Denzil with Cordwood saw

click the pic     

Hello you lot, it's me Jeff again.
I went on a nice little call out today,Monday, to have a look at a little gray that was refusing to start.
So off I went with a box with new plugs, points, condenser, rota arm, spanners and stuff and things.
When I got there it was ! Brasssssss monkeys came to mind it was SO COLD, so I wanted to
get a move on. Out with the spark plugs-they were all a bit dirty and coked.

Start at the end and work backwards. No spark at the plugs, on
all 4 plugs not a thing. So out with the spark tester. Still nothing, so I took off the distributor cap and 
checked the little spring loaded carbon contact to see if it had stuck, but it hadn't.
I looked at the rota arm- there was a nice little witness mark where the carbon makes contact.
The arm itself was a bit corroded but it cleaned up nicely. I opened up the points-they were
pitted and dirty so I removed them.

As you can see they are a bit past it, so I fitted new points, condenser and  plugs,
reset the points gap and checked the plug gaps before I fitted them. Sometimes they can get
a knock along the way. Now to sort out the fuel leak. As you can see it's been there for a while...


The old cork had seen better days...



The new one...

With no more ado, I jumped on the tractor, turned the key and fired it up. I ran it for a few minutes
then I switched it off, took out the spark plugs and compression tested the engine.


Then back in with the plugs and fired it up again. Oil pressure cold was about
55


and only 25 when warm


More on this tractor (name as yet unknown) later this week when it comes into the workshop for a full mechanical service....

Check out Denzil 2 very sweet tick over

  click the picture  

Its been one of those busy weeks with loads of small jobs being done while we wait for Dreamer's block to come back.

Jeff has made two facsimile Ferguson folding front lights for a customer.

We took the brake drums off Dreamer. As usual the drum screws were rusted in and did not respond to any of the usual treatments so Jeff drilled through the heads with a drill bit smaller than the screw and got them out easily!

We had not expected to need to do more than clean oil off the shoes (the owner having reported that the brakes were not very efficient) but it can be seen in the photo below that the shoes are worn down to the rivets.

 

We were able to find some shoes from our used spares department which had  linings with plenty of wear to go and these will be fitted with Dreamer's old shoes coming in as exchange units which will be re-lined and go out to some deserving tractor at a later date. 

Jeff has fitted new seals, bearings and shrink on collars to the half shafts

and also has replaced the (very) worn axle fulcrum pin and bush and the whole front assembly is now positive instead of wobbly.

Herbert is becoming denuded. The battery box, although very rusted, is solid under the rust.

I thoroughly approve of Jeff's alternative method of removing rusted on steering wheels. Instead of applying hammer force he merely pulled it off in a controlled manner using the three-arm puller!

I managed to salvage both of the original bonnet catches. It was a bit touch and go whether the rust would win by holding the parts on so tightly that a fracture occurred somewhere but I am pleased to say this did not happen.

Last Friday afternoon ended with Myhren driving DeeJay into the workshop for the night...

On Saturday my newest grandson, Axel, 15 months, came for the day

and this weekend started with my two oldest grandsons, enjoying their first drive on a tracor, by courtesy of Jeff's quick tractor driving tuition session.

Finn is taking it very seriously and drove very well...

while Eden looks as if he thinks its rather fun and despite his preliminary remark to me, 'I suppose I should try not to bump into any of the other vehicles' achieved a creditable result as well!

Have a good weekend ! I'm looking forward to a hectic one- getting one or perhaps two more panes of glass on my conservatory, collecting eldest daughter and two grandsons from the station at 5pm and settling into a clifftop guesthouse ('Happy to put you up- if we are still there, of course!') Yes- it is that serious. Enjoying a special music session at the Hill House pub in Happisburgh at 8'o'clock which will probably go on until quite late, driving assorted family to a family breakfast party (11 of us) in Norwich at 11.30 on Sunday morning and delivering daughter and grandsons to the station at 2pm! Then tractors to look forward to on Monday. What a super life!

 

I told Jeff I'd do the next blog because he'd done two in a row and I come in on a Saturday morning between 10 and 12 for the people who can't get in for spares during the week and thought I would do it when it was quiet. However, seven email enquiries have taken up most of the morning-Saturdays used to be quiet! (but I'm not complaining).

To continue from where Jeff left off. He had a struggle taking the hyrdaulic pump apart because of bent components INSIDE the hydraulic pump housing (caused by the action of the bent PTO shaft etc). He took parts off another one and made other parts and it is back in again. He also needed to put a new bearing on the PTO shaft itself but of course a bent PTO shaft is no good so it was a quick look in our (now organised) used spares department and a suitable one was found which he took bits off and put bits on (I'm hoping he will be more explanatory about that - I was cleaning mud and oil of Dreamers brake back plates then working on Herbert so I wasn't following exactly what was happening in the engineering bay.)

I promised myself that I'd leave bang on midday to get on with my conservaqtory while it was a) dry and b) light but its 12.05 now and I have to drive the truck and DJ back in so will add pictures on Monday. Have a good weekend!

 

Yes, two days in a row it's me, Jeff again.
Dreamer day two . I started the day by stripping out a block that had already had new main bearings, a new crank,
big ends, little ends, sleeves, pistons, rings and all things bright and shiny. "Why?" you say. Well one of the things that lets these engines down is oil pressure, and the normal cause is cam journals.  I am building an engine for a customer,  so I looked over the block and slotted in the cam.  It was fine side to side, but moved up and down , cos it was oval...



See in the bottom. Not good. The bright shiny part is wear. So I got the block stripped out and on a pallet, Bryony sorted out the paper work for it to be collected and off it went to be line bored. Then we took off the rear brakes and the half shafts were taken out. Then for another one of my
made up tools got a chance to play .I made a half shaft splitter and it works!



And it works very well...



See, all done and waiting. Then the hydraulics pump. I went to take out the PTO shaft, but it moved about 10mm
and stopped dead. Something told me it was bent, and lo and behold...



Kind of cool, never seen a bend like that in a PTO shaft! Anyway, I knocked up a big slide hammer and removed said shaft with no further ado.
That done, I dropped out the pump and more fun... I was having a great day...



The guide rod was hanging out...
some how the circlip had come out



very bent valve...



All good fun?
Any way people more tomorrow...

Hello you lot its me again, Jeff

This is Dreamer, the new tractor in the workshop. I had a little drive round on it to see what was what
before I started work on its engine, and Bryony did the half shafts, seals and other things.
Now, to wake up Dreamer with THE RED DEVIL (ATLAS ) the tractor's nightmare.
Now you see it...

Atlas picked up the tractor

Then laughed at it while bits came off the tractor left, right and centre...

Next off with the engine...

Whoops! It kind of fell in half mister, THE BOSS made me do it...

Right you lot! I've got work to do. I'll be back soon when the BOSS aint looking...

More pics of Dreamer on Tractor Pages on our main website www.tractorbit.co.uk