Stormin

All the Best Andrew. Enjoy your day.

Some really nice trucks there, Iain. Thanks!

I like the early Ford Capri. I had a metallic blue one. Also three of the white Cortinas. All 2.0 ltr. One again metallic blue, One orange GT and a metallic brown estate. Weak point was the camshafts. The lobs wore pretty quickly. Easy to change though.

I've been expecting that. I'd no time for photo's.

Had plenty of seat time today. As it was a good forecast for the day, I thought I'd better do some catch up round the garden, green and verges. Front hedges and bushes needed trimming, so that was the first job. After a run out for fresh petrol supply. Next came the lawn and verge outside the house. When I'd returned from my week down south, the grass had shot up. Even though it was wet, on Tuesday, I cut the green and verges on a slightly higher setting than normal. The cut grass was left lying. Today I thought I'd better do something about it as it looked untidy. I wasn't sure if the sweeper would pick it up as it was, so using the Black Horse and a scarifier/rake thingy the Showman gave me a couple of years back, I roughed up the lying grass. Swapped the rake for the sweeper and got the grass cleaned up. Then it was the turn of the C-125 and cutter deck. Green and verges mowed, albeit slowly, as the grass was still quite wet. While doing the green, the deck decided to lose a wheel. This necessitated a workshop visit and both wheels were changed for those off the dead side discharge. Though a slightly larger diameter, with the rear of the deck dropped a notch, mowing commenced with no further mishaps. All this took around 5ltrs of petrol and nine hours, including removing and cleaning the deck and tractor. Which I always do after use. Still got the green and verges to sweep, but they will be done Monday or Tuesday. Rain forecast for all day tomorrow. Well it is a Bank Holiday weekend.

I wish we had some ground we could grow stuff in and use the tractors on. Just suppose I'll have to be content with mowing the green and verges.

You should have bought it off him.

The mower or Steve?

Looks like an early version of the Hi Lift jack or farm jack. Useful but dangerous in the wrong hands. Give it a good soaking in diesel for a while to free it up.

I was unable to get a new cable and after a bit of thought, I decided to see I could repair the broken outer. I think I've been more or less successful. Temporarily anyway. I cut away the broken pieces of the plastic cover and gave the steel sheath a good wire brush. Then pushing the broken ends together, I slipped a piece of shrink wrap over the joint and shrank it in place. Next I wrapped some insulation tape on top of that. Finally refitted the cable and all works as it should. Be interesting to see how long the repair lasts. I'll still see about a replacement though.

Always spins over quickly, Angus. No sign of burning due to shorting out. I think it has been damaged at sometime and decided enough.

SEVENTEEN POUNDS?? I only paid a couple of bob.

Here you are Chris. In detail. M.C.A. Hydraulic Cable Lubricator. Had it for 50 something years, so don't ask where I got it. Certainly NOT on line. Slight boo boo here. Cable, washers and seal go in the other end. This shows cable inserted from the left. You inert the cable etc as shown. Fill with oil then fit the other end and screw the T handle in and that forces oil through the cable.

Err! No! I shall go and take a couple post haste.

At Biddenden the Black Horse started to run rich. The reason was traced to a sticking choke cable. Today I set too to sort it. I rooted out a cable lubricator from my motorcycle days, disconnect the cable from the carb and connected it to the lubricator. Filled the lubricator with hydraulic oil, (good for freeing rusted parts) and pushed it down the casing. Operating the lever I worked it back and forth. Seemed nice and free. THEN I noticed the outer cable was moving and oil was appearing alongside the battery. The outer cable had broken. So I'll have to get a new cable, as I couldn't find one of the right length among my pile of spares. Another job I had to do, was the bonnet hinges on the Sears/Roper. Some of the screws had worked loose. Most likely due to driving over rough ground and the bouncing of the trailer. These have now been replaced with more substantial ones that should last.

Look for any cut out switches. P.T.O. , Seat.

Same from me, Kev. Worth the drive down. Not sure of the drive home.

What I'd like to know, is what did you see when you were looking down the exhaust pipe in the third photo, Alan?

It certainly created a lot of interest. Chatted with the owner and it's another scrapyard special. All built from what was about. The book of photo's of the build was handy to see.

Returning home from R.P.T. and Biddenden, due to the A1 being closed for some reason, I had to use the M1 and M6. Mile after mile of roadworks and 50mph limits. All this work is for the so called Smart Motorways. What's smart about doing away with the hard shoulder? How many people will be killed and injured when they have nowhere to go, if experiencing a breakdown, puncture etc? I think it's down right stupid and dangerous, if not criminal.

Here's a few wot I tuk.

You must have been stuck longer than me, Iain. When I got there you where 5 car lengths in front of me. Took 3/4 of an hour to do 2 miles.

A little damp on arrival Thursday afternoon. Cleared up though and the weekend turned out ok. The stand line up. More on the Sunday. The Showman holding court. Can't remember this lads name, but I think he's related to Alan. As the ground was so hard, we went to play in the potato patch Not get many chips out of these. Iain demonstrating the Norfolk version of Bottoms Up. Chris rotavating Big boys and big toys. If you'd taken those glasses off like I told you, this wouldn't have happened. Nothing like a bit of organ music. Charge! And finally!

Some nice machinery there, Mike. Thanks for posting.