The Craftmans Shop > New from Old
It's BIG, Yellow and digs holes! JCB 3CX Project 8 is joining the Tractor Shed
awemawson:
I'd love to Graham, but to do a proper job they need to come off and be stripped back to bare metal - nothing worse than a tarted up bit of plant that's '10 yards pretty' and I barely have the lifting tackle for the job.
No pun intended but it's not a task to take lightly,.
Pete W.:
--- Quote from: awemawson on September 20, 2022, 12:56:55 PM ---SNIP - nothing worse than a tarted up bit of plant that's '10 yards pretty' - SNIP
--- End quote ---
Someone whose YouTube video I was watching recently used the expression 'Dulux overhaul'!
(I previously thought 'Dulux' was an ICI brand-name - I didn't realise it was known in the USA as well as in the UK.)
But still, as the famous quote has it: 'Fog in channel - Continent isolated'. :D :D :D
awemawson:
So today's job - replace the fan belts on the 3CX - originally it had twin belts, but only one remains and that's a bit frayed.
Simple enough job in theory EXCEPT that the main hydraulic oil pump is driven by a propshaft whose drive flange is bolted to the main crankshaft pulley, and is in the most confoundedly inaccessible position. Prop shaft has to come off to fit the belts. Relatively easy to see but there is barely any room for fingers never mind hands. I've been putting this job off for a few weeks knowing that it would be knuckle challenging but today was the day :bugeye:
Once the engine side panels were off and the front arms and bucket fully raised with the safely stop installed it was 'just' a case of undoing four bolts (5/8" hex head) to release the flange from the crank pulley. I could get a small 5/8th ring spanner on any two of the bolts but the engine needed 'barring' to get at the others. Anyway a short ring spanner is no good at all. These bolts are torqued just beyond 'murder tight'. No room to put a longer spanner on - could I encourage the shorter one with a baulk of timber and a lump hammer? No ! Timber always slips off and there are delicate things like expensive radiators in the area - exercise caution!
Then I thought - OK the timber slips off - bolt the spanner to a bit of flat bar in such a way that they are approximately 90 degrees to each other and apply the heavy persuader to the end of the bar - to my great surprise it worked a charm, but by heck those bolts were tight.
So with the propshaft disconnected I could remove the frayed belt and feed the new matched pair in through the blades of the radiator fan hanging them on the water pump double sheaved pulley.
The alternator was rather stubborn but moved in the end and it was at this point I noticed that IT ONLY HAD ONE SHEAVE :bang: This was why there was only one fan belt - some one has replaced the alternator with one with a single sheave - it's probably been like that for years.
What to do :scratch: Well I COULD have ordered up a double sheave pulley but I need to move the machine tonight. OK Fix the extra belt somewhere round the shaft so in the future the prop shaft doesn't have to come off to fit the belt. A good theory but I could find nowhere that I considered safe to fix it - grave danger of catching in the fan and destroying an expensive radiator. So off it came again.
Propshaft back on using the bolted on spanner in reverse and the machine is back together but it took a full day just to change a fan belt !
tom osselton:
OMG! Struck down in the prime of life!
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Spurry:
Bolting a spanner to a bar is a rather cunning idea. Nice one! :thumbup:
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version