Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

Ripped the rock out with the VA-r and Mick’s 3 foot toothed .... VA-r stuck it fine .... I’m pleased to report and the rock/rubble pile continues to grow .....





Today was another late start ..... like damned near two o’clock ...... Clara was asleep in her pram in the sunshine .... so a ‘quiet’ morning’ was the orders for the day, from SWMBO !!
The Geith 3 foot edge-er had been sat down in’t hole for a few days and I’d been chucking the odd ‘lump’ in it, tidying up and once I could get going, I was gonna want it out of there, so put me adapters into it, so’s I could latch onto it and empty it, as well as getting it out the way .....








They work just fine !!


Been working me way across, today, clearing the top off of the boulder layer, so I can see what’s what, to hoik out and sorting out the various ‘lumps’ that continue to appear, that have been dumped and buried here over the years .....




Today’s haul .....





I was up to load 86 and was just slotting #87 into the dumper ‘fore tea, when I got ‘the summons’. ‘Drema’d been going ‘hard at it’ all afternoon and I’d been smelling ‘warm’ Plantohyd, for a few minutes, or so, assuming that she’d been getting warmer than I usually manage to get her .... ‘til I parked her up for tea and climbed down to find ,.....





A small oil slick accumulating under her and emanating from the cab underbelly .... she was working fine so .... very puzzled!?


Tea and Pam wait for no man so slung a load of rags under her to catch all the drips off the belly plates and headed for tea.


Nice it was too, but marred by the wondering WTF was the oil coming from ????

I’d a loaded dumper to contend with first, cos it looked like rain, so shot #87 off up to the tip area and parked her up, before whipping the front half of the belly plate off, expecting to see either a pilot line with a small leak or the orbital/brake/drive control pedal spewing it’s guts out ...... as I say she’d been operating fine??????


None of the above suspects looked to be the culprit and was scratching my head a bit? All the lines and valves were dry ???


It had been a good hour now and where ever this oil had been coming from had stopped dripping ..... so I was gonna have to crank her up to see WTF it was leaking from!
Didn’t take long to spot !!





..... but alarmingly it was coming from a cable trunk?????
So .... oil and electrics ... got to be a pressure switch/transducer !!
I’d have preferred a pipe!!


Cleaned everything up ... the belly plate was a tad moist with Pantohyd, the talcum powder dust under her had done a great job on absorbing what had leaked, so shovelled all that up into a heap, generally tidied up, cleaned the ‘soggy’ slings that had been in the ‘line of fire’ and wrapped her up for the night, so’s I could come indoors to pour over me parts list book, hopefully for a part number, after I’d sorted today’s rubble collection into a tidier semblance of order.





Don’t really like leaving her up on the jacks and the boom up/sat, but had no choice .....










The culprit was some sort of sensor in the HBGV valve ??? This has control over the transmission brake, by the look of it .....











....... but annoyingly is not shown in the parts book ..... so was gonna be a long conversation with Dave in the Hydrema stores on the Monday and could well be a ZF part, looking at the circuit drawing, which seems to have the only mention of it !!


I doubted it was going to be cheap, but the biggest issue was going to be the speed of supply ..... if they had one !!!! Will almost deffo be a ‘come from Germany' job and would hopefully not be the two weeks wait, like the seal kit was !!!!!!!






59th birthday the following morning and was off out with friends for lunch, otherwise I’d have been out there and whipping the offending item out the valve and see if it’d function, plugged up, for now.
It was pissing oil out the two wires that come out of it .... so I’m guessing there’s a diaphragm knackered inside it!!!


Bloody annoying as she’d been performing well and starting to make a bit of a dent in it, ‘specially now I’ve me new ramp sorted and can make some serious inroads across the width and back into the upper level.


Sadly though I have found the ‘mother lode’ of concrete block wall .... again .... jeez there’s some lumps to come out and was a slow old process sorting ‘em ..... oh for a riddle bucket.

