dave21478 Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 "Yah, so, Dave, could you have a look at that old digger at the bottom of the valley and see about getting rid of it?" "err...ok?" This thing has been sitting for decades. At a conservative estimate, I would say it weighs 5 tons or so. How the actual fuck am I supposed to move it? Access is via a narrow track so no chance of getting a heavy truck near it. I would guess when it was brought in it was dropped off at the roadside and driven down the track. Obviously its not driving anywhere in a hurry now. Must have been an absolute pleasure* to operate for hours each day... 3 cylinder diesel thumping away right behind your head, spinning death inches to your left ready to suck your arm in and rip it off, plus the chance of a cable snapping and whiplashing through the cabin, cutting you in half.The assorted control levers seemed to operate a system of open clutches and ratchets that operated various drums and gears from the constantly turning engine output shaft. Probably have to cut it up on site. Thats going to cost a fair bit in oxy acetylene gas and will still be a mammoth task.The cast iron counterweight looks like it will be fun to handle..... Squire_Dawson, DVee8, Alexg and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercrocker Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Better see if any of the Sundew crew are still around.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarvinsMom Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 how did they move the one on the episode of salvage squad on channel 4? i seem to remember they used something big an heavy to drag it about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooSavvy Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Nah... the 'Foden Steam Boyzz'/ Arkwright Steam Powered Waterwheel Actiongroup.org.uk type bods would be on it like a tramp on chips.... Plan B would be to pin a photo & Google coords on the gate post of yrr local 'Council funded travellers pitch' WCPGW TS brickwall and Bamboocarman 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavcraft Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 That is absolutely ace. Put it in your front garden as an ornament, I would. UltraWomble, Bamboocarman, Louise2cv and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigmund Fraud Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I say get it running well enough to drive up that narrow track and onto a trailer. Cutting it up and moving those super-heavy bits will take far longer, and will probably give you a hernia (or two !). Also, posting a video of it running on here should be enough for you to WIN* AUTOSHITE ! (* at least until Junkman resurrects that Lanz Bulldog that's been dormant in his cellar since the autumn of 1952) alf892, michael1703, Squire_Dawson and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scruff Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 That's only a baby one. I would say you deffo need to get it running if only to drop the boom down for disassembly/scrapping.If you can get a tractor and a flat trailer, lower the boom onto that then disconnect it. If it came to it a big 4WD tractor would drag the thing down the track and onto a wagon. What engine is it - Dorman or a Ruston I would guess? Both flavours have a value if it is doomed, both are proper old school so you've a good chance of them cranking up unless it is full of water in the wrong place or something of course. alf892 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkman Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 There is nothing a Lanz Bulldog can't pull. davidfowler2000 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike60 Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 As a mobile plant fitter for the last shitload of years I would think you'll be cutting it up where it lays. You can tow/push tracked vehicles if you can disconnect the drive but nothing on that is going to move. How far off the road is it? Can you get a small wagon down to it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckythirteen Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Got access to a modern super tractor? Thinking big Fendt or the likes. If the thing freewheels at least, a big chain and lots of welly in low range should drag it out. Sure that could be saved. Then, if someone does want it, it's their problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Split_Pin Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I reckon with some help that would start right up. Obvs have a dense ball if rags handy to stuff up the intake should it try to run away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooSavvy Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I reckon with some help that would start right up. Obvs have a dense ball if rags handy to stuff up the intake should it try to run away. Ha! 'run - away' + 'Engage Drive' will probably solve a number of problems here..... TS davidfowler2000, Skoze, dave21478 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldofceri Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Why move it at all? I reckon it looks quite picture-skew where it is. laser wheels and Richard 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bren Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Any travellers nearby? Watch them shift it with a P reg transit. stephen01, Timewaster, mercrocker and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave21478 Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 It cant be started - I cant find the keys. But more seriously, I had a brief twiddle and everything is seized, including the throttle lever, primer pump etc on the injection pump. Even if by some miracle it would run, all the shafts, clutches and controls are seized. The owner doesnt want pikeys sniffing about the area so its probably going to come down to me. If I cut the drive chains it might freewheel, but even that is doubtful. I think it will end up being done with a gas axe and a lot of time. Personally I would leave it. Its returning to nature with a tree growing through the boom and its not an offensive colour or anything, but its not my decision. scruff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise2cv Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 <helpful* comment> It looks mega cool. </helpful* comment> YouTube. Got vids. Google. Got a Ruston bucyrus museum exhibit page. C U L8R evening telly. chaseracer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
320touring Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Borrow my 1.9d polo and tow it ooot davidfowler2000 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sierraman Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 A Rover 211 with Ling longs on wet grass, some of that shit blue rope from Poundland... If you want to make life difficult though I'd say something like advertising it on Ebay as 'barn find' then waiting for hours until someone turns up with a Micra or something to pull it the 180 mile return leg back home. Then will announce he'd like to pay with a Paypal e-cheque. After he's messed about for an hour or two after he's really bollocksed it up he'll announce in no uncertain terms that you've messed him about and he was under the impression a weekends work would have it digging the Chesterfield Canal. Alexg, Bren, stephen01 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cros Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Wrong seat, should be a Lycett I think. That one looks like it came from a B450 IH. I'll take the whole lot off your hands if you're devastated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panhard65 Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Not helpful but many years ago a couple of mates of mine were house sitting a repossesion estate. The previous owner had done a runner with massive debts. Anyway they had a Caterpillar D8 sat on the driveway the pikeys managed to nick it and no one noticed until a couple of weeks later. It is amazing what a proper pikey can have it away with. warren t claim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouseflakes Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Leave it a while and see if it grows up. Sigmund Fraud, laser wheels, HMC and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf892 Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Paint it in camouflage paint and leave it there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cort16 Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 mercrocker, DSdriver and catsinthewelder 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STUNO Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 There are actual mobs of people who run clubs for this stuff, see Louise's comment. They get stuff like this out of all sorts of impossible places. I don't of course know of any where you are. Try to find and contact one and see if they are interested. 500tops and Squire_Dawson 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sierraman Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 As far as shifting it goes, I'd ditch the oxy acetylene. What I'd do is drink really heavily the night before, then get up in the morning with an assortment of those shit Hacksaws they sell in Wilkinsons. Spend 3-4 hours wasting time and inevitably cash breaking blades and getting cramp in your shoulder trying to saw through it. Then after a heavy lunch, jury rig some sort of winch from nearby trees so you can get underneath to start undoing the chassis from the tracks. After what will seem like an eternity, the ambulance may or may not arrive. vulgalour 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise2cv Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 OMG What if they show up with one of their other old machines to drag it out?! Defo film it. Alexg, 500tops, AlabamaShrimp and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat_the_cat Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 It's of no help to you,but I've managed to shift one in similar looking condition. The engine had well and truly seized, so unbolted the hydraulic pump and powered it from a big electric drill running from a generator. Complicated by the fact the valve for the cab rotation had stuck open, so the whole thing was turning as it was (very slowly!) moving forwards. Moved it a few hundred yards onto a beavertail truck, but it was painfully slow going. mouseflakes, KruJoe, UltraWomble and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardMoss Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Advertise it on a "Classic Diggers" forum and get someone else to do it for you (for free!) michael1703 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vin Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 In the 1950s, after my Grandad left his job as a fireman (the footplate kind) at Lincoln Loco shed, he got a job at the Ruston Bucyrus factory in the city. He was a crane loader and slinger. Absolutely no help to you in moving it, but just my bit of RB history.... HMC and KruJoe 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen01 Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 List the bugger on ebay, then it's not your problem.. KruJoe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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