Matthew Storrs
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Everything posted by Matthew Storrs
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Agree- that truck just looks very wrong in my eyes- not thought out at all- pickup bed is clearly an afterthought. Wouldn’t mind having a Landcruise Series 79 ute. Actually just looked- some of them have dreadful rear overhang too.
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Think you’ve hit the nail on tie ahead- it does take a lot of enthusiasm and motivation for the job to get out there on your own time after time. i always find when I either have subbies with me or working alongside someone else I have far more get up and go- even if it’s raining!
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Nope- I get this completely. Splitting your own firewood is a time consuming and dreary business. I can’t be arsed with it anymore- I reckoned it took me 3 days to fill my log shed, from first crack of the axe to stacking the final load- much sooner spend those 3 days earning instead!
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Yes I do really. Buckets need to go in tow vehicle to keep it legal with current trailer- there are lighter trailers that could take buckets too. TBH most of the time i use my tractor these days if I’m taking the 3 tonner to a job with attachments and buckets as can get it all there in one go. What I’m really needing at the mo is a decent ‘mobile workshop’ so I can keep all my tools on board and gate fittings etc all with me so i don’t have to spend half my life loading and unloading tools like I’ve had to do with defender the last 10 Year’s. Doubt I’d get rid of Landu, unless I found I wasn’t using it anymore.
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Interesting- very interesting actually. Think you might have sold it to me if I can find a tidy one. Thanks.
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What’s it like pulling away with the digger can it do it on a bit of a slope ok or do you have to drop the box. I know my defender needs low box to do a hill .start on anything other than a mild slope
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Looks superb setup. It doesn’t really bother me as I only do short trips but what sort of MPG does it return towing that digger
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Around about £5-6 per meter supply and fit with roughly half off labour and half on materials. Obviously loads of turns of directions and/or lots of stops and starts in the fence will push the price up.
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Weather doesn’t help either- I get the slump when it’s grey and miserable. After a while if you’ve been doing anything long enough it all becomes an element of ‘Old Hat’! In the sense that I think if something is new, exciting and requires learning new skills or overcoming challenge then generally motivation comes with that. I totally get where you are coming from Beau. It can be hard to get a bit of get up and go. I do think that necessity is a great motivator-(not applying this to you specifically) but for eg if you have kids or a farm, real money worries etc then perhaps an element of survival mode kicks in. I have no staff to arrive in the morning and work on my own much like yourself-getting myself out the door in a morning is usually trumped by the thought of another cup of tea. However once at work- I have no issues at all and in fact regularly work late into the evening simply because I am enjoying whatever it is I am doing and want to keep going.
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Looking at them as we speak. What model Rangey is yours? Another cheap option for power seems to be the Jeep Grand Cherokee- but not 3500kg unfortunately. Do you run yours on LPG?
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Actually I walked past a f350 yesterday and I thought yeah their big but not grossly so. I’d feel quite happy with one of them even in the Devon lanes. I mean a Land Rover 110 with an ifor flatbed is a pretty unwieldy beast too and with a truck as handy as a F350 you’d not need a trailer on the back as much perhaps.
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https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/American-Ford-F-350-Diesel-Pickup/113400423607?hash=item1a673124b7:g:ulEAAOSwa3lb-v0C tipper conversion anyone!?
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I’m constantly on the lookout for my perfect truck but everything seems to be a compromise in one way or another. Not big enough load bed, big enough load bed but no tool storage/family unfriendly. Wouldn’t want to chuck a load of money away on depreciation so that rules out new trucks- plus far too tarty for my line of work. what did you go for in the end Ken? My perfect truck- 3.5t towing- preferably not squeezed out of a tiny engine. decent long bed- 6ft minimum to get stakes, digger buckets and materials in. Internal storage for drills/saws tools. family friendly ie can put the little one in the back somewhere. is there such a thing?
