Bob The Dog

Indeed cat F covers tractors, but it comes with cat B without having to do a separate test (age permitting). I didn’t need to add the E!

Presuming you hold a cat B+E licence then yes you can drive a tractor and tow a trailer. Only thing I’ve heard is that IW trailers have a preferred hitch height, so it may be worth looking to see how high the tractor hitch is, otherwise you’re likely to cause damage to the tyres, more so if it’s twin axle. Loads of farmers round here use nothing but their tractors to tow an IW stock trailer to the market each week. Just hook it up as you would normally to any other vehicle.

Your topic has been an interesting one, and it seems that although the Nemo is well below the 2000kgs weight, because it was designed as a van first, and then developed into a car afterwards, it will not class as a car derived van, and so the 50mph ruling applies. Crazy, given many cars are far heavier:

I think it needs to be more fiesta or corsa size, limited to 2000kgs mgw. You’d then have been ok up to 60, and within the realms of a driver course if they offer them up there! I’m sure you’ll just be awarded a few points and the fine as I suggested. All the best mate ?

You won’t get a ban on that speed mate. If you’re pleading guilty, probably 3 or 4 points and a reasonable fine. The previous bans you’ve had will always show up against your license due to their nature, but that far back, it shouldn’t cause you too many issues. 72mph in a 50 surely isn’t a ‘very high speed. Very high speeds are one’s that attract a ban, and to my knowledge, would normally be either double the speed limit, or in excess of 100mph. Unless you have a load of current points already, I would suggest you’ll be looking at £100 and 3 points. What type of van were you driving? You say it was a small van. Are we talking ‘car-derived’ or something a little bigger? That will make a difference to the speed you’re allowed to travel in it. Good luck!

If it’s the same setup as the 550, the easiest way I found when I made that mistake was the remove the clutch assembly, then the side cover fits on and the brake can then be released. Only takes a moment to do.

Had mine 3 years now, and done a fair bit of work. I love it. Only issue I find is when starting from cold, it has to be left to tick over for 30 secs or so, otherwise it just bogs down when trying to rev it. May be just because it's an early auto tune version. One broken brake band, but they have since been redesigned. I do strip, clean and grease fairly frequently, so that probably helps with longevity. I'd defo have another.

Hopefully there's a pic on here now.

Hi Spoons. Wow- 8mm back angle. That's way off, and no wonder the blades won't pull anything through. Grinding that much off the back angle completely changes the location of the cutting edge, and will probably result in the rear end of the top angle coming into contact with the wood first (if that makes sense?). The angles and that 4mm measurement are crucial to a proper set up, and no amount of anvil adjustment will help. I had the same issue some time ago, and couldn't understand why anything bigger than an inch or so just got knocked about and wouldn't cut. I'll dig out the diagram of the angles I send with my blades when they go off for grinding, so they know exactly what I want. I use will at Saturn knives, and had a spare set of rotatech blades from the too. Always had a top service. Regarding the 8mm grind - you're gonna lose a load of life having those front angles ground back to get them right, so as long as you can prove they had the correct 4mm measurement to work to, I'd certainly be askin for a new set.

I've had plenty of crap fly out beyond the knackered flaps, hitting me, and travelling a fair way from the chipper too. I'd rather have them than not.

My machine is 4 years old now, and this is the first replacement. They have been gradually breaking off for the past 12 months i suppose. Looks like the rubber has gone hard, and a bit on the brittle side. I tried to break a piece of the new rubber, approx 1" wide, and it was strong as hell! I see the pro's of having bolts, for replacement, but even a small gauge piece of steel won't do the blades any favours.

I had considered using bolts with nyloc nuts, but was concerned at them coming undone with vibration, and steel going through the cutters, and so stuck with the rivets. It actually didn't take long to drill out the old ones, and replacing them was very easy and quick.

Shame about the boot print!

The knackered old flaps!

The infeed chute rubber flaps on my cs100 had seen better days, and I'd put off replacing them for ages. Anyway, phoned a local dealer last week, and was astonished to hear that a pair of rubber flaps would be £60 with vat! So, onto eBay, and bought a roll of 3mm rubber for £25, and a pack of 50 rivers for three and a half quid, and set about making my own. There's enough rubber left over to make another three pairs, and so these have cost me in the region of £6 a pair! Took an hour and a half to remove the old and make / replace with the new ones, but looks like a new machine now. Not sure what the costs for these on jo beaus etc would be, but the GM cs100 spares do always seem a bit pricey. Having said that, it's a great chipper, so that softens the blow a little!

As 'Heath Robinson' as it may sound, I actually found the angle finder app on my iPhone very accurate. It's the one on the same app as the compass. Lay the blades flat on a level table, and you can check your angles yourself when the blades come back.

And there goes more life off your blades unfortunately. If they grind the back angle now to 10degrees, the front angle will also have to be ground again, to give the correct 4mm. That's exactly why my cs100 wouldn't chip. Such a difference now it's done right.

thatll be the next thing to go!!

It's currently sitting on the boiler - nice and warm there!!

Thanks guys. I was pretty chuffed with it tbh. Being the OCD sort, I may well run the dremel around the edges tomorrow and tidy it up. Prob no need tho! I'd figured that the tank wasn't pressurised, and that it'd just be a case of keeping the oil in. I used araldite steel 2 pack epoxy adhesive. Roughened all the joining metal, then a good layer of the adhesive between. The rivets helped to pull it all in nice and tight, and so it should be good. I hadn't intentionally covered the outside with adhesive - cock up initially, as I put it onto the adhesive upside down, and so the top got covered. Handy tho, as it's the same colour as the grey husky paint!!

Well, I spent a bit of time this morning making a repair for the hole in the oil tank. Got some 3mm aluminium plate from a local metal worker, and shaped to fit. Cleaned off the paint around the hole, and then drilled 3 holes to rivet the plate to the saw. Wasn't happy just using the 2 part steel epoxy adhesive, so thought it'd help. Anyway, it all seems ok. Will let the adhesive set over the next 24hrs and give it a go tomorrow. Perhaps I shouldn't have bothered ordering the new one just yet!!

Been using the Stein poles from Jones's, with a whole host of attachments. I like them. Light, strong and well made, so get my vote. They don't like having large ash logs dropped on em tho!!

It'd be great if there was one there! Shout if you find it!

Well, my local husky dealer has quoted best part of £400 to repair with a new crankcase and all associated gubbins. So I've just gone and ordered a new one instead. I'll keep an eye on eBay for a spare crankcase and have a go at repairing it myself at some point.