lux

It is it pulls it lovely [emoji7] 

I’ve been looking at telehandlers recently. Is that one running the hydraulics for the timber trailer. ? Does it have brakes on the trailer ?

Cheers

 
Would you suggest going straight for the degree after the Level 3 and then pushing into more of a management role and specialising in something other than the climbing and surgery aspect?  I'm not inflexible and while I do see myself pursuing something along those lines eventually, I was hoping to do a bit of the practical side for a few years prior to embarking down the degree route and into something more advanced within the industry.
 
In the next two years I have to undertake between 300 and 630 hours of work placement / professional development.  I was rather hoping by the end of that I would have some idea of whether pursuing the climber end of things would be for me.  Or maybe working towards a career as a ground worker could be a better choice.  Similarly would a career in Forestry be a better choice than pursuing Arb.  I'm open to all possibilities.  But until I have some experience I won't know what will work for me.
 
All being well my course ends in a couple of years and I will be doing something in the industry after that.  As long as what I do is challenging I will thrive.

I did similar to you. I left my career 5 years ago to pursue arb full time. I used to work shifts and had blocks of days off so I worked a lot of those days for a good 10 years prior to that for a friends arb company and some private jobs. I was torn about what to do when I was younger so it was great to be able to do it part time at least. When I was your age I took a career break and never went back. Business is good and I love what I do now. I went back to college to get more tickets and worked for other companies for a while on crap money but getting experience before I ventured into my own company. I don’t regret it at all. Still love climbing etc.
It’s unlikely you will be climbing monster sized trees on a daily basis so don’t worry about being knackered all the time. Quite frankly trimming huge hedges 15 ft across off the top of stepladders with the telescopic hedge trimmer held horizontally all day is more knackering than most climbs.
A lot of climbs will be routine average sized stuff not 90+ft trees everyday. If you are in the south east you are welcome to come and have some experience with us to test the water and see someone who has done the same
Starting a business is hard graft for sure but if you are highly motivated and have some good common sense which it seems you do then you yourself are your only limitation. What you want to achieve is entirely possible , yes it will be hard hard work but nothing’s easy is it. I’m more than happy to pass on my experiences with it if it’s of any help. All the best.

I was in Honey Bros today. Was good timing , I got given 3 bits of kit to field test / review. One of which being an echo 7301sx. I was thinking of buying one so it’s nice to have a good long test of one before I do. They know I like my echo kit. Used it briefly this afternoon, initial impressions were very positive.

 
I have about a dozen Grinders, most are Bosch. All grinders give hideous vibration and that's more down to the disc than the grinder, even with the best anti-vibe. I have a back handle 5" Makita, fiercly powerful, very comforable and very smooth. Much nicer than the usual top-grip 5" ones.
 
As i said about the disc, a twisted wire wheel will vibrate like hell on anything. I have a 6" twisted wire cup, put it on a 9" grinder and you have to hold on for dear life while it shakes your hands to bits.

I wouldn’t buy a 40cc ground saw. They all feel lacking in power. Most will be put on a bar about 16”
When you think that most full size top handles are nearly 40cc and most of them are run on a 12” bar you can see why 241 feels sluggish.
They are also barely lighter or smaller than a 50cc saw so you might as well have the more powerful 50cc.
But again it’s down to personal choice.
Sadly I think the build quality of newer stihl saws is going down hill. Husky still feel solid and better put together. Never had an issue with build quality on my echo kit either.

I bought one from tread light this year. Epic bit of kit. I bought it for one job but have ended up using it quite a lot. It’s a good bit of kit to have in the shed.

Most of this comes down to personal preference really. They are all good saws to cut timber with. I’ve not noticed the vibration on the echo being any worse than other saws. I love my husky 562 but the av springs on that need changing fairly frequently otherwise you feel too much flex in the saw when buried the length of the bar. But again personal preferences maybe.
Stihl 241 I would avoid. Not that it’s a bad saw but feels gutless , again other people on here like them. You really need to try different brands these days to see what you like most and probably end up running a mixed fleet of saws, there isn’t one manufacturer making the best saw in every size category..

Yes for the tier 5 machine.

I paid 28.5k for mine. (Ex vat)

Yes, think I saw that one, thanks for the link. To sum up:
 
a) If I could get a 501SX for £400 like the OP in that thread I'd certainly go for it; been quoted £550-600
b) Was interested to see that one poster claimed Stihl AV is much better than Echo
c) Lots of love for 550xp
 

I think it was £420 I paid on a 16” bar. ( the bars are tsumura too ! ). I love it. Echo make some great kit. Must of put 40 tanks of fuel through mine now and it’s way more pokey than when brand new. No complaints from me.
Price wise you can pick up the husky 550mk 2 for £470 anyway so you need to swap dealerships.

Engine pictures?
 
How much more is it than the old TR8 with tier 3a Kubota engine? 

Only a grand more than the outgoing machine.

Those 3.2 mm files are a pain. They just flex as you sharpen.
I had the panther bar but the nose of the bar came apart. I contacted chainsaw bars, they asked how many chains I’d run on it. Around 4 or 5 was my thinking. I was told that’s about how long they last..... that’s a bit too consumable for my liking so I replaced it with the sugihara 1/4 bar. That ones still on it’s first chain so couldn’t comment further.

