[vhgmcbuddy]

Me and Rolo with the blown Monro.

[vhgmcbuddy]

After posting my reply re your gangs something was bothering me and then the penny eventually dropped (age thing!) – they appear to hitched up the wrong way round!. It’s more usual to have the single unit leading. That sent me burrowing through the manuals but all I could find is an operators manual for the very early units where their Antelope ancestry is very apparent. Looks as though your hitch may have originally been for a five set rather than a three. Anyway it may be of interest

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s4io0a0f5au44c2/Ransomes%20Junior%20Gangs0001.pdf

On the wobbly wheel issue I am wondering whether as they have a cast wheel running on a steel (hardened?) pin that the wear is more likely to be in the wheels. If the pins mic’ up more or less standard would an option be to put oilite bushes into the wheels. If you go the new pin route you would probably have to true up the bores in the wheels anyway.
Just a thought!
In the early 80s when the councils were changing from cylinder mowers to rotaries we could buy as many Antelopes as we wanted and in quiet times used to make up hitches etc and sell them as gang sets. Fortunately there was a guy in Worthing who had a thing about Sloper engines and would take them all to re-engine 17″ Suffolks etc. As you might guess we didn’t bid against each other!

[vhgmcbuddy]

Just an update to this project.
I installed a new coil (they took ages to arrive into the country hence the delay) and the machine now starts and runs really well.
I took the advice and changed the main bearings. TO be honest, they probably didn’t need doing, but once it was all apart it seemed silly not to.

So apart from a coat of paint (unlikely) and a small oil leak from the rear gearbox, all systems go.

Thanks for all the advice and for the great resource.

Cheers,
Jim

[vhgmcbuddy]

Problem solved. I have just purchased a bag of 10 x 1/2″UNF LH thread half nuts from McGill Motorsport in Scotland. (apparently they are used on Rose Joints on racing cars)

Although only half nuts they are actually quite thick and two used together should work fine.

[vhgmcbuddy]

If I remember correctly, its the rare version which could swing both ways.
All the brackets etc for the handles were missing & the swivel parts which connect it to the scythe.
A guy who I knew who had it in is collection. It came from cheffins donkeys years ago!
Sadly my mate died in an accident. The collection was sold & I brought all of the allen scythe section which included this sweeper & the other items Ade was selling. I had to buy the whole lot to get what I wanted.

PM me your email & I will see what info I have on the sweeper

[vhgmcbuddy]

i bought from a chap from Petworth near Guildford.
I would like to fit to one of my scythes but have not got a clue how to fit it.
I have just been browsing through here and i see that Karl Buckingham has one in is crank-up pictures ,hopefully he will send me some closeups of how it fits.
cheers Stuart

[vhgmcbuddy]

yes i did are you the one that modified it

[vhgmcbuddy]

Sorted! When I reconnected the throttle lever I failed to turn the governor shaft to the right before tightening the nut. It’s running very nicely now.

All I need to do now is sort the leaky carb and find out why it stalls in high gear.

Time spent fiddling is time well spent!

C

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[vhgmcbuddy]

Would you have brought that from evil bay??

If yes then I sold it to the guy who you got it from!

[vhgmcbuddy]

Thanks for the info Angus. There is some play on some of the wheels.

I do have some spare parts. If not I can get local machine shop to make me some new shafts up for the wheels to turn on

I have seen a set in the past with sprockets on the cylinders

[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi all, every couple of months i get to spend a bit of time looking at forums.
i also would appreciate some more pics of working setups of linkages, especially if known to be original.
i am into Howards myself, but couldnt resist a Barford Atom 15 when i saw it at a local auction about 18 months ago, i think it was the neat decals got me…
my cable has same shiny silver spring loaded inner cable returner / tensioner, as on Charlies 15, and also the Mechanical Gardener on another forum. it fell apart when trying to free it up, about 20 or 25 mm of the spring has rusted of and is still inside the tube. at first i thought your springs might be too big, but when i looked at mine again to get you some pictures, it is the same.
most notable is that i have a small flat linkage in the U shackle part of shiny end. this linkage still has traces of red paint on both sides, so i like to believe it is original.
motor also has a long fine threaded adjustable bolt with a small hole, presumably for a spring, in the centre mounting spigot. i expect there ought to be 2 tension springs connecting to the governor arm somehow. i think the Shez’ picture image17 must come close.
some pics of my 15 and the shiny returner with linkage. the Barford has many more items in need of TLC…
bye rmtalbany

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[vhgmcbuddy]

In Trouble again.
Took Monro to Kellsall weekend , soon as we hit the dirt engine stopped suddenly and then refused to start , after lots of pulls on rope I noticed the odd time it would kick back so I thought with the sudden shock could the timming have slipped .

After stripping off the covers and cylinder head sure enough the timing was well out ,after resetting and rebuild the engine started first pull but know my clutch refused to operate and upon removing the cover I found the drive plate had all broken up so that was me out of the game although my mate Geraint let me plough wit his BMB Cult Mate.

The photos show the busted clutch and also the cowl where there never seems to have been an ID plate , does this make it an early machine.

Charlie could you fix us up with MT70 drive plate and MT 23 Ferodo disc to get us back on the road ?

Best Regards Swampy

[vhgmcbuddy]

Specifically these are J5 gangs, based Antelope units, some of the early versions even still had the sprockets on the left end of the cylinders. Make sure that there is no wheel wobble which, if not attended to, will lead to the drive pinions destroying themselves and the ring gears cast into the insides of the wheels. Both the pinions and the wheels are getting hard to find so it may be worth inspecting them all sooner rather than later.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Good job hes not wearing a kilt Dave!

[vhgmcbuddy]

Managed to remove the jets using a radiator key. Just in case anyone needs to know in the future, the pilot jet is size 40 and the main jet size 70.

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