JimE

Thats very presumptuous of you! A 30kph tractor goes 30kph flat out, a 40kph tractor goes 30kph at lower revs. Less diesel, less wear. Not all of us have to drive everywhere flat out all the time!

Hi Hedgesparrow, the Kubota we had here was from Gaskins. I dont think they have anything cheaper sadly, but will ask them. R Hunt is who I bought my current tractor off, will have to give them a call. Thanks. I'm really only looking at the big manufacturers as the others suffer in terms of resale value. Sure its cheaper for me now, but in 10 years time my experience is that Deere/Kubota etc will have held their value much better. My current tractor for example if worth more now than what I paid for it. I hadnt thought of McCormick, I will take a look and see what they look like. And I do like Massey 390T, good call on that. Has anyone had any bad experiences with any machines like this? Thank you all for your input so far

Hi Steve, I have loads of pop. PM me if you are interested. Whole trees max 12" at base.

I'm needing a new tractor for topping and general grounds care type work. Replacing a Deere 1640 that is great and has done me very well but it becoming a little long in the tooth and has oil retention issues! Looking for something ideally 60-80HP, must have cab, almost certainly air con. I really want 40k gearbox. Small as possible, but needs to be a full size tractor (ie, couple ton lift on the back, decent size cab, but of weight to it etc). I've set my budget ideally at £15k inc vat (though I'm starting to see that might be a little light). However if I can stay within that I can keep my current tractor too. Tried a Kubota M6040, and its very nice, but only 3 years old and 500 hours I cant afford it (£24k inc). Love the size and the cab (but who put the linkage controls down the side of the seat?!) Would like to stay sub 5000 hours and less than 10 years old. Any tractors to recommend or avoid? Am I a bit light on the pennies? I'm not finding much that fits my needs at the moment, either too big or too expensive!

Good used trailers are rare as rocking horse droppings, you wouldn't have any trouble selling it if you didn't get the use! Timber dragon trailers tend not to hold their value so well, have had a few people wanting to trade them in having found they aren't quite meeting the grade.

I can supply a UK built 3 ton capacity trailer, 4 ton gross with the crane. Should be fine behind your tractor. I wouldnt want to go any larger! Hydraulic brakes can be run off a single acting spool valve. Its not perfect, but it works, and I wouldn't tow a trailer that size without them! I have one ex-demo in stock with a 3.2m crane, hyd brakes, floatation tyres and folding chassis that I can do for just under £8k+vat. Jim @ Riko

Does anyone know if it is possible to convert Harrier 56 varidrive machines into harrier 56pro with the fixed speed system? I have several customers with varidrives which just don't stand up to commercial use.

Here is a previous thread that might be of interest http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/firewood-forum/35157-farmi-masterspilt-wp30-wp36.html

June 20-23 Royal Highland Show June 26-27 Royal Norfolk Show July 9-11 Great Yorkshire Show July 19-21 CLA Game Fair July 22-25 Royal Welsh Show All of which have forestry machinery there.

The Farmi processors are available as PTO and petrol versions, so it can be towed to site and used on the petrol engine. Should there be a tractor on site you can use it on the PTO to save petrol. The road towable machine will able still fit on a tractor linkage, so all very versatile. Youtube is a good starting point to compare the different makes. Some of them are very fiddly to unfold! The Farmi is very open so you have plenty of access to deal with bent timber, and the V shaped infeed grips bent logs much better than a conventional flat conveyor to feed them in. Bet you'll be impressed with a demo!

This is the only picture I have at work. It was taken just before I sold it, so I had taken the linkage off the back.

Hi Chris, yea, sold it to the guy who built the amphibious cars for Top Gear. Am working with him using the componenets from it to make an amphibous rescue craft! Was a bit sad cutting up my lovely tractor, but the new project is pretty interesting! I'd be willing to make another unit more like the alstor, but dont have the cash to stump up!

