[alan]

Oddhatuk – that is a truly brilliant answer and you deserve a prize for that!

Trusty220 – You are not going to get a better Christmas answer than oddhatuks suggestion of ‘Part of Santa’s Trusty Sleigh’.

[alan]

Well it’s green so that narrows it down a bit. Could it be Elf green and thus a part that fell off Santa’s sleigh when it passed over Redditch last year perhaps?

[alan]

I’ve had a search through the old forum photos (must get them archived somewhere) and there are quite a lot of Merry Tiller photos but only a few relating to a dozer blade. I think these images posted here were originally by will haggle.

Although not good, I think underneath the fuzzy image below of the dozer blade it says “can be front or rear mounted” – may have to squint a bit…

https://vhgmc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/MT4.jpg

The last image also shows a front mounted blade.

sorry cannot be of any more help but it may be a guide.

Attachments:

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 

[alan]

There is some excellent artwork for machinery. My favourite is probably for the Reo mowers – I don’t know what health and safety would say about the adverts though!

Attachments:

1. 
2. 

[alan]

It might be ready for Tractor World, that is if I remember to buy some more yellow paint and the monsoon weather clears up enough for painting!

[alan]

A small update: I’ve got the mower deck, it’s hardly been used. It’s now been stripped and undercoated and the steel work is so good that it hasn’t required any filler or straightening out.

Attachments:

1. 

[alan]

As Geoff mentions the pre-printed log sheets at Newark were really good. The information about each exhibit that was contained in the show guide was also printed on the log sheet so visitors didn’t have to keep referring back to the guide to find out about each exhibit, it was a good idea.

[alan]

I think it’s fair to say that we had a great time at Newark. If you have never been then it’s also a good place to meet friends, club members and also meet new folk too.

I did manage to get the Elec-Trak tractor there and amazingly found three show visitors who also own Elec-Trak tractors – it’s worthwhile going to shows as you never know who or what may turn up!

Lots of photos all compiled into a slideshow on Youtube:

[alan]

I have now got the mower deck electric motors from Evesham from where I got the tractor from a couple of years ago, should have got the motors at the same time but didn’t.

It’s nice to have the original motors to rebuild the mower deck with and hopefully all will work.

The motors are quite large and weigh 6kg each, I’ve had them plugged in and they work! Just got to rebuild everything now.

Attachments:

1. 

[alan]

I can’t say I know anything about seeders but I looked up what little info I could and found that:
A 1939 catalogue noted that complete with a marker, the No3 drill with a 3 quart capacity hopper cost £4 19s and 9d (old pre-decimal UK money – pounds, shillings and pence).

On the old VHGMC forum there are some photos but I cannot tell one seeder from another, however a couple of photos may interest you, not sure who posted them to the forum though but thanks!

I wonder if anyone else has any other info?

Attachments:

1. 
2. 

[alan]

Hi

I recall that these are a pretty standard Wheel Horse steering set-up. A shaft sitting in bushes runs between the chassis rails from the bottom of the steering column to the front of the tractor?

Parts diagrams will be online at Toro but as Silverfox says a few photos of the exact problem would be great and we can then recommend a solution.

[alan]

Inching along slowly and I’ve nearly finished the Elec-Trak.

This weekend we actually started applying the decals, they make a world of difference to the machine and are excellent quality – thanks to a fellow tractor enthusiast for taking the time and trouble to recreate them. Just the front decals to apply now.

I have entered the tractor in at Newark in November so not long to go now! I haven’t been for a couple of years so looking forward to going and taking some machines.

Attachments:

1. 
2. 
3. 

[alan]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Mower deck: The tractor is complete as it stands and the mower deck could be purchased as an optional extra. However it has had a deck fitted at some point. I sort of know where the deck possibly is although I do have the original pair of 36v motors that power the twin blades i.e. one motor per blade.

The tractor has as standard the wiring for the mower motors, this consists of a couple of wires and connectors dangling under the tractor chassis that just plug into the motors. The deck lift mechanism is complete and working and the electrics work too. The gearbox drive motor has to be running in order for the mower deck to be able to be switched on, guess it’s a safety device.

I’d like some of the other 36v attachments to go with the tractor, but will never find any, such as the hedge trimmer, grass strimmer and chainsaw. These plug into the dash socket so the tractors battery pack powers the tools. The welder would be good fun too!

I’ll keep this updated as I get the tractor finished.

[alan]

This may be of some help although I know little about Atco.

I just had a look in the 70 Years of Garden Machinery book and it says that the 1959 catalogue had the new 14″ and 17″ cylinder mowers with Atco-Villiers AV3 four-strokke engines. Spec included improved kickstart and simplified cutting height adjustment. Front roller was equipped with a scraper.

Also a link to some Atco info:

https://www.oldlawnmowerclub.co.uk/book/export/html/197

[alan]

I think a paint colour guide would be really useful and a great idea. Excellent!

A couple of things:

I have just had trouble with RAL codes with that yellow tractor of mine! I was given a RAL code from an American tractor site, yet it was wildly the wrong shade/colour (found out prior to mixing thankfully). If there was a note to say how the code had been come by i.e. “It was matched from an original piece of 1971 tractor”, or “I used it because someone else had matched it and used it on another machine”, or “This is a match for the factory paint code”, then it would have been incredibly useful.

I also had difficulty with my Cub Cadet tractors a few years back. The colours used are Vapormatic JCB Industrial Yellow, and Halfords Volkswagen Candy White. I couldn’t even guess at RAL (or Pantone) codes but the colours chosen were correct – and it still looks great.

I guess that it doesn’t matter what the paint source (or paint shade name is) as long as it solves the problem. Even better is being able to provide such information to others for future reference.

[Author]

Posts