theflyingscotsman

Yes agreed chaps, The Tirfor TU16 is the puppy to go for It's a 1.6T dead lift and will(should/rated to) pull 3.2T Anything heavier is going to be weighty and very slow.. Also Agreed about the Ace, same as the rest but cheaper especially on eBay 👍

Hi Steve, I've had both. 3.2t ace as said really tricky to release the cable. Tirfor. I was sold on a tu16 that I borrowed years ago, saved up and bought a rather shiny one from ebay. I paid around £200 Wait and keep a saved 'tirfor tu16' search on eBay. Tirfor are night and day compared to Ace (and the like) Although if your on a time crunch an Ace will do the job fine, maybe a little less power than a tirfor ( as my 3.2t ace is no match for the much lighter 1.6t tirfor in real life) Also tirfor is probably just nicer to use .. After all they are +600 quids!! Good luck

Stihl Kombi's are hard to beat.. I've had the km100 and now the km130 and the backpack one.. A carbon extension pole pruner and hedge cutter there's not much you can't tackle I've had about five years out of my original set, bearings in the hedge head are now noisy but still working fine 👍

Jeezo.. Perhaps a tirfor and a competent person might have laid that on the lawn...or down in teeny bits.. Lucky chap..

V12 Audi...oh yeah 🙀🙀🙀😬👍👍

Are you a private individual or are you going to be contracting with it? An Izy is a good mower if you've one place to cut.. But may be not the best if you've 10-15 places to get round in a day. Some contractors simply disconnect the self drive on them as you can push them faster as the self drive is terribly slow for contract work. However for the if speed isn't high on the list the one that I've used in the past is still going strong and it must be about 10-15 years old.

I'd go for a Viking 655... Fast mowing with good collection. I've been using a commercial toro super bagger for the last three seasons, great mower but very heavy!! Watch the weight of the mower for bankings and lifting in and out of the mower... I've a customer with the toro time master which is a great mulching mower. I always go for a three speed mower with a large grass bag. I've used both husqvarna 53 and izy and ultimately you get what you pay for. The Viking 655 (Abbey garden sales) is about 700 odd quid but will be a cracking mower. I've never got on well with Honda mowers although I've about 6 machines with Honda engines!! Good luck as its a bit of a mine field.

Hi Jon, Hope you've had a lovely Christmas! Yes the chap in question even has a wood of around 2000-3000 tons of softwood ( most of it wind blown) so would make great fuel.. Problem is that the access is horrendous (extremely steep and hilly ground) and will likely kill the poor inexperienced chap he pays 7.50ph to haul out! The wood is only about 5miles from the boiler but in my opinion not worth getting as it's not viable to harvest and cart the wood with (only safe way) a forwarder to a hard standing where a lorry could cart it the last few road miles.. Madness...and little common sense employed when it comes to getting something for free or perhaps even get paid to do it.. Sod how we'll feed the beast it's free!! The scale of the big estate is quite shocking the money that's been invested to heat a handful of houses ... I'd bet my life if the government wasn't paying it would not be viable to set up and run.. I do think though if it where a sawmill with an endless amount of waste wood and sawdust to dispose of it would be a great idea to make biomass a heating option. As it would both heat the houses and buildings surrounding but also save the need to cart the waste off site saving time and money...so in some settings biomass boilers are excellent. Anyway.. Hope everyone's has had a great Christmas and that Santa was good to you all

Well there will be a cap per foreman dependent on how much he(and his crew) are making for the company.. It's not business sense to pay someone a fortune just cos you may want to keep them or they are very good. (Although you may want to) Between 25-35k is more than a fair and good wage.. A tiny % of people in tree work will earn 45k a year profit..

We have a local small estate around 1500 acres has gone down the same route, even with lots of woodland he struggles to feed the beast and it's not even a chip boiler. Suggest to him to get a burn anything boiler (ie: logs/bails etc)... As 200 acres will be bare in no time. In my humble opinion you'll be buying in chip in no time so is not worth the expense in investing money in drying and extraction. Also a correct storage shed will be needed. Another local big estate has about 2000-4000 tons of softwood laying beside there chip shed and get a 500hp chipper in three times odds a year.. The boiler maybe heats 8-10 houses and the big house. The scale is ridiculous and if the government wasn't paying him to do it - it simply wouldn't be viable. 200 acres of land is a small piece of land to run a biomass boiler from. Especially at 20 tons a week!!! However I maybe wrong and have been may times before! Just my observations between the people I know that have big boilers.