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What I find is there seems to be certain models in each manufacturer which really excel but then other models in their range let them down. Personally I didn’t really like the small Kubotas kx016 &018. The cabs were nice though. Small short blades, rather tinny bodywork and poor bucket-blade geometry. From what I’ve tried I’d go for the yanmar sv26 in the 2.5-3t category
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I wanted a wacker mini ET18 but couldn’t afford it!! ended up with the Tak 216 but Wacker is the better machine.
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You do wonder how these plant hire companies make any money?
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That’s mad actually doing some rough calculations I’d reckon that 3 tonner would come in similar to owning one. bog standard 3 tonner @£25k+vat, keep for 5 Year’s and sell for £10k with 4000 hours. Depreciates at roughly £75 a week.
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Considering the addition of an arb digger
Matthew Storrs replied to Big J's topic in Large equipment
Are you set on a saw head for a digger J? Or would a grab simply for timber handling make life more efficient. Even a digger with a grab like this would be good for restricted access. 2.8t machines I think is a great size- towable, can sneak into small areas still, in the right hands you can operate one on more or less any ground short of the engine drying up. Just work with the ground and use the blade to your advantage. A 300kg log can be tossed around no bother even at reach (although care needs to be taken on slopes of course) 500kg would still be obtainable closer in. -
I’m not sure which one I have whether it’s British or German, I think it’s British. But it’s totally waterproof, big enough hood to wear over a helmet, decent chest pockets and very very tough. I’m always dealing with barb wire and blackthorn etc and it’s 5 years old now. I think it cost £30 and I wouldn’t waste any more money or anything else. Probably a bit clumsy for climbing perhaps but great if your on the ground.
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The who can get most outraged at bad treework thread.
Matthew Storrs replied to Mick Dempsey's topic in Picture Forum
Where is that- which town- looks really really familiar but just can’t place it... -
It does have good reach and great for landscaping. I nearly went for the 219 but as I already had a 2.8t the extra size over the 216 wasn’t so desirable. Incidentally hear is my 216 with its power tilt- gives it the same reach as a standard hitch 219. Really like the powertilt hitch as gives full so much range of tilt plus can be used with any buckets and attachments. Here I was grading off a footpath through some woods and it very easy to grade with a camber and tidy up the edges with out much manoeuvring.
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What it’s main use. 219 isn’t bad- possibly a bit gutless compared to other 2 tonners and despite being 2 ton- it’s very much a slightly bigger 1.5tonner than a smaller 2.8tonner- if that makes sense. I have a Takeuchi TB216 and a TB125 and the 125 is just sooo much more capable- you can do some serious work with it but I consider the 216 as more of a toy which is handy for odd little jobs- mainly due to being light enough to tow about with materials/attachments etc.
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I bought the Makita one. Mainly because I already had Makita batteries and charger for others tools so it was very cost effective at £130. I use it for fencing/landscaping type work and it’s just generally handy to have in the truck if I need to cut some branches back to get machines in etc. its fine for that, it has a low chain speed and well enough designed, better cordless saws out there for sure but I’m happy with it for the money and use it a lot.
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Best timber for reinforcing the bank of a large pond
Matthew Storrs replied to Bunzena's topic in General chat
I did a large stretch of riverside revetment a few years back, it was all pretty sensitive salmon spawning grounds so treated wood was out of the question. massive eroded sections of riverbank. I used all materials I had coppiced from the river bank- basicallly got some large 8” diameter alder trunks- pointed them and drove them into the riverbed leaning back a post every 6 foot. Then I used all the willow brash and weaved it between the alder posts and back filled with the soil/rocks that the river had washed to one side. certainly worked well at the time and my Hope was that all the willow would root in and other vegetation established and hold it together by the time the Alder posts had rotted off. If the Batter of the banks are fairly shallow it helps. -
Up at 7, leave house at 8ish- generally on the job by 9. however I rarely leave the job before 5pm and usually go till 6- 6.30, don’t know why I just prefer finishing late than starting early.
