[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi Gavan
Thanks for reply. Have seen some of your youtube clips. .. and planned on tracking you down in new year. Looking forward to getting to do some ploughing soon…..certainly not too serious !!! and meeting at upcoming events.
Am from Carlow and saw these machines in action for first time at ploughing match here in Sept. Am really intrigued with these 80 year old machines and how well they were made.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Fairly certain that pulling the sleeve and sprocket off is the way to go. Atco used a similar system on cutting cylinder drives right through to “modern” Atco 24s. Unless one knows, that hex sleeve just invites the application of the biggest ring spanner in in the box and I’ve seen them actually twisted. I’ve got a few damaged ones that I use for driving cylinders on the grinder.

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[vhgmcbuddy]

Me and JR renewed for another year. Thanks for all you do for the club and us Charlie and committee. Happy New Year everyone.

[vhgmcbuddy]

I’m now looking at your image on the PC which is a lot clearer than on the ipad when I did my last post. By the looks of it the ratchet is part of the sprocket – or at least fixed to it. It certainly leads me to believe that the hex component will be either keyed of splined to the roller shaft and will draw off. Unfortunately the only parts books that I can find for that era show a slightly different design of ratchet and as far as I can see the OLC archive does not show your design either.
I suggest getting a couple of pry bars behind the sprocket and try levering it away from the side plate / roller. However if it doesn’t show signs of moving before the sprocket starts to distort, STOP.
Do post an image of the parts that you have removed – presumably the “other half” of the ratchet / dog clutch and what ever holds it on.

[vhgmcbuddy]

NO don’t attack it with an impact driver, damage it and there’s no going back.
Am I right in thinking that as it is shown in your image the sprocket is free to turn ( not connected to the roller) and that the ratchet is part of, or fixed to the sprocket ?
If that is so, please post an image of the parts that you have already removed from that area. Preferably a better quality image.
I believe that the hexagonal sleeve is splined to the roller shaft and will draw off , possibly with some gentle levering from behind the sprocket. Any levering should be done from as near to the centre as possible to avoid distorting it, but a look at what you have removed will help to establish if that is so.

[vhgmcbuddy]

the Howard 700 is probably more rightly called a ‘Clifford-Howard 700’ rather than its decal name of ‘Howard-Clifford 700’.

Compare to the Clifford Mk IV and the basic design history is evident,
think of the 700 as actually a Clifford MK V,
with a Yeoman type quick hitch,
and suddenly the development cost is mainly about size and power balancing,
it is not a whole new type of machine.

While its short production run is sad, the 800 is sadder,
and possibly gives us a clue as why the 700 run was short,
the 800 never went into full production because the actual cost of production was going to be too high, this implies that the similar type of machine 700 also had a high cost of production.

I also am surprised that the 700 did not continue in production for a couple more years,
considering that it was in production, and a significant portion of the market did choose to buy them.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Such an innovative machine and so versatile with all the attachments. It must have cost a fortune in development, then only to last a few years. Howard must have lost a packet on the 700 project. Despite availability of other Howard machines, still surprising they didn’t give it a longer run. Judging by the number of Villiers engine 700s still available it must have sold reasonably well in its short production run.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Berry Croft stores is still very much alive and kicking, catering for horticultural growers and local gardeners. I used to buy Strawberry punnets and suchlike from there. When I last used them they were still based in quite an old building, probably the same they used in the 1960s. It was the sort of place that may well have had cupboards and filing cabinets stuffed with old sales records and invoices!

[vhgmcbuddy]

That’s great, many thanks. Just the engine to go to complete the restoration, luckily recently run I think and kept in the dry.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi Tom,
Whereabouts in Ireland are you based. I am based in County Meath there is a few of us, can be up to six that plough with Anzani’s and trusty’s at the different county ploughing matches around ireland. We also have a class in the all ireland. Most of us don’t take it too seriously and just enjoy the day out doing some ploughing with these old machines and attracting some interest and attention as they do look unusual. I included a link below to the Louth ploughing match where we ploughed.

Thanks
Gavan Duffy

[vhgmcbuddy]

At least twenty years old. Quality kit and actually a simple design and easy but heavy to work on.
Plenty of used parts available and standard off the shelf bearings etc. Should you be tempted to fit a more modern engine, stop and consider that the MAG suited the centrifugal clutch in that it would tick over below the bite point but would recover and not bog down when it was time to move off. Many modern engines didn’t like the low rpm needed to disengage the clutch so Ransomes had to fit special build reverse rotation lumps with the drive taken of the half speed cam shaft.
Half choke. Possibly just needs a thorough carburettor clean.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Chris , memory isn’t what it was , but I seem to recall that you simply undo the nut (left hand thread) and the sprocket pulls away by hand.

If anyone has an illustrated parts list and the end of the cutting cylinder looks to be splined or keyed it is likely that the above is correct.

[vhgmcbuddy]

while we are looking for unusual 700 attachments, keep an eye out for a pair of small car mudguards hanging on a nearby shed wall, see pic from a promotional road run…

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[vhgmcbuddy]

“I’d guess by 1963 Howard had stopped production of the 700, probably explaining short run of the conversion.”
yes roatavator,
that would be right.

I am slightly confused as what exactly is meant regarding date of last 700,
one way to read this list would be to have the listed serial number as first in 1961,
but other way is to prioritise statement of the 1961 number being last made,
so it could have been anytime during that year, with no listing of first for that year.

Either way, no more after 1961.

when reading the service notes, it would seem they were full of problems, but mostly I hear they are great machines to use.

it is my guess that they were only discontinued to make way for the 800 production line?

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[vhgmcbuddy]

MERL? yes please, can I have a list of the contents of the pictures/negatives?
unless they are labelled, it would be pointless asking someone who doesn’t know RHL products for an opinion of what the machines might be.

https://rdg.ent.sirsidynix.net.uk/client/en_GB/merl/search/results?qu=rotary+hoes+ltd&te=&lm=MERL2

https://www.reading.ac.uk/adlib/Details/archive/110178815

ages ago I purchased scans of 3 of their Howard brochures,
1 has since turned up in paper form, all good.

I thought I had another photo of a HH700 tractor towing a trolley, as part of some report, but cant find it. did find screenshots of Bootsowen youtube of brochures, which includes the same brochure as I have.

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