aspenarb

I bought a complete set up off Ebay a few years ago for £1200. Old school diesel with all the controls, one of the lads has his tm ticket which is handy and they sit in they yard ready to go. Really handy bit of kit to own. Bob

This is right, nothing on your website represents a contract nor does your estimate. Only written and signed confirmation of acceptance of your estimate would represent a contract so unless you have this on file you are not in a contract. Bob

Yes this is right. You need the revs up to get the hydraulics to work the rollers properly. You also need to watch the amount of dust and chip that makes it to the front of the Mog while working as it blocks the rad. You are in the wrong place to monitor the temp.This has cost us two engines over the last 25 years. Bob

Boughton can still supply the original drawings for these winches, that is as good as a manual. Although the spares are a bit thin on the ground they are pretty basic ,things like bearings and seals are available from any decent bearing supplier. We have tried a few different rope sizes but have gone to 1" because any smaller and the things break, the only problem with this is that you cant get enough rope on the winch for some of the really big stuff . sometimes you get buried in the canopy and have to be cut out of the tractor , go smaller on the rope and unless you are very careful it will break. Most times if the tractor is sat up on the spades just the weight of the rope will bring a tree in. Dont forget to overhaul that brake Bob

Mr Git there is no point in asking what the best 4x4 is for Mrs Git on here. They would have Mrs Git driving about in a Mog. the truth is there are no bad cars made any more, most will get past the 200,000 mile mark with no problems at all. Is Mrs Git a careful driver?,something to consider if she is always ripping off the corners. She will be looking at how many potted plants she can stand up in the back and you will be wondering how it will fair up with the seats folded down and an old engine shoved in the back Budget will probably dictate what you end up with. Bob

Thanks thats worth a look. I was more concerned with the the odd trees dotted about on some of these huge estates, one in particular is a 6000 acre estate and I just thought the gps thing would have been a good idea but I was the only one that did. Bob

Then when and if you win the contract you have the whole task to do again when you have to show the lads the job. I had a brain wave a few years ago and bought a hand held gps. I spent a day looking at this contract and plotted the tree positions by their coordinates. Its quick and simple with no chance of mistakes but my enthusiasm was not shared with the lads who never embraced the idea. ( too many buttons for the meat heads). Bob

Dont worry about it, if you "NEED" one nothing comes close but if you only "WANT" one you will be in for an expensive shock Bob

Just to help a little bit on this. The yank rubber like BFG AT has a different method of rating than the english equivalent. Something like a 31x10.5x 15 bfg at has a load index rating of 109 = to 1030kg per tyre. 4 ton for a 4x4 is in most cases more than adequate. You just need to make sure that you have the right load rating, its not uncommon for a tyre shop to quote the needs according to the E rating . If you are having problems order the tyres and just get them to fit them under your instructions, job done. The BFG all terrain ticks most boxes for general use and gives a good level of grip in the wet on tarmac, we have used them for years and rate them. Tyre load, Car tyre, Load index - BFGoodrich advice tyre 2 New LT31X10 50 15 BF Goodrich BFG All Terrain T A KO 1050R R15 Tires LR C | eBay

As soon as the gob was cut we realised it was rotten so put the winch tractor on it. Goes to show that all is not what it seems, the tree looked perfectly healthy and was only removed because it was in the footprint of a build. We have had similar situations with some roadside Beech, they were leaning the wrong way so the winch was already on them, as soon as the saw touched them a hole appeared, the cable went tight and I just had to keep winching. Another case of what looked like a healthy tree, these were only being pulled back into the woodland for roadside clearance. Be prepared Bob

These stump grinders come in when you have 50+ stumps like the one in the vid to knock out and only a couple of days to be off site. We cant be without ours. Bob

It broke

We are clearing some rides in Weyhill. Can you collect? Bob

These winches punch massively past their weight. The one on the back of our nuffield winch tractor can break a 1" wire rope with ease. The brake is really important because they are built with a bedford tk crownwheel and pinion not a worm gear, as soon as you dip the pto clutch to stop winching the rope will go back out. There are no brake parts for these winches from boughton but a local clutch and brake lining relined the brake band for us. (£50 ish). Worth the effort . Bob http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=138683&stc=1&d=1382791155

