Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

You've a nice project going on here v8. I'm only catching up on this thread this morning. The hitch will be a fine job. I presume you've it sussed by now that the hitch should be supplied with full system pressure while the machine is working?

Yeh, sure looks that way ..... what I haven't determined is whether its pilot or full service as it looks to me like my Miller is fed by the pilot circuit, but it's not an easy 'view' where it is and will have to follow the lines back a bit more thoroughly, to be sure?
I'd have expected full service though?

Thanks for the kind words on the thread too Boyo

[v8druid]

Spent an hour or three pondering, measuring and setting out yesterday, between the showers ....



This morning was going to be productive ..... until Pam’s elderly bachelor brother farmer cousins turned up for a cuppa !!

I eventually got out the door about two, to have a go !!
Pam had already legged it into town earlier, so it fell to me to ‘entertain’. Good ol’ boys, but more time on their hands, than’s good for ‘em !!

Anyway managed a couple of hours, ‘fore the ‘light’ went out.



Managed to get ‘em all fettled up and just have an hour’s touching up with the die grinder in the morning, to surface the apertures, before I can suss out the set out and mounting.



You’ll probably be wondering ..... why?

There is method in my madness!!

Having ‘decapitated’ the Hill and spent ages sussing how to be able to utilise it, under the VA-r, I had two choices for mounting it.
Direct assembly onto the VA-r will require a new mounting plate to attach it to, to be able to bolt it under it. Not an issue in itself, but I am still scratching my head as to quite how I’m going to be able to make the two oil connections to the Roemheld, as I assemble it, as it’ll all be pretty damned tight!!
I might just about manage it, if I strip the hitch, then reassemble it once the connections are made, but will have to see if it’s feasible to strip/reassemble the Hill from the underside, as opposed to the top!!

So... and to ‘prove’ the principle I’m going to initially lug the Hill to pick up on the existing VA-r pick up, on pins, and give it a try as ‘an attachment’. It’ll be no taller than any of my existing 70mm pinned buckets, under there, with any of Mick’s old five buckets in the hitch and will give me the opportunity to (a) give it a try, (b) suss the plumbing in principle, (c) install the QH valve, etc. and (d) give it all a try out, both on a temporary plumbing job and a fully installed system.

Initially, to give the hitch ‘a try’, I could even plumb it through the aux outlets and see just how the check valves in the Hill’s system hold pressure and hang on to a pin, to see what the various buckets look/handle like, under the VA-r !!
It’d be nice to have a suss of it all, before ‘major’ plumbing surgery, as to make a second hitch function, I am going to have to totally re-configure the Miller’s, as well as the Hill’s, QH valve and relocate that too, as has been discussed previously.

So, as I say .... method in my madness ....... to a degree ....... look on it as yet another ‘adapter’, for now, at least!!

I’ll certainly be no worse off, geometry wise and hopefully it’ll prove some principles.

[v8druid]

More Druid madness ........



Die grinder worked its magic on the bores and I now had some nicely prep.ed lugs ready to get attached to their new ‘friend’....... who ‘bit’ the hand that’s giving it a new lease of life and sorted it’s ‘ills’ out the other day!
I don’t like working in gloves, but there are days, sometimes, that I wish I did. One very sore right index finger!!



Could’ve done with a stitch really, but taped the flap back in place and carried on ..... daylight was burning!! Looks OK today, as you can see


The Hill’s body wasn’t wide enough to accommodate the new lugs to suit my 280 width, without some spacing out, so got those attached, followed by some new lugs ......





Got it all welded up, bosses fitted, etc., this afters and was just getting a pic of it when me bloody floodlight went out, so not the best of pix I’m afraid, tonight .......



Better one tomorrow ........ and fix the flood !!

My ‘little something’, Ive been waiting for, from the States arrived this morning – well packed and pristine, fair-play.
Tried to get one of these from Hydrema, when I found this on Fleabay, but as yet ..... as usual, no reply !!





Very nicely made, whoever does ‘em for them ....... but then wouldn’t expect any less!

[ianoz]

You will be looking the part in that flash Cap .
,You going to do racing cap changes when you mount the Dumper ?

[v8druid]

You will be looking the part in that flash Cap .
,You going to do racing cap changes when you mount the Dumper ?

That would require the acquisition of a Thwaites version too Ian - have to admit ...... never looked for one

[v8druid]

As promised ... a couple of better pix .......wet, miserable, grim day here today. Little has gotten done ...... other than a deal of thought, some prep for tomorrow, which is supposed to be much better, a bit of setting out and ........fixing the damned flood light !!





