Lets See Your Plant Please - no not your Geraniums

[Six-cylinder]

We have a small holding which has given me the chance to indulge my interest in all things mechanical and my ultimate toy, which I could have rented as I needed one but choose to buy it instead is a 1978 JCB 3C MkIII. We have had it over 7 years now and in spite of its appearance it is in good working order, even if very worn in every way and a day working it costs several litres of engine oil!

 

I would like to see your plant and any machinery that has an engine including any stationary engines that we have as a group?

 

[KruJoe]

Does a tractor count?

We don't have a farm any more, but it's still useful about the small-holding. Especially with tricky shite-based activities:

 

 

For example, extracting dormant Ladas from field hedges,

 

 

Shifting stuck A-frame rigs,

 

 

Lifting engines in and out,

 

 

Oh yeah, also GR8 for splitting logs.

 

[Six-cylinder]

I started this thread not to pollute the "Tractor Thread" with other stuff and was thinking of things like our dumpers and horticultural truck but any other engine driven machinery such as stationary engines, vintage mowers, rollers, dumpers, diggers and bulldozers or any thing that does not fit into the Lorry, coach or tractor threads. 

 

Great to see your tractor anyway.

 

This is our 4X4 dumper and again in good working order.

[KruJoe]

Ha ha, nice steering wheel!

[Six-cylinder]

I also have one with a roundish steering wheel!

 

[drum]

Very jealous.

I have recently purchased a couple of acres that I'm building a house on and will be buying plant. I would like a jcb to help with the ground work and sell on afterwards. I fancy a small tractor too like one of these

[KruJoe]

Drum, if at all possible, try to buy something with either a front loader (like ours) or a back actor (like 6-cyl's JCB). Even if it's something smaller.

A stand-alone tractor is fine for hauling stuff about the place, but don't under-estimate the usefulness of something with lifting/carrying ability. We'd be lost without ours.

[Six-cylinder]

Our last bit of equipment is "Tiddly Truck".

 

[drum]

Drum, if at all possible, try to buy something with either a front loader (like ours) or a back actor (like 6-cyl's JCB). Even if it's something smaller.A stand-alone tractor is fine for hauling stuff about the place, but don't under-estimate the usefulness of something with lifting/carrying ability. We'd be lost without ours.

Yep, that's the plan.

 

I've seen jcb type machines from about £2k upwards but would imagine the cheap ones are troublesome.

[Inspector Morose]

Nah, you're all doing it wrong. The thing you need is an industrial 2ft gauge railway. My mate has one around his farm and his mate has not long ahead a vertical boilered steam loco built for his!

 

Google tumblydown farm.

[Uncle Jimmy]

We have a small holding

[Six-cylinder]

 

We have a small holding

 

 

I like the idea of thousands of acres but all we have is eleven, orchard, fruit beds, 40 grape vines, nut garden and a few willow fuel trees. Then a 10 acre pasture we let out for grazing animals.  

[Six-cylinder]

Nah, you're all doing it wrong. The thing you need is an industrial 2ft gauge railway. My mate has one around his farm and his mate has not long ahead a vertical boilered steam loco built for his!

 

Google tumblydown farm.

 

Oh yes but Mrs cylinder is thinking standard gauge and a canal!

[Six-cylinder]

Yep, that's the plan.

 

I've seen jcb type machines from about £2k upwards but would imagine the cheap ones are troublesome.

 

Ours was £1750 lots of wear in all the joints mean being accurate can be difficult, brakes don't work at all but our ground is level, the engine leaks and burns lots of oil but I don't use it enough to worry about sorting it. Breakdowns, two in seven years a hydraulic hose burst for the front bucket, BANG a rainbow of oil went high into the air, sprayed me in the cab and the bucket went down. The other was mice nibbled the rubber injection return pipes and feed pipe, I has to bleed the injectors to get it to run after I had replaced the pipes.

 

This is the day I had it delivered, very exciting and only thing I had driven to this time is a mini digger!

