LeeGray

got any photos matthew, would love to see it set up. Did you get the diverter done or you using the hammer lines only for the tilt? Is it hydraulic hitch too?

Did you get the Kubota delivered yet Bob? How’d they get the extra lines? Been quoted 2 grand to get 2 extra (aftermarket) lines from supplying dealer on new yanmar but short delivery as machines in stock or 3k to get factory fit but could be 6 months lead and price of basic machine a bit higher as not a keen deal as on stock. I’ll keep the machine for a long time so not worried about resale but don’t want to regret if control isn’t good and I can’t go back and order factory. I’d value any input!

Its the same here, I could do a hell of a lot more with someone good with me and make a good living for the employee too but instead turn plenty work down. Its not worth the hassle/dissapointment/time wasted to even advertise anymore so make do with current 57 year old who will work hard as good ethic but is blind/deaf/not interested in learning and shall we say not exactly customer friendly and the kids when they can be arsed to get £8/hr cash in hand off me. 18 year old prefers to do a shift at the local hotel for £6/hr and not get dirty and 16 year old would rather be on his xbox when its 30 degrees outside and make do with no money! Hope they get good jobs after uni or they'll come unstuck. Think where possible better kit and plenty of it to minimise labour where possible is where i'm heading but diverse workload so it's possible. Full time one job only crew would be hard to manage and i don't fancy that at all.

When I got my woodland I get nowhere near as much waste compared to Alaskan. Great bit of kit for occasional use and would recommend one

How long did it take to remove? Got the clutch to do on mine next week and think it’ll be easier to take the engine out rather than drop gearbox. Plenty of access but with no post lift it would be a trolley jack job and shed floor isn’t the smoothest!

Sit some 200mm box section shoes into concrete or bolt to floor then notch the posts into these so they are above standing water height.

just to be clear i wasn't saying that's cheap or too low etc, just that i had no idea what hand cutters would do in a day and it impressed me. I know i'd probably be laid up if i had to do that for a day! What sort of rate would a harvester do for comparison out of interest. 10/min? surely it would have to be masses to cover the machine and operator costs and still be cheaper than a man?

huge respect for hand cutters, had no idea they'd be getting 50p/tree dropped and brashed. Can see why not many still doing it round here. i'll not complain about a hard day at work for a while!

Sorry for the hassle you’ve had Neil but just wanted to put the other side of eBay/transfers etc up. I recently bought a Schaffer for £8k. Spoke to the guy, did a bit of looking online, rang him on a different number he had advertised etc. Sent money and trusted him and it worked out all good, trusted haulier arranged on a forum too that he didn’t just run off with my new loader! A bit of balance just so we don’t think everyone is a total shite, although it’s probably the best position to start from. Will definitely use bobs idea of street view in future to get a better picture.

Good to hear, have had a b25v for about 10 years and to be honest have hung on hoping an immaculate 1000 hr one would turn up and i'd just replace like for like as it's been a cracking machine with just rollers, tracks and services for that time but after looking at prices a new one is viable at £23-26 depending on spec. Just hope its as good a machine as the last.

As above NFU do all our insurance, including wood shop and band mill in open pole barn. Just set your agreed value at realistic costs, don’t skimp on cover to save £20/year. And take some photos of your kit even if it’s in a heap in the corner to show what you have. Big kit is probably easier and cheaper to replace than millions of good drill bits, hand tools, vices, clamps etc

What put you off the yanmar and which model Matthew? Just working out deals on a sv26. Similar situation to you possibly. Lots of stock ones but wait or aftermarket for four pipes and plus £2-3k for extra pipes.

quick look on google shows 4" blocks at 14kg so might have been over egging it!

The Schaffer arrived this afternoon, love the compact footprint, great visibility and manoeuvrability however it won't lift about 100 4' blocks which I assumed would be about a ton. Lifts 2 straw bales easily so I'm guessing it's happy between 600-800kg. Will have to fill an ibc to get a better test before it goes out anywhere.

Cheers Dan, most times it’s water off a ducks back but when it all comes together at the same time when everyone wants everything done now it’s like a kick in the nads.

Thinking about calling it a day myself..this week had 60t stone tipped on a job then get a call in the evening from customer to say wrong colour despite agreeing beforehand, another customer i've been chasing for £5k says he's sent to someone else who had an email address similar to mine and asked him to send to another account, air suspension knacked on the rover towing dumpers and rollers about the place, had a speeding fine come through for the van this morning and turns out it was me driving at the time (fair cop) and to top it all off red diesel delivery didn't come this afternoon so went to the garage in the car, filled all the jerry cans i could muster on the way back went to pass a lorry with someone else behind me got to 60 then lost all power and all the dash lights on the jag lit up. Nearly had someone slam into the back of me on the wrong side of the road with 150l of red in the boot! Thinking of going shelf stacking for a bit

Great stuff, I’ll look forward to following the thread. May the weather be with you ?

Who’d you get the rear xmember from Bob? Is it a good fit? About to do the same to our old landy. Was thinking galv rechassis but far too much money!

Thanks for commenting Matthew, nice to know Jon is a real person. I tend to trust folk but there are lots of stories about bacs transfer going horribly wrong for tractors and machinery these days, always been lucky myself but know people who’ve lost thousands.

Or anyone need something taking south upto 2.8t and plant trailer size?

So I got sick of dealing with rep(tiles) and just bought a cheap Schaffer 3036. Just couldn’t bring myself to spend £30k without having experience of a compact. I’ll run this alongside the telehandler to see how they do then maybe look to replace them both next year. Its off a guy (Jon Oakland trees not sure if he’s on here?) down in Wisley, so the next mission is getting it up to me. Opposite end of the country and don’t fancy running down with the Rover and trailer. No local artic guys heading that way soon, so anyone know of hauliers that way? Or anyone coming up north soon and want to earn some cash on the way? Cheers, Lee

Thanks for all the comments chaps, did a bit more ringing around and hopefully get some prices back on different machines. Interesting there’s so much out there, but the biggest marketing budget pushes the others out of the way on the internet it seems.

Perfectly put!

I’m looking into compact loaders. The multi ones 7/8/9 look impressive but to be honest I was a bit shocked at the prices of 27-30 grand for what is a very basic machine. The Wacker Neuson TH412 looks really good quality, but doesn’t have massive hydraulic flow and has standard telehandler vision I.e. very little on off side a bit further price wise at £32,500. i was hoping to get rid of old, big, numb, noisy, thirsty telehandler and replace with something that would do all the yard work loading/unloading, feeding cattle, mucking out etc but would also replace little dumper on digger jobs and go out on its own as a loader. Both and most others in this category would go on a trailer. I don’t do work in back gardens etc for the most part so size getting through gateways etc isn’t a problem so long as it’ll go on the trailer it’ll be fine. Reach isn’t really a problem as they’ll do 3m which is all I need regularly. Do these little machines really cope with quoted loads at decent duty cycles or can they lift a lot once on flat ground with a tail wind and all the alarms going off. I really like the idea and I’m sure like a lot of people would snap one up at £15,000 but £25 or £30k just seems a lot of cash and not much on the used side to see residuals. ( either there really good and folk keep em or no one buys them in the first place?) I’d love to hear honest opinions from anyone running similar or suggestions of other makes that are good. Cheers, Lee

Got my 17 year old on our Nfu policy a van, bloody dear though. Pleased he’s got his own car now and own policy as was ‘only’ £1600 for a £300 polo!