Some may have noticed that these cheeks aren’t fully welded/jus’ stitched ...... having gotten them created, I had a Eureka moment on how to plumb the Roemheld, with the Hill installed on a new rotor plate mount, so these’ll give me a chance to try it out, whilst I create a new, more permanent system for it.
Therefore I want to be able to remove these with out too much effort, hopefully in the not too distant future.

[v8druid]

The above was over a week ago ..... then ..... at circa 04.45 last Saturday morning , some dummy in a 4x4 and donkey box, took out the pole at the top of the straight mile, which is a T junction, when they ran out of road in the fog -

BT's (the telephone ppl) cables, free of their fetters on said pole and detached from each other, then joined hands with a 1000 volt overhead cable and fried everything for about 2 miles in each direction, ..... including our phone socket and the anti surge that the line was plugged into!!

Pam's ol' desktop standby 'puter doesn't seem 'too well' either!!

it's also fried a neighbour's UNDERGROUND armoured 50 pair line ...... so that's gonna be a dig it up and replace it job !! Couple o' hundred metres!! So that'll be weeks!!!!!

I'm just glad to be back on line - been climbing the walls!!

I don't 'do' TV much - net is my entertainment of an evening ..... I am now bang up to date on all back ups, hard drive sort outs and reshuffles, plus all required maintenance ....... for some time

So that's why I've been 'missing' recently and now to get you all up to date completely

[v8druid]

Anyways, prior to this kicking off, I’d been busy sorting the guts out in the Hill and re-creating the safety latch bracketry, that’d come off, with the old Hill cheeks.













I’d also been looking at this safety, considering the pitfalls of the gravity op. catch set up and pondering a solution to overcoming them.

[v8druid]

It’s been a misty, damp, murky day here today (last Sunday) and I’ve had it all back together, sussing shims/washers in the appropriate spots ......





... and getting a handle on my idea for overcoming the shortfalls of the gravity latch ......



after it had had a coat of HBZP first this morning.





A bit of air pressure and every thing seems to function as it should, so one happy druid.

Full travel on the grabber ....




....both ways.



....... and plenty of plumbing clearance on the pin ....... for now, at least



I also now have a definitive suss on just how to mount the Hill on the Va-r and also retain/maintain the ability to swap back to the 70mm pin on lugs, fairly easily/quickly, but am going to have to get some bits of material, as I don’t have any thing suitable sat ... annoyingly !!
Then get ‘em all made up ready for a day fitting ‘em.
In the meantime, I’ll give it a try out with the pin on lugs tomorrow and some oil to see how the mod.s have panned out ...... plus my idea for overcoming the short-fall/failings of the gravity safety lock out.

Got dragged round the local ‘pile of bricks’, Llanvihangel Court, .......



Saturday morning, as they were having a ‘Christmas Craft Fair’ – mostly tat, but I always love an excuse for a wander around the house, which is an absolutely stunning example of its period ......
http://www.ewyaslacy.org.uk/-/A-Hist...45/gc_lva_3001
http://llanvihangelcourt.com/ !!
...... No pix inside, I’m afraid – taking pix gets you ejected on yer ear !!
Don’t much fancy doing the lawns though



.....and this is just the front one!!!!

Beautiful house and location !

[v8druid]

Well it’s Wednesday evening and still no ‘net ..... however I did meet ‘Dean’ on the drive today, on my way back from acquiring a crimble tree !
Dean’s the guy who’s been assigned the task of getting it sorted .... after some discussion as to where we each thought the line comes from, he went off for a shufty.

He eventually arrived in convoy, with a cherry picker, at Druid central, only for me to find that the guy in the ‘picker used to work for me !! Nice to see Ian again!

They were a tad confused to find that not only was there a fault on the incoming line, to the pole box, but also one on the line out of it, to chez moi, too!!

Apparently, as I said earlier, some handy so and so, demolished a pole about a mile away, early Saturday, after taking to the scenery, in the fog.
Hopefully I might get to post this soon!!



In between the pi**ing rain these last couple of days, I’ve managed to get some odds ‘n sods done .........

.... mod.ed the Hill to overcome the shortcomings of the gravity safety latch – easy job if anyone else has one that drives them nuts – one hole, strategically placed and one pin ....










Made up a few spacers / shims and reassembled it with some grease and plumbing ........








Made up a pin for the mod. .......







Job did !


Put the forks on and lifted out the ‘new tool kit’, ready for a try out .......




and ‘unpacked ‘em .......



hung the hitch on the VA-r pins and even got a bucket in the hitch.





