pycoed

I've also got an UTB 445DT & manage to get spares (steering joints, UJ kits, filters etc.) from my local motor factors. Touch wood I've not needed anything else other than a starter when I bought it 10 years back - it was a standard Lucas starter too! Shells rings & a reground crank should be a LOT cheaper than buying anything else

Have a look over on The Farming Forum There are several members with small scale hydro plant running ( for decades in at least one case!)

What are these "huge subsidies to wealthy farmers" of which you speak? I'd like to know, then I might become a wealthy farmer too!

Have you thought about laying off the bones for a month or two to see if it improves?

It's a brilliant machine! I've been keeping an eye open for two big spur gears to make one. It'd be brilliant for converting hedgelaying stuff that is usually a pain to deal with. As for safety - the guys are not within 4ft of anything moving - safe as houses!!

Yes - an inverter will permit the full use of three phase machinery as long as the 3ph motor can be wired in Delta(most can - connection info usually underneath the connection box lid). The motor then runs in 220-240v 3 ph rather than 415-440v 3ph. These inverters are brilliant - you can get a soft start, seamless speed control from 0rpm to (usually) twice the original max speed, easy reverse etc. etc.

Free wheeling hubs are inventions of the devil. The manual ones are worst, you have to step out into 12" of sh1t & get your hands covered in it to switch them on & then get you hands covered again with more sh1t to switch them off. Brilliant idea - NOT. Mine are automatic, worked by vacuum via a 3mm ID rubber tube that may or may not be connected to the hub when you need 4WD, so you never know if they are going to kick in or not. Even when they work, it takes several seconds to pull the cogs into engagement, which isn't ideal to say the least. Is there a pickup with a centre diff & full time 4WD instead of all this part time rubbish?

Look - the bloke is a boxer. He gets paid to hit people better than they hit him. He happens to be very good at it, in fact he's has demonstrated to the whole world that he's better at it than anyone else on the planet. Great for him. So - why do people expect him to be a philosopher as well? Why even ask sports people what they think about non sports related issues? I mean would you as Simon Schama how to pull a right cross? Tonight on Question Time, is Dimbleby going to explain to us all how to ride a punch? Complete non story for people who are not happy unless they feel offended.

Surely a bore sighting laser would only be of use for the first rough zeroing? To get the shots on the paper, that is. You'd still have to fire a few groups to establish the actual zero?

Lot of squirrels in West Sussex, Stubby?

+1:thumbup:

Please please try a second opinion - you must NEVER "put some software" on a possibly corrupted disk - you compromise the ability to recover its data with every byte installed. If this was a Windows pc, then try to find someone knowledgeable with a Linux boot disk who knows about the Testdisk utility. The pc may be bootable with a Linux utility CD & its amazing what Testdisk can recover. I have retrieved about 85% of the data from a disk which had actually been formatted! If the disk is readable in some form or other then you should be able to peel off the data readily. If not then there's one last home resort - put the disk in a static free plastic bag & put in the freeze overnight. In the morning take it out & put it in an external disk caddy & see if its readable - this often works, but you have to copy the data quickly because the disk may fail again as it warms up, you can try the freeze again, but in my experience you are now pushing your luck. If this fails, then try a data recovery specialist, but DO NOT allow anyone to install software or "repair "the disk until you've spoken to the specialists. Good Luck - it's a hard lesson to learn, but hard disks are so cheap these days, backups are easy to sort out. STORE THE BACKUP DISK SOMEWHERE SAFE TOO & apart from the pc As for the cloud - apart from the cost, lots of us would be weeks uploading data with the pitiful standards of broadband available in much of the country. (Disclaimer:- Until I retired 5 years ago, I was an IT Manager for the previous 20 odd years)

I bet they were delighted! Blimey I'm impressed - as a long term occasional simple firewood cutter & hedger I couldn't begin to IMAGINE how you'd start on something like that. I'd have been on News at Ten with that!

Um - how about mind your own business? After all , if you felt that strongly about it you should have attended the parish council meeting & made your feelings known.

Hi Callum, Is that a FIAT or an UTB? I have an UTB 445DT - a very useful tool on my bog! where 4wd is a must.

