Valley Axe Man

Thanks Stan... Its not an accurate conversion by any means of the marque but like you say not something you see every day. Glad it brings a few memories for you 🙂

Early dart from work on a Friday....,.Think she's about ready for the run to Carlisle 🙂

Cheers Sjaak.... I still do the odd one from time to time, though the other blue is where my true passion lays 🙂

Bit of a axle swap job.... Late nights early morning in workshop...... 4wd conversion on a 7000.... Bit of a bitsa, Selene style axle, centre mounted drive line, flat centre knave plate rims.... Power steering.... Heading to Carlisle this weekend

I'll be there with Gemma and a few Leyland and Nuffield models

Yes your right Smithy, one of the symptoms of that is that the wheel will spin as the oil flows through unit until you put bit of pressure to hold it still, lad who rebuilt the orbital unit for my old (now Matt's ) 802 gave me a lesson in the job but since he's no longer with us I know the lad that got his mandrels so I'll go to him rather than pay the 275 plus the vat for a new un.... That's all assumed that it's the seals that have gone and not the sealing surfaces that are worn in which case the new unit will be the only way.......

A couple of hours investigation work carried out on thowd 804, a good wash and then a bit of a run up the lane to the college and back has found the source of the oil leaks, wrongly diagnosed assuming it was the rear crank seal but actually the engine oil leak is from the rocker cover gasket and oil dribbling down rear if the engine block and along the lower chassis to the underside of clutch housing giving the impression of a crank seal failure, this alone wasn't the full cause of the volume of oil leaked as further investigation fount the orbital unit is leaking up the splines that the steering column slides into, contributing to the oil under the tractor.... That's not too big of an issue as know a man with the mandrel to get the seals in the unit without damaging them.... Also found the right hand half shaft seal leaking and theres a weep from around the PTO but that's been weeping for 5 years..... So a few jobs to do but not as major as I thought..... Which is a bonus 🙂

Cracking stuff again John, hopefully we get to see some more of your work at Carlisle in a couple of weeks?

Looks like your managing to get a bit away Smithy, you still look as busy as usual despite the weather being against you... Breakfast looks a good do though 👍

Currently sat waiting at A&E at Blackburn Hospital with Gemma and my mum, waiting for my mum to be patched up after a burst Vein in her ankle.... Slow progress tonight, got here just after midnight and 3 and half hours later we still sat waiting her turn with the doctor.....

After a week away ( of which I did spot one 4wd Marshall between Pitlochry and Inverness off the A9 ) the sun was shining nicely this morning after a little frost first thing so thought it be good to get the toys out and let them see a bit of sunshine 🙂 considering I not been up to the yard in a while they all went first turn... The beauty of a 4/98, if it turns it'll start 🙂 next on the list of jobs over the winter months will be tackle the rear crank seal on the 804 and possibly delve into the brake housings for a bit of a look..... Meanwhile I've had an offer of a few parts that might be useful at a later date........but all will be revealed once I been over the border with the ifor in tow 😉 VID_20231015_115024.mp4

Few more photos from our trip up north

Not long home from a week away touring the Scottish Highlands in my Defender with my better half Gemma, covered 1510 miles since we left home last Friday morning, visited Isle of Skye, Inverness, John o groats, the battlefield of Culloden, went Nessie spotting on Loch Ness, had a few hours wandering about Urquhart castle, dropped by Ullapool and returned home via Glencoe, been a good week only really spoilt by bad weather last Sunday but we no control in that... Gemma even found a new friend on Skye, VID_20231011_111651.mp4

The youth aren't like we were..... makes you wonder how some survive in every day life let alone the work place environment......

