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At work with Gav


Gav836

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Heres the last few pictures I've taken from my now previous job, we had a few issues with the Standen destoner this spring caused by the web manufacturer not keeping their promise to supply an upgraded 1st web (it turned up when we had 10 acres out of 150 left!!) so in a protest we had a Grimme Combi Web on demo for a day......all I'll say is that I don't know why people rave about them, the blue machine does a much better job at a faster forward speed!

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A few more, same chap helped us this year as in previous years only he has now changed his 6920s for a 2008 6530.

 

A considerable drop in power but you don't need 160hp for bed forming anyway(?)

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His main income is hedge cutting so he needs the weight for balance more than the power. The 6920s was bought as it was one of his customers tractors so it had a known history, it was starting to suffer from a gearbox bearing issue so needed changing.

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Good on you Gav for moving on mate ,  years ago when i was driving tractors we just put up with all the crap  the fore man give out most weeks never ever had a good thing to say about us lads & after 7 years i just pack up & left them  took a little while but i found a far better job on a near by farm  , keep  posting :)

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There's also the matter that Grimme have been selling destoners at silly prices when they know they will lose the deal locally as well. We've often said that if the blue machine was red with a Grimme sticker on it it would be a best seller!

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  • 3 months later...

Been a while since I updated this topic, I started my new job in mid May and have now carried out the 5 week first cut and 4 week second cut of the verges in Norfolk. Its not a bad job but we do see some utterly terrible examples of driving while doing it, every sign and black and white marker post has to be strimmed round when we come to them. The marker posts can be got without strimming if you're careful as they are very flexible......you can bend them right over so the flails get everything in each direction and they pop back up!

 

This is my Machine, 2011 JD 6230 which I've now put over 600hrs on so far and a 2006 Bomford Falcon 6T

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Thanks. Those Perspex guards are a nightmare once they start to age, you struggle to see through them when the sun hits them, they are hard to see through in the wet and the glass can sometimes mist on the outside when its dull and you have the aircon on, in short, I HATE them!!

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whats the 6230 like balance wise with the falcon6t on? I sold my spearhead 590 excel to a bloke who has a 6320 and he is having trouble with it been to heavey, he has had to fit front linkage to push the weights forward. Im now driving a bomford falcon 6.5t on a case 155mxm, great balance match for tractor flail, wouldn't fancy it on a 100hp tractor. what controls are you using, were on the ics, the top spec option, its a dream to operate.

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Balance isn't too bad really Mike, doesn't seem too light on the front and the right hand wheel is water ballasted to keep it balanced in that respect. All 5 of the trimmers we have out are cable controlled still as are the 2 spare machines, they don't fully trust the reliability of Bomford's electric controls yet especially for 2000-2500hrs use a year.

 

The machines in daily use are:

 

2009 JD 6530 and Bomford B71M

2011 JD 6534 Autopower and Bomford B71M - this one also does the multi blade saw and saw blade work

2007 JD6230 and Bomford Falcon 6T - this is the spare outfit at the moment with no full time driver now verge cutting is done

2011 JD 6230 and Bomford Falcon 6T - my outfit

2013 JD 6105r and Bomford Buzzard 6.5

 

In the shed as spare machines to cannabilise are a B58T and Falcon 5.8T, both are tired but useful if one of us needs a ram etc.

 

We also have a multi-blade saw head, single blade saw head, two heavy flail heads and a cut and collect head and trailer used for nature reserve jobs. There is also a 3m Votex flail mower for topping jobs that goes on the front of the 6105r.

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They had a 6530 first that was using a litre of oil to a tank of diesel so it had to, the reason that they have the 6534 as far as I can make out is so they have the balance of a 6 cylinder without the price tag. The 6530 on the fleet has been problematic as well with turbo failures, the first one went in spectacular fashion and took the engine with it, it now has turbo number 3 fitted since 2009!

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They had a 6530 first that was using a litre of oil to a tank of diesel so it had to, the reason that they have the 6534 as far as I can make out is so they have the balance of a 6 cylinder without the price tag. The 6530 on the fleet has been problematic as well with turbo failures, the first one went in spectacular fashion and took the engine with it, it now has turbo number 3 fitted since 2009!

Ok that explains it! I thought it was just so your neighbours thought you had the money for a 6 cyl but you really didn't. Makes sense for hedge cutting etc.. I guess. Plenty of 6530 and 6630s round here but never heard of turbo failures. I see JD is remaining a firm favourite of you! ;D

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Great updates gav mate. We have a new hedge cutter this harvest. The gaffer let me choose it as I do 99% of the hedge cutting. Our 19 year old spearhead twiga 5 was making the hydraulic pump on the jd 3350 a bit slow so I wanted a totally independent machine. After looking at loads of makes, I opted for a bomford kestrel evo s. I wanted cable controls, as I like them, so why change, but I have opted for the hydraulic roller, which is excellent. The reach is 5.7 meters, which is ample for what we need, and I have to say that the bomford is proving to be a very good purchase.

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fair fleet gav, updated a lot from the article a few years back in classic tractor

were I work part time runs the following

 

tm165 with bomford 81-81 with front 2.8m offset big cut (stripe) topper

tm150 with mid mounted herder 8.5 meter reach

case mxm155 with bomford falcon 6.5t (machine I drive)

newholland t7220 and big cut 2meter offset bank mower

 

the two tm's mainly do environment agency work and the herder has a heavey duty 1.8 meter head that bashes down large hedges/bushes, the tm's have serious balace on them as they have to weight 8 tons min to go on the large drainage board jobs, you can still get the tm165 on 2 wheels side ways!!!

 

im not doing much flailing now as mainly at the john deere dealership, not been the same since selling my flailing business :

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Well my time working here is coming to an end, after some events here in the past week I've decided to move on again to somewhere that understands that when an employees partner goes into hospital for a serious operation they may need to take some holiday to be with them and not be forced to work Sundays to make up for it.......!

As of the beginning of September I'll be working for a potato grower again driving harvesters, trailers, planters and sprayers, really whatever they need me to. I've worked there before 7 years ago so already know the boss and get on well with him.

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