Probably get more interest of you state the yearly salary ie: £30k plus benefits.. Don't state them, then you've wiggle room.. Day rates are for subcontractors not on the books staff. I pay my subby climber £200 (he supplies his own kit and fuel) but if I where to take him on full time that figure would drop as I'd have to find him work and pay for all his other expenses... I don't think your far away with your money just write it as a salary if you wish to employ someone. Even with only three years experience of running a crew that's still £33,600! The average British wage is about £16-18k there abouts!!! Good luck staff are a nightmare until you find a good one

Cool, My plan is to mate a new d max extended cab with one and make a small tipping chip box, that can be filled by my soon to be purchased Cs100 chipper.... For the tiny jobs in town that don't warrant huge amounts of equipment! Cheers Colin

Good video mate, and not too much murky rain what is always a bonus in Scotland 👍

Ah many thanks! Sad good concept. Might add the profitability might just be in sell the plans for a self build? Beats the backside out of swapping the actual bed of the truck. Hey ho.

Yup I've modified my paxton 8x5 with 4ft extra ramps to allow for the shallow loading angle. Most 'large garden' ride ons will fit. I've kept mine as it's easier to get in and around gardens and sites with

Yup you've got to consider locality and length of job. I'm £28 per hour with my wallenstein, one man, they provide the fuel, within 10miles of the house. So roughly £224 per day depending on how keen or knackered I am on any given day (maybe slightly less may be more!) I wouldn't bother buying an expensive machine if it's to be used only 4 days a year. However, if your on the job all week.. That's a healthy £1120.. A few weeks of that you've paid off the machine and your making money. I would maybe start off with a sub £1000 splitter and see how you get on ! 😄👍

I've a Husky CTH224, excellent robust mower for £2250 with 28hrs on the clock.. Good for the money. Now got about 200hrs on it and only needed one belt and a service to get it there! I'm moving this year to a Kubota G21 as I've a lot of grass and pushing my luck with the Husqvarna but hats off to it, goes well on the wet or dry and leaves a nice finish. Even second hand they will still be fine, most have a kolher or kawasaki engine which are strong. Try and buy soon to get a good deal. Mine was a ex demo from Husqvarna and came if memory serves it came from Handy mowers down south. Good luck have a great Christmas !

Many thanks, I may have a look at a fancy 110 then, had heard that the puma engines ones had reliability issues.. Cheers chaps food for thought

Thanks for your replies chaps. I'm still looking at what with out a doubt will tow 3.5T legally out of the factory. Can a Defender 90? What about a transit? Can a hilux invincible? The trailer and the way it's pulled is one thing but it's cart before the horse!🐴 Could really be doing with knowing all my vehicle options first. Cheers

I've seen on fleabay, plant trailers to take 3T diggers... A new ifor williams 12x6 plant is 850kg It's more a list of vehicles to tow them

As above looking to buy a new pick up or van that can tow 3500kg. I've found various info on the newer pickups and some Land rovers, land cruiser, patrol and some jeeps... My question to everyone is which is actually best for work (landscaping, tree work, logs)?? Ie: new pickup is around £20K+ Low mileage Shogun Lwb is around £12k+ I've a little kramer loader to tow about to jobs and need options as its 2.2t (probably closer to 2.5t with bucket/snow plough or forks) plus the plant trailer at around a ton.. Many thanks in advance.. The new Dmax extended cab yukon is top choice just now but is pricey..

Hi there, I'm just about to get a new truck. Do you have a website or is there one coming as the first link isn't recognised. Thanks

Yeah that's pretty cool

Yeah agreed all Hailo or youngman are both robust.. Very handy for hedging Hailo can also have an adjustable front stand which is useful

Well, I've a friend high up in the Scottish fire service, he said you 'could be charged' If you light a fire and there's smoke blowing all over a main road and there's a car crash because of it-- I take it wouldn't be your fault? Gutters?!? Off topic perhaps? Professional and polite:- well yes I know all the firemen/women at my local station, as they are retained fellow trades people. Give your local FB HQ a call and ask about reporting controlled burning... Don't get me wrong I'm no authority on the subject and base my answers on personal experience and what I have been told by the fire service themselves, it may differ between Scotland and England..