Dan Maynard

That's good to know. Maybe I'll wait for next year's black Friday deal on a vertec then.

That's true on the M500 too, agreed it really helps with Y forks as the hopper sides go down parallel to the blade. Blades are expensive though.

Or just get spare saw out of the van ...

Thing is, I only have one RRP and would like another SRT system, so might have bought one. Vertec plus pulley is getting pretty pricey though, I'm looking at that Freexion again. The reflex has promise but hate the guinea pig feeling.

... or, I guess playing the Sherlock Holmes what if the bores were scored before being put away, but kept running as started up nice and regular? We don't actually know they were good when put away, a blower a bit down on power still blows for example.

Ah fair enough. Carroll Engineering are the people in Ireland I was thinking of, they'd make you one with a log lift. I see Oxdale do a vertical/horizontal 16T one that's just over £8k on eBay. Don't know if it's my imagination but these all seem to have shot up in price.

Passed me by but it seems the RRP is no longer available, I guess natural product progression for Notch to want us all to buy the more expensive replacement. Bit annoying then to have to spend extra on pulley kit to get the features of the old one.

Sullivan's Engineering make a well regarded properly road towable splitter, they're in Ireland so was thinking maybe in the EU with you but looked them up just now and they are in the North. Might be someone that takes them south across the border though and you could order in Euros?

Look for an M500, the chipper pushing itself around is a really good feature especially up into the trailer at the end of the day. They're solid built from proper parts so you can get spares, bearings etc either from Global or direct from suppliers. Mine is at least 15 years old, will keep repairing it for a long while yet.

I think it's got to be fuel related, E10 is new and undoes all the years of experience we have in how to look after machines. My thought is ethanol/water in the fuel, causing oil separation else the bores would not score up like that. It's possible the Husqvarna tank vents let more air in and out as temperature goes up and down, hence more water vapour gets in. I realised fuel was taking up too much of my head, thinking about not having it hanging around, tipping it out of big saws, buying additives, extra trips because I only bought 5 litres at a time, etc etc. Thought sod it, 55 litre drum of Motomix in the back shed - no thinking now, just go and top up combi can whenever I want. Have had to buy some rubber parts but touch wood nothing serious.

@Steve Bullman your arbtalk personal information says freelance climber, still true?

Surely that's misuse, like ragging it on full throttle while the clutch slips? Otherwise I can't see how to wear the inside of the drum so much before the teeth come off the sprocket.

I mostly use Gustharts now to be honest, they seem pretty straightforward.

The wires shouldn't rip out as the outer sleeve of the cable is locked in the back of the connector. I've had some connectors where if you put a cable tie round nice and tight it stops it pulling back, although my current plug is a metal one I found in local ag dealer and that's been good. Also , it helps to put bootlace ferrules on the wires as this stops them breaking individual strands at the corner of the screw clamp. Won't stop the cable pulling back though.

Hmm, this is a modern beat combo I'm not familiar with.