Those new lights are like daylight ...... awesome!!

Here’s a few of it attached ....... had to resort to a 65mm pin in the one hole temporarily as there’s a bit of weld just stopping it slipping into line for the second rear 70mm, but I’ll soon rectify that ......







Picked up the parking plate yesterday afters ........ eventually, after the tree and BT had consumed most of the available day light today, ready to put some lugs on to accommodate the VA-r, with a hitch attached, when off the ‘Drema, which won’t be often, once I have the permanent ability to ‘grab’, from the cab!!



Then dropped out that back pin and gave it some with the 4” to tweak the offending weld.



I’ve got it plumbed into the aux lines, ‘pro-tem’, for a ‘try out’ and it works a treat. Grips well enough and sustains it well enough to use the bucket, for a little tidy up on the ramp, with that 5 footer, anyway.

As Stuart said previously, his pin grabber only gets oil pressure, as and when the tilty operates, so the check valves in there do the rest ....... as they should anyway.


All that said, it’ll get the hitch plumbing reconfigured to put the Miller’s valve on the dipper, with a service pressure/return to tank line tee-ed off to the VA-r and the Hill’s valve, in the Va-r, to op. the Hill, on a button from the cab, as discussed previously.

Nice to have smooooth control over the grabber though, with the proportional circuit ATM.

I can get the plumbing done shortly and could still connect it in, on a ‘pro tem’ basis, on the pin on lugs, but the latest idea for a mount won’t take a lot of achieving ....... once I go get some materials to carry it out with!!

Main thing I’ll really need will be some new pipes, to suit the new positions and to connect the Hill’s valve to:-
the feed/return line QCs on the dipper,
the Roemheld upper
and some pipe work to connect the Roemheld lower, to the hitch ........
job done .........

aside from some top hats so’s I can grab the rest of me gear ..... without resorting to going back to the ‘pin ons’ .

Looking at this Hill today – it’ll grab Jake buckets too, now it’s operating at full stroke ....... pity I lopped up me Jake forks, for the blade!!!

So there yer go ...... damned near a week without ‘net has driven me daft ...... but I have managed to ‘sort’/re-organise two of my terabyte stand alones into a reasonable semblance of order ........ and reduce all the duplicated back ups to an up to date state.
That in itself has driven me round the bend ...... but really needed doing.

[v8druid]

Went round to see Richie .... one of my old employees a few days ago, who now works for himself, to pick up a few bits of steel and use my old Kingsland universal metalworker.

Here’s a couple of pix of the old punch/crop/shear ..... (I let Richie have it at a bargain price, when I cleared the workshop), putting some holes in my latest bits.

Not the greatest as it's a tad dark in the barn/shed that Rich is currently working out of, at his FIL's !







this is the beast ... Kingsland XS115 - 38mm in 25mm plate max.......



Best £15k I ever spent - had it brand new and can't begin to estimate the number of holes I've punched with it, let alone all my guys too !!
115 tons of punching pressure !! Just pushes the hardened punch through and the plate 'slug' out of the die under it!!!!!

http://www.kingsland.com/en/company/...95-125-140-175

changed their 'colours' since I bought mine - same as Geka now BTLs

http://www.geka-ironworkers.com/geka...=0&sesion=7001


and this is what I brought home from Richie’s the other day






Half an hour with a tap and .........





And another half an hour with the grinder, when the sun came out this afters ....



Then had an hour or so creating a new set of parking brackets for the VA-r, for when it’s off, once it has a Hill more permanently attached







Nice not to have to worry about removable pins for once ..... just weld it all up.
Well stitched for now, ‘til I’ve picked it up for a try ... then I'll firm it up ....... should be fine though !!

I have got to get myself another belt grinder !! make life so much easier

[v8druid]

the weekend the 'net got fried here, I'd managed to win myself a mower on ebay .... or to be more exact two!!
I've been looking for one o' these Great Dane Super Surfers for the last 2 years and almost bought a couple, only to be either pipped at the post by pennies, or have 'em pulled before the end of .....
So when these two (one for spares) came up I was up for a good go at 'em.

In Cornwall and not everyone's favorite location for buying from .... 230 miles from me

Anyway ... long story short ..... I won 'em, after first checking with a friend from 't'other one' to see if he'd be willing to pick 'em up/take custody, 'til I could get down there, as it was a 3 day auction and they had to be removed quick, which he was happy to do for me

So .....

I can’t believe a fortnight has slipped by since I last put anything up here!! Happy New Year all .....

