difflock

All smaller tractors have got gie dear, or am I getting old:blushing: Anyway horses for courses, yes the Kubota type stuff is very capable, but the parts can be eyewatering expensive, there were not so many small agric tractors with 4WD, but perhaps someone is importing from Italy or somewhere where they were more prevalent. Deutz, Landini, Same (noisy wee brute though) etc Or indeed a J Deere, we run a 45 HP hydrostatic here at work, on turf tyres with a JD loader. A proper "wee honey"..........................but erm.................probably kinda expensive And at just 2 tonne odd perfectly legal to transport behind a suitable vehicle, within the 3500kg Max One of my better decisions.

Only if there is a generous grant? Otherwise I fink a 2nd Dozer/crawler ud be cheaper?

Simply because when I was outside yesterday about 20 or 30 minutes after lighting the 14 year old Morso, about 17:15 so still clear..............One could not tell a fire was burning, no smoke plume of any sort, I looked from all angles too. Who's a clever boy then:biggrin:

Muldonagh, Yes we do own the ground, & the trees, and yes I would really like a decent access roadway. And I might yet bite the bullet. Weather permitting, & I oh so nearly got her paved during that very dry April last year, except since everybody locally had the same notion I could not get the plant ..............................................until the rain came on, that was. & Yes I would certainly use Geotextile and whatever that plastic weldmesh type reinforcing stuff is called, it certainly reduces the amount of paving required. If I were going down that road I would hire a tracked dumper to place the stone since I dont need a surface capable of carrying lorries, and from previous experience most of the bloody paving is only needed to get the ongoing lorry loads of paving into the roadhead. Kinda "chicken & egg" Gerrr! And anyway, any future lorry access would be from a different direction. Gibber Mutter & Twitch PS Thanks for your sound advice Muldonagh. I can be quite terrible at deciding on the best ( best=perfect) course of action.

I could be in danger of becoming Mr. "AllTheGearAndNoIdear" cos I keep twitching to buy the Sexy:blushing: Farmi 4.5 tonne hydraulic winch to front mount for self-rescue ( or that would be my excuse:001_tt2:) & See if I ever win the Lottery?

Bingo re the reversing into the Barn answer Ps My father ( an owner operator:biggrin: working horseman for years) maintained that the best reversing he had ever (routinely) witnessed was Bobby Greer reversing the Traction engine, with the Boyds threashing Mill behind......with the Jones baler hooked on the back forby, forby. Try getting ones head round those permutations. Getting well off topic I appreciate:thumbup:

Muldonach, Depth varies, digger arm deep in places (&,been tested) only knee deep in other places where the peat was cut-out. I kinda wondered at my seeming inability to get enough brash to pave, thanks for that helpfull comment So, good, you understand my situation perfectly,& I require to buy quarry stone, or if I would be really lucky, get demolition rubble, though "they" have got a lot tighter on monitering any such usuage, & the price of diesel being the real killer no matter what sort of hard-fill I get. Plus the cost of digger hire. So I had figgered that was a non starter. Plus other buggers would use the improved access,& probably to steal my timber So then looking at a traditional crawler PS I honest to God, about 10 year ago I came across an unused Fiat crawler, about 80 HP, PTO & link arm, no cab mind ( but no glass to smash) with 4 spools. Down about Devon if I recall. £10,000 plus VAT I swithered & swithered And didnt, and regret it ever since. Especially since I bought the old MB trac instead, plus a MULE for the Missis = & remains unused since the adolesent weans creashed it Gerr! thanks Marcus

OK OK, Dinny misunderstand, I looked & looked &, looked, it simply looked that the horses heads & eyes were covered with cloth, and I could not See (tee hee) if they could see? or not, if you see what I meant? PS I bes aware what blinkers are, & for why. Cheers M

Are the Horses blindfolded? to protect their eyes? or stop them "spooking" at branches? seems a trifle cruel? cruel is perhaps too strong a work maybe but nonetheless, you know what I mean? Cheers M

RJ I should blush, I done bought ( being an itch I needed to scratch) a very rough but running MB Trac 1000 a wheen o year ago with the intention of putting flotation tyres thereon. But after mulling over the knackered link-arms, non working PTO's ( F&R), knackered shocks etc etc Her now be safely parked up in the shed for a possible restoration project:001_rolleyes: And as a fall back position:Not quite worth as much for scrap as I paid but I'm in with a chance:confused1: Ps I like smilies ( but apparently limited to 4, bah humbug) PPS I didnt like the Forward control MB Tracs

