Valley Axe Man

And as a little treat to myself after seeing them at the Newark tractor show I could resist adding Brian's cantatore version of the Nuffield 345 and a 4wd version of the cabbed Leyland 384, was rude not to really seeing as they were there sat awaiting my hard earned

Also under the tree as a gift off my mum was one of Brian's freshly released cabbed Leyland 384's

Couple of recent additions from the fat fella with the white beard and red suit..... Firstly off my better half a 345 seeing as earlier in the year my real one headed up to Durham before more recently made its way down to Malton... Anyhow during last year Brian recreated Nuffields 3 cylinder so was a nice surprise to find under the tree....

Just a bit more tricky than mild steel Sean... As need use 309 welding rods for the dissimilar metals, plus the stainless will move more with heat when welded rather than normal steel...

Yes there's a good few hours to put in her but once it's done it's done.. and by the time we get it finished I'll have taught Gemma to weld. Will make a good tractor when tidied up, I'm just unsure of how many oil leaks will develop once it's up on the go with it being stood a while

Seeing as it's bank holiday Monday I thought I'd take advantage of a few more hours stripping the 472, side windows out, roof lifted, offside mudguard removed to reveal full extent of the tin worm, then front quarter lights popped out along with windscreen to allow repairs to cladding to frame joints where waters got in and blown the joints apart, will drill out the spot welds around the windscreen panel as and clean the mating surfaces before s lick of primer and then weld them back together, same with the quarter light panels, although they were stitch welded and not seam sealed... But whilst it's at this stage might as well tidy it up and make it right.... Just sat down with a brew and a couple of left over mince pies and I work out the bend allowances so I can refabricate the cab tin work under the side window and mudguard... Progress will slow down abit now as back at work tomorrow.... But at least that gives me the scope to make the panels I need and get a box of welding rods and some cutting discs for the big remove the rot campaign 👍👍

Hahaha.. well it solves most issues John... You can give big taps with a little hammer and struggle or you can give little taps with a big hammer.... 😉

Cab cladding removed, floor plates unbolted and removed to gain better access for the brake slave cylinders and linkages, brakes stripped and cleaned up, just need a couple of fresh clevis pins and some dust seals from Charnleys next week and brakes can go back together..

Thanks Smithy, had a couple of hours at her today whilst Gemma's been at work... Surprisingly where I'd expect to find rot there's good metal, though to be fair Leyland did use thick plate in certain areas, the cab floor for instance is 6,mm plate .. the only rotten bits are where the wing tops meet the inner wing, like it's been a big moisture trap and blown it's self out with rust... The 1" box section runner that acts as the lower window frame support has a good bit of pittng in it but will chop it out and replace it as a matter of course, but rest of frame is solid with the usual hammer test...

Yes she came with a set of doors and a back window too, doors have suffered badly, frames aren't bad but skins have gone although I think you can get a skin repair kit to just cut out and weld in. There would be a bit of cost in sandblast and paint but long-term might be the right way, meanwhile what I repair can have a cost of red lead and be left until I know she's right... The Pavt wheels are an option on the 4 potters, as well as the 6's, was a 472 used by Leyland as s publicity stunt at the launch of the synchro range, they gave it s rack of weights out front, and water ballasted pavt rears and then hung a 4 furrow plough on the back... Nowt special about a 72hp Tractor pulling 4 furrows I hear you say.. but to spice things up they chained a 3 furrow equipped 262 synchro behind the 472 and left the 262 dead to act as extra anchorage.... The 472 took the lot, 7 furrows and 3 ton of dead 262 up the field... Which to be fair is pretty good by anyone's standards for a 72 horse tractor... Pure long stroke torque and traction in action 👍

Thanks Justin, she's a straight old bus but needs a bit of tin worm sorting in the sheet steel parts of the cab... Frame is solid just the tins gone where water has sat between the overlapped panels and not got away. She runs well though, and despite being 10 horse less than the 804 shell grip every bit as good with those weighty pavt wheels. First job though has to be sort the brakes out. Updates as we get stuck in 👍

Cheers Mike, will get her mechanically right and run her for a while and see if anything develops before thinking of painting her up but should make a nice pair with the 804

Well start of a New Year and start of a joint project with Gemma... A.k.a "project22" it's come from a local Leyland and Nuffield collector as an unfinished project, a spot of haulage by the little fella wanting a bit of hungry haulage with his Fastrac, but all being well despite her needing a bit of work she'll hopefully be on the road by the back half of the year

Just want to wish all forum members on here that we know and all those that we don't a Happy and Healthy New Year, let 2022 be full of smiles and laughter and good memories 😉

Cheers Graham... Aye no fear I've a few still on my waiting to find list yet 👍

It were John... There's a lot of Leylands and Leyland bits up there some too far gone but got told if it's on 4 wheels it'll run.... there's a nice pair of 698 VT engines basically a good turbo version of the 6 pot Leyland engine that run but won't part with them .... would have loved to get photos but he's not do keen on that. Although once the recent project has had a bath I think a few photos of that might be in order 😉

How the hell did I miss seeing this.... That's going to end up some real tidy layout (even without the tractors) you've certainly got hidden talents John and it's great to see them being used 👍

The only explorer cabbed 6 pot Marshalls were the 100 series Nigel.

Oh hell aye John.... You not lost your magic touch 😍 another beauty from Bathgate! Was in a shed yesterday with a 285 synchro with a knackered gearbox, sat along side a 10 speed silver stripe 2100 and a 2100 Synchro.... A 282, pair of 272s a 245, 253, plus a handful of Nuffields...whilst trying to source a couple of missing items for a recent project... Wasn't a successful search in terms of quality but the items found might be salvageable with a few hours work

A couple more photos appeared on the old Facebook of us heading back into town

Thanks Smithy, aye it should help alot, was a good night overall and a bit of fun, Me and Gemma already started making plans for next year's run, going to up the light numbers to a minimum of 2000 per tractor, as we went yesterday and in the half price sales bought another 1800 lights.... 👌

Little update from the Young Farmers, this year's tractor run has raised just shy of £8000 and hopefully by the New Year will have passed the £8k mark... A great amount that will do a bit of good 🙂

Oooooh well I found a couple of additional brochures in my Christmas bag this morning care of my better half Gemma, including a 302, 482 with both spec sheets included, a Marshall dealer poster, an industrial and highway range brochure and an international drott 110b, much appreciated Gemma, keep feeding my habit for bits of sales literature 😉

Just want to wish all forum members a Merry Christmas, some of you on here know me and Gemma, most don't, but from us both to you all we hope you have a Happy and Healthy Christmas from here in the Valley, enjoy the food, enjoy the drinks but most of all enjoy the company of family and good friends.... And don't forget the sprouts 😉😂

Was tempting enough to pull up but thought better of it, wouldn't have looked good a snowman brawling on a tractor run 😉