years (apparently you can apply for that once repayment's start). With inflation the way it is, in year ten my £550 ish payment will be a couple of hours work! It will cost me just 2.5k extra to extend an unsecured 50k loan over another four years, which inflation will more than cover. Mad. Personally, I am diverse with my jobs and the machinery to cover them. If you only do tree surgery, you may end up hurting when work slows and competition hots up. If you can switch to something else, then you have a better chance of weathering the storm.

Got the chinky version if you need one mate. Moved yard though, only 500m from the last one so easy enough to find.

FFS, that's more economical to run than a 2.7t digger!

Not as quick but more power/breakout? Or just not a quick with similar power? I steered clear of the E27z as the E27 wasn't much more tail overhang but had plenty more HP. Hows the little 1.7t machine going?

Give it a rest mate, it was in quotation marks and everything. Go be woke elsewhere.

That’s what I meant by chance of cavitation. As the reservoir lowers, air may get drawn into the system which causes cavitation and damage to motors and pumps.

Thats an absolutely shit design isn’t it? How much would a dedicated reservoir have added to the cost? Bugger all, not to mention the chance for cavitation if a careless op lets the level drop too low.

But given that I order randomly whenever I run low of a certain size, you'd think I'd have got a duff one by now?

That's been the total opposite of my experience. I run them from Makita 36v up to MS462 and have no complaints.