[cros]

We have a small holding which has given me the chance to indulge my interest in all things mechanical and my ultimate toy, which I could have rented as I needed one but choose to buy it instead is a 1978 JCB 3C MkIII. We have had it over 7 years now and in spite of its appearance it is in good working order, even if very worn in every way and a day working it costs several litres of engine oil!

 

I would like to see your plant and any machinery that has an engine including any stationary engines that we have as a group?

 

Like the 3c 6cyl, was wondering what transmission it has? I had a new one (DRY 364T) which I drove for 3 years for a tipper company. It was (I think) quite rare even back then as it had a 9f. 3r. synchro box, a surprising choice as there was lots of loading, 900 gearchanges a day on that job. No problems all the time I had it, not even a new clutch.

  Years before that I drove a Drott B100. Hand clutch, and the interesting elbow operated clam lever. I'll try to find some pics of the sort of stuff around then, my firm still had 2 Fiat bulldozers with steering wheels! Nicest was a Fowler Challenger, D7 sized but again with hand clutch and mighty gearbox. There's a clue in the name.

[Six-cylinder]

Like the 3c 6cyl, was wondering what transmission it has? I had a new one (DRY 364T) which I drove for 3 years for a tipper company. It was (I think) quite rare even back then as it had a 9f. 3r. synchro box, a surprising choice as there was lots of loading, 900 gearchanges a day on that job. No problems all the time I had it, not even a new clutch.

  Years before that I drove a Drott B100. Hand clutch, and the interesting elbow operated clam lever. I'll try to find some pics of the sort of stuff around then, my firm still had 2 Fiat bulldozers with steering wheels! Nicest was a Fowler Challenger, D7 sized but again with hand clutch and mighty gearbox. There's a clue in the name.

 

My brother in law, a farm contractor said I should buy one with a torque converter but one did not come up so mine is a 4 speed manual gearbox with a clutch and Hi/Low. I don't think it has synchro? I would love a Drott as a toy but don't have a use for it, please show us the photos.

[dave21478]

Foosty old farm/plant chod? I can contribute to that.......

 

 

We used to rock this 5tonner....

Which I ended up retro-fitting with a 1.5td from a crashed Corsa. It got sold on as it was just too big.

 

We currently have this thing, a "spider" mini digger which has 4 legs instead of treads. (currently missing its front feet in the pics) The legs can move up and down hydraulically and side to side manually so it can work on very steep or uneven ground. The rear wheels are not driven so to move it about you need to use the arm to lift the front and drag it a few feet, set it down, extend the arm and lift and drag again. As such it takes fooking ages to move it any distance.

 

Its powered by a wee Italian two cylinder air-cooled diesel lump. I fully rebuilt this last year, new rings etc etc so its running really well for now.

 

 

This little Yanmar micro tractor was bought in inverness and was apparently originally used with a salt hopper on the back for de-icing pavements in winter by the council. It was as rusty as you would imagine. It got stripped and cleaned up and repainted, but its currenly a non-runner as it pisses hydraulic oil out of the rear wheel shaft seals. The shafts are badly pitted so not sure what to do there.....Its a massive job to get them out to have them refinished. I might try it ghetto style with some chemical metal to fill the pitting. Its also missing the driveshaft to the front axle, so 2wd only. Proving impossible to find a replacement, so I reckon I will have to make something.

 

 

The "big" tractor is a `70s Fiat Someca. Runs well but looks like shit. All the windows have been burst out over the years by flying stones except those on the doors. The roof is a tarp that has recently ripped, so not much weather protection. Its sporting a home-made set of brackets to mount a front loader which we recovered from a scrapped mini bulldozer. Its a bit undersized for the tractor, but works well enough for humpfing bales about and the odd engine removal.

 

 

There are various bits of machinery to go with it....

None of which really gets much use anymore. Most of the land was sold off a few years back, leaving just a few parks around the house and one big one for the animals, which is too steep to be worked. There is enough for us to make hay bales to keep the horses happy over winter, which is all thats really needed.

[tooSavvy]

Pitted seal faces... can you not wang those 'saver' top-hat looking thinggies?? Puts 2tho of spring steel over the flat/seal face.

