Yesterday was spent in the office in the morning processing orders, sending off quotations, answering emails this despite my resolution to get straight on with Daisy  May who is waiting to be finished.  Help in the office in the afternoon meant that I could get on and I was able to get on with taking Daisy May's commission plate off the original steering column to put on the one which was fitted later. The plates are held on with dome-headed spiral fixing which are not meant to come out. Steve had started drilling them from the back and I continued this using a burr until the end of the fixing was visible and could be knocked through with a very small punch. The fixings left on Daisy May's new steering column had to come out and I discovered that by carefully gripping them and turning they could be persuaded to come out all except the last one which snapped off and had to be punched through. I also started fitting the bonnet rubber, always a fiddly job but stopped when I could get back in the office at five to continue processing orders.

Today Steve was working by himself until I arrived at 2.15 tis afternoon. No, I was not skiving I was doing a (very rare for me because of working) stint as Granny looking after my baby grand-daughter while my daughter stayed with the other grand-daughter who was having her adenoids taken out and grommets put in her ears. When I left the hospital baby was asleep in her car seat and Myhren was looking a kind of Ferguson grey colour but complaining of hunger having not eaten from early the night before. They would not let her have anything at that stage but I hope by now she has had something to eat. (An update informs me that she eat two pieces of toast late afternoon followed by two more pieces followed not too long after by jacket potato with tuna and jelly and ice-cream followed later by scone and butter and raspberries- sounds like she's getting back to normal!)

While I was out Steve had adjusted the wheel bearings on  the Suffolk tractor (which is without a name at the moment because I forgot to ask), put new rubbers on the fuel tank, fitted the new distributor cap and the correct rotor arm in place of the one Jeff had identified as being an incorrect one. This was in between taking down a number of enquiries. In the afternoon while I answered the said enquiries, he took the old top link rocker bracket off Daisy May which had one distinctly oval hole (not without considerable difficulty I might add). The bush will have to be replaced, of course when the new one is fitted.

Morris dancing was good yesterday night. It looked as if it was going to rain any minute but held off.  We had a good audience- enthusiastic, chucking lots of money into the Motor Neurone Disease collection bucket. Four people joined in- two youngsters which is always nice (one of whom, Danny, took most of these photos for me because I cannot play a whistle and take photos) and the landlord himself and a friend who were both absolute natch! We are hoping he'll join us next autumn when practising starts again.

Musicians at rest during the break (well, two of the three- I was taking the photo)

Then I was intruiged by this inverted image and thought I'd try and capture it.

We went on dancing even though it got a bit dark- in this picture are Danny and his brother.

With a patient worker in the office yesterday trying to catch up with piles of paperwork I've not been able to keep up with recently and dealing with a few muddles as well, I was able to get collections of parts together, packed up and posted off.

Am beginning to think seriously about moving the workshop to Wales next April when the lease which Mark  and I signed runs out here.

When I leave the workshop each night I go home and get on with my indoor gardening. Its the first time in my life (and I'm 64 now) that I've had a covered, light, warm space for growing. It is meant to be a sun lounge with a couple of easy chairs and a table to sit and have drinks while looking out over the bay in one direction and at the lighthouse in the other but I've turned it into a serious greenhouse with bench shelves along two sides and big pots along the third. For the first time ever I'm  successfully growing tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers. These are some of the peppers a few weeks ago. One of them is huge now.

 Getting the work done is ok though inevitably there will be delays now in getting engineer type jobs done because an engineer is not on tap all the time. I'm really happy to be back on the shop floor again- I came  into the business in the first place to do practical work but because Jeff was so good at everything and the  demands of actually running the business have got more complex as we bacame more streamlined I've been more or less chained to the office.

 I'll be glad when Steve is back from his philanthropical mission next week. Its a bit quiet in the day unless customers are in though at the moment I can hear the lathe going as Philip continues with his flight simulator. Having him here enabled me to nip out to pay some cheques in without having to lock the whole place up. 'Just make sure', I said to him, 'if you don't mind, that no-one pinches the tractor, for instance.' He looked up at the tractor on the truck, in the doorway and laughed at the possibility.

