Valley Axe Man

Certainly looks drier down there with you than it has been up here with us Smithy

Update on the 804, had a few hours up the shed and had dash out to cure the split feed pipe to the clutch master cylinder, job done and wheel slave cylinders removed for new seals after i noticed they'd started weeping abit... Dash in, Dash out, pipe pointed at, get the brake cylinders back on tomorrow then can try and make a start on the minor jobs on the 345

Cheers Martin, Aye be good to let her have an appearance somewhere before the shows are over for this year.... mmmm sounds as though you know something that i don't be it a Synchro, a 4100 or a JWD

Cheers Justin i didn't set out to buy her but the price was right for what she is, and she's abit different having the single door Duncan on her, as well as being the 3 cylinder version, when launched there wasn't alot between the 345 and 465 pricewise so alot of folk went for the bigger tractor, and like you say serves a purpose for a smaller trailerable tractor to travel with

Cheers Sean, still a few about that put in a days graft, my old major is currently sat in the woods with a 3 point boughton winch on it pulling a few sticks out, if the rain gives up i should go and get a few photo's of it

Nice job Martin, canny mate you have that came up with that idea

cheers John, no i've no plans to paint her up, will leave her as is, although the bonnet will need paint once i've got round to repairing it. hopefully will get a nice match or find a better original bonnet top to replace it to save paint. Is that the same collection you were telling me about at Newby Hall?, a JWD be nice but like i say will need a lotto win on that one, would be happy with a tidy Syncro from 78 and think that'll do for the full sized collection, 2 tractors needing work, and my 804 will have it's dash out later today for me to cure that leaking clutch feed pipe... less stressful than being at work , and being up at the shed keeps me out the way of all the folk coming into town today for the food festival that takes over the town center every August

it would be a major crime to have to sell off some of your collection John, i'm sure you'll find somewhere to store them

A few projects there John, looking good though but have you factor'd in that once you've got all these finished that you've enough shelf space to store them??

Agree with you there John, at least Zac can set to in anger knowing she's a fit tractor for a bit of hard graft, done once done right, job done and forget about it.

Ok i know i said there wouldn't be any tractors joining the 804 and 802 for a while, a chat with a mate over a brew at Longridge and Goosnargh ag, and the words "Doug's got a cheap little tractor forsale" led to further enquires but anyhow this sort of just happened ..... a '69 Nuffield 345, with 5800hrs on her, believed to be supplied by Thomas Corrie at Dumfries in 1969, whereabouts unknown until late 90's when it lived on the Scottish Borders near Carlisle, then it moved down to North Lancashire via Hexham Mart machinery sale in 2005 when it was put to work on Doug's small holding... so after a couple of cups of coffee, a blast up the lane and a couple of kicks of the tyres, a handshake was given and a bit of haulage with my Defender had her back at the shed...... couple of known faults but curable, more so in hours to do them rather than parts, tinwork isnt bad bonnet needs abit of work, common watertrap has a bit of tinworm, will sort it sometime. I guess all i need now is a Bathgate Blue and i've a tractor from every branch of the Nuffield Leyland and Marshall story.... unless i win the lotto and manage to find a JWD

Cracking photo's Martin

384 Bray, Nice tractor Gavin

A pair of Leyland 154 brochures, with Nuffield still on the 154 badge i reckon this dates these to around early 1970

Looked a great day for it Justin

Nice 604 there Smithy thanks for sharing your photo's ... would be a nice addition to the 804 in the shed, quite a few of the 602/604's got tweeaked up to 70hp as the engine was a derated version in this range, and for a bit of a saving over the 702/704 a tweek at the pump got you the bigger tractor at cheaper cost, with a livelier engine as the 4/98dt had different pistons to the nt tractor engine, a good mate Mr Woodhouse had a Dt with the pump and turbo kit off an 4/98tt (804) on it and he said it would out perform the standard 804 and also the 804 that he'd put a 6 cylinder 6/98 in when he was running Marshalls in his contracting fleet. The 844 be another as i don't think many of the Steyr badged engineered Marshalls got a away, was a bit to late and a half hearted attempt to try and get Marshall a few sales...

Ahh thought that's where the likes of the BT roadless would be bound Sean.... There's a bloke over Ripon way that's into a bit of cable moleing, and locally theres a bloke with a big modern Fergy and a plough for putting in plastic water pipe for farmers, although the bloke who used to do a lot of that work had an old Major with a winch on and used to winch the mole towards the tractor rather than need a big 4wd, he did miles of waterpipe that way over the years before his retirement

Cheers Sean, Thought you'd shed abit of light on the G.P.O. side of the story, do you ever remember much cable getting mole'd in in rural locations rather than going over the top on poles?

Had an hour or two at Brian's yesterday morning having a bit of a disscussion about future builds that would have an order or two attached to them , meanwhile the above standard 10/60 4wd winch tractor that i collected for my mate Martin was duly added into the build programme and i brought a pair of pre-ordered 10/60's home with me in the guise of a 2wd and 4wd Forestry Commission green winch tractors, one a 2wd the other a 4wd. In one of the Nuffield books, back in the day the G.P.O had taken some green Nuffield winch tractors into their fleet which i'm thinking would have been for cabling works... Also hot off the press was Brian's latest "Mudder" model which Brian actually brought 3 identical tractors into the UK from America back in the early 1990's, seen in the flesh yesterday it's a heavy model and something a bit different for David Brown and Case fans http://www.rjnclassictractors.co.uk/?Product_Range:Case_DB_995_Veg_Special_Mudder

Like Smithy says, some very good photo's there Martin, nice set of '74 based tractors

Well it's 12 months since the 804's first outing to Goosnargh and Longridge Ag, on reflection it hasn't been a bad 12 months, 25hrs clocked, a couple of small faults that appeared with a bit of use but nothing major, a surprise 3rd and Highly commended rosettes under her belt, a lot of positive comments and the odd negative one, but hey she is what she is and i'm proud of her If anyone asked me if i'd have another 804 i'd definatley say yes, but i think i'd prefer an XL the extra 8" in the wheelbase would make her a little less bouncey on the road but anyhow i can't see her getting another stablemate anytime soon, i'd best get cracked on and try and get my 802 back on the road... then next year they both might be at Goosnargh and Longridge show and my 802 will be able to stand along side Anthony's

A couple more additions to the collection, firstly a good find thanks to John (JMD) a spec sheet for the Marshall 100 that has the added specs for the 115 on it, my other one only has the 100 spec, and secondly a Leyland skid unit parts book along with a pair of handbooks for the Harvest gold 4 cylinder Leyland's with the QM cab (leyland square cab) and cabless export versions

A photo of rolling the clamp with both your Kramers side by side would have been a nice touch Martin, seems to be more in the clamp now then when the 339 was parked in there though haha, Looks to be making some nice bales though

Looks a grand bit of Hay there Smithy, nicely done, the series 3 Landy looks tidy too

Had the 804 down to the Fylde show this weekend, good to catch up with a few folk and give her a couple of decent runs on both days, got her out again this weekend coming to the Goosnargh and Longridge Agricultural Show but after talking with the tractor steward he's got a bit of a plan in mind so i'm hoping for some good photo's this weekend , but here she is having a lazy day in the sun with Alan's DM4 on Saturday..... got a bit of a drip on the feed pipe for the clutch master cylinder so that'll be a dash-out job i think to get enough hand access, will investigate further once she's been to Saturdays show.