The Craftmans Shop > New from Old
Thwaites 2 Ton Two Cylinder Dumper Running On One Cylinder
awemawson:
Bit of a frustrating day today :bang:
I did manage to fit the new Master Cylinder for the foot brake, but when I came to bleed it I couldn't for the life of me find my little red rubber bleed tube - you know the thing - thick walled pliable rubber with an aluminium rivet in one end and a fine slit. Other end goes on the nipple and the slit acts as a one way valve. I KNOW that I have one, but where - not used it in years - never mind - ordered up a new one - a long one this time so maybe I can watch it AND pump the pedal, as getting SWMBO involved in brake bleeding is a recipe for arguments !
So never mind - re-fitted the floor having first filled up the front axle casing, rear axle casing and transfer box with oil, and greased as many grease nipples as were accessible. (Some on the UJ joints on the prop shafts (there are three prop shafts!) were totally inaccessible with a grease gun )
Then I decided to fit a horn. This dumper never had one, not really for warning when driving, but when you are working with someone else driving a digger, often you need to attract their attention. I had a brand new horn left over from my JCB 803 re-furb, so I bought a rubber covered 'heavy duty starter button - rubber covered'. Well it does the job, but the aluminium alloy body is a horrid screw fit to it's brass mounting nut - some one in China has a tolerance issue :ddb: Managed to squeeze the horn under the mounting for the drivers seat, with the button on the panel that the ignition switch mounts on, as that was where I was picking up a live feed from.
I took it for a drive round the yard. Hairy experience with no foot brake, and dramatically better performance than previously - however I noticed that the steering ram that flexes the articulated steering is leaking. Not surprising - the end eyes are well worn, I have a line on one from a dumper being scrapped.
So - twiddle thumbs time till the tube arrives .......
edward:
Could you get one of the gunson easi-bleed caps to fit the reservoir for the brake fluid? They are way better than the pedal pumping method if you can use them.
Manxmodder:
I can watch it AND pump the pedal, as getting SWMBO involved in brake bleeding is a recipe for arguments ![/b][/u]
:lol: :lol: Oh yes,Andrew. I've been there a couple of times before now.
'I thought I said press down and hold it there until I say up again! :bang: :bang:....OZ.
awemawson:
:ddb: :ddb: We have Brakes :ddb: :ddb:
The postman kindly brought the replacement brake bleeding tube this morning, and as it hadn't started raining (forecast though) I set too.First job was to find a way, in the absence of a helper, to keep the brake pedal pressed and definitely not released, until I had re-tightened the bleed nipple on the axle. I found that I could rig up a large 'Carver' welding clamp between the chassis and the pedal, so then I could go ahead.
Probably worth pointing out that this brake system is not like the sort that you get on a car - it has two sets of oil immersed brake disks inside the axle, one either side of the differential. They are actuated by concentric cylinders and pistons, each with an 'in' and an 'out' port on top of the axle casing. Fluid from the Master Cylinder is routed to one 'in' port, the 'out' port of that cylinder is piped to the 'in' port of the second cylinder in rigid pipe, and that cylinder's 'out ' port has a bleed nipple in it.
The process its, slacken bleed nipple with tube attached, depress brake pedal and fix it down, tighten bleed nipple, release pedal slowly so master cylinder re-fills, then repeat the cycle.
As I was far from sure that this system had been filled with the correct mineral oil fluid that is compatible with the seals (Not one of the standard 'DOT' fluids), I wanted to flush out all the old, so it's good that the cylinders are in series rather than parallel.
Got it all set up, rubber tube on nipple, catch flask in place, then the rain started. Hang it carry on, just get wet :bang: The old fluid was a very different colour from the new, so it was quite easy to see when we went from old, to mixture, to new just from the colour. Interestingly there must also be a marked difference in the viscosity, as, as soon as the new fluid started coming through, depressing the pedal became much easier forcing the fluid through the bleed nipple. Got through two complete reservoirs of fluid in the end.
As you can see from the picture, the old stuff was in a right mucky state. Smelling it I think it was a mineral oil, but not the right stuff. (I've been sniffing bottles of DOT3 DOT4 and DOT5 brake fluid, I hope nobody notices and gets me taken away :clap: )
Pedal seems pretty solid (air in system gives a spongy pedal) and driving it back and forwards the length of my loading dock it works OK, but by this time it was pouring down and time to clean up.
Pete W.:
Hi there, Andrew,
I've had three different Citroens that floated on LHM. When I was far from home and suffered an LHM leak on the first one, the RAC roadside rescue bloke told me that 'the book' says it's OK to use a light mineral oil if LHM isn't available. To be sure, the recommendation is to have the system flushed and refilled with LHM as soon as possible.
Maybe the previous owners of your dumper followed the first part of the routine but didn't bother with the second?
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