Bogieman

I have 3 Transit tippers insured with Direct Line. I find them consistently cheaper than anything that the comparison sites produce. Like their owner, the trucks are not in the first flush of youth (2008, 2011 and 2013). All with 3 named drivers and limited to 7000 annual miles, carrying own goods (firewood logs, they’re mine until they’re tipped). Latest renewals in the past month were £308 and £366, both up around 50% on the previous year. The other was £313 back in August, so who knows what it will be at renewal? Luckily I’ve never had a claim, so can’t comment on the level of service.

I’ll give my vote to Charnwood. My CW50ib is now 33 years old and apart from a replacement throat plate every 3 years or so and an annual renewal of the stove ropes it has never needed any spare parts, not even firebars. It burns approximately 8 hours per day for around 9 months of the year (this is NE Scotland!) and supplies ample domestic hot water as well as heating 7 or 8 radiators. As a boiler stove, this model is no longer in production but the company certainly is, and in the unlikely event of ever needing a replacement they would be top of my list.

I find it a bit odd that the tree in Belgium appears to have already lost most of its leaves while those in my garden in Aberdeenshire are still in full leaf, only showing signs of turning in the past week. Different varieties perhaps? Mine have yielded better this year than in any of the previous thirty or so that they have been growing, and the nuts themselves are also fuller and better filled than ever. Maybe climate change or maybe just maturity.

Walnut?

I turned 78 last week, and have my Transit tipper insured fully comp with Churchill for £226.16. This is a farm vehicle, mainly used for firewood delivery, with myself as main driver and two other named drivers. Unfortunately it's currently got a snapped timing chain. No insurance cover for that!

Sounds like the solenoid is on the way out. Tipping up is via the hydraulic pump, while coming back down is purely by gravity, the solenoid opens a valve and hydraulic fluid flows from the ram back into the reservoir, driven by the weight of the bed. If the solenoid fails completely and you're stuck with the body tipped there's two options, either slacken off the pipe and lose the fluid or else apply a really strong magnet (like a magnetic welding clamp) to the outside of the solenoid, which should open the valve and allow the bed to descend. Long term, replace the solenoid.

Doesn't sound like a typical solenoid failure, but rather than opening the pipes you could try applying a strong magnet (something like a welding clamp one) to the side of the solenoid, which should open the release valve. The ram goes up by pressure from the pump but comes down purely by gravity when the release valve is opened.

The fleet. 117 years in total between them and still more than earning their keep, working most days. The Ford 3000 is a 1973 and spends most of its time on the firewood processor, while the 1980 IH is the log loader tractor. It’s an industrial spec 584, I think the designation is 258 and it differs from a standard agricultural 584 in having a speedometer and a handbrake that operates on conventional drums rather than the usual IH transmission job. So, a Nash with a handbrake that actually works! The Case IH 956 is the baby of the bunch, born in 1987. It lives on the timber trailer, hauling lengths from the stack to feed the processor. Oh, and the Transit adds another 16 years. You’ll notice I don’t do shiny!

Good link, Spud. I reckon it's a DD.8F, but whether a Mk II or III I'm not sure. That puts it between 1957 and 1970. Were they really still making that beast in 1970? Either way, still a lot younger than me!

Dropped by to see a friend earlier today and found him tinkering with this impressive old Danarm. Direct coupled, no anti-vibration mountings, no chain brake mechanism and, judging by the bark, no baffles in the exhaust either! It belonged to his wife's uncle and has been laying below the bench for a lot of years, but after a bit of fettling it fired up and performed according to specification. Any suggestions as to its vintage?

Anybody?? I've detached the pump from the gearbox but can't get enough clearance to get them far enough apart to get the pump off the internal shaft, which seems essential before the box will come out, and even then it looks as though it'll be a struggle. I've been in touch by phone with both my local supplier and Riko, and been promised a call back, but so far the only response is silence. I wish Farmi would supply a workshop manual, the instruction/parts book that came with the machine isn't much help.

Our WP36 is howling like a banshee, the multiplier gearbox which takes the drive from the tractor PTO to the pump has obviously run a bearing. It's going to have to come off and be stripped. Just wondering if anyone has done this job before and can give me some tips? It looks as though the first job is to separate the hydraulic pump from the gearbox (four Allen screws with limited accessibility) since there's no way I can see the box coming off with pump attached. Even then it's going to be a fiddle. I just hope that I can get away without dismantling half the machine! Tomorrow morning's job.

