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Thesnarlingbadger

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Everything posted by Thesnarlingbadger

  1. Pretty much mate. I have a 2019 Hilux all the mod cons like you. The stop start shit drives me mad and I like the ac on to bypass it because if the ac is on it can’t stop the engine and if I take the ac off I forget to push the button to stop this happening. The issue I have with the stop start rubbish is that it cut out in me once at some lights and I couldn’t get it going again. Spoke to a friend of mine who said it’s knackering the battery and the starter motor so stop using it. Fine not a problem. I have a DPF warning light that should come on when the DPF needs sorting but in 3 years it’s never come on. However one of my transits (2012) is a nightmare for the DPF, I need it re-gened every 6 months and it drives me nuts. Im in Bristol and have a clean air zone coming in so I’m thinking of getting rid of that van and getting a new 7.5 tonne canter to replace it because if it’s causing me issues and I can’t drive into the centre anymore with it what’s the point. I would say all this new diesel rubbish is a pain in the arse but it’s not caused me as many issues as everybody else by the sound of things. Not sure if that’s because it’s a Hilux or just because I got lucky. Has any one else had issues with the DPF on a modern Hilux?
  2. Not one but many, as a child biology fascinated me
  3. To be completely honest I think that there isn’t really an issue or at least not one that hasn’t been going since the dawn of time with this. Yes our travelling friends will steal work from us, so what. It’s only when they steal my tools that I give a shit. Most my customer will happily pay an acceptable price provided I do a professional job. Yes this has become an issue recently due to cost of living but generally I have enough work to keep me busy, pay my bills and have a holiday. I agree with Mick, who cares if someone doesn’t consider me a skilled professional, if they pay then great if they don’t then I’ll kick off. And yes big site clearance jobs might not think you as a company or a climber have talent but they have picked you to do the work because either you have given them the best price or all you paperwork and H&S is in order. Those big companies aren’t going to have someone from a caravan site come and do the work because they are not professional. As far as I’m concerned I do the quote get the job, do a good job, tidy up properly and get a call back next year. All good.
  4. Change the filter. Still got an issue sythen the fuel through. Still got an issue take the tank off clean out and put back. The last one is a pain in the arse but can be done but I would say if crap got in the tank then that’s probably where the issue lies, all the rubbish falls to the bottom of the tank and sits there blocking the lane. If you blow down the fuel line back in to the tank this will clear it for a time but the problem will keep coming back until the crap is out of the tank. Hope this makes sense.
  5. I loose at lease 1 thing every morning. I have taken to attaching my pickup keys to myself with a lanyard so I don’t put them down in the yard and spend half a hour chucking stuff off shelves and making the whole place a mess as I hurry out. But my coffee mug never seams to go astray, priority’s I guess.
  6. I do agree with you Joe. To an extent. The issue is not that you probably won’t cut yourself and believe me I have never had a near miss next to my leg ever but from an business owners point of view if the accident did happen when you didn’t have chainsaw trousers on it would be a HSE dream. I called a job off tomorrow because I don’t think it’s fair to make the lads where full kit in this heat but have rebooked in a load of trimming on Tuesday so they can wear shorts all day. I’m not having a go I’m just saying from my point of view I’d be panicking all day that there would be an accident and I wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. Not only that I use my knees all the time to climb trees and they would be pretty battered if I wasn’t wearing chainsaw trousers.
  7. I use a SJ3 and have done for the last couple of years now. Wouldn’t change for anything else. I didn’t really use the ZZ but know a few guys who use them and love them. I went from a VT to a SJ3 and would not have done it if it wasn’t for me getting nightmare tennis elbow pains and thoughts I’d give it a go. My tennis elbow disappeared quite literally over night and I have only had the odd spout of it since when I do a few days of leggy reduction work. If I have a job that really requires a second line then I just put a VT on that and use it as little as possible. But knots do have a place and are still used daily by me when rigging or felling. I absolutely have a boner for a double bowline as a midline knot for pulling trees over. I’ve never had to struggle to undo that knot and am still to this day flabbergasted I haven’t considering I’ve had to put scaff bars on the winch to get so heavy back learners over.
  8. As others have said more information is needed really but if the trees are large and we’re there before the houses the argument the LA has is you brought the house knowing the trees were there. They are not going to allow the trees to be removed without good evidence the roots are causing an issue and a bit of uplifted driveway won’t be enough. You’ll need to get a tree report done which won’t be cheep and might not have the outcome you are hoping for. If light is an issue you could always look at putting in an application to thin and reduce the crowns of the trees but they are not going to allow a fell because your living room isn’t a sun trap unfortunately.