Crimbo came and went reasonably quietly with a nice, restful, no running ‘bout the countryside day..... for a change.
The boss even conceded her usual Crimbo family gathering, to a ‘clan meet’ at a local hostelry/hotel, for a feast, before cramming her not inconsiderable family back in here for after lunch coffees/teas/nibbles and general family type banter, later in the week.

Stu and I eventually settled on a day for a rendezvous at Carlyon HQ, for a mower collection and I picked up a van from a mate for the trip ..... I say van .... more like a small pantechnicon !!



One of the main stumbling blocks on sorting a suitable date with Stu wasn’t his, or my availability ..... having realised that I would be heading south with an empty ‘van’, Josh, his missus and Pam were busily filling it, in their minds, with all sorts !! ..... Plymouth is ‘en route’ sort of, was the buzz phrase !!

So .... by Saturday the 2^nd , I’m loaded with furniture, white goods of all descriptions and various ‘sundry items’ and heading out early-ish ... would’ve been sooner if I hadn’t had to come back indoors and spend 20 minutes plugging the sat nav into the ‘puter to persuade the lil bugger to work/update the damned thing. Ain’t used it in a while and it did not want to play!!!!!!

Got about twenty miles from home and realised that I’d left Stu’s ‘bottle of poison’ sat in the middle of me patch, when I put it down to drag one of the cats out the van .... better that than finding said cat in there at that point. The bottle’s post-able ..... anyone ever tried wrapping a cat ?!!

Van went real well, considering the appalling weather and I was within 10 miles of Josh’s new place in Plymouth, when it absolutely EMPTIED down ..... to the point that it was damned near impossible to see ..... especially when the N/s wiper decided to abandon ship and went AWOL !!
Bloody good job it had a screen wash pipe attached to it and I dived for the first available ‘P’ which was just looming up. Would’ve had to anyway as just could not see for rain!!

After a 10 minute wait for it to ease off, I still got soaked pratting about with it and was real thankful I’d slung in my tool bag out the back of the rangey, as a last minute thought.
Placcy mount had collapsed, so the arm got seriously well crimped over round the blade’s pin and we were away again ....... heart in mouth waiting for it to try and escape again ... it didn’t ...... and having looked at it since, is going to need a crow bar to replace it!!

Had an hour at Josh’s unloading, eyeballing his/their new pad (very nice too), quick coffee and away.
Sat nav took me on a guided tour of the back streets, trying to get back out of Plymouth, ‘til I deliberately dived off on a tangent to see if it’d get it’s bloody head together ... it did and we were heading for the Tamar bride and Saltash tunnel ... hooray !!

A38 was not the greatest of roads but a steady run and was soon back on the A30 heading inexorably south for Lefty’s domain. .... The traffic coming the other way was nose to tail for bloody miles where the two met and I’m thinking OMG .. hope they’re gone by the time it’s my turn to hit that stretch .
The cross winds across Bodmin moor were ..... ****ing horrific and I’d swear we were on two wheels more than once! Could not wait to get some weight back in the belly of the van.

Eventually got to Stu’s village and he’d given me an alternate postcode to get me close to his place, to avoid a real crap lane .. apparently .... sat nav gave me yet another guided tour around every back street, ‘til I put the original PC back into it ..... for another guided tour ...... No phone signal was the most annoying bit, but I eventually stumbled across a yard with Stu’s sign written van strategically parked so’s I could see it ..... Hooray again!!

Never been greeted by a pasty that’d have filled an A4 jiffy bag before!!!!
Very welcome (and delicious), it was too ..... too much for a Druid, at one sitting, but Stu’s barely touched the sides ..... think he likes ‘em!!

We spent a good hour yapping and eyeballing the ‘spoils’, ‘fore getting ‘em on board yon pantech’, with Stu piloting the runner backwards up the ramps and me trying to guide the dead’un, as he dragged it into the van with the ‘live one’.... Like trying to steer a Tesco trolley on steroids !!
We got there though, tied ‘em both down and had room for another, but Stu was all out of Great Danes !!

Squared my hero up, with the necessary and some extras for all his fantastic help and efforts .... then gave him the bad news ‘bout his bottle !
It’ll get there when I get to the post office!!

Then turned our attentions to a certain ‘long reach’ ‘Tachi, I’d been eyeballing, from a distance, for an hour!!
My first up close and personal look at a real live Engcon .... very interesting too !!
Stu twisted my arm and forced me into the seat for a bit of a try of his amazin’ yella thingemy .......
Impressed!!
Smooth, fast and I LOVE the roller controls (and want some) !!
The grey matter has been on overtime since, dreaming up how to,s and can I just,s !!