Fair old collection there Smithy.... will have taken a good few years collecting that lot up

It is Justin, but I know what you mean with things changing, the young lads now aren't as keen they don't seem to want to get on and learn from old hands.... their attitude at times doesn't help, not that you can give them a crack with a hammer shaft on the elbow anymore.... they seem to get away with I'm not doing that, health and safety say I can't pick that up it's too heavy.... or it's not my job....... the old ways never did us any harm, one youth came and we set him on drilling a Volvo chassis for a set of rear bumper drops we showed him how to use drill and set him away whilst we carried on..... 45 mins later he still drilling, then he drilling but not making any progress at all...... so a further 20 mins we went to have a look at why an hour in he hadn't drilled the dozen holes only to find he managed to flip the drill into reverse and hadn't noticed and couldn't work out why it wasn't drilling...... We did say to management that it's time the youths need to do a aptitude test to see they understand a little bit of basic principles otherwise the current new starters probably still need be shown how to tie their boot laces

Cheers Smithy, to be honest it doesn't seem like I been there that long..... but now getting time to think back there's been a hell of a lot of change in them years from Massey through to Crosslands today. 🤣 Yes hope Gemma doesn't get used to flowers like that all the time.... although I maybe should have brought the flowers home and said I'd bought another tractor 🤣.........I should think the meal voucher would cover the food, might need to add a bit to pay for a drink on top but it's not a bad surprise gift..... just wondering what we'll get for 25 years at Crosslands

Thanks James, aye you can't beat a bit of old knowledge, but unfortunately once it's out the door to pastures new you can't replace it..... I'll be the longest serving now in the chassis shop, and not wanting to big myself up but there isn't anyone else in the workshop that has the same knowledge of the jobs I do. Thompson's be abit more interesting than Wheelbase I'd have thought, but we could do with a right designer....just this week I got given a drawing for the location of a VBG drawbar hitch which if fitted in designer intended position would only give the close coupled trailers A frame the width of the chassis rails on the truck to articulate left and right and didn't much allow for any pitch or roll....... hence why I do say that CAD is short for Crayola Aided Design 🤣

Was a nice surprise John, and too be fair your right on both counts.... it is nice to be appreciated but saying that there is a high turn over of staff, I bet there's been nigh on a dozen leave this year so far.... but yet the replacement staff aren't what you call right for the job...... not quite sure why we all got flowers though.....

Bit of a surprise at work today, it's 20 years since Crossland took over Massey Tankers, there's only a handful of us ex Massey men left now, I started as an apprentice back in 1995 the Monday morning after my last GCSE exam and been there ever since, Crosslands took over in September 2003 so as a thank you for our 20 years service to Crosslands we got gifted some flowers and a card that was signed by the management and included a voucher for a meal out..... have to say job has its ups and downs but keeps the cash coming in. Maybes I'll stick at it for another couple of years 🤣🤣

Had a quick hour and a catch up at this morning at this year's Wray tractor gathering, a few photos below.....just missed John JMD and his wife Joanne as we passed them on road headed towards Hornby on the Lancaster road and I took me a minute to work out who was flashing their car headlights at us 😂

Looks like you been busy again Smithy, the Nuffield sounds well 😉

Well 5 years ago this happened at Slaidburn and the Hodder show when the 804 won her first rosette.... fast forward 5 years until today and unfortunately this year we are unable to take either the 804 or the 472 on its first show there.. the 472 is running hotter than I'd like, I've changed the thermostat and it's still warmer than I'd like next port of call is to check the water pump before then looking further, although she isn't bubbling the radiator or giving signs that the head Gasket has gone...... meanwhile whilst yesterday's time at the workshop was spent trying to cool the 472, it wasn't until I came to move the 804 back into the shed that there was a tell tale sign on the concrete of the yard that the rear crank seal has cried enough (possibly on last weekends road run) with the rather large oil leak out of the chassis drain hole beneath the clutch......oh well.... looks like a lot of work over the coming months to get them both back to full health

Like John says what we had was good... But that made you sort of feel like you could have just fancied seconds..... Nice bits of steak in it Smithy.... Could have gone a second helping no bother 😋

Cheers Smithy, yep your right, massive boxes for a relatively small model... Still not got them unboxed yet but I think they be a good job 👍