aspenarb

There are no grey areas its all set out in this document. HM Revenue & Customs 8.3 Tractors To qualify as an excepted vehicle, the tractor must be an agricultural tractor designed and constructed primarily for use otherwise than on roads. It must not be used on public roads except for: (a) purposes relating to agriculture, horticulture or forestry (b) cutting verges bordering public roads © cutting hedges or trees bordering public roads or bordering verges which border public roads (d) from 01 November 2013, gritting of roads, including travel to and from where gritting takes place, and for the collection of equipment and material for gritting. See paragraph 8.21 for what we mean by activities falling within agriculture, horticulture or forestry. If a tractor has a vehicle Excise licence as a general haulage vehicle it cannot use red diesel as a fuel either on or off public roads, regardless of whether it is undertaking agricultural, horticultural or forestry work. This is because it is licensed to perform other work and is therefore assumed to exceed the permitted activities listed above. top ^ 8.4 Light agricultural vehicles To qualify under this category the vehicle must: (a) have a revenue weight not exceeding 1,000 kilograms (b) be designed and constructed so as to seat only the driver © be designed and constructed primarily for use otherwise than on roads, and (d) be used only for purposes relating to agriculture, horticulture forestry or for gritting roads The revenue weight of a vehicle is either the maximum weight of the vehicle or the design weight as defined in section 60A of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994. Quad bikes and similar single-seater machines used for agricultural, horticultural or forestry work fit into this category. top ^ 8.5 Agricultural material handlers To qualify as an agricultural material handler, the vehicle must be designed to lift goods or burden and be designed and constructed primarily for use otherwise than on roads. Agricultural material handlers must not be used on public roads except for: (a) agricultural, horticultural or forestry work (b) cutting verges bordering public roads © cutting hedges or trees bordering public roads or bordering verges which border public roads, or (d) from 01 November 2013 gritting of roads, including travel to and from where gritting takes place and for the collection of equipment and material for gritting. top ^ 8.6 Agricultural engines This category is restricted to purpose-built vehicles that: (a) are designed and used solely for purposes relating to agriculture, horticulture or forestry (b) are used on public roads only for proceeding to and from the place where the vehicle is to be or has been used for those purposes, and © when so proceeding do not carry any load except such as is necessary for its propulsion or for the operation of any machinery built-in or permanently attached to the vehicle. This category includes but is not limited to combine harvesters, crop sprayers, forage harvesters and pea viners. top ^ 8.7 Agricultural processing vehicles These are specialist agricultural vehicles that: (a) are used for the conveyance of built-in machinery for processing agricultural, horticultural or forestry produce that is used while the vehicle is stationary (b) are used on public roads only for proceeding to and from the place where that machinery is to be used, and © when so proceeding do not carry any load except such as is necessary for their propulsion or for the operation of the processing machinery. This category includes mobile seed cleaning machines or feed milling machines. top ^ 8.8 Vehicles used between different parts of the land A vehicle in this category must: (a) be used only for purposes relating to agriculture, horticulture or forestry (b) be used on public roads only in passing between different areas of land occupied by the same person © not travel a distance on public roads in passing between two such areas that exceeds 1.5 kilometres, and (d) have a nil licence (as defined in Section 62 of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994) in force in respect. top ^ 8.9 Mowing machines The mowing machine must be a complete vehicle, whether pedestrian-operated or ‘ride-on’. The machinery must be built into the vehicle for it to qualify under this category.

This will do 850 600mm diameter stumps per hour, and I thought ours was quick what a beast. Bob [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la6iLKiUc0A]BUCKETMOUTH Forestry Mower - Stump Grinder - Rock Crusher - Mulcher - YouTube[/ame]

I dont know which class of license is needed anymore because they seem to have made it overly complicated ,when I took my class1 for the artic it was dead simple, pay £500 to drive around in circles for a mind numbing 3 days, test day and job done. It is worth going for the trailer license on a 7.5 tonner because some of them have a decent train weight which would allow 4 ton plus on a trailer as well. Despite what the 4x4 boys think a 7.5 ton truck is a far better towing vehicle, to the point that you have to keep checking the mirrors to see if the trailers still attached. At the end of the day its a small investment for a huge gain and if nothing else driving is another job you can do if all goes squiffy. Bob

The fact the question is being asked means your out of your comfort zone so if I were you I would put a proficient climber on the job . Work with them and learn. Bob

I think Walsh found the best one . Its a must watch. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctVGRgNt0e8]The Chase - Bradley Walsh - Fanny Chmelar - Very Funny - YouTube[/ame] Bob

Car bits for some of my silly toys. ( all in man pounds of course which is 10% of the real cost) Bob

+1 I hate the things , they never go where you want them too. Bob

+1 on this but on the small truck side of things they do still tick all the boxes for many . We run trucks anyway for all the clearance jobs but our transit goes off doing small domestic tree surgery jobs during the week with three guys in the cab and a small timberwolf chipper, most days they are out there 8 hours and I would say 90%of the time the transit only comes back partly loaded. So its not one coat fits all but those that have outgrown the transit/4x4 and trailer would soon see the error of their ways if they got a decent lorry. I dont hold with the access thing because I can bend our artic into 99% of the jobs we do and some of those are clearance jobs down normal streets, I think the artic is only 30cm wider than the transit. Bob

What a great little digger and all in under 3 ton, you are probably already wondering how you ever managed without it. Bob

Trying to get a handle on the wattage vs the amount of light these units throw. The lm is the measure of light short for lumen so the 2400lm of these units is low compared to quality jobs which knock out well over 100lm per watt. To try and put it into perspective the good old yard 500watt halogen lamps knock out the best part of 8,500 -10,000lm so you would need 4 of those led units to match one of them for light. Bob

Our lads are in the yard by 7am and work on site till 4pm. If they are done early its back to the yard for a bit of maintenance on the kit or splitting logs. The older of the guys are always in at 6.30am and on the job for 7am. Some of the nippers dont understand that turning up half an hour late when there are four guys waiting to get going + the knock on effect of sitting in traffic is more expense than their days wages. Bob

This one takes some beating LiveLeak.com - Redneck ingenuity at its best.

