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My week this week, my workshop videos!

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hermetic:
Thanks pycoed, You are right on all counts! except the reason the bar was bent is that they used the bar to pick the topper up with a JCB and chain! The strap going to the rear has several chain links at the end in order for the back of the topper to lift to allow for terrain fluctuations, but it may get a bit more chain and a bit less strap if we encounter difficulties, the field is not flat!! I understand about the guards, and you can but a new shaft for slightly more than a replacement guard, which is crazy, but they are obviously profiting from the unwary! I have a PTO shaft, and many lengths of plastic pipe, I can knock something up to suit. TBH I wouldn't have bothered, because it has obviously been used without one, but the sticker showing the guy wrapped round the driveshaft made me feel a bit queasy!!! Maybe I can improve on it a bit, who knows, watch this space! My local AG shop, Scrutons of Foxholes beat the internet prices hands down, and it's all sparex, so it should be good, but I will have to make some of the parts because they didn't have stock for a 1955 Fordson! gone are the men in greasy overalls and the tea mugs on the counter, to be replaced by bright new stores and everything in little plastic boxes, and I did buy lynch pins! Cat 2 sparex top link £20 +vat, what can you say! They tried to palm me off with 1/2" by grade 8 bolts for the shear bolts, but when I explained that I would rather shear a bolt than smash the gearbox they looked at me sadly, and realised I was the owner and the user of the machine, and would not be walking in their door to order a new gearbox! I can get the (grade1 or 2) shear bolts off the net. There will be plenty in the field that the blades dont like but I think with a bit of care we will cope!, thanks for posting! I still have a lot to learn about tractering, so all help is much appreciated!
Phil
East Yorkshire

hermetic:
 The Fordson Major E1A refurb continues, with some Time spent hammering the Big Bee topper straight again! Another short week I am afraid. Had two lost days for trips to York, so much for getting a full week in!, lots of dirty work done, and the panels go off for blasting, water pump pulley arrives, and thank goodness it fits! I only just seem to have started this project, and it is really coming together. I shall be painting and power washing next week!  It all came together on Friday when I took all the parts for Blasting and got a top link and pins for the tractor from my local Agri merchants,  Scrutons of Foxholes!! Cheaper than the internet!
Phil, in damp and humid East Yorkshire

pycoed:
Cheers Phil,
Re the shear bolts FWIW before I got the same flail as described in Andrew's saga I had a heavy duty Rhino 5ft topper behind a 45hp Universal 445DT. Most of my patch is ferocious rush pasture  & here & there a scrub willow stump that I fondly imagined I had cut to ground level. Breaking shear bolts was almost an hourly pastime on the first cut of the season, until I reduced the stumps, got to know where soft patches meant you had to lift the topper a bit, & generally learned to go easy in the really tough bits. I always used standard 12mm Screwfix bolts (i.e shanked not machine screws) & must have broken dozens down the years. Never damaged the topper or more importantly the PTO an the 12 + years I had the outfit. If you are concerned (Major is 20 odd years older than my old 445DT after all), then just machine a groove in a few to tey out perhaps?. Anyway, make sure your plastic guard allows access to the shearbolt & remember carry a few spares plus the spanners & a hammer & punch to remove the broken shearbolts if necessary, because it's guaranteed the bolt will go when you are 3/4mile from tools/car etc...
I must admit the Zetor (70hp) plus flail is a lot more relaxed though.

hermetic:
A Zetor eh! I did a top end rebuild on a Zetor 8011 in the distant past, it had sheared the rocker cross shaft! Rugged and reliable, and very popular in East Yorkshire. Local farmer had a 4wd one which we used one terrible winters night to pull a John Deere 2wd through 21ft snow drifts! I was an awful night, and we ended up having to dig the zetor out, as we had left it while we went for tea and a warm up, and when we got back it had fallen through the frozen ground into about 3 feet of soft snow, there was a horizontal blizzard blowing, and every time I think about it, it gives me shivers, it was cold enough to freeze to death out there, and the Zetor saved us!
          Shear bolts, to shear or not to shear, for myself I would rather shear a bolt than wreck the machine, but all the real farmers I know just stick any old bolt in and get the job done! the ground is fairly uneven, but brambles are the worst vegetation we have to clear, if there are any soft spots, I am sure we will find them! Thanks for the advice, heeded for sure!
Phil, East Yorkshire.

hermetic:
This weeks highlights are sidetracks and interuptions!, and tales of the work I intended to do, but others had other ideas! My antique dealer mate turned up with four boxes of what is known as (in the trade) "Donkey" too good to throw away, but difficult to sell into anything but the small item collectors market, which functions very much on personal taste rather than any known make or value of item! On the basis of, "if you dont like it, burn it" I accepted it for cleaning and listing, but I am not sure I would do it again, because of the time it takes! I got the bushes that I need for the topper made and fitted, and some other little jobs like straightening drawbar pins done, but the sandblasting isn't ready yet, so I may end up putting the radiator back on the tractor on monday, and moving it outside for a steam clean, and to fit the girder trolley, so I can lift the topper, so that I can get it all put togther! Onward!
Phil in blisteringly hot East Yorkshire, 27 deg today!!

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