mowingjamie

from my experence a mid deck mower mounted on a compact tractor couldnt cut as low as a purpose built ride on mower. depends on what finish you want on the best lawns. theres not one machine that will do it all, a compact tractor would be very close though.

this has got to be the easiest forum to use ever! try using others and you soon realise how well designed this one is!

Has any one got any experence with a etesia 124d? Or that Lombardini 25hp engine? How easy would it be to convert from a high tip collector to a rear deflector?

Hi guys, i currently have a kubota g18 which has been really reliable and not too bad in wet grass here in not so sunny wales. Ive got a few jobs lined up for next year which are cut and drop, not collecting anything, but i also have the big jobs at the moment which are collect only and wont be persuaded to mulch etc... Is there a good mower which will do both easly, and can be swaped between collect and drop single handed quickly? Must be 48" cut, no bigger or smaller due to access and cutting speed. Iam trying to move towards Etesia for mowers now and like the 124d range, any experence with fitting a deflector to these? The etesia will collect wet grass no problem. Whats peoples thoughts on the 25hp Lombardini engine? Perfer kubota engines personally, but cant afford to have 2 machines sitting around. Cheers Jamie

has anyone had a trailer snake badly with a transit tipper eg a truck with duel rear wheels, or a 7.5t? is it just single rear wheel vehicles that are causing the problem?

best advice yet! b&e test only costs a few hundred quid, only get pulled over once and its paid for itself! never mind insurance etc if something did ever happen...

what size wheels did your trailer have, my 10x5 with 13" is lovely to tow with litte weight on but when its loaded near to max its really bad, snakes all over and a bit uncontrolable at any speed over 30mph. had a few near bad experences with it. but my 12ft with the smaller ifor tyres is really harsh ride when empty but very controlable, neaver yet had any snake with it well and above 3500kg. i personally think its all down to the trailer and the hitch not being set up correctly, if the slab wood filled the hole lenth of the trailer the weight would have been perfectly balenced.

A few of mine, thinking about selling the navara now as we never need 4x4 or heavy towing.

The Kubota was 10 years old with 1800hrs on it with full service history from a private owner, it was just luck to be fair to find one at that price and will probily never find one again, its just being at the right place at the right time. As for new i quite like them john deers like the smaller x range x300 but not sure if you could get a new JD for the 2k mark tho? You'd be silly not to listen to Garden Kit for advice on new kit, ive only ever bought 2nd hand kit.

i bought a kubota g18 for just over £2000 and its far better than any mountfield stuff in my view, spend the money now and it will reward you 10 times over during the cutting season....

i would love a hookloader truck, everything in one, change the bin and you have a plant truck or a massive skip, all plant can be loaded from ground level. have a chipper feeding one skip while another is on the road being emptyed. good sized hiab too. only problem is i dont have the work for one yet, at 26t this scania would probily have a fairly good payload too. rear stear would help a little getting into tight spots i guess?

Hi guys, ive had to come to the conclusion that im not going to be able to run a truck and a van this year as hoped due to more building prodjects being taken on and funded by myself, so looking at a merc sprinter mwb hi roof with the 313 engine which should have enough power to tow with a bit if needed. looking at the mwb as it can fit my kubota ride on in it and still have enough room for other kit when needed. so has any one any reviews on these vans and that perticular engine, any known faults to look out for? has any one managed to uprate the towing capacity up from 2000kg? was also looking at the possibility of changing the rear drive tyres to all terrain but couldnt see any that would fit? any ever done it? from the specs the van sould at least carry 1.2t ish inside do they carry the weight well or would it be on its arse with a ton bag inside? the one im looking at has about 66,000 miles its a 2010 and just under £8000 plus vat.

im running a king cab navara at the moment and its seriously pissing me off, very reliable and good towing but trying to fit all the kit i need safe in the back seats is killing me, ive almost decided to go down buying 2 second hand vehicles which i believe is the only way to solve the problem we all have that 1 vehicle does no do everying we need. so the thing im trying to say is stay clear off a pickup if you need tools to stay safe and dry, i dont trust these back boxes for keeping expensive tools in. sounds like you need a 4x4 sprinter which costs around 30k like me!

i just got the brand new stihl br450 and love it! same power as the br600 but about £150 cheeper! dosent have all the anti vibe and noise reduction things but for what i need it for its perfect. just a standard 2 mix engine too which i like better than that 4 mix idea.

any reviews on the rover 22inch mower with the honda 5.5hp engine for about £740? Never used rover yet and not totally convinced! Need a new 21 inch or bigger mower that will love wet grass, massive grass box and good powerfull engine. Would love a etesia but just cant send that sort of money.