[v8druid]

Well lunch the following day was yummy and a few hours feet up in the sun after, letting it go down was alright too!!
Too damned hot to do a lot ...... for a change, eh!!


But come 7, it’d cooled down a touch and the sun had gone round from where she was sat .....I had to have a look-see, just what that damned thing is !!


Better pic of the offending item in situ ....





...... and on me side step for inspection .......





Doesn’t look a cheap item ..... nicely made, even for a sensor/sender/transducer?


M10 x 1mm .....





And damned if I can find a plug to suit, so it was gonna be town in the a.m. for a hex plug, so’s I could run her up and get the weight off everything ....... or even carry on from where I left off, if she’d have it, without the sender in circuit ..... as it’s just what appears to be the tranny brake, it may well not be an issue. That would be after a conversation with Dave at Hydrema first though!!


from a quick 'net search, looking at the numbers on that sender ..... TRW are now owned by ZF and are/were braking design specialists who did lots of work for / in conjunction with ZF ..... my tranny builders

One of the guys on t'other is a demon net searcher and came up with a part number for me pretty quick for the switch and the fact that it was used by several other manufacturers ..... including JCB in the JS160 so ...made a call to Gunn JCB in Hereford Monday afternoon, as he'd suggested .... the very helpful (not) chap on the phone informed me that retail they’re 165 quid, but he’d very ‘generously’ do me one for Ł154 plus VAT. They didn't have one though!!


I’d already spoken with Dave in the stores at Hydrema and he was on the case of tracking one down at 80 quid plus VAT and shipping, so that made the decision for me, as to where it would be coming from ...... and it’d be a genuine ZF item.


He came back shortly and said he’d found one in Denmark, which he’d have with me by a week Wednesday for their usual Ł13.90 + VAT shipping!!
Or, if it was real urgent, two days, but at a cost of 50 quid, TNT overnight, flown in, but he couldn’t order it ‘til the morning !!


I was at this point, just spanner-ing in me plug lash up – M10x1mm = 6mm superlight metric apparently. I’d got a 6mm S/L to 1/8th BSPT M/M adapter to a 1/8th BSP threaded hex socket, with an 1/8th BSP hex cap plug and dowty to get me a sealing plug, as no one locally had an M10x1mm hex cap!


At least the boys in Raglan had some superlight fittings .... none in Listers' in Aber.!


Only down side was the superlight to BSP adapter didn’t have a hell of a hex on it and had to find a washer, just the right size to spread the load a bit ... plus a small O ring to fill the gap between the washer’s bore and the machined clearance at the base of the thread, to give me a seat for the 10mm O ring, sealing against the valve block’s recessed face.


So said to him that I’d go for the week Wednesday, as I’d by now started the ‘Drema, was leak free and was just dropping the bucket off, ready to park her up. Dave said he’d call me back when he’d got all the paperwork sorted for a card number.


At this point several large rain drops hit the cab roof and I thought sod this, grabbed the bucket again and was going to head her down off the top, to avoid getting surrounded by what looked like ‘imminent cheesecake’ ..... axle locks off, jacks up, brake off and press the fwd pedal ....... nothing ....... bugger !! No travel .. at all.
Jacks back down, bucket off and stretch her out .... she weren’t going anywhere!!!





And down came the rain ..... like it had never done it before and it was GOING for it !!
Mega thunder storm .... it’d been 30 degs C here all day.


Middle of all this Dave rings back, for all the card details .... I’m in the cab and me glasses aren’t .... they’re in me box ..... bloody hell did I get wet in the 20 ish large paces between the two!!


Anyway .... apologised to Dave, explained the situation and asked if I could, at the risk of pee-ing him off, have it on the overnight instead.
Customer service at its best ...


“No problem, that’s what I’m here for ... I’ll just redo the paperwork and be back to you in 2 mins..”


Faultless !!


So ...... me 80 quid plus Vodka switch is gonna end up at just under the Gunn