expeatfarmer

I have had a look at some French machines with the same plough, I would say it is important that the plough chassis runs parallel to the ground so rather than moving the depth wheels, try raising the shares on the legs so that frame is level when two shares are in the ground.

Hi Norm Did you actually try the plough? Tractor is an MG40N powered by a Sachs two stroke diesel with electric start.

Now that is what you call a lawnmower ! ( Apologies to Crocodile Dundee)

Call that a lawnmower !

I was offered this the other day and could not resist it. I think it may be a Rupp or Fox mini bike from USA but not sure. Does anyone have any ideas? Engine is a 3 speed BSA 125cc so it should be quick.

Trouble is rollers are alloy and rely on weight of driver so you would need to fill them with something heavy.

Some years ago I bought a very early Ransomes 30" cut lawn mower with a ride on roller seat, I bought it as a source of vital spares for the MG2 crawlers as they share a common engine. When it arrived it was far too good to break for spares and ran like clockwork. I decided to try and use it but my lawns are too complex for such a large cumbersome machine and it is much too fast to walk behind. I then bought another with a view to breaking that and low and behold same thing happened, it is a 36" cut and again seemed to good to break. I now want the space they take up and this is my dilemna, as a mower however good I might get £80-100, if I remove the carb, magneto and most of the engine parts that are MG2 compatible I would make £5-600 off each mower plus the scarp value of the chassis which is extremely heavy. I have spoken to various museums and collectors of ancient mowers and they say there is no demand for such big mowers for the same reason I found. The debating point is do I scrap the mowers to keep a few MG 2 crawlers going or do I keep them as examples of engineering excellence from the days when Britain was great and if so does any body want to buy them?

The two stroke Diesel refers to the induction process, the oil is a dry sump system not connected to the fuel. Diesel acts as a lubricant on it's own as per Sachs and Drayton/Stihl two stroke diesels. If it is a 600cc, it should have a power equivalent to a 1200cc 4 stroke as the engine will fire once every revolution instead of every second.

If I told you everything I know I'd have to kill you ! Or atomise you ! Sold my petrol MG40.

Have a look at the sold listings on E bay that is always a good guide as to what people will value machines at. If it is tidy and complete it has to be worth £1000 to 1500 more if it has implements too.

Presumably the OR is used to run the lift rotor up to speed. Rather him than me having jets shoot at you and creating massive turbulence.

Recently I have had a number of collector friends ( older than me ) that have been taken ill making them unable to carry on with their hobby and incapable of disposing of their collections. This has then fallen to friends or family who may not be fully familiar with what they are dealing with. I also find that despite acres of space I am forever having to move things around that I have not touched since the last time I had to move them for another reason. I then started thinking about all the things I have collected over the years that just sit in cupboards and never see daylight from one year to the next. I have therefore decided to have a clear out and have found it an ideal pastime on cold wet days to sort bits out and put them up for auction, by doing it now it is almost fun but I can see that if I was doing it because I had to for some reason it would be a painful chore. I had some builders here this week and decided to offer them various builders tools I had not used for at least four years, there were seven of them and before they left I had cleared £1000 and cleared half of one of my sheds. !!!!!

I have listed a crawler on E Bay, it is a petrol MG40 with full hydraulics and pto, serial number 15343 so is one of the very last produced in 1965. It runs well but tracks need rebuilding, included with the sale is a full set of new rubbers bolts and track washers. Mag and carb have both been rebuilt.

No Problem give me a shout and come over to play.

Hi Norman Afraid we will be down in Dorset that weekend but if anyone wants to have a go I am happy to lend out a tractor and plough.

Another complete Skimmer has turned up, there is a guy selling a dumper on Ebay today and on the photos there is a skimmer in the background, I contacted him and he confirmed it is a skimmer and will be for sale, I suggested he sell them together as a working pair.

Hi Joe As the pto on MG2 is very rarely used I have never had to change bearings or seals on any of mine. I have had a look at the parts book and the cog is keyed on to the tapered shaft so will need pulled off. I think the engagement dog is pushed through the seal and bearing from the inside so clean off all the paint etc and push it back through. Hope that helps.

Having set up a Ransomes display at the show for the last two years I am asking if any Ransomes MG owners are interested in exhibiting again this year.

That looks like a useful piece of kit but as you say not cheap. Clever that it can manage 6Volt and 12 at the same time. Bit late for Father Christmas. The other thought I had was same as Stormin, a small wind turbine charger.

A multi battery smart charger would be a good thing I wonder if they exist ? I thought about running a couple of 12volt bare wires along the garage wall that I could just hook up each machine to.

When you have a number of machines with batteries that are not used very often, how do people look after them ?

I should be around Norman.

That looks useful.

Tried brazing and to start with it went well but then loads of contamination came out of the cast and I had to give up. As the manifold would be scrap i thought I would try mig welding it instead, to my surprise it worked well and manifold is now repaired and sealed ready for fitting. Normally cast iron cracks when you weld it but I think a combination of very thin cast, short bursts of welding and lots of patience finally paid off. I will hold back until I actually refit it in the morning and see what happens when it is hot but fingers crossed.

Turns out that "replacement manifold is much worse than I thought, I started to drill along the crack line and more and more of it just fell away in some places it must have been less tha half mil. thick change of plan now fortunately the original manifold is cracked in other places but the back is sound so I have cut the back out and will do likewise to the " new " one and braze it together.