Logan

Would be surprised if you got a quote for £250 a day for someone productive, surely that barely covers the man and fuel; doesn't leave much for running an expensive tractor and decent winch? Think the £350 a day ballpark is more likely, or like Brett said.

Hi N1ck, I've changed them on a valtra 6550 hi-tech (with the parking brake up on the for-rev shuttle by the steering wheel), is yours like this or do you have a separate handbrake? Looks bad, but once you get used to the small space under the cab they come out ok. You may want to clean it off under the back to make it easier for yourself. You have to release the parking brake and clean/lube the mechanism up by the slaves (cable ends and swivels) while doing. Then you can work on undoing the brake lines with a decent brake line spanner. The brake lines look healthy? If not, now is the time to change them. Then you can unbolt the slaves. Once back together, you'll need to bleed them obviously (dot 4) then go through procedure for adjusting brakes, then adjust handbrake mechanism last. The operators manual covers this very well, if you have it. Replace both, the side that isn't obviously leaking now will be once you changed the other. Get new slaves. May need to loosen one of the quick release spool fittings to get spanner room, you'll see. Cheers, John.

Thanks for posting that schematic Mark, a little over 8.5m in length. Does anyone do any highway driving with these, or is it a no no? 12,000 hrs sounds good, lots of life left there. TCD, did you include a cost of ownership in that, or do you reckon it's stopped depreciating and has gone up in value? Interest rates are so low it's hard to assess this cost in the old way.

Yes Alec, with you on that, used to use a duro bar for milling and the chain tension could be all over the place unless set right and used consistently. As you say, lots of oil helps, but it also helps to stop the paint going brown on the roller nose too! Cheers

Or put it on eee bay and find out. Agg, think stihl only do the 4' x .404 bar in duromatic, so I would say it does have a value to certain types. Nothing wrong really with the duromatic bars, they are simple and robust.

Takes 2 bays of 3. It's a good sized machine. Probably needs more than 7.5m of lowloader from headboard to ramps, I'm guessing. I'm tempted to try the 840 instead of using our valtra roof mount, but put off by the reliability issues in general of older high hour forwarders. Also, how well they handle short distances of road as occasionally we have to haul wood back to a farmyard etc.. Cheers, John

Ditto. That 840 looks like a great machine. Those logs in the first picture don't look too shabby either. Do you know roughly the length lowloader needed to move it and it's weight empty?

If belts are all good, then the oil condition should be healthy too, assuming you've had it from new and the belts are the original? Regarding changing oil, when you've worked it long enough to need new belts, simply unbolt the whole plate with gearbox on, clean dust off, remove both plugs and tip it over and leave to drain from either hole. Then fill through top hole until comes out side. Reassemble with new belts and you can do no more, until you've sawn another 1000m3- the belts'll be baggy again then. Level is something you should check periodically (every 500m3 or yearly) dust the side off and remove side plug, if oil dribbles out everything is fine. If not, squirt some new ep80-90 in (ideally through top hole) until it starts to dribble out side hole. If you find it's very low, check level more regularly, but it'll most likely be at or near the level. All the best mate.

Come on Alec, it adds a nice salty flavour.

When it comes to belt change time, is good opportunity as I think you have to un-bolt the gearbox to drain it. Get it warm all day sawing, then take it off and leave it draining, worth doing at least to get the factory oil out, and if you use it regularly then when belts go next time it doesn't break the bank I always think?

Some things are worth going the extra mile for... !

If you have a lowloader that needs new deck boards...? Has a reputation for being good in that application just in case you are into moving heavy equipment...

I must have worse memory than I think I have, as the 516 we use I'm sure the shear pin hole goes straight through and the new pin knocks the old out when driven in. Will have look in the morning.

Wj Green is great place.

Stephill have been good to deal with in my limited experience, not sure if their 1500 rpm models are quiet enough for what you need but I like the kubota watercooled diesels they use. All the best.

£28 roadside is a good price for chip wood. If you're looking for a value standing, this all depends on the cost of harvesting and extracting. Standing price is not high if it's just the bent and twisted to come out, and only suitable for chip. Whereabouts roughly are you, and has it been racked before or is this a late 1st thin? All the best.

Ah yes, got you, yes I know what you mean exactly. Made me think why did I mess around with other saws for so long. The 075 I've previously used seemed to be ok for a while then would need a vacuum hose, or a new clutch set, or the decompression valve would fall out. All half way through a log and sometimes deep in a wood somewhere. Think it just got old one day. Replaced all those bits, but the 084 is just easier and faster, it may only be 10cc more but it just handles the job a bit better. I wonder how an 880 would be, once it had loosened up. Same?

Hi Bill, do you mean you found the 084 not much better than your 076? Personally, I found the 084 a big step up from 075, in several ways. Less vibration. Definitely more grunt. More reliable. I had a 3/8" nose fitted to a .404 3' bar, and ran stihl 10 degree 3/8" rip chain. Noticeably quicker than anything I'd tried before. Plus ease of filling fuel as said. Plus I didn't have chain brake on the earlier model 075 I'd been using. Aaah---mennn....

Here endeth the sermon!

In milling, there's no replacement for displacement. Go for the biggest cc saw. 660 makes dust and dulls chain fast. 084 cuts small chips as you can let it eat a bit more with lower depth gauges, chain stays sharp for noticeably longer. I've used 075, then 660, then 084 & the 084 was best. On Alaskan mill. 3'. Only problem with 075/076 is on a long log 20ft +, when you run out of fuel before you reach end, it's a pig to drag saw all way out of cut so it can be filled, that's with Alaskan. 084/880 you can fill it where it sits in the log.

Haydens in Braintree charge us around £20 plus vat to sharpen a 700mm blade, if any teeth chipped bad they change for a few quid a tooth. Anywhere around the 200m3 level would be good time to get it sharpened, as said a blunt blade notices more on some woods than others and always on deeper cuts.

I don't think there's a way of avoiding the cost whichever way you go. We wanted a 300tdi but ended up with td5 which has been great until now as heat gasket is leaking a bit now. But my preference would be for the tidiest chassis, best looking level of wear on all running gear, mileage... If you find a clean hi cap 3500kg plate and can build it up with new tipper within £15k then that's probably as good as it gets.

Yes, that's the tricky part. We looked for ages for one in the under £10k bracket, but couldn't find anything tidy. Ended up going to look at one that'd been advertised for £15k for a while, then dropped down a bit. Haggled more than I normally do and ended up getting it. Time I overhauled most of it and rebuilt tipper to suit, was right back to £15k plus time. Been reliable since, but is now time for some overhaul again to get another trouble free 5 years. Keep looking for something half reliable looking, mate, worth taking the time I think.

Our single cab LR130 tipper empty weighs 2200kg sitting on scales without me or a spare wheel on it, but full of fuel and the usual amount of useful junk stashed behind the seats. So with me and lunch box, getting 1200-1250 payload. When I bought it 5years back couldn't find another 4x4 that came close to that, and the 7t gtw. If izuzu has 4x4 tipper with 1.4t payload, worth a look.

Chaps, neither chain there is square ground. A sq ground grinder has a truly square profile much like a new cutting disc on an angle grinder and comes in at a different angle and if I knew how to post a picture of one you'd all admit it looks odd. The stihl micro chain (semi chisel) in the pictures has just been ground in the factory by a odd shaped rounded profile wheel, possibly on a Friday afternoon.