Sounds to be what bulldozers were invented for? A D6 or better would get you a lovely bonfire & leave no holes behind, or could bury them in a long line or two covered with earth for reseeding to leave cover for the grazing animals.

Wow it is a bit pricey! Left the machine in the sun for 3 hours while we downed some small trees & leylandii, then billhooked them ready for chipping. Before we started on the grass with hand shears(!!!) since I hadn't brought a sickle with me, I tried the brushcutter with the plug out. I thought I could see a faint spark, so closed the plug gap to 15 thou & gave it a whirr. It ran fine for 20 mins then stopped dead again. Left it 5 mins & it started again& ran for 30 mins then stopped dead. Repeated 5 or 6 times & job done , but now no spark at all again. I'll investigate further when I get home tomorrow, but at least I didn't take it to Banbury for nothing! Thanks for the info anyway.

Can anyone suggest a source for a coil for a Kawasaki TG33 brushcutter? Machine cut out dead todaymid cut (after taking it 160 miles to my son's new house:mad1:) after 1 minute's use. Restarted for another 10 secs , then dead. Checked plug lead: no spark. Disconnected kill wire: still no spark. Shortened plug lead & exposed copper core: still no spark. So, after many years of faultless service I think I need a new coil, but where from? Inherited machine from my ex boss as a non runner about 8 years ago. Cleaned carb & all was well - this has done a load of work over the last 8 years & worked perfectly for 4 hours just 2 days ago at home. Son asked me to bring it with me on a weekend visit & it conks before any work being done - sod's law in action:thumbdown:

+1 for the Screwfix Titan - mine has done a LOT of work for me.

Thanks for the responses - I was wondering if it was the longer bar making the difference, but I also use an 18" electric saw nearer the house & this cuts quite easily - only a narrow chain though... I'll try a ratchet instead of the chain lock, or perhaps as well as. It's also the inefficiency of the operation that irritates me! Although it's only my retirement time, having seen home made Czech & Polish machines on Youtube (look up "rebak walcowy", branch logger type machine) I'm green with envy. I reckon I could easily clear my pile in a day with one in particular, but I've too many projects on in the garage to start making one - next winter perhaps. Another "roundtuit" job is rigging up a chopsaw or small buzzsaw- I've just refurbished a nice little Kubota engined Truckster with a rear conventional PTO that'd be just the job to drive one.

OK - some advice from the forum needed here:- My experience of chainsaws is mainly for hedging with a little bit of simple felling on easy stuff, plus firewood conversion. For donkey's years I used a Homelite Super XL12, then for the last five or six years ( & especially since retirement) I've also used a Husqvarna 135, which has proved a brilliant saw for hedging. Because the Homelite is so loud, (not to mention no chainbreak or AV) I've mainly used the Husky for firewood. Most of my stuff is hedge thinnings 2-4" dia which I cut in bundles on a saw horse, bundles secured by a chain tensioned by a stirrup via a chain lock. This is OK but the Husky is a bit light for that work, so I got myself a 18" Solo 646 for Christmas after reading the threads on here. Very happy with the saw in general, but I've noticed when cutting the bundles of small stuff on the horse it seems very "grabby". I've not actually had a real kickback that has activated the brake, but the saw seems much grabbier than the others of my experience. Bar is Oregon, chain is Oregon 21BP072XS (& is sharp! - cuts well with bags of nice big chips). Can anyone suggest another chain type that would be more suitable for this application? I've yet to sharpen this one, but I have an electric sharpener - so would a change of tooth angle work?

Alec, I don't know that model (I have A & C series Wheelhorses) but have a look over on the Wheelhorse forum (Forums - RedSquare Wheel Horse Forum) There are quite a few Brits on the forum, including a few not far from Essex with ALL sorts of W/H spares knocking about. Alternatively, using the existing pulley hub (with keyway) as a base it doesn't look too difficult to weld a new couple of pulleys to that?

If you mean the pulley that sits on the nose of the engine & drives the mowing deck, then the bearing can be replaced very simply. Just remove the bearing & take it to a bearing shop to match up for you, or read the bearing number on the original & ask for that.

Laid a hedge this spring, so plenty of wood to be done in my new shed (made last autumn). This lot will be done for winter 2016& stacked into the bays I've started making from pallets at the back of the shed.

Wonder if they could be trained to eat badgers before they released them?