Our turn last night! Wankers!
Stolen from midhurst, west sussex
2 x ms150t both with exhaust mods
1 x brand new stihl 201t (used yesterday for the first time!)
1 x husqvarna 560xp standard
1 x husqvarna 365, double barrelled dual port muffler ( very distinctive)
1 x stihl ms660, standard exhaust port sealed with a very large single front facing port, pretty new 36" bar
1 x BR700 blower
Carlton SP2010 stump grinder
 
If anyone hears anything, let me know 07724639681

Sorry to hear this. I’m Haslemere so if I hear any info will pass on. What sort of security did the fu&@?!s overcome ?
I don’t think a day goes past I don’t feel anxious about being done over at some point. If you need hand with kit until you are up and running you can feel free to see if I can help. Hopefully the insurance will be quick to pay out.

Is it turbo 

It is indeed

Been reading the posts on this thread since it begun and one thing i aint read is, Is this for arb work or with in forestry ? as there are massive differences on the regulations between the 2 with using a tractor and forwarding trailer for haulage, Guy i know of up here got pulled with a tractor n trailer with a digger loaded on it about 2 year ago, so far its cost him 20 odd k and it aint finished yet, then another arb lad with a unimog now on his arse, 

Arb working. Just moving my own timber. I get your drift but will take my chances. Everyone is running kit they shouldn’t or not conforming to regs around here and I’ve never heard of anyone being stopped.
One firm runs 5 unimogs as there standard line up of vehicle for arb work. Never been looked at. Not saying it couldn’t happen just unlikely.

Eder powerwinch 1800. Amazing kit. Most powerful portable petrol winch on the market. Mine has done some incredible work.

To go with that I would not want to pull more than 4-5 tonnes with a 100hp tractor on the road , especially if there is hills! From experience it’s not fun trying not to crawl up at 10 kph then go over 60kph and try and stop on the way down.

People pay good money for that sort of ride at Thorpe Park [emoji38]
No long haulage just local stuff generally. I can easily get rid of trunks in long lengths so wherever possible I want to remove the process of ringing them up on site. I just want it to be safely done. Wasn’t too long ago another local firm had a serious accident with a tractor and timber trailer. Any smaller 100hp tractors running air brakes ?

My new Doosan 55hp TR8 delivered to site yesterday. Some nice little tweaks on the old TR8. The horse power increase was certainly noticeable straight off the bat. Looks smart in their new colours too. I shall endeavour to give honest feedback on the new engine, fingers crossed for it being positive.

About 5t 

Saw logs or bar. ?

Not unless you go for a modern valtra or such like but 100 hp won't want to be pulling much more that 10 - 12 ton behind it, you won't want to go to big either if you going into driveway or villages as a HGV style trailer just won't fit. If you were second handling after a smaller machine and running 100s of tons back to your yard or into a mill then yes the bigger the better but I'm guessing your wanting to shift single trees to save ringing them up and hand loading on site.
Something like I posted the link for would work really well as you'd be able to carry odd shaped and length stuff because your not replying on them sitting on the ribs of a conventional timber trailer, can lift bags of tidy up crap on, take small plant to site so very versatile.
Unless your hauling 20 od miles having to go back for a second load isn't going to ruin your social life compared to the savings in time being able to lift and shift with a machine over doing it yourself by hand

That’s the general idea. A large percentage of my customers have large properties in small villages / rural locations. So yes not ringing up on site would be a real plus, saving time and effort.
If I was moving huge amounts of timber from a site I would most likely just contract that to someone.
The tractor will do other duties such as running a post knocker etc as well.

In that case go as large as your tractor will pull safely but with hgv standard air brakes so at least you can stop safely. Nothing more frustrating than having to do 3 journeys with a forwarding trailer when you only need to do one with a proper trailer.

Limited to yard space though. Haven’t got space for an hgv size trailer. From what I have seen most tractors in the size bracket I’m looking at don’t run air brakes either.

Is the trailer for extracting to roadside within a wood or transporting from roadside on public roads back to a farm. I have timber forwarder for operation within the wood where brakes on the trailer are really irrelevant. Road trailer different matter as high speed and 3 times the weight of the forwarding trailer. ie 3x 3mtr bunks rather than 1x 3mtr bunk. With road trailer timber crane on tractor 3 point link so you can go alongside the trailer to load each bunk.

Road use predominantly.

I'd recommend something simple in the tractor section. Less electrics and fancy bits the better. Depends how much road work it will do....
 
Timber trailer usually just one axle hydraulic brakes off the tractor. Get best you can afford. Seen plenty at 5-6k unbraked but not safe for the road in my opinion. Trailer budget then pushed up to 9-12k 

Thinking old Massey or case Ih. And yes def want brakes for the road.
Unsure of which are the better old models to look for. Some of the old John Deere’s also appeal.

I’m thinking of buying a tractor and timber trailer with crane. Doesn’t need to be huge , prob around the 100hp mark. Do any of you good folk have some recommendations. ?

In general on this size set up what are the arrangements for trailer brakes. I’m assuming hydraulic as it’s generally larger tractors with air brakes.

Any advice at all is appreciated. Cheers.

As the title dose anyone know of any larch available in the south east. Thanks Steve 

How much are you looking for ?

@lux you've got a new log splitter, knock it over. (The tree that is) 

Ha. You’re working on it with us in October.[emoji23]

And please , no more ash logs .... I’ve still got a mountain of un processed ash .....