[trusty220]

I’ve been shopping around and found a trophy engraver locally that says he can do it; the trouble is he’s now away until 10th December and he would prefer to give me a quote to do the job first. I’ve done the artwork already and supplied him with both JPEG and pdf formats but the fact that he wants to quote me first sounds a little worrying!

Here is the artwork. As an alternative I was thinking of ordering some blank waterslide transfer paper and printing it onto that if his quote is too expensive. We’ll see!

Attachments:

1. 

[trusty220]

Halfords and Amazon both sell selection boxes of springs. There is bound to be one in there that you could use.

[trusty220]

There are quite a few pictures of Wrigley trucks in the gallery section if you want to know what it should look like. It appears to have a Villiers engine which should be easy to buy spares for and is easy to repair- why not start a new topic in the “Projects” section to tell us how the rebuild is going and then we can help if you get stuck with anything?

Good luck with the recovery it looks like it will take a bit of digging out!

[trusty220]

……oh, and I should have said that I’m glad you got home safe and sound Andrew!

Well Done, Big Ears!

[trusty220]

Another curiosity at the show was a pedal-powered garden roller exhibited by Trevor Luckhurst of Poweroll, one of the few companies these days which specialise in sportsground rollers. Trevor has a large personal collection of old and unusual rollers which do get an airing from time to time; a personal favorite of mine is his Trusty Roller which he has just finished and shown for the first time at Truro a few weeks ago.

Definitely a case of making your hobby into a job!

Attachments:

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 

[trusty220]

The first day of the show has gone really well and plenty of membership forms have gone off the stand. It seems that plenty of groundsmen and greenkeepers are interested in “our” machinery so we’ll see in the coming weeks how many of these forms get returned!

Here are a few pictures just to show what the team achieved at the NEC. The idea behind it was to show the machinery used by IOG members over the last 75 years and it proved popular so far.

Attachments:

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 

[trusty220]

This discussion will go on for ages without reaching any final conclusions. In my experience it doesn’t matter where you draw the line somebody will object because they have just missed the cut-off.

I agree that the Bingham working days were fun and it’s a shame when these things develop into competitions because the fun aspect tends to get forgotten and the pursuit of prizes is all consuming.

[trusty220]

On all of the JAP engines that I’ve worked on I’ve found that they tend to be designed to run at governed engine speed. I’ll have to look it up but that would normally be a high idle speed of around 2500rpm (I’m working from memory, so don’t shout at me if it’s wrong!).

To achieve a tick-over speed the throttle cable is used to override the governor lever and effectively pushes the lever so that the throttle butterfly closes. When you want to increase revs you are effectively releasing the governor arm which allows the throttle butterfly to open- you don’t open the butterfly, the governor does it in an effort to achieve it’s governed speed.

It sounds complicated but it’s really very simple, it just works differently.

[trusty220]

As you say, Charlie, the vintage ruling is imposed by the Society of Ploughmen for their National Championships. On an every day basis nobody is stopping people competing with Wingets and Martin Markhams at the local ploughing matches and I have never heard of anyone being turned away because their tractor is too new- witness the amount of Kubotas and Isekis taking part. The class that people enter into at a local level is an Open class and the organisers generally want as many people in each class so that they can take their money.

The vintage ruling only comes in when people want to qualify for the Nationals. Maybe the people that want change ought to approach the Society of Ploughmen to introduce a new class (Classic Horticultural, perhaps?).

As a club our only involvement is to compile a list of competitors that comply with the S.o.P.’s criteria. Over to you, ploughmen- it’s up to you to attend the AGM of the Society and put forward a proposal for change. Any alterations have to come from them, not from us.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by trusty220.

[trusty220]

I know what you mean, Angus. The old days of the Windsor Show in September are long gone, but what a show it was! Woodchippers running, Blec digging holes and filling them in and countless mowers running on demonstration plots. One of the last ones I went to had Ransomes challenging all comers to drive their Spider remote control mower around a set course in the fastest time.

The new show at the NEC is a mere shadow of the old days, but the problem was that it cost a fortune to put on some of the old displays and the manufacturers were starting to pull out or, at best, only show every second year.

Money, or the lack of it, seems to drive everything these days unfortunately!

[trusty220]

Global Press have now invested in a new notebook and sharpened all pencils and crayons especially for the event. If all goes well it should be a good show.

[trusty220]

Well done, Andrew, for securing such a prestigious venue for showing off your collection. As stand space is at a premium in the NEC the GMA must think it important to advertise their long association with the industry. I can remember the unique displays that you put on at SALTEX when it was at Windsor Racecourse and nothing but complimentary comments were overheard.

Besides, it will be good advertising for the VHGMC as well and may introduce some new members to our club. I’m certainly looking forward to it.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by trusty220.

[trusty220]

A very rough date for your tractor will be June, 1948.

[trusty220]

Your best bet is to look on that well known online auction site for an instruction book for the JAP 5 engine. The original books come up frequently and are very concise, giving dismantling and rebuilding information as well as parts lists and exploded drawings for just about everything including the magneto and carburettor.

It would be unusual for the engine to give much trouble other than a general strip down and thorough clean inside and out. On most of the ones I’ve done I have found that lack of compression tends to be caused by sticking valves- the valve stems tend to rust and then stick in the guides which is a problem that will be cured by a thorough rebuild. If the worst happens and the engine is scrap there are more JAP 5’s on the market than any other engine, so you should always be able to find a substitute although I appreciate that you will want to keep it as original as possible.

Above all else, take your time dismantling it, clean it thoroughly and inspect everything for wear. A certain amount is permissible (and expected on a machine of this age) but you can get away with an awful lot on these engines, so don’t be too quick to throw something away. If in doubt, ASK! We don’t mind!

[trusty220]

I’m guessing that Charlie meant that the person who wrote the original post is no longer an active member, and so Merry-Tiller’s question to him is unlikely to get a reply.

It doesn’t stop anyone else from answering him, though.

[Author]

Posts