 

TS

[dave21478]

I have seen them, but the problem is that i believe they have to be a pretty tight fit to the worn face, but to slide them on would mean sliding over the hexagonal, lumpy, rusty mess where the wheel locates. I dont know if that would work.

 

http://www.skf.com/binary/26-128020/11337_2-EN-SKF-Speedi-Sleeve.pdf

[dave21478]

Forgot to add the slightly* over-engineered diesel log splitter I built a few years back. Its a fooking monster - could probably split engine blocks with it....

 

 

[scruff]

I don't have any old plant yad any more but have had a variety pass through my grubby mits.

 

Lister D spit bangs. The cricket-pavilion-green one was my first "restoration" aged 10. The original one next to it came next and has still not been touched 21 years later. 

 

 

The red oxide JAP engine belonged to my second project... guess I was about 13

 

 

Its a "Trusty" roller, pretty rare thing. It had worked for AJ Dean a Brighton building contractor who my family had strong ties with. It was donated to a museum who left it to rot and then sent it for scrap!! Luckily it didn't make it that far. 

 

 

The Trusty was done up into a green livery and sold to a man in essex who was establishing a kind of "motor roller museum", I've no idea where it is now but wouldn't mind it back to do a proper job on it. 

 

Then my grandad bought me this

 

 

It's an Aveling Barford GB type 5 ton roller with a Petter two pot diesel. Had been languishing in a yard at Broadbridge Heath until grandad spotted them on his travels. There were two - grandad still has his which is Ruston powered and a beauty. I had loads of plans for it but by then I was 16 and had discovered girls... I'd also started agricultural college and decided a tractor would be an ace purchase so I sold the roller and bought this

 

 

More recently came the "Pink Panther", an Aveling GF with Petter narrowboat engine which was in the yard of a farm a mate was asked to clear out. We got it running and I stuck it in cheffins auction where I obtained a modest profit and a nice bacon roll.

 

 

My dumper bargain which paid for a bumper Xmas a couple of years back....

 

 

 

This Cat dozer lives with us and is 4 SAIL if anyone fancies it

 

 

Then there's steam... traction engines are my life and soul and always have been, I don't yet have my own but I am very very fortunate to be able to play with several.

 

Nah, you're all doing it wrong. The thing you need is an industrial 2ft gauge railway. My mate has one around his farm and his mate has not long ahead a vertical boilered steam loco built for his!

Google tumblydown farm.

 

Trains are alright but you can't drive them to the pub. Or do this...

 

[Inspector Morose]

I don't have any old plant yad any more but have had a variety pass through my grubby mits.

 

Lister D spit bangs. The cricket-pavilion-green one was my first "restoration" aged 10. The original one next to it came next and has still not been touched 21 years later. 

 

IMG_2193.JPG

 

The red oxide JAP engine belonged to my second project... guess I was about 13

 

IMG_2192.JPG

 

Its a "Trusty" roller, pretty rare thing. It had worked for AJ Dean a Brighton building contractor who my family had strong ties with. It was donated to a museum who left it to rot and then sent it for scrap!! Luckily it didn't make it that far. 

 

IMG_2194.JPG

 

The Trusty was done up into a green livery and sold to a man in essex who was establishing a kind of "motor roller museum", I've no idea where it is now but wouldn't mind it back to do a proper job on it. 

 

Then my grandad bought me this

 

IMG_2195.JPG

 

It's an Aveling Barford GB type 5 ton roller with a Petter two pot diesel. Had been languishing in a yard at Broadbridge Heath until grandad spotted them on his travels. There were two - grandad still has his which is Ruston powered and a beauty. I had loads of plans for it but by then I was 16 and had discovered girls... I'd also started agricultural college and decided a tractor would be an ace purchase so I sold the roller and bought this

 

IMG_2196.JPG

 

More recently came the "Pink Panther", an Aveling GF with Petter narrowboat engine which was in the yard of a farm a mate was asked to clear out. We got it running and I stuck it in cheffins auction where I obtained a modest profit and a nice bacon roll.