To the three posters as above Yes Yes & Yes I cannot argue with any of that. btw I omitted to mention that the adjacent Moss was clear-felled 3 or 4 years ago with brand new 8 wheel drive J Deere forraders used for extraction. A bloody hash is all I can say, hence I do not wish to see our own Moss left in such a condition. Cheers all Marcus

I had/have seriousley thought about duals, got a cousin who could fabricate the kit and all, but have been advised that duals are not a particularly good idea among brash as debris will get jammed in the gap and eventually or indeed quite suddenly take out a sidewall.(or so can I presume) My tyres are radials and fingers crossed so far i have probably just been fortunate not to have damaged one. They are certainly guy thin in the sidewall. I do try & excercise caution but bytimes when tired can do stupid things:blushing: Sometimes even when I am not tired I suppose I should really put absolute flotation tyres on, like sommat out of Swamp loggers(or even the umbilical slurry outfits) but gulp! have you seen the price of those! Yehaw! and yawn beddy byes time

For to access forestry in rank moss, therefore even if pave the 400 plus metres of the Rodden, I still need to get about once among the trees? A considerable amount of windthrow Lodgepole to cut for firewood. The old 1490 on good wide new tyres aint bad but I can probably only get access for 4 to 6 weeks in the year if I am lucky without doing more harm than good. So if a crawler, either a traditional steel tracked crawler, with linkage & PTO for the winch, & 70 or 80 HP would be plenty. Marshall, Same , Fiat or MF would be the obvious contenders. OR sommat like a Mooraka rubber tracked crawler (& I was looking for a tracked dumper, when I first seen one) , again complete with PTO & link arms for the winch (as far as I could tell from the Photo) I had been prepared to buy the tracked dumper & live without link arms & PTO for the winch, & perhaps fit a hydraulic winch? if the rubber tracks were better (or cheaper) than steel. & I gather the Mooraka will be a hydraulic transmission of some sort? Plus tracks among stumps? how practical? though at least i can cut my stumps very low being in Moss. PS I am currently using all my brash keeping my head above water (so to speak) whilst extracting the timber, So far none "left over" to drag out to pave the rodden. Heli logging? Hmmmmm? Cheers M PPS The photo in my Avatar was taken last April, & not in our usual weather or ground conditions!

Cor, What a Sunday morning gift to a Northern Ireland Presbyterian. (i) Worcswuss was 100% correct (if I recall) (ii) It was Dave Allen (and I think it was may your "gods" go with you?) Anyway reared Presbyterian, it did not stick though I will probably be buried Presbyterian, might need to bung the Clergy a wheen o thousand up front first, just as insurance. Felt oblidged to take the children to church, that did not stick either simply because they were cured of religeon at School by the RE teacher, a religeous "nutter" Met a few Nuns in my time and I have to say their Sereneity was remarkable? Have attended Roman Catholic Funerals without fuss, merely a bit bemused by all the rig-ma-role/ritual. And Then I remembered Karl Marx,s comment. PS There are also plenty of Presbyterians who should be tramped in a hole ( i.e. they merely reflect the wider cross section of Society) My God fearing maternal grandmother remarked 50 or 60 years ago to my mother, in respect of a local "bad egg" who had taken to religeon in later life, and I quote " the bigger the Bible, the bigger the bastard hiding behind it" That shocked me and I still wonder what she knew? Otherwise a god fearing christian woman. Wor 20 year old son hangs out with the Bahia crowd, when he is not in the Pub, he reckons theirs is the only rational religeon, in that one is allowed to question, plus their central tenent is merely to do good to others. And Oh them nutters that preach in Coleraine of a Saturday They def got several screws well loose, strangely all men too?? God Bless Marcus

As Wot 'e said above +1 I should add that in my work Environment there is a lot of talk about "Risk Assessments" etc etc I maintain that any employable employee should always, but always (i) "THINK", and if unsure (ii) "ASK" Anyway I bes good at conducting "dynamic risk assessments", which methology has got me to 52 uninjured, despite conducting apparently "risky" operations (except for sciata/back twinges) As yon American logger so aptly put it You caint fix STUPID

As a totally unqualifed but reasonably competent self taught (if untidy) chainsaw operator, with 35 years injury free experience, I think; (i) the various regulations only apply to employees:001_tt2:Ya boo sucks! (ii) however liability is the issue, so I would be apprehensive about undertaking work on anyone elses property in case of "collateral" damage, actual or alledged, and the ensuing claimitis. Cos I/we got too much to lose.

