A couple of tractors - a slow restoration thread!

Post pictures and stories about your cars both present and past. Also post up "blogs" on your restoration projects - the more pictures the better! Note: blog-type threads often get few replies, but are often read by many members, and provide interest and motivation to other enthusiasts so don't be disappointed if you don't get many replies.
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tractorman
Posts: 1399
Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:22 am
Location: Wigton, Cumbria

Re: A couple of tractors - a slow restoration thread!

#21 Post by tractorman » Mon Jun 10, 2013 9:43 am

I'm progressing, but getting side-tracked as usual! After a struggle drilling inch holes for the stays, I bought a compound vice for my cheap B&Q bench drill. Then I realised I should have bought a smaller one :oops: A former colleague had rescued a proper machine from work (that's the short story) but the motor and starter switch were missing. Suffice to say the new motor had a bigger shaft and different fittings. However, it now works and I tested it by drilling holes in the pins for the "new" ditching bucket.

The bucket isn't for a DB digger, so I had to make some bushes for the "ram" pin - and then tack welded them in the wrong holes. My welder is much better - penetration was pretty good :roll:

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Part of the reason for buying the digger is to improve the drainage in the garden:

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Is anyone else finding the new Flickr layout annoying? It takes ages for the pages to load now as it tries to load all the pictures!

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JPB
Posts: 10319
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:24 pm

Re: A couple of tractors - a slow restoration thread!

#22 Post by JPB » Mon Jun 10, 2013 3:48 pm

I like it as I have several thousand images and it reduces the quantity of pages I need to open. It is possible to use the "classic" layout but as that was limited to about a dozen images per page at most, its usefulness is probably mainly for people with slower, older gpus.

That said, because there are no longer so many physical selections required, the new layout is probably less graphics hungry than it seems at first glance. It's also 100% better on any 16:9/16:10 panel and that's most if not all of us now, ipad users excepted.
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

tractorman
Posts: 1399
Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:22 am
Location: Wigton, Cumbria

Re: A couple of tractors - a slow restoration thread!

#23 Post by tractorman » Tue Oct 06, 2015 11:00 pm

Well, the title says it all - things are very slow with the tractors!

The little tractor has been in the shed since May last year, the big one since August last year! However, as I wrote in the Landy thread, I want the Land Rover out of the garage this winter so the car can be undercover. That will give me a little more incentive to take the tractors out for some exercise (I won't have to move the car to get them out!).

I have been a bit lazy about charging the batteries or running the engines: I don't like extension cables across the lawn (especially when I am mowing the grass every week!) and I don't like running diesel engines without using them - if only because it annoys me as much as it will annoy the neighbours. As it will soon be "Winter duties", I thought it would be wise to charge the batteries and see if the little tractor would start. I was a bit miffed that, after a full day charging, the starter only clicked, so left it charging for a day longer! I then managed to get it over one compression before the battery gave up! So, a new battery was ordered: the one that's on is nine years old. The old one was about £50 (the £52.odd bill had an oil filter too), the new one, a heavy duty one, was £90 inc delivery!

So, the new battery arrived and was unboxed. Although it was the same type ("643") as the old battery, the terminals are the wrong way round! Also, being heavy duty, it is an inch wider. However, I can just about get it in place and, with the Land Rover's old positive lead, I won't have too much hassle with the terminals being the wrong way round. Rather than mess about in the shed, I just took the bonnet off and used jump leads to see if the tractor would fire up. The tractor started within five seconds! I moved it onto the lawn and had a chat with a neighbour while letting the engine warm up and then put it back in the shed and stopped it. I was a little surprised that the original battery had enough charge to turn the engine over - and start it! Considering both tractors have dynamos, that's pretty good.

I do have one slight problem though: the new battery will fit the big tractor, which has the same type of battery as the Land Rover: the starter is on the other side of the big tractor and the battery is in front of the radiator and the terminals are right for that arrangement. However, the problem is that I carefully made the Land Rover's battery tray slightly bigger than the original battery: so it's half an inch too "short" for the heavy duty battery! I would suspect the Land Rover battery will be the first to fail (though the tractor's battery is five or six years old), so I'll probably have to put the new battery on the big tractor, the big tractor's battery in the Land Rover and buy a correct battery for the little tractor.

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