willedoo

Might be worth a try but they are normally fairly expensive around here. You never know your luck though.

One thing about all those European and American YouTube videos is that they are hauling pine and other timbers much lighter than our Australian hardwoods. I've got a billet cut from a brushbox that had to come down when my power line was repaired early in the year. I might put it on the scales to get a rough weight estimate of logs. Brushbox is medium weight I think. The heaviest around here is ironbark.

I think America is weird. https://www.dailycloths.com/collections/us-flag

Very true. The rich and famous would probably like to swap places with us at times. I remember reading about an interview with Amy Winehouse not long before she died, and she said she'd give it all up just to be able to walk down the street and not be recognised. Some of us lead very humble lives but kings and queens probably envy us.

Facebook marketplace often has old caravan or trailer full axles and wheels for sale at a more affordable price than buying new hubs and stub axles. The problem with FB marketplace is getting a seller to reply to your message. Most of them don't. They often sell the item then don't bother to take the ad down so they just ignore messages.

That quad bike used to belong to my dad. He rolled it on top of himself and broke his leg when he came home a bit full after playing bowls and got a bit over enthusiastic rounding his sheep up. It was repairable when I disposed of it. The front wheel drive wasn't working and the engine needed a new main bearing by the sound of the knock. By the time a main bearing goes, there's usually a total engine rebuild in order at that many hours.

Unfortunately not. I had a Honda quad bike that needed an engine repair but it went along with all the steel, axles and wheels in the the great clean-up of 2021. The only property off-road vehicle now is a 4x4 Mitsubishi Triton.

Although you've still got to back the ute up to within the towbar length of the front of the log with the articulated setup. I had a look at the winch and it's only a 500kg winch so it might not be big enough. Cost wise, it wouldn't be viable to buy a new winch.

Here's another alternative which is cheaper and maybe more practical - a lifting arch mounted directly on the back of the ute tray. I already have the winch and steel. The tray is 8' so for shorter logs I could probably get a 12' log entirely on the deck hopefully without the front wheels being too light. Nice and secure and would cost bugger all to build. For longer logs, I would only need the rear section of the contraption in the OP video. It could be hooked up, the rear of the log raised and secured, then the lifting arch used to lift the front of the log onto the back section of the ute tray. Secured the right way it would ride there and swivel much like a semi trailer turntable. It would be half the cost of the tandem setup in the OP. Also the lifting arch on the ute could be built so it's easy to take off when not needed. The ute lifting arch would also be more versatile for lifting and loading things other than logs. The road registered ute tray could also be set up the same way so the lifting arch and winch could be swapped between the road vehicle and the unregistered scrub basher. I think it's a more practical alternative. Start with the arch on the ute back and take it from there.

I hadn't read that story. I was wondering why he sacked the air force chief. Zelensky said something about having to protect their pilots, so that's likely what he was referring to.

Ukraine has lost it's first F-16 and one of their top pilots. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-30/ukraine-f-16-fighter-jet-crashes-repelling-russian-missiles-kill/104291814

I read a forecast that it's likely to be much warmer than average over the next three months of spring. It also said Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT could have far more rain than usual for this time of year. Where I live a hot spring is ok if there's rain. The worst time is a hot, dry spring and those hot, strong north westerlies in November roll in on top of three or four months of drought. That's the worst fire danger scenario here.

I remember quite a few years ago one Chinese manufacturer had a D6D copy and I think there was a copy of a Komatsu D65 as well. The Cat D6D copy looked like the real thing from a distance. I think from memory they used Cat engines. Up close you could see how rough they were. Inside the cab was hand painted with a brush. All the welds on the machine looked like they were done by hand with a stick welder and not the best welding at that. Along the side of one track frame was a plate welded in that stood out. It was cratered with rust pits and about the size of a barbeque plate. All the rest of the steel was ok. From memory I think they were about $200,000 cheaper than a Cat. There would be a huge difference in resale value if the Chinese version survived long enough to be resold. Good low hour Cats and Komatsus bring a good price whereas with the Chinese one you would have to hope it would last long enough to break even. I worked for a bloke once who used to turn his Komatsus over at 5,000 hours. He'd calculated he made more money that way with a high trade-in for a low hour machine and not having big outlays at that stage of the machine's life. He's now retired and has not bought an EV (in case you thought this was thread drift).

I don't know if there will ever be an option three. We're all having the same discussion that people were having twenty years ago and will probably still be having in another twenty years time.

The 1980's - one thing you notice, there's not a crowd full of phones being held in the air.

It's an unusual time of year for a heatwave. 35 degrees forcast for the last day of winter. The hottest winter day ever recorded in Australia was this week in the Kimberleys on August 27.

Here's Bonnie and John Lee Hooker. One of the first blues records I ever bought was a John Lee Hooker record. I came across a small second-hand record shop with a few different genres of music but the owner had a fairly decent blues section, about a half a cubic metre of them. Depending on artist and condition, they varied in price from seventy five cents to one dollar fifty. I bought a mix of them including Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Leadbelly, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James and Lightnin' Hopkins. Some were original recordings and if I'd had a crystal ball and seen how rare some of those would become, I would have bought the lot.

Just pure coincidence but there's an Australian singer/songwriter based in the U.S. with the same surname called Eddie Benjamin who has a very similar squeaky little girl voice.

I wonder where that nickname came from. I've heard it quite a bit over the years so it must be fairly widespread. Funnily enough, I've never heard Professor Roly Sussex mention it on the radio.

Also, I can see the way the sections work, either singularly or together, they would be handy for a few other jobs as well. I've been trying to figure out ways of lifting rocks without getting another hernia and this might have potential. The way the front section lifts reminds me of a cam action.

That's the next project - to see if I can get the old IH TD8 going. I don't know if it will ever be a goer again but it's worth looking at. I just have to sort the investigation into a logical sequence so I know where I stand with it before spending too much money on it.

It will be all uphill going. I'll just keep my fingers crossed it doesn't disconnect and end up in the neighbours place.

That blood is thick. No aspirin there by the look of it. Thick blood for a thick head.

I had a look this afternoon and I should be able to scrape up the steel for it. The main thing I have to chase up is wheels, axles and hubs. I've got a pintle hitch hook I'll be taking off a Landcruiser wreck before I sell it, but I don't have the towing ring part of it.

I guess there would be a bit of trial and error there. It's easy to have visions of a mousetrap-like closing action catching fingers. Some have extendable levers with a smaller diameter pipe or box section inside another with drilled holes and a locking pin for adjustment. I'd say that would be for carting longer or shorter logs. I'd like to try something like a rope lanyard on the end of the lever to keep out of the way.