Conor Wright

Finally a few pics of the 20 year old takeuchi post rebuild. It took way longer to complete than anticipated. The engine was sent for rebuild in September and I got it back just in time for christmas only to find it wasn't quite right and had to come out again. It was over all a very poor experience. Suffice to say I wont be going back to that particular company. Apart from that, the rest went fairly smoothly. Pinned, bushed, painted,(with a little panel beating thrown in!) new hoses(mostly, some were unworn), grab and rotator fitted along with extra hydraulics, lights, radio, radiator, slew gear, fuel lines, fixed a few niggles and rattles and then ran out of money. So the quick hitch has to wait! Went for a change of colour because why not, not like I'll be selling it anytime soon. Plus it makes it readily identifiable and as it was painted part by part, even if it was stolen, the tracker removed and resprayed, it would have tell tales in hard to cover places. Happy with how it feels now, stronger, faster and tighter. Cost wise, meh, I possibly could have bought a fresher second hand machine, maybe sold it and got a new machine, but now I know exactly what I have. A simple, reliable workhorse in very good condition. Gutted that I lost a lot of pics halfway through, not because I wanted to post them, but they were helping me to put it all back together. This led to a few moments of confusion and some swearing, then more confusion followed by some disassembly. A few people questioned why I was doing it, maybe rightly so but it's done now! Would I do it again? Yes. Would I take a different approach? Yes. Was it worth it? Financially, yes in raw cash, probably not if I included my time. Actually, definitely not if i included my own time at the hourly rate a decent mechanic or fitter could charge, but they would have done it a lot faster. As an experience. Yes, I gained a lot of knowledge and enjoyed the majority of the experience. Would I recommend others do it? Probably not!

Another machine added to the "I want" list..

Milled this the other day, log dog?

Nice job. I'm happy to see someone else who left the thumb on with the grab. had been doubting myself but so far so good. It doesn't appear to have much of an effect on the amount you can lift and then you still have the thumb for bucket work. Best of both worlds.

Ladder was to cut off the branches. I see why it was a hard days work for you. top tip, the rest of us use chainsaws.

About time I put up a photo of the digger again, it's pretty much done now, just waiting on the rotator to arrive. Took waay longer than it should have taken. The delays getting the engine back were ridiculous. It's back together now and working but no more pics til the rotator is fitted!

Really like the third pic, you've got some nice wood there.

Ha! It's not so much about increasing the machines value as I've no intention to sell it, if I was trading up, I'd flog it as is and stick the cash on a new machine to reduce the outright payment. I've only ever bought machinery outright. It suits how I work, sometimes I'd be working on projects at home or just fecking off in the camper for a few days, so regular loan repayments might come at awkward times! I'm lucky to have some friends who are involved in heavy equipment repairs so what I'm unable to do myself costs me a bit less than regular prices. I've probably gone a bit overboard on the stripping front, I pulled out the slew gear and it was perfect. The play was in the motor. I'd rather know this than do a half job then be wondering will it let me down in six months time. Equally, I'm happy to spend my evenings playing with it (the digger, that is!) Down in the shed as sitting in watching TV and eating doritos. As a result I'm not really counting my time. I'll keep an eye on costs and upload a few pics over the weekend. I made the brave decision to deviate from original colours... Not sure I understand your analogy of shagging rotters, I've only ever been with stunners. Ahem! On the subject of new machines, apart from the extra hydraulics, which are useful, I dont see the value for myself, it doesnt get used every day. I bought it 6 years ago with 3700 hours and it's just on 8000 now with few issues.. a track motor, welding the boom when I cracked it. (Big logs are heavy!) and sticking in a new engine when a friend used it for two hours and cooked it. Maybe I'm being foolish by doing what I'm doing, but I've gone too far to turn back now, so might as well do it right.