  9. I keep having people get back to me saying they have found creeper quotes at the moment. Thing is I’m pricing relatively low compared to when we are flat out and to be honest if someone can get a £900 job done by someone else for £500 then their not going to think twice. We are busy enough this month and I’m booking in work for August and once September come around we are flat out on the commercial work so I’m just going to enjoy the down time for now I think.
  10. Usually fairly good with my Oak ident but am torn between a few with this one. I’m thinking either Portuguese cork Oak, Mirbeck’s Oak or even Lucombe Oak. Any help would be appreciated I’ve said to my customer I am going to try and find out for her. Cheers Eric
  11. Just seen the price mate. Your better off buying a MEWP.
  12. I had a similar situation the other day when one of the lads lost his rag in front of me and a load of builders on sight. To be fair to him he wanted me to do something differently to make his job on the day easier which was a completely understandable thing for him to ask but it was the way he spoke to me that ground my gears. I bit my tongue and when we had a quite minute I took him to one side and explained politely that I won’t be spoken to like that and that if it happens again he would be walking home from site. He completely understood apologised and said he only shouted because the chipper was going and that he realised once he had snapped at me that he cocked up. Water under the bridge now and all it took was for me not to loose my rag and make a simple situation worse.
  13. I think Steve covered this one Ian.
  14. Mind you a good opportunity to get some good staff in and kick out the deadwood I’ve been doing this slowly over time but within the last couple of months I’ve been able to get rid a a few who have been pissing me off for a while. Although I am always going to have issues with some plonkers the majority of the guys I have in at the moment work hard and have the right attitude. When I was flat out a few months back I couldn’t get rid of any of the time wasters as I needed them in because the other time wasters didn’t turn up. I guess use the slow period to your advantage.
  15. This is true but I have a couple of firms who I used to work for who have already said they will take me back for a few days if work is that bad.
  16. £1000 per tree seems mad unless they are 30m tall. I would say if access is good and the trees have good space around then you are looking at £2500 in total but I would need to see a picture of the trees to give a rough estimate.
  17. Had a bit of a nightmare recently. Was a little quite then really busy and last week I have had 2 weeks worth of work cancelled by separate customers mainly due to the cost of living and I hate to say it but our travelling friends. The issue I have found recently is that people are being more careful with their money and if I quote £750+Vat for a days work with 3 of us and some door knocker says they will do it for £500 all in then what chance have the company’s who go by the book got? I am not too stressed because we have commercial work which keeps us busy but I have had to let a couple of the lads go and am just doing 3 or 4 day weeks for the next month. I’m using the spare time to get on top paper work and have been working on a coffee table out of some black walnut I to down 3 years back so have go plenty to do but I do think if work doesn’t pick up soon I might have to jump back on a couple of subbie climbing days with a few old firms I used to work for. Not the end of the world but I’ve done 3 big climbs this week and I’m not sure my body can take it as much as it used to. Spoke to a few other people in the industry I have worked for and it seems it’s the same everywhere at the moment. Fingers crossed it picked up on the plus side the LA’s are getting my applications through pretty quickly at the moment so July is already starting to look good.
  18. A full reduction on a cedar is a bit of a no go imo I would say most work we do in large cedars tends to be end weight reducing lateral branches to reduce risk of failure in storms and snowfall. My advice as said by others would be to get an arborist in to take a look and see what they can do. As the tree is TPO’d it obviously has a high amenity value in which case your local LA would be looking to retain the beauty of the tree and if you take the top out then you will wreck that beauty straight away. If your concern is only that of the branches snapping out and the BT cable then I would say and end weight reduction on the larger lateral branches and a 1m clearance away from the BT cable. The height is neither here nor there as the tree has grown the way it has and dealt with the elements for 70 years already. Trees are bloody strong and hold their own weight 4x over generally unless there are other issues at play. Have you got a photo of the tree by any chance?
  19. What I tend to do is with the slower (lazy) workers is ask them to stay on when the others have left so they can help me sort things at the yard for 30 min. And just explain that everyone else has worked hard today and that’s why your staying to help out now. They soon pick up there act after a few cases like this and if they don’t their gone.
  20. Don’t work slower so I have to work harder you (insert offensive word)
  21. I would check the head gasket as the engines are prone to overheating and can split the gasket. I’m sure there are plenty of other issues that someone will come along and mention but I know I’ve heard this was a major issue with the older models.
  22. Shame here mate. All done now typical it all goes down over the 4 day weekend. I’m sure the LA’s will have a mountain of emails tomorrow.

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