Here is a picky of my home grown grapple on our 6ton digger. The bucket crowds round the lower pin and the tynes at the back stay still. It will still open up enough for a 1mtr dia stick. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=138618&stc=1&d=1382719177

My thoughts too. The way its mounted it is taking the whole grapple through an extended arc. I think it needs to go straight onto the end of the arm Bob

Rye oils in sussex are good, we pay about £240 for 205ltr barrel of chain oil and about £260 for 205ltrs of 2 stroke. http://ryeoil.co.uk/lubricants Bob

With road tyres you are right but fit them with all terrains and they are un stoppable. Good enough to carry three ton of crap all over the world for the yankee army.There are also many with over a million miles on them on the original drive train. The chevy truck is only three inches wider than an amazon. I seem to remember the one I had being the same width as a single wheel transit. Does sound to me like some of these guys would be better off with a tracked wheelbarrow though it would make more sense than spending 45k on a pick up that has a payload of 1 ton inc passengers. In reality by the time you fit the tipping gear, chuck the tools in it + your fat mate the tracked barrow is the winner. Definitely not an arb truck. Bob

One of these would slaughter a L/C as work truck. Tipper body and its good to go. Chevrolet Pickup 3500HD 6.5 Turbo Diesel 4X4 Auto | eBay Bob

I can think of better places to invest £45k. They are not the most practical sized pick up for what we do , they are not as bomb proof as people think they are ( I can site engine failures,diff problems ,suspension issues just among the lads that I know that have had them). Please note that is "had them" , they now own other 4x4`s so why would that be? It could be the savage kick in the nuts they have had to repair and keep them on the road. As far as towing goes they wont tow anything as well as a cheap old 7.5 ton lorry. I am not knocking the L/C but you are all getting a bit heady here. If I turned up on jobs in a 45K pickup I Know I would be losing customers because they would wonder who was paying for it. Bob

MAXIMUM OVERHANG 1 Item 2 Class of vehicle 3 Maximum overhang 1 Motor tractor 1.83m 2 Heavy motor car and motor car 60% of the distance between the centre of the foremost axle and the foremost point from which the overhang is to be measured. (see note below).Or A heavy motor car may comply with Community Directive 97/27. a. A refuse vehicle b. A motor vehicle which is an ambulance c. a vehicle designed to dispose of a load to the rear, if the overhang does not exceed 1.15m d. a vehicle first used before 2 January 1933 e. a vehicle first used before 1 January 1966 if – the distance between the centre of the rearmost and foremost axles does not exceed 2.29m, and the distance specified in column 3 is not exceeded by more than 76mm

If you measure the distance from the back of the trailer to the centerline of the axle you are allowed 60% of this dimension as overhang. I think its more important to observe the correct marker boards etc so you are on the right side of plod when and if some knob launches a car into the back of you. Bob http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=137457&stc=1&d=1381695035

The groundie must be a kin well trained octopus:0 Bob

Going back to the original post about the second guy leaving the climber in the tree. For at least five years we have this no lone working policy imposed on us by all of the contractors we work for, at the end of the day its what they have requested and should be priced in accordingly. Another problem is that the largely generic r.a.m.s are sometimes scrutinized on the job. It is virtually impossible to detail in writing how a job will be undertaken so the r.a.m.s need the addition on the bottom of the page that on the day operatives will take a view on a "real time risk assessment" and method statement. That should cover any deviations necessary on the day. Going back to the climbers safety, I know of two very accomplished climbers that have had very near misses, one of them slipped and stuck a topper into his neck and the other had a similar situation and nearly cut his hand off at the wrist .The second one fell unconscious and had to be removed from the tree by the fire brigade. There are old climbers and bold climbers but there are no old bold climbers. Be safe its only a job. Bob

We anchored our chip box off the four balls on the original frame and made it a threeway tipper. Since then its only ever been used on side tip, better than unhooking trailers or dropping off pto gear. Bob