We are still working on the idea of the small driven trailer for the alpine. We really want to go with a PTO driven set up as most of the alpines have a ground speed PTO and it would be good to utilise that. The problem is balancing weight, price and quality. There are PTO driven tipping trailers available on the market, but none are quite suitable for converting. AGT 850 is about £18k+vat. One of our 3 ton trailers with a crane is about £8k+vat, if we added £6k+vat for the drive system that would be a total price of about £32k+vat. Cheaper than an Alstor, but would enough people buy it to make it worthwhile developing? Before I worked at Riko I built a small hydraulic drive skidder from scratch. Cracking project, really enjoyed doing it. Is there actually anyone who would stump the cash to build a rival to the Alstor? Always looking for another project....

Hi Rich, I have a line on a 16' Ifor flatbed with a very strong hiab on it with petrol engine. Would come in comfortably within your budget. Or is that too big? PS, did you like you beer Andrew brought you?! :-) Jim

It is quite a high spec winch. You need to have the work for it, but if you do its a very versatile machine. Each drum is 6.5 ton, so 13 tons with both cables. So better value than a 9.5 ton single drum. Each drum can be controlled independantly and has its own powered unwinder.

I have an ex-display uniforest 65M, 6.5 ton manual winch. Never used but has been in stock so it s little dusty! Retail £3100+vat, but selling for £2850+vat inc 2 chains and a slider. PTO shaft and cable included. Also have an electrohydraulic 6.5 ton double drum, ex display for £10k+vat. Massive saving off retail! This is a hydraulic winch, not chain driven. Optional wireless remote is £900+vat. PM me if you have interest in either of these.

It'll be better than the 025 you are using in your avatar

Hope you took your wellies! It was very, very wet when I was there a couple of weeks ago! Its a lovely place up there.

Hi Difflock, yes, they use a system similar to the regen on loader tip circuits. If we call the port on the base of the cylinder A and on the chrome rod end of the cylinder B. When the ram is extending oil is pumped into A to make the ram extend. Oil comes out of B as the ram extends. This oil from B is forced back into port A almost doubling the flow, hence the very high speed. The works because the chrome rod uses some of the surface area in the cylinder, so more force is applied to the side of the cylinder doing the pushing. That essentially is how the 2 speed works, and we can get a complete cycle time on high speed of about 12 seconds on a 30 ton PTO splitter with a 1.5m stroke. Hopefully the above makes sense! The little block that does it is circled. Jim

Hi guys, Can you recommend somewhere to register a domain and start a website? Dont need anything extravagant, but i need to be able to regularly alter the website. Seems to be alot of small print, dont want to pay a tenner for the first year and a millionn pounds for the second year! Cheers Jim

Hi Jon, Balfor. Jim

Can do new for approx £5000+vat for 30 ton as required. Would be a 1.6m bed though otherwise 1.5m logs wont fit in!

Thanks guys. I have passed the figures on to the customer. Hopefully they will go for the processor, and if they do I have given your names as contacts for buying timber. Thanks Jim

Hi all, I'm looking for a ballpark price of hardwood cord up to 50cm dia delivered to Merthyr, South wales. I'm not looking to buy, but a customer needs a ballpark price as they are looking at buying a processor, but need to make sure it makes sense over buying in the firewood. Would appreciate any help. Thanks Jim

For the number of these we sell problems are very few and far between, and usually sorted out easily over the phone. We sell most of them without the customer ever having seen one (just off videos etc) and so far I've not come across anyone disappointed with their choice. Its always hardest selling the first one, hence the price I gave you to try and get the first in Ireland! Hi Rich, order is in hand from this morning. The parts are on order, as soon as they arrive we'll build and arrange delivery. I've got another chap in mid wales who wants to see one, so maybe I can owe you another mug and pen? Probably owe you more than that now to be honest! 6 way knife, box of chains/bars? I expect Stephen might have forgotten! If you want to send a PM to me to remind me I'll bring it up and see what the deal is. I dont have any idea what he said to you!