The killer is the prop. Cetop costs!!!!!!
So if anyone is having trouble with theirs in the future .... just have a quick look in the guts, ‘fore ringing JC. The Cetops might have been creatively re-located, by a passing Druid!!! LOL

As per usual, when you’re enjoying your self, Tempus Fugit and sensibility dictated I bid my hero farewell – I was 230 miles from home with some appalling winds and weather between me and Chez Druid ....... plus the possibility of some bloody horrendous queues, I’d eyeballed on me way down!!!

Van sat much better with ½ a ton of mowers on board, aside from the odd oh **** moment, when crossing a gap, or a real open bit suddenly. Then I hit the A30/38 intersection stretch ....



Rang ‘the boss’ and asked her to have a look on the ‘net for the cause .... not good!!
3 to 4 miles of first gear made a serious dent in the progress, compounded by God knows how many more miles of contra flow at 40mph .. if I was lucky – too many idiots up front, panicking at the sight of anything oncoming !!

Left Stu’s at 3.20 pm and hit the Severn bridge at 7.35 .... first stop since the queues.
Next stop .... Druid central at 8.10 for a well earned coffee, or three.
465 miles on circa 60 squid’sworth of derv ..... bout 35mpg ..... real impressed !
Not so impressed by 9 ½ hours at the wheel though !! Been a long time since a long stint like that – awake enough, but bloody stiff and the spleen ....... behaved well all day! Nice upright seating position and a remarkably comfy ride, considering.
Slept like the dead Saturday night!!

[v8druid]

Sunday wasn’t the earliest of starts here ....... looked at the clock at 7.30 ..... listened to the rain banging on the Velux and thought ..... sod it ...... Eventually tried to move in the direction of the kettle ‘bout 8.30 and the body wouldn’t work!! A couple of cups o’ coffee and a few paracetamol later and it was ....... still peeing down .... like it had never rained before !!!!

Eventually eased off after lunch and ventured out to the van to unload it. Got all me gear, tools, boots, wellies, waterproofs, etc., etc. out and moved it from the drive up onto me patch to get the beasts out.

Pam had by now come to have a look and said “ thought you’d gone for a mower not another machine ..... are they big enough” !!

Untied ‘em (hadn’t moved a muscle on the way home) and set up ready to haul ‘em out.
Could not get the runner to start and by the time I’d sussed that the throttle was arse back’ards, (as Lefty had pointed out and I’d forgotten) it was ........ ‘kin peeing down again!!!!!
So that put a halt to proceedings ...... for the day!!

The rain eventually relented about 12 here this morning and I dragged the ramps out again, having put the now fully charged battery back on the runner, had the air filter off to see just WTF was happening with the throttle connections and sussed what was what.

Away it went !!
First turn !!

Being hydrostatic, these things do not exactly free-wheel, so pushed the dead ‘un to the door way and partly down the ramps, so’s I could haul it down the rest of the way ....



And left the good ‘un sat ready for its turn .....



I’d already cranked up the ‘Drema and left her warming up, ready to lift the non-runner out the way ........





Prior to my first driving experience of the new toy ....... down the ramps !!!!!



Gave it a quick blat ........



Before sticking the boss on it to play .....





There is a video ......... but at 220mb, it could be sometime before I get that loaded !!
The ‘net has been total shite of late and takes ages to load a few pix, let alone that size file

Think the consensus of opinion was ...... it was fun ..... so that could be a result .... if it no longer depends on me to mow the bulk of the grass

Parked it up just in time to avoid getting pee-ed on yet again ....



May need an extension on the shed shortly ......!!

[ianoz]

You Know , Here in Australia ,we have Ride on Mowers That One sits on . Never have i seen a stand on mower
Great Story and read Mate .

[v8druid]

You Know , Here in Australia ,we have Ride on Mowers That One sits on . Never have i seen a stand on mower
Great Story and read Mate .

Cheers Ian ...... I try to amuse

Dane do a few sit on versions ..... but don't come with an ejector seat, for when you're in the tish and heading for the bloody great ditch at the bottom of the drive's bank

Particularly wanted their stand on version, to be able to abandon ship in a hurry and easy peasy for getting on/off ..... no clambering about for the ol' bones ..... walk up, step on ....... hit the loud pedal and woosh ....... yer's away.

Spec. says 12mph mowing ...... Lefty had a shock when he picked it up and shot off up the lane, to clear the tyres of mud ... had to hang on some!!

Might try and upload the vid when I've finished on here ...... leave it running for the day