 

pink roller.jpg

 

My dumper bargain which paid for a bumper Xmas a couple of years back....

 

1456102_10152389029957796_1402840859_n.jpg 

 

This Cat dozer lives with us and is 4 SAIL if anyone fancies it

 

32502_459345927795_8018821_n.jpg

 

Then there's steam... traction engines are my life and soul and always have been, I don't yet have my own but I am very very fortunate to be able to play with several.

 

 

 

Trains are alright but you can't drive them to the pub. Or do this...

 

 

Barsterd.

[Six-cylinder]

 

 

This Cat dozer lives with us and is 4 SAIL if anyone fancies it

 

 

 

I would love a Dozer but I guess it needs more that a small donation to the Cats Protection League! 

 

[ruffgeezer]

 

Then there's steam... traction engines are my life and soul and always have been, I don't yet have my own but I am very very fortunate to be able to play with several.

 

 

Trains are alright but you can't drive them to the pub. Or do this...

 

 

Are you by any chance involved in the work on "Bob" at Church farm museum in Skegness? I'm sure they mentioned a chap from your neck of the woods was helping them at one point?

 

At the moment they have all my whitworth stuff to aid with his recommissioning, and I've recently sold a few rare tools to donate a few quid to getting their tractors running again.

[KruJoe]

 

Those hydraulic log splitters a couple of you have, seem rather unwieldy and over-complicated to me.

 

This is the best image of our one I have. It's small (one man can lift it), but ever so powerful. As powerful as your tractor really. It's older than our tractor, and never needs any maintenance. Oh, there's a grease nipple which might get a squirt once a year.

 

 

It's simply a horizontal steel table, about two foot square, mounted on the three point hitches, with a conical screw driven directly from the PTO shaft.

 

It'll happily take slices of tree trunk as big as you, or two or three men, can lift onto it. Touch them on the screw, it pulls them in and breaks apart. You can keep splitting until you have stove-friendly-sized lumps, as wor kid is doing in the pic.

 

I've never seen another like it, but everyone should have one!

[dave21478]

I have one of those too, but its powered by a massive three-phase motor rather than a PTO....

 

....which is fine at the farm and as you say it works very well, but none of my clients have 3-phase and I am often working in the middle of a forest where even 240v is in short supply. I thought about fitting an engine to it, but decided against it. The problem with this one is when I have a section of trunk thats 4 feet in diameter, its impossible to lift that onto its table but with the hydraulic thing I built, it works at ground level.

Also, keeping this one electric means its nice and quiet when doing a load of wood for the farm.

[KruJoe]

Cool!

The conical bit looks just like ours, the rest looks home-made. And French

Your checker-plate is curious. I'd have thought "the smoother the better" to help it suck the logs in.

 

Is that a racing mower I spy in the background?

[dave21478]

I bought it off some old dude who made it decades ago. The original top was rusted right through as he had left it outside once he was no longer capable of using it. I just banged that thick bit of checkerplate on the top without much thought to it.....never even considered what way up it should go but it doesnt seem to bother the machine, it works really, really well like you say.

 

I have seen youtube vids of these cone sections fitted to an old steel wheel rim.....jack up one side of the car, put the wheel/cone on and leave it chugging away in second gear.....looks like an ideal way to get badly hurt.

With mine, if it ever jams up, the drive belts slip but the motor is reversible on that switch on the frame, so you can flick it into reverse to unscrew it. This occasionally flips the bit of wood over and has sometimes flung the odd chunk across the yard!

 

 

 

 

That mower got sacrificed to fix up another one.....the chassis ended up in the scrap pile and taken by the pikies in their yearly visit to clean up the yard.

I swear these things are breeding behind my back!

[gdhaydock]

I feel a bit inadequate now because of my lack of plant, but do have this which is used for cutting the front field and moving general rubbish around the manor.

 

 

 

My log splitter is a Machine Mart special, which since we converted it to "single hand operation" is surprising effective

 

 

Also have a trailer and a disco for acquiring wood in the first place

 

[KruJoe]

Helloo Ferreter... I see ya!