Valley Axe Man

Aye well spotted John, they were in field behind Martins

Bit of silage afoot at farm behind the yard this afternoon.... VID_20220522_140131.mp4

Managed a couple of hours up at the yard this dinner time, got the pick up hitch frame cleaned up and painted after making a fresh pair of pivot pins to sit between the frames, but further work is needed on the latch for the hitch lock as the lever is snapped off the latch pivot pin and possibly the latch fork needs building up with a bit more weld.... But anyhow that'll be for another visit, steering pipes removed where the outer coating has cracked over time and exposed the steel reinforcement, not necessarily a problem at present but could be in the future so the best prevention of a future burst hose is replacement, not too much of an issue as I can make my own replacement hoses at work and the bonus is the fittings aren't anything fancy just standard 60 cone BSP thread.... So that be dinner times job this next few days. And just before headed home I threw the front wheels back on, just to get them out of the road for now

No bother Smithy, was just a quick run out, would have liked to have gone down to Malvern but other things on so it was handy really to get to a local rally for an hour. I know what you mean there is a great variation between the tractors there, and like you say it's how the man measuring up the models takes what he sees as gospel.... Bit like Gemma's 804.... Wrong mirrors, wrong weights, wrong colour wheels, but yet it's a good honest tractor.....

Your spot on John, just after the garage as you take the slip road for Kendal the show is on the left, in the field straight in front of the 77 farm.... That Dexta that Harry used to have running about at Steamfair with ftf on the reg plate surprisingly turned up, looks to have been painted again since The Slater's put it in the sale at Dave Martin's show the year after Harry passed, good to see it's still out and about, plus Butty van weren't bad, if service a bit slow.... 3 bacon, 3 sausage, 2 slices of black pudding and an egg on a large t-cake for £6....👍

Aye certainly out numbered the rest of the tractor line up Justin, was a few other bits and bobs about but just what caught my eye got a shot with the camera

Had an hour out up at Kendal's Vintage Metals bit of a do for an hour with Gemma, good to catch up with a few folk. Here's a few photos.

Managed another few hours up at the shed with Gemma this afternoon, front wheels top coated, floor refit and new rivnuts fitted to bolt them down, steps refit and top coated, hydraulic casting given a dose of dark blue at the same time, Gemma then made up a pair of replacement linkages for the quadrant after deciding the old ones had been codged up a few times, so out with a bit of 5mm round bar and the die nut. Then seeing as the sun was shining she had the 465 out for a couple of laps of the yard whilst I pulled the pick up hitch in bits for a bit of fettling on the pivots and hitch latch.... VID_20220508_163247.mp4 VID_20220508_163058.mp4

Managed a few hours up at the shed yesterday afternoon, progress been a bit slow of late with last weekend trip up north and not much free time during the week but anyhow quadrant housing cross shaft removed and the seized spool levers removed after being left soaked in a bit of diesel for a fortnight.... Old remains of levers ground off and new bent up and welded back on, made with removable upper sections to make it easier on refit once back on the tractor.... After early concerns that the spool block it self was seized it's turned out to be a cheap fix, a quick check with a pressure guage on the block and the spool piped into shunter at work gave a pressure relief valve setting of 2400psi so I'm happy at that, a little lower than the 2500psi stated in the figures of the workshop manual but close enough for me and it's intended future.... Hopefully manage a couple more hours this weekend but really need a shopping trip to procure some more parts ....

Cheers Smithy, was Gemma's idea to take the 2wd tractors on the left and the 4wds to the right, and she also picked out the Howard spreader and Weeks Tanker too, for her first time going to a model show and not knowing quite what it was going to be like as well, I think she done well 🙂yes it's good that the shows are getting going again

Thanks Jan, hopefully get a few of the other models out to another show soon 🙂

Cheers Justin, aye it seemed strange gathering them up before we set off up the road, had almost forgot what it was like doing a show but yes was good to get some of them back out again, next outing for some will be tractor fest at Newby Hall as our local rally aren't having a model or craft tent this year for some reason....

Good to catch up with a few folk that we not seen in a while 🙂

And here's us thinking you would have been busy with the lambs.... Certainly good to see your latest additions, buildings look good too

Some more fantastic work there John, weathered nicely too 👍

Seeing as it's almost been 2 years since any of the collection see light of day at a show we took a slack handful of RJNs out of storage and headed north up to the North East model farm and construction show at Newmacher at the weekend just past, anyhow gave the Defender a good stretch of its legs and had a decent show, maybe lacking in a few more exhibitors and traders but all in all a good weekend had up north and well done to Andy and the two Brian's for getting a show going again

Hellish update there Smithy you certainly hardly stopped these past few weeks.... Little Leyland looks tidy enough and straight enough 👍

Cheers Justin yes she's a good un 👍 just that reputation about them of bad build quality, vague steering band even vaguer brakes, but yet the steering and brakes are as good as any other make if looked after and adjusted properly, yes wet brakes with the harvest gold's were a massive improvement over the dry brakes in the blue ones but the dry ones can be good if you just keep on top of them with the adjusting spanner. Too many looked down on Leylands as a poor man's tractor....

Cheers Justin aye she doesn't run bad for an old Leyland 👍

Cheers Smithy, aye she's starting to look more like a tractor again, still a few more little jobs to do with the spanners, one of the track rod ends is a bit ropey so will do that as a matter of course as will also change the gearbox and back end oil and both filters, engine oil and filter been done, so that a job off the list....

Bit more done this weekend, new loom pulled in, but dash loom and overhead switch panel loom need a bit of repair in places, good news is wiper motor is still free and runs nice, so once the loom repaired up top that's a job off the list, spools were thought to be seized but removed them and they both free both ways, further investigation found linkage is seized up so that's on the list to fettle.... Front hubs and swivels cleaned off primed and top coated as with the underside of the trumpets and the underside of the back end.... Finally the rear side windows were dropped back in to check fit after all the work the cab has had done. VID_20220424_105208.mp4

Dropped by the yard for a couple of hours this afternoon, and just had to do a little experiment, seeing as she had been laid up a long time before I got my hands on her, I wondered if the engine had suffered any so I balance a washer on her rocker cover whilst she running... Goes to show a 4/98 thats done a shade over 5000 hours on the clock and been looked after still runs smooth, guess Leyland knew what they were doing with the 5 main bearing crank and the use of balancer gears.... 👌👍 VID_20220423_135205.mp4

An early start for a training course this morning.... But meant an early finish so duly meant it gave me an hour spare to pull the old loom out of the 472.....new one ready to refit over the weekend

Looks like your making a good bit of progress with your shed John 👍 from what I seen of the clips of the truck run it was well supported but don't know how much they made for the MS society....

Wiring looms picked up today by my better half Gemma..... Very much appreciated too, and also a great service from Charnleys.... Hopefully get the looms clipped in place this weekend 👍