Not that much, but it was worn oval, it was causing a lurch in the arm when lifting heavy weights, (Bear in mind that I do use the machine well beyond it's intended scope!) coupled with wear in the slew motor it made for an uncomfortable ride! The outer diameter of the new bush is 3.5 mm over the old one so 1.75 mm taken off all round from centre point. My plan for the undercarriage is to heat it, pull it back into place and reinforce both sides with a strip of 20×40 solid bar. I'm guessing heating will weaken the steel, so the bar is going to be necessary if I'm to keep it from becoming a recurring issue.

Great machine! I'm doing what I can myself, it's all pinned and line bored now, engines gone to yanmar for a rebuild, machine is fully disassembled and ready for blasting and painting. The slew motor has a bit of play so that's going to be rebuilt too and the undercarriage needs a bit of work where the idler slide in, its splayed out badly on one side. I'll stick up a few pics as I put it back together.

Youre right. Good taxation income from it though. I should clarify, that statement was directed at haironyourchest's conspiracy theory. Seems a bit random as I didnt quote him.

Man, Put a little more tobacco in your breakfast joint will ya!

It started with line boring the kingpin.... then I said feck it, do the dipper too... Now it's a full re pin, bush and line bore, engine recon (it's a bit smokey) sprayjob (might as well, all the parts are off already) New slew ring and re seal the motor ( if I leave it and do everything else it will undoubtedly fail just to spite me) rewire (most of the wires in the engine bay have hardened) new hoses,(cant be getting oil on the fresh paint!) new glass ( needed it anyway) and if theres any money left I'll bang on a rotator. (There won't be any money left, but I'm not telling myself that) By tomorrow night all that will be left is the blade and tracks on the shed floor and a huge, digger shaped hole in the finances! In fairness, the old girl owes me nothing and what would I buy for the same investment? Another machine in similar condition?! I hope i can remember how it all goes back together in a few weeks time..

You and dog in the front, missus and baby in the back, dog guard between front and back seats. Sorted.

Lad I went to college with had a tip in something similar in a Hyundai, good bit bigger too. Broke both legs. I'd imagine after a proper shunt in one of them they just open the rear door and pour what's left into a casket... on a lighter note, Some lunatic stuck a hayabusa engine in one Gone like a stabbed rat!

It came up ok on my phone, heres a screengrab

Low ground clearance is probably the biggest drawback but they will tackle side slopes better and are very manouverable. Good power to size ratio too. Brother has an old antonio Carrera. Simple machine, wouldnt go as far in the woods as a valtra by any stretch of the imagination. More for dry hilly woods than boggy ground.

Karma was very pleased with her new colour coded ball, until it lost its roundness. She then had an identity crisis and tried becoming a chicken for an afternoon, having eaten more eggs than she laid she decided to become a german shepherd again and run off her frustration. Meanwhile, the beagle did beagle stuff.

Attendance is compulsory, paying attention is optional. Sadly I speak from experience!

When I'm cleaning off a stump, I always think of him... then drop the saw another inch or two...

Some good photos there. Enjoyed flicking through your site. You might find a couple more candidates for the 100 beards on here!

At first glance I said ash, but that's been discounted, so I dont know.. 100% not oak though!

Unless you plan on doing it from the comfort of a digger with a flail on the end I'd reckon domestic work would be easier. That's not saying that there isn't work there, but is it the work you want?

Thats what she says! All is good! leaving aside the knackered body, steady stream of breakdowns, inability to source spares because of the slowly unfolding apocalypse, wet leylandii hedges, employees that are slower than a wet sunday in a nursing home, clients who build flimsy fences during lockdown then expect you to charge the same for a job that when you first viewed it was a straight fell, clients with dogs but no shovels, clients with cats but no shovels, clients that stand watching you all day (he didnt seem to posses a shovel either, or the will to use one) clients with mentally unstable neighbours, clients in general, the public in general, oh, and constantly increasing lists of "to do", "should have been done"and "why hasn't it been done yet" from indoors, coupled with a growing list of my own, yeah. Life couldn't be better! Oh, and my takeuchi and ifor William's is 3420kg (weighed) with thumb grab, 2ft bucket and a little under half a tank of fuel. It is the digger thread after all, wouldnt like to go off topic now.

Yes.