If i left that up to her we wouldnt get paid at all! Im no charity worker for these companies... It wouldnt be worth the hassle for less than £12 per hour i know that!

This customer wont accept priced jobs, tried that many times with my work, per hour cost or no work im affraid. Allways worked well for me on this one.

hi guys, im self employed doing grass cutting etc with ride on to large houses and large commercial grounds, i just do grass cutting and leaf clearence thats all, rest of my time spent renovating property, i charge £28-£32 per hour for ride on work and £20 per hour for strimming, leaf blowing etc which im more than happy with. On one of the jobs the customer has asked if i can recomend someone to look after the plants, weeding, take cuttings etc so i have said my mother might be intrested as shes a very keen gardener but has never taken the leap to make it a job, so to get her started this job would be perfect, 2 afternoons a week or 1 day which suits her as she can keep her part time job but not sure what to ask for her time doing these tasks, she would need to supply the fork, spade, hand tools for the job. Would £15 per hour in south wales sound ok or more like £12? Dont want to sound like were taking the piss as its a very good job for me and defently dont want to loose it but want it to make my mother a good fair waige. Any thoughts would be very welcome. Jamie

looking at buying a second hand stihl br600 to replace my br200 which is fine for the grass cutting but using it for leaf clearence is massivly underpowered. If i understand it correctly the br600 has this 4 mix engine, is there any known faults or things to be wary of when buying 2nd hand? i bought the br200 brand new but theres no way i could justify buying the br600 new with the price tag! Does this 4 mix engine just work on standard 50-1 2 stroke mix?

cant you guys get a permit from the council to dump 'recycable' green waste at there household tip sites? all u would need is a truck or mabe car and trailer and youve all ready taken the full cost of that chipper hire out of your price, never mind the time taken to collect and return it.... all i can say about your day rate is be confident in your prices you want, i stand by my price of £30ph for grass cutting with the ride on even when the customer tells you youve lost the job, somehow theye allways returned to me once they figure out the guy down the road who can do it for £20ph is a right rough worker.

Cheers for all the responces, been looking through the pot of money and doubt im going to be able to afford a tidy defender, really only got £3000 to play with now for the 4x4 so looking at a mitsubishi shogun with the 3.2td 162hp di-d engine around the 2001 age with about 100,000 miles? any advice on these shoguns would be really helpfull before spending any dosh....

I use the Stanley Bostitch framing nailer and finish nailer compressed air models, lots of power, never goes wrong just keep it oiled, nails are super cheap. And yes the big downside the lugging a compressor about, not possible on some jobs mabe but ive got long hoses so the compressor can say on the truck etc... These nail guns are very cheap to buy compaired to the gas ones, my brand new bostitch framing nailer was £215! What a bit of kit too!

i have a 2007 navara king cab, 63,000 miles owned it since 15,000 miles 4/5 years ago and have had no problems at all! its actually the most reliable motor i have owned and driven. the 4wd sensors are a common fault but nothing major to replace, they can be bought of ebay and the cost of new transmition fluid will sort that.

thanks for all the replys guys, i thought you all were going to say stay clear of a 90 and go for a 110 so good news. i had a 10ft ifor before and found it hard to stop it snaking around with weight on but with my 12ft now its much better. i hired a triple axle 14ft a few months ago to move some long heavy timbers and it towed like a dream, that third axle made all the diffrence. if i went for the 14ft it would be without doubt a triple axle. Couldnt go any smaller than 14ft because of the size of ride on mower is 10ft plus the walk behinds which are usually in the pickup bed but would need to be in the trailer if towed by a 90. probily looking at a defender 90 in the 2004/05 age range but ideally i can only spend £6000 on the 90. any thoughts on 90s at this age with approx 100k miles?

Hi, still looking for the best option to swap my 2007 navara king cab for as i need more room for tools etc now. Ideally i need something like a renault traffic swb for everyday use and very light towing and thinking about a defender 90 with a 14ft ifor willams triple axle caged flabed hooked up all the time for moving bigger kit about. How stable would the 90 be with a tripple axle 14ft? need to move about 2 ton around and like the 90 for the swb setup. Most of the time it would be for just shifting ride on mowers about but every so often would need it to tow the 2/2.5ton on the trailer. A little worried about it snaking at higher speeds, the navara isnt great with no weight over the rear axles and a very poor drive train so hopefully the 90 would be a massive improvement?