Moose McAlpine

What do you want/need? Truck as in 3.5t tipper? Is it going to be towing a small chipper, big chipper, plant trailers? Single or crew cab?

Squat on the roof with your arse over the windscreen? Try it and let us know. This is important market research.

You've only been into one? I have 1 in my cell, go into in every so often. When i was at the AA before i went into a few as well. Some are ok, some are not ok and some i flat out refused to go in. Van always locked, my own stuff and phones safely hidden away, etc Had a job once where a recovery driver pulled a Transit Connect off the M25. Asked the driver about where they took it, they were very cagey about it all. Knowing the road they said they dropped it (Lye Lane in St Albans) i was certain they'd screwed me and dumped it home in the pikey site. Turned out i was wrong, and it was in a "naturist reserve" on the same road.

Of course @David Cropper liked this post..

Let us know when it arrives and i'll pick up that redundant 395 you're chucking away. 😘

@Mark Bolam the bleeding heart you ordered has arrived. 😂

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Ain't got a clue what type. But it's cold, apparently.

In the event of a catastrophic bleed you're not likely to be able to treat yourself amid the adrenaline and panic. A major vein or artery bleed causing sudden loss of blood pressure will kill you in a matter of seconds. There's a reason solo climbing isn't really a thing and you need a second person with aerial rescue. (As i found out, on a job with someone who opened up their forearm 25' up a tree and missed an artery by ¾".) Best thing to get? A watertight will and a good life insurance policy? 🤷🏻‍♂️

More pictures of dog please!

My 572 will pull a 28, but it's asking quite a lot of it and you can tell, it's also off balance. Like you said, 24 is fine. 390 pulls a 28 nicely though.

28" might be pushing it a little for a 562. (Unless you're American cutting softwood on Youtube.)

What is it you do? I thought it was drain jetting or something?

They are, for a number of reasons. Mostly being front wheel drive, and that you can buy one that's just the cab and about 12" of chassis behind it, so easy for the conversion with a low floor. They're still shite vans though.

They're all miserable hateful things that will consume your will to live and destroy your spine. (But probably the Canter.)

All in all a Transit or Iveco is probably your best bet in that price range. Transits aren't without their faults but are generally quite easy to maintain. Even the timing chain is relatively straight forward and the whole front comes off quite easy if you want full unhindered access. I used to do them with only the fan and shroud removed and it's not difficult if you're fairly capable. They use normal (non-self-adjusting) clutches and external slave cylinders so clutch replacement is quite simple. They do quite like a front coil spring, which is a miserable job and bottom ball joints which aren't too bad. Front wheel bearings/brake discs are always an experience and may be better left to a garage. The 2.4 Ford engines rarely have injector issues and the injectors come out easy. Mechanically the Ivecos are more robust. They generally don't have engine issues. The 2.3 is torquey, much like the 2.4 Transits. The 3.0 is a beast. If you can find one in good nick it may have an edge over the Transit as they have such a solid chassis and running gear. They do drive nicely and often have a 7t train weight. Proper ladder chassis is good for having a chassis cab adapted to your needs. Ivecos carry weight well, probably better than Transits do. Just bear in mind they can have issues with electrics/wiring and you may need a good garage who do commercials mostly if it needs diagnostics. Early Crafter could be a good option, Sprinter chassis with a VW engine. The 2.5 is another good torquey engine, pretty solid. An issue is that it's all Merc electrics with a VW engine and VW engine management. Can make diagnostics awkward. Some engine parts are VW-only, while chassis parts are generally cheaper from Merc. If it's for tree surgery i'd avoid the Renault Masters. Decent vans, generally reliable. A 5k one will probably be pretty worn out. Turning circle's enormous, tractions awful, they don't carry weight well. Councils love them, they're fine bumping up kerbs and collecting bags of leaves. They're not much good overloaded with chip. You can get a Sprinter for 5k. But a 5k Transit or Iveco will undoubtedly be better than a 5k Sprinter.

What kind of van do you need, what price range, and how involved do you get with machanical stuff?

I'm not sure if they have the same chassis, it may be a thicker/heavier duty one, but the Iveco is the only van with a body-on-chassis construction. (All others are unibody.) The 6.5/7.2s certainly have much heavier suspension and larger brakes and rear axles. Mechanically the Ivecos are very reliable.

Generally solid and reliable mechanically. Crap ugly interiors that wear out and fall apart just by looking at them, electrics go wrong endlessly, gear linkages wear out so finding a gear is like stirring soup, plastic fuel filter housings crack and leave you stranded, often problematic for OBD fault diagnosis. (Older ones use an odd specific plug, many diag machines won't communicate with them for some reason.) I've been to more than a few with screwed ignition switches where they're bypassed with a toggle switch on the dash, and have had to run temporary wiring to head/tail lights when the module's failed to keep them mobile. They're pretty torquey and have really good tow ratings though, and are decent-looking machines. Generally feel a bit cheap though. My mate had a 6.5t one as a service van, packed full of kit. He loved it, and as the only person who ever used it kept it immaculate inside and out. He never had a bad thing to say about it, but it didn't do a huge amount of work.

Really odd. Does it feel like the brake band is grabbing on the clutch drum? Maybe it grabs if not removed perfectly straight, like there's not enough slack on the band? Is thechain tensioner slackened when removing/refitting? (Should only cause an issue with refitting though.) I took mine out to have a look, cover comes off and goes on easy as anything. I did have to thoroughly clean it out when i bought the saw (used) as it was all gunked up.

Around 2006-2012 model year range? Sprinter or maybe a Crafter. Not a fan of the older Transits in that range, done so many timing chains, injector pumps, rear hub seals, carrier bearings, fuel metering solenoids, etc on them to put me off wanting to own one. And they're very mediocre vans too. On the flipside, they did pay a lot of my wages for some time. A big part for me is ease of working on them. Those Transits are very easy to work on, but you might be doing a lot of it. Sprinters are easy to work on, loads of space and access, nice to drive, spacious cab, good mirrors, etc. (My brand loyalty lies with Sprinters, based purely on my own experience, both working on them and running them as my own business vehicles.)

My preference is Sprinters. I have a 2015 one now, and have had 2 before, and an original Crafter (Sprinter in drag) before that. Had a beautiful 2013 Sprinter 313, never a single issue with it. Joint second choice i'd have a newer Transit or Crafter. (Transit's probably better than a Crafter in price and base spec, but can feel a little flimsy.) The newer Renault Masters decent vans, don't have too many of them with issues. They're actually a nice van to drive, but they do have a horrendous cruise liner-esque turning circle. Wish i never sold this one: Current workhorse:

I wouldn't buy a Ducato/Boxer/Relay. Awful things, crap build quality, crap clutch pedal, crap to drive, awful design and ergonomics, flimsy, etc. Go out to loads of them at work.

Neither am i, far from it. I just don't see how anyone has issues with getting the clutch cover off it. Mine comes off and goes on as easy as any other saw. Same for my other saws with outboard clutches. (T525 and T540 also have outboard clutches with the brake handle on the powerhead and the chainbrake in the clutch cover.) Maybe your chainbrake is broken and doesn't have enough slack when released?