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It's BIG, Yellow and digs holes! JCB 3CX Project 8 is joining the Tractor Shed

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awemawson:
OK front axle hubs SORTED  :thumbup:

After MANY iterations of driving small amounts either forward or back, then clambering out of the cab and testing the cast in level line on the hubs I managed to get the lines level and test the oil levels one after the other. Near side wasn't too far off only needing about 250 cc but off side took most of a 1 litre bottle.

What would make this job far easier single handed would be one of those spirit levels that bleep at you when horizontal. Not sure if a magnetic version is available  :scratch:

So as far as gear boxes and hypoid oil is concerned that's it apart from the King Post slew gearbox. To do this the machine needs to be on a level surface and the back actor / hoe fully extended horizontal to expose the drain plug and filler / level plugs. Apparently this box accumulates condensation, and the process is to slacken the drain plug to drain the water off, and then tighten it and top up to level, the drain plug having grooves in it to let the water out without fully disengaging it's threads.

I don't quite have enough length in the tractor shed to set the machine up in this configuration so it will have to wait until I've moved a few things about

awemawson:
So today's job: check  / top up the 'Slew Gear Box' so I need to take the JCB out of the Tractor Shed and put it back in the other way round to give me room to extend and lower the boom and dipper to give access to the slew gearbox filler plug.

As I was moving it across the yard it was sensible to top up the diesel tank while there. It's a bit tight to get it close enough to the Diesel Bowser for the hose to reach and it had to be slightly up the ramp into the workshop to fit.

This revealed another issue to sort - the handbrake wouldn't hold it so needs adjusting !

79 litres later into the 100 litre tank brought it to the top, but I had to put both buckets on the floor to stop it rolling down the slope.

OK back to the tractor shed with the back actor / hoe in the correct position for the next step - check the slew gear box oil.

Drain plug was mighty tight taking a 6 foot scaffold pole on the breaker bar to shift it, and when loose very little condensation water came out. However the oil itself was rather emulsified so I decided to drain and refill with fresh. Left it for ages to end dripping to make sure it was all out.

Now the book - in fact two books (Owner Manual and Workshop Manual) say 4.3 litres but I got barely 2 litres in before it was topped up to the level plug. Not sure whats going on there and suitable questioning post placed on the Vintage JCB Facebook group that has some very knowledgeable members.

hermetic:
Good Work Andrew, not really the weather for it, but  when it's done it will be a diamond!
Phil

awemawson:
Thanks for the kind words Phil, yes I'm getting there !

Annoyed that I hadn't measured the volume of the oil that I drained from the Slew gear box, and to satisfy this nagging doubt about the 2 litres of hypoid  that I got back in compared with the 4.3 that the book says, it dawned on me I could fill the drain pan with 2 litres of water and compare to the previous photo of the emulsified oil in the same pan. Sure enough what came out was marginally less than what I put back - the book must be wrong!

So hand brake tomorrow. Should be fairly simple, adjust pads to close to the disk, then take up the slack in the cable - this is assuming that the pads aren't too worn. Changing pads is easy (*) but I don't have any to hand.

(* I got used to changing pads on my Project 7 - it was all too easy to drive off with the handbrake on fully, and either rip the pads out or wear them rapidly. This machine has an interlock microswitch. Hand brake on and no motion !

awemawson:
Back under this morning to sort out the parking brake. As I mentioned it's a caliper and pads working on a disk on one of the prop shafts ie a 5th brake, with each wheel having a 'wet brake' internal to the respective axle.

It was just a case of adjusting the 'hold off' of the pads - the hand lever doesn't have a ratchet as you might expect, but is an 'over centre toggle' arrangement. So adjustment is done by ensuring that in the toggled position (ie 'on') the pads firmly grip the disk. It was quite a way off. Then a quick check to make sure that the interlock microswitch was still doing sensible things - it was - and a short drive to the ramp to check that it would now hold the machine - it does  :thumbup:

I'd intended to grease the three prop shafts while I was under there but ran out of enthusiasm. The two driving the axles have three nipples each - one on each universal joint and one on the sliding spline. But oddly, if the book is to be believed, the shaft driving the hydraulic pump, although of the same construction, only has one on the spline - presumably the u/j's are sealed for life? I'll find out when I grease it !

Instead I finally got round to starting to clean out the toolbox. I thought I'd taken pictures of it's utterly disgusting state, but I can't find them. There were various bucket shims and wear bushes, but so much dried up grease that I couldn't detach them from the box until I used a scraper. Anyway today I gave the inside a good brushing down with red diesel and left it to soak, having first scraped and hoovered as much as possible. After a wipe down it's a bit more palatable but still not exactly clean. It'll do for now until things get steam cleaned and painted.

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