That makes me feel better ,I didnt think anyone would be brave enough to post up one of those, I will get one of my road king. No micky taking Bob

Go led on the beacons because they only draw a fraction of the current. It doesn`t sound like a big deal but on motorway or any roadside work they are on for such a long time with the engine ticking over the battery will go down. Bob

There is a difference between a work light and a spot light . The work lights on our truck throw a shorter beam over a wider area and dont melt your retinas when you turn around to face them. Spots are a driving lamp. If you look at the lens on a work light they have a crosshatching type of diffuser, so it depends on what you want it for. Bob

They have all got a different take on whats best. This small pine regen will probably get sprayed off, the heather here has taken off well and on other parts of the site its about 2` deep. Some places we work they want the top 100mm of soil pulled off to remove all fertility from the ground , on other sites they let us mulch it off. Both methods seem successful but ours is not the reason why ours is but to do and die Oh and not to question those that know best:confused1: Bob

Depends on the view of the project manager Steve. Bobhttp://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=143449&stc=1&d=1387225101

We have a 100 hectare site to clear and rake for heather regen, we have had this PC130 on hire for a month to do the job. It punches well past its weight and seems to be so versatile ,I think we will have to buy one. Bob 404 - Not found

I think you will find there are incidents daily and its times like this you need to be belt and braces. Here are just a few and if you dig deeper there are hundreds if not thousands of them. Telford rush hour traffic chaos after tractor trailer crash Shropshire Star Welshpool Train Crash Passengers May be Eligible to Claim Compensation - Colemans CTTS Solicitors Boy dies in tractor crash - ITV News Traffic queuing on A38 in Plymouth after tractor crash jacknifes near Forder Valley overturns | Plymouth Herald Tributes to biker killed in tractor crash | This is Somerset Tractor driver dies after A46 accident | Nottingham Post Teenage couple's tractor crash death sparks speed limit warning | This is Essex Although half the time its not the tractor drivers fault it wont stop them being thoroughly checked out. No stones are unturned when there is a fatality . Going back to the wider loads , the tractors have to conform to the same criteria as the trucks on this. Few do but it leaves them wide open if things go wrong, Agricultural vehicle combination maximum width = 2.55 metres This may be exceeded providing conditions are complied with*. 2.55 - 3 m = 20 mph speed limit 3 - 3.5 m = 20 mph speed limit + police notification (24 hours before journey) 3.5 - 4.3 m = 12 mph speed limit + police notification (24 hours before journey) + escort required Bob

Nice truck, load bed is nice and low so you wont be dodging height restrictions all over the place. You will probably end up putting a full time driver on that, the amount of extra work that will come your way when other`s realise you can move kit and sticks is unbelievable. Bob

Its probably going to be the illegal use of tractors and mogs that spoil it for the genuine farmers. The implications of being in a serious road traffic accident when all is not kosher does not bare thinking about. Eg: Mog going on an arb job with a machine on a trailer hits a car and someone is dead. Aside of the death in come the cavalry, police,vosa accident investigation unit and more, The driver is driving on a car license under the agri banner , so we have here an accident involving a vehicle that has no mot plate,o license, its overweight, on red diesel and a driver with the wrong drivers license . Do you think his insurance company will take pity on him and honour a claim that will probably run into hundreds of thousands if not millions of pounds? I think not so we can add the insurance to the list which will probably see the driver put behind bars. I will see if I can find the charge sheet for the driver that was caught with our mog and trailer with kit on as it reads two pages long. Bob

Feast your eyes on this. Especially the bit half way down Re haulage. Tractors become hgv`s outside of the exemptions and need to comply as much as an hgv which is 99% impossible, the same would apply to your driving license. Dissecting red diesel rules - 12/08/2005 - Farmers Weekly Bob

I can answer this one because we have been pulled on it. The answer is no, moving plant and equipment with a tractor or a mog requires them to be plated,on white diesel , used with the right license, O license and taxed. Our driver only got away with all of this because the case timed out due to letters going back and forth , because of this it was dismissed from court. Had it gone on there would have been a very heavy fine and points. Stopped using the mog from that day on because if clever plod get you there is no escape, most spotty young plod dont know the law but the traffic plod definitely do. Bob

I think whats happened here is the tractor rules and regs have not kept pace with the industry. The original concept was for a farmer to drive his fergi between between his fields via a short stint on the roads. Now what has happened is the kit has all slowly gotten a lot bigger and agricultural contractors with the ever increasingly bigger kit is travelling thousands of miles a year with it on the roads between contracts. This is in fact illegal as they are supposed to move them between non estate destinations by low loader. We also have a lot of non agricultural use of tractors on the road like the arb boys and even some ground work contractors using tractors, fast tracks,trailers to move kit about. So yes the rules are due for a shake up , the haulage contractor association is putting a lot of pressure on government regarding the illegal use of tractors for effectively transporting goods on red diesel with no test and no O license as they feel they are being done out of revenue. Bob

bit late now but greasable pins/bushes are best for that application (Quote) You are right but this is how they are made, half of the bushes on these things are plastic which is pants . The bushes that failed had a hole drilled in them to keep the pin located and it was this drilling that was the point of fracture so I never drilled the new ones , I just made the pin longer and used split pins on the outside of them. I dont think long term serviceability comes into it with modern engineering. Bob