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What series are there in our shed? Go to Carmarthen County to visit contractor Peter Morris and Sons.
Peter: After working for other contractors for many years, I decided to set up my own in 1999. I bought a second-hand International 844 and Bomford 48 hedge trimmer. It was a great simple combination to get me to work.
I gradually upgraded the machine and dabbled in fencing, excavator work and wood chipping.
Since Dafydd joined the company, we have added another hedge trimmer and three more tractors. My youngest son Owain also started to get more involved, and my wife Heulwen was in charge of all the paperwork.
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The first Same tractor came out in 2003, a Silver 100.6, and we have been using them ever since. They are simple, reliable machines, easy to drive, cheap to run, and good pull.
The three tractors we currently own are all from the early to mid-2000s. One is Same Silver 130, the other is Hurlimann XT-130, but they are the same except for the badge and paint color.
The same tractor is also labeled Lamborghini Premium 1300, and we are happy to own one of them.
In terms of hedge trimmers, after our last bad experience at Bomford, we decided to run the McConnel machine.
We use many different distributors locally, and they are all very good. JE Rees & Sons, AR Harries, Riverlea and J Davies & Son are where we purchase most of the machinery and parts, but we also use some smaller companies to produce all kinds of odds and ends.
A guy named Mike Sharp is in charge of our air conditioning work. We use independent mechanic Cliff Jenkins to help with repairs. We get bolts, oil, etc. from David Harris and DO Hughes.
Takeuchi excavator. We have a 6-ton TB260 that has been in use for three years and a brand new 9-ton TB290.
Both are very suitable for driving, and their cab is large and comfortable, which is different from the narrow Portaloos in most races.
We are not the youngest lads, so we need a little space to walk around and store our gear.
Wragg tracking door knocker © James Andrews
Our Wragg self-propelled rear door knocker is also a top machine. It has a door knocker weighing 300 kg and is mounted on a Yanmar crawler dump truck and can go almost anywhere.
We tend to use our main Bryce Suma door knocker to place the doorpost and filter, and then it will take over the middleware. It makes it a person’s job and frees us up to do other tasks.
Services provided for hedges, fences, excavator work and wood chipping
Peter, Dafydd and Owain part-time employees, Heulwen is in charge of the paperwork
We don’t have any machines that we don’t like, but we used to have a Bomford 48 electric hedge trimmer, which was a pile of rubbish. From pumps and gearboxes to electronic controls, everything went wrong.
Unfortunately it was too bad, because our previous standard 48 was a sturdy kit.
We also had Quickfencer for a while, but never started using it. Most farmers here still use low-carbon steel mesh, which will stretch the wires in the middle unless a wooden spacer is inserted in the clamp.
In addition, the wire must be cut every time an obstacle needs to be bypassed, which is painful. It was quickly transferred, and we started using our self-made expander and separate tensioner again.
The latest is the wood chipper driven by the Greenmech 220 pto. We bought it because we often had to hire one to clean up the things behind the tree shears we installed on the excavator.
Obviously, it needs wood up to 9 inches in diameter, but we only pass through it 6 inches, and it is easy to handle. Anything bigger than this will be chopped off to make firewood.
The 9t Takeuchi excavator is also new this year. We bought a McConnel PA6565T pruning machine last year. This is an upgraded version of the PA55 we used before, and the extra 1m expansion range makes a huge difference.
We also equip it with Orbiter heads, so we can cut close to the tractor, and a hydraulic roller, which is very convenient for running along the edges and along the fence.
The only downside is that the Evolution controller is not as proportional as our V4 on the PA55. Therefore, we have added taps in some lines to slow down certain functions.
We have a 2003 McConnel PA6500T hedge trimmer, which is still very strong. It has completed thousands of hours of work, and a large number of parts have been replaced over the years, but the host is bulletproof.
It even spent a lot of time on the rotary trencher, which is a difficult job.
We do not plan to replace it soon, if the gearbox or pump is broken, we will only replace them. I think the only thing that can be done is whether the electronic control device is packaged and it is not economical to repair it.
It has complex V4 settings with proportional control and a separate frame with a screen for setting some functions.
Most things stay with us until it is broken, repairs are too expensive, or we want to change something. We used to buy weird new tractors, but now they are too expensive and too complicated for us to consider.
