Ransomes motor triple advice please

[disco2]

Hi it’s Will I am working on a motor triple mk 4 I have recently posted about the seized brakes and recìeved some great advice and now have a working foot brake and soon a working handbrake. I’m trying to get the levers that lift the front cutter heads to work. The metal rods were seized in the tubes but I have removed them now and cleaned them. I was expecting to find a spring under the rods to push them up into the locked position but there is nothing. I wondered if there is a plunger between the rod and the spring which has seized and is stuck down. My other question is does anyone know the specs for the v belt that drives the front mower decks the old belt is glazed. Finally on that same belt there is a spring loaded tensioner which was hooked under the top side of the belt but looks to me as though it should be under the bottom so as to pull the belt around the pulleys rather than away.
Thanks for your help and advice
Best wishes William

[trusty220]

I assume that you mean the “walking stick” handles either side of the operator’s platform which lift the front units clear of the ground. The spring that pushes the plunger out into the slot is quite a large diameter spring that fits inside the outer tube of the walking stick; it’s quite conceivable that somebody has pushed the plunger in at the top and it’s compressed the spring and it’s now stuck with rust inside the bottom of the walking stick.

All I can suggest is to remove the pin at the bottom which holds the pawl in place and see if you can free it with loads of oil and patience! Good Luck! One little tip I can give you is that the two roll pins at the bottom of the walking stick used to break on a regular basis as well as the two at the front of the machine which lift the cutting units. We used to replace the standard roll pins with spirol pins which were made of spring steel wrapped tightly in a spiral; these used to flex slightly and absorb any jarring shocks that would normally shear off the standard roll pins.

As regards your V-belt I would suggest that you take it to your nearest bearing supplier; they usually supply belts of all shapes and sizes and would be able to match your belt up with something new. The replacement part from Ransomes was GSF3506QH but the book doesn’t give any dimensions.

The tensioner sounds like it is fitted correctly how you describe. Yes, it does take some of the wrap-around away from the pulleys but all belts and chains should have a straight run on their drive side- in this case the cutter clutch pulley will rotate clockwise as you look at it which means that the power will be transmitted in tension on the lower run of the belt between the pulleys. The slack side of the drive will be on the top run, so the tensioner needs to be on the top run of the belt to take up the slack. If you were to put the tensioner on the bottom run all that would happen would be that the belt would pull into a straight line and leave the top run flapping about loose.

Keep going, there can’t be that much left to do!

[disco2]

Hi it’s Will thank you for your reply the belt tensioner is interesting I tried it with the tensioner on the bottom run thinking it was set up wrong but it seemed to slip a lot when I tried it so I will return it back to the top position it makes sense that you don’t want the tensioner on the pulling side of the belt. It reminds me of my days on tracked diggers you always travel with the drive sprockets at the back to keep tension on the bottom of the track otherwise you get bunchimg on the bottom which can end up with a thrown track. Ilike the walking stick term is there a seperate plunger between the spring and the long centre rod? I removed the latch and the rod . When I look through the slot it looks like either the top of a plunger or the bottom of the tube although if its the bottom there must be a false bottom as its almost in line with the bottom of the slot not the end of the tube. Hope that makes sense. Yes not much more to do apart from a couple of seized reel adjusters and a new bush on the mid mower belt tensioner. I look forward to using it once we get some grass to cut rather than spreading dead grass and dust.
Thanks for your help and advice
Best wishes William

[trusty220]

Here is a section of the relevant drawing of the walking stick. The outer tube is number 40 with the inner plunger number 41. You will notice that the plunger has a groove around it’s base which the pin (number 44) locates into which then joins parts 43 and 41 together. This means that the pawl (43) should move up and down with the plunger (41). All that is below the plunger is the coil spring (42) and the bottom of the tube.

From your comments I wonder if the bottom of part 41 has sheared off leaving the coil spring compressed below it and out of sight. What happens if you tap it gently? Does it move?

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[disco2]

Hi it’s Will I have a suspicion that the springs may have been removed at some point. Both sides look the same and both plungers have their grooved ends. Not sure why they would be removed but now I can see the diagram and apart from the springs everything else is present and intact. I will see if it’s possible to get hold of a couple of new springs.
Thanks for your help and advice again it’s much appreciated
Best wishes William

[trusty220]

Are you sure that the springs aren’t compressed and stuck in the bottom of the tubes?

[disco2]

I guess they could be I can’t see them through the slot in the side of the tube I didn’t let the plunger drop all the way into the tube because I won’t be able to get hold of them to get them out again. I will have a look with my camera on a stick thingy to see if they are as you suggested just stuck down. It does seem odd to have removed both and then put it back together again. I will keep you posted
Best wishes William

[disco2]

Hi it’s Will just a quick update on the elusive springs after some poking with a screwdriver I have found the springs they were seized into the tubes unfortunately they are so badly corroded they have lost all their spring one has broken off in the tube so they will need replacing. I have found someone who has some replacements so will order them and in the meantime try to remove the remains of the old springs.
Thanks for help
Best wishes William

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