We are secure here but we are hearing of several cases of Fergusons being lifted together, in one case, with its three ton trailer (newly restored!)  Ouch!

A chap came in yesterday-he'd helped us a lot in 2007 when the electrics Mark had put in shortly before he left blew up. Could he use our lathe (the workshop's own one)? 'Of course,' we said.

He came back a bit later with the very interesting and complex objects which can be seen in the foreground.

Eventually Steve could not suppress his curiosity and went over to ask what it was...  It was, we were told, part of a flight simulator for a facimile Boering 737 cabin which Philip was building. (No, before anyone asks, is the answer!). It had been an ambition for a great many years and finally Philip has retired in order to be able to dedicate himself to fulfilling his ambition!  He kindly said that Steve and I could go and see it when it was finished. Wow! That's a treat to look forward to!

Steve worked on Daisy May yesterday. Jeff had left a list of things to finished so Steve kept busy putting in anti-freeze in the rad., oil in the steering box and air cleaner as well as the gearbox. He attached the bonnet stay and changed the oil filter.

Feel sorry for Steve... after leaving here he's off to play bowls then at ten tonight he's leaving to drive himself and a friend down to London to help with a house clearance.

I should have been out there working with Steve doing other things which needed doing but I was stuck at the computer all day until 10.15 at night.

Today Daisy May's owner came in to see how things were going. He said a couple of times that he was disappointed that he would not be able to say that Jeff had done all the work from beginning to end but was a little comforted to understand that even had Jeff been there,Steve or I might have been doing these last minute jobs in order to free Jeff to do less routine work.

A big order in today including a request for trumpet housing nuts and a gasket asap so I got them into the post, first class, with 30 seconds to spare before the PO closed.

I'm off to Morris dancing now (well, playing music, not dancing to be accurate.) We go round the pubs during the summer raising money for Motor Neurone Disease. Tonight we are at the Kings Head in Coltishall which is a lovely pub just beside the river. Getting short of time. Must fly!

I’m just back from Wales with Bob the Tractor! Bob is being converted from 6v to 12v and has some engine problems. More on Bob when we’ve had a chance to look at him properly.

I got lost in Wales but found the remnants of an Eighteenth century landscape. This garden building- a dovecote perhaps? in need of some care. A building in a ruined state has pathos and is symbolic of the passing of the centuries but pleasing decay is one thing and it is keeping the balance which is the difficulty.

These magnificent gates have been recently restored.

This is Bob just before leaving his home patch.

The sky behind him is a forwarning of what was to come-it rained heavily all the way back to Norfolk except for an hour!

These things are great fun to do , if you plan it right its simple , if you don't you can make a lot of work for your self , you should end up with the tractor looking like this when its removed

don't bother taking all the dash off , you don't need to , remove the gear lever 2 nuts and washers

remove the 4 bolts that hold on the steering colum , remove the 2 bolts at the base of the main frame behind the dash, remember to put tray under the tractor oil will come out of these 2 holes , remove all 14 bolts that hold the top cover on , lift up steering colum and slide out the steering box , simple

that's inside the gear box , see the colour of the oil , water and lots of it , bad

this is inside the main bell housing , that rod operates the starter

now the steering box drain out the rest of the oil and place upside down and remove any old gaskets from the faces

remove all the little screws and remove the bottom plate

yes i know Ive all ready done it in the pics , now move the arms so you can get at the 2 nuts and bolts , undo them and remove ,

is all good , right keep the bits handed ,

now you can see the seal , stick something in it and lever it out

now you can see the bush get each arm from the side it was removed and see what the fit is like , it needs to be silky

it its all over the place replace the bush ,

the seals , on the left the old seal and on the right the new ,( why don't they make the new seals look like the old ones )

right clean all the faces remember this thing holds oil , make new gaskets

see i can do it , now you have to put it all back together ............... bye ......... joking its easy reverse the order you carnt get the arms in the wrong place , just put them level when you drop the colum back in when you've done , have fun ............................. right run lads

Its me.