Our plan is to continue the current three as much as possible and snap up any other good examples for sale. But this is getting harder and harder.
Dafydd: I want a dump truck with a cab because I have been wet by the open truck.
Peter: I usually keep it dry in new excavators, so this is not my top priority. I bought him a new set of oilcloth, so I don't know what he is complaining about.
Thankfully, it’s no big deal, but we all use our forklifts mounted on the front linkage of the tractor to move the pillars.
Peter drove it over with the hydraulic hose still connected, and Duffy had knocked it down several times when trying to pick it up with the A frame.
The crank of our 2007 Hurlimann XT-130 broke after 4,000 hours of use, which is far beyond the warranty. Thankfully, Hurlimann helped pay for the parts, but we still have £4,000 in labor costs to pay.
Since then it has been as good as gold and better than the other two, so we can forgive it.
The problem may be caused by a weak oil pump. When we ran the hedge cutter on 1000 pto, we had a problem.
The low speed seems to put the pump under pressure, and over time, the pressure will start to drop. Since we have been running on the 540e setting, we don’t have to change the setting.
Peter: I made a simple wire tensioner that uses eight monkey filters mounted on a rod to clamp each wire individually.
There is a chain attached to the other side of the rod, we hung it on the excavator and then pulled it back to tighten it.
There is also a ring that can be hung on the winch, we sometimes use it instead. It does a good job of pulling the wires evenly, and it is neat to carry around.
Monkey filters are expensive and new, so I searched around the local farm sales office until I had enough second-hand filters.
We also have a separate self-made wire spreader, which is installed on the excavator. It is equipped with a roll of net, when we encounter obstacles, we can easily put it down.
Then we moved the ball around the obstacle with our hands and picked it up again to continue running.
One of the biggest time savings for us is to abandon the hammer and upgrade to a battery-powered staple gun.
We have a KMR and a Senco, they both work well and use the same battery pack.
We also use cordless Dewalt circular saws and impact wrenches to cut and tighten the rails instead of hand saws and nails.
These days we only sell in the second-hand tractor market, but we still tend to buy new excavators and tools because the ones that are used are usually rough.
Dafydd: I like all the work we do, except driving dump trucks in the rain.
Peter: Hedges and excavator driving are my favorites. I hate smashing pillars into old wires.
The 2007 Hurlimann XT-130 was the best, although its early cranks were broken (see the most expensive repairs).
Now it has been running for 16,000 hours, and considering the work it does, we spend very little. Officially, the power output is 130 horsepower, but we have installed it on a dynamometer and it reads about 140 horsepower.
It is the best of the three tractors we have, and it can pull the John Deere 6930 in the field with a silage trailer.
The only disadvantage is that the small hydraulic pump slows the dumping speed of the trailer, and the gearbox has a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour. The cab is also a bit small, so there is no room for passengers.
Except for the crank, the only maintenance is the brakes. We replaced the brake pads at 8,000 hours because of the brake pads and the clutch assembly in the transmission.
These were replaced after 10,000 hours because the tractor stopped switching to the highest of the three power shift steps-the cost was approximately £2,000.
We also re-calibrate the transmission several times a year, which is great for the dealer’s quick work on the laptop.
You can judge when you need to do it because the changes are starting to become tense and the tractor trembles when accelerating.
We have not encountered a bad situation. All of our tractors are simple models with relatively minor failures and are very cost-effective to repair. The locals are crazy about some of the more dazzling tractor bills, so we are happy to stick to what we have.
Herriman in 2007. We bought it from AR Harris, a sub-distributor of David Tunstall in Yorkshire, and it sold for only £32,500.
I hope I can buy three or four, because they are difficult to buy second-hand goods.
Peter: I have a 2012 Toyota Hilux dual-cab pickup with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine and a manual transmission. This is a good truck, but I don't like it like the 2006 Mazda BT50 I used to own.
Mazda can pull out of my drive when loading a trailer at a high range, but I need to use Hilux to lower it down. Even if they are all equipped with the same wheels and tires, the off-road performance is better.
Dafydd: Mine is a 2015 Peugeot partner truck with a 1.6-liter diesel engine and a five-speed gearbox. This is a good run, with more space than the 1.3-liter Corsa van I had previously.
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