Would this not be a tractor linkage mounted with a PTO driven integeral hydraulic pump on the splitter, i.e. self contained hydraulics? Its a lot faster than using the hydraulics off most older tractors. I think this is the set up for a lot of the semi professional/professional stuff? Cheers M

Eauragh! Or words to that effect, regarding the first post (i) The 8 wheel Landrover looks nice (ii) But A Steyr Daimler Puch or Prinzgaur is better:001_tt2: (iii) An The 461 SDP Automatic with Recaro seats Van bes good too:001_rolleyes:

Hmmmm, Doing about 20 thou a year, driving since 1978, (& crosses fingers) and still got a clean licence, I have never so far got points, a few fortunate escapes mind. I paid a couple of fixed penalties before the points system came into being. Both occurances were just a tad under 40 in a 30, both very professionally dealt with by experienced & civilly spoken older policemen. In both cases empty dry straight roads in broad daylight, with good visibility with no pedestrians or other traffic. I quite often on the other hand drive well below the posted limits depending on weather conditions and traffic. However when the road & traffic conditions are right, I do not concern myself so much. I also agree that speed limits are very poorly posted, fine if the local knows the road, but strangers? how are they supposed to know. Plus limits go up & down, apparently quite at random. 60-40-50-30-60-30-50-etc etc, etc etc. I do like the system in Scotland on the A75 with the "countdown" from National speed limit 60 to the Village 30, that is good, simple, timley, unmistakable & clear. However the key point was made by someone else above, the killer is simply: (i) Poor driving, which includes inappropriate speed. Not simply speed per se. Speed is unfortunately the easiest parameter to moniter robotically/automatically. ( and sorry...... but also use to generate revenue)

A wheen o year ago I was stood in a long queue outside Glasgie Central waiting for a taxi, at aboot 12 midnight. As a Taxi swings into the line a cocky wee git springs from about 1/2 way back in the queue & jumps in the Taxi. Without a pause a stocky built tidy dressed man steps out of the queue, opens the Taxi door, extracts the "wee git" ,gubs him and drops him in the gutter. All without saying a word. Said individual then re-joined the queue in his correct place. A hearty round of applause ensued. Sorry Officer.....what assault? Tis a dammn pity everything is now filmed

Benign neglect, I have an area that was bare peat, it has regenerated wonderfully in the past 8 or 10 years, the beauty is that only the stuff that wants to grow there which colonised, therefore vigerous growth. I would need to thin out the goat willow mind. Far too much of it for a natural balance:lol:

Erm, From a very non professional Stihl 026 user, bought 1997, faultless service since, BUT.....always but have always used obsessive-complusively mixed red Stihl 50:1 , never any problems, saw quite often left unused for months with fuel in, though I try not to, & quite often the fresh mix is prepared with petrol that could have been sitting in a 20l Jerry can for up to a twelvemonth. So like that American show....myth is now well busted?

Gee, An I was going to suggest an up-side-down supermarket trolly & a pressure washer?

I bought an electro hydraulic Krpan 5 tonne PTO winch, zero previous experience, but uncommon sense goes a long way. I presume the key would be to use the correct grade/strength of rope, ie the winch stalls long before the rope is in any danger of breaking, I did manage to snap one of the supplied choker chains though, this whilst very new, It was obviousley flawed Ex Factory:lol: But I did have the front of the ould Brown well in the air a couple of times first though. Cos........... oops............. I were running on the high pully:blushing: I also pulled the rope off the drum:thumbdown: only once mind. What do they say..........experience costs. PS Working alone so nobody else at any risk:001_tt2: PPS I should probably have bought the winch first, i.e before the wee forestry trailer, as it is more useful in my circumstances , a wonderful tool.

Um, nitpicking as I am well aware , but I tink that some of the tracked carriers come from Japan complete with factory? fitted cranes, as I have seen them so advertised, not with log grabs though. Signed, Mr. Pedantic!