Daisy May .  a TEF20 with TEP back end, and as you can see the half shafts are very different a lot more solid

a lot thicker in the main body ,someone as put on some secondary seals to try and stop oil leeks but this only works if the bearings are in pretty good order , those cap over the bearings are the seals  ,  have a look at these pics ,

you can really see the difference here

the one on the right is a Diesel shaft that as a 50mm gear head on it , these TEP shafts have 44mm

gear on the end ,

the one on the left is a standard shaft ,

and this is them all together , any way they have had there bearings and seals changed and have been refitted to day

and set up 10 thou between the tips , fun with shims and magnetic drop gadges . more on Daisy May tomorrow

And there is another Tractor in the workshop for some work , wheel bearings , starter motor , carb , and a few other bits

as you can see the carb does leak a bit , it keeps flooding

and yes it still runs 6 volt electrics , if you can call them electrics have a look at the back of the dash

ha ha ha , no joke that's it , its got a control box down under the battery box but thats about all ,quite a tidy tractor

really ,

And so on , we have another tractor due in on Monday from North Wales , I would like to go and get it but the boss

aint seen the mountains for ages and she needs a break she works to hard , anyway ive got things to do , later you lot more tomorrow .

We have a couple of tractors to pick up, one local to day, and one at the weekend in North Wales,

This Ferguson is at Hedington Steam Fair

have a look at the blue wings on this ( Steve )

And for the 135 owners

And no show is complete with out one of these

and this bloke dont even think it ,never mind say it

Wow what toys some people have , anyway, onward, steam engines a pair of plough engines

don't you just want one , and a steam roller

This is brilliant, look at the size of the engine , its on the left, ha ha ha , now look at the size of the pump, the little thing mounted on the corner on the right ,  it did make me smile,

This truck , steam engine , chain drive , and what a bloody chain it was

not look very big , look again,

looks like a fergi cam chain made by ........................ ha ha ha , stop laughing you lot , i know you know what I'm on about , Cars , yes, box things , wheels on corners,this bloke as style , on a motor like this he turns the MG badge upside down to make his initials, how cool is he ,

lawn mower racing what a laugh

tractor pulling , watch out I have an idea ha ha ha

And this is a V12

 The ROLLS ROYCE V12 MERLIN XX ,many years ago when i was a kid a spitfire used to fly over our estate from time to time , The sound of this engine does things to people, there are people out there who will know what Im on about the sound of one of these babys can make a grown man cry , as far as i know no one as ever put in to words the beauti and grace of this god like, master piece of Engineering , I am proud to say I have made parts and worked on them , The Stone Henge of Engines,

This ones out of a Bristol Beaufighter

Before I go I must say sorry to the nice chap who had his trailer restored , seems no one else noticed till i pointed out to him they did on have nylock nuts in them days , Ho well trust me , It was still a nice job tho , thanks for your time mate and the chat , And just for him his trailer

So there you go things and stuff ,now I need a coffee .

Well daisy Mays motor is back together now and refitted to the tractor, here are some more pics of odds and sods and a few bits of the tractors history ,

right the cranks had a regrind and is back with us .020 mains and .030 big ends

as you can see Ive already put the main bearings on , and Ive fitted the new rear crank seal

and the new liners are in the block ready

new pistons with rings and pins

want to see the old stuff

see them rings in front of the liners Warning do not mix them up they are machined as pairs ,and when you put them back in turn the bottom ring by 90* degree ,

ha ha ha them big ends are great , anyway now the motors built and back on and test run

and its all sweet and dandy now , funny over the years this tractor has had a hard life from chucking its cam chain

to snapping its front pin , poor thing belly flopped

And yes Ive made a new front pin for daisy

so their you have it ,

And what did I get up to over the weekend , well a little trip out to one of the biggest sets of locks in the country

A really nice bit of water engineering , OK a big bit of engineering when you see the size of them

a good days work to get through this lot , and all of them are not in the picture there are many more up and down from where i took this picture,

a real nice place for a day out with cracking wildlife in the reservoirs

and stunning views from the top of the hill, so go see for your self ,