Interestingly, the advice to burn only hardwood and specifically to avoid pine seems to be confined to the UK version of the Jotul website. If you go into https://jotul.com/ and choose any country other than the UK there is no such advice. (Use Google translate) I blame Brexit!

We're lucky enough to have the use of two fairly large open-fronted, concrete floored sheds with spaceboarded gables. Our home-produced roundwood is stacked in the yard for a couple of years before being processed, then tipped and spread out on the shed floors until dry matter is under 20% before going into store, all bulk handled by tractor and grain bucket. The only slight drawback is harvest, when some of the space is temporarily commandeered by the arable side of the business for dropping barley prior to drying or (hopefully) sale direct to the maltsters. Still, the whisky is worth the hassle!

When we started delivering it was with an Ifor Williams GD85 behind a 4x4, so all hand unloaded and sometimes stacked. The enjoyment quickly faded so we moved on to a Transit tipper, delivering 3 cube loose. Our target is to never touch a log by hand, either in the yard or on the road, so now it's strictly tip and go. No bags, no boxes, no IBCs, I can't understand why people set out to purposefully create work! Those who are delivering with a commercial vehicle and trailer are presumably on tacho?

Some real bargains here! https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/bankfoot111/m.html?item=162877445656&hash=item25ec409618%3Ag%3A8QUAAOSw1zhacG6k&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562 Or are they?

Most of the time we spread the logs out on the floors for final seasoning, but around harvest every square foot is needed for dumping grain before it is either loaded onto lorries or goes through the driers. Hopefully it doesn't need drying and gets lifted promptly, but usually we have around a month of disruption to the firewood side. A bit of light aggro between the arable side and the firewood business!

Tried local press and "free" magazines, but find their advertising rates extortionate and response very poor. I think most people now turn to the internet as a matter of course, and we have found that most of our new sales come from Gumtree and Facebook. The bulk of our business is now repeat orders from existing clients, but to keep growing we need a steady supply of new ones as well. Luckily the "lifestyle choice" woodburner market shows little sign of slowing, so we should be OK! The idea of linking with installers is a good one, we'll need to pay it more attention This time of year we tend to see some folk offering logs at a ridiculously low price, but they will soon sell out and leave the field to those with a more realistic sense of value. The drying shed floors are going to be covered in barley for the next month or so, just hope the maltsters get their finger out and shift it promptly for a change. Luckily the log bays are all full, so when the orders do pick up we're prepared. Roll on winter!

Sales are strangely slow at the moment. After steadily increasing year on year for the past five, our July and August volume is down by a third so far this year. This isn’t helped by Gumtree, one of our major advertising options, playing silly beggars. As a business we are required to post (and pay) under Services rather than Stuff for Sale. This didn’t used to matter, anyone looking for firewood under All Categories would see both Sales and Services, but in their wisdom they have decided that in order to see goods for sale in Services you have to choose that category. Looking for firewood for sale brings up only those adverts in the free Stuff for Sale category. Most buyers, I suspect, won't bother looking for logs under Services. At least, this is the case if you use a PC. Phones and tablets, both Android and Apple, still show all categories. Logic, or what? So, much more Facebook advertising. What does everybody else use?

Try Harold Taylor on 07778 357088

Yes, I reckon you're correct, thanks for the identification. The trees are relatively mature (18 yo, just had first thinning) so little chance of damage. According to Google the next plague may be one of ants coming to collect the nectar!

Clusters of little black flies on the underside of Sitka branches. Every tree seems to have them, there must be millions! Any entymologists in our midst for identification?

Check that the ram is retracting completely. It's possible that woodchips, bark etc can get lodged and compacted at the tail end, preventing complete retraction and causing the pump to strain and sound noisy. It can be quite difficult to remove the very well compacted material due to the difficulty of access, I have found that the best approach is to use an electric drill.

Ours is a Riko/Farmi WP36 and like others have mentioned, the bar that you attach to the bed for the log lift sometimes catches on the frame as it returns after splitting and the whole bed of the machine lifts, with the potential for damage to either the bed or the elevator. The solution is low-tech but effective – a bungee strap.

We deliver 3 cube Transit tipper loads at £50/cube softwood (Sitka) £80/cube hardwood (mainly Birch at the moment) and £65/cube for a 50/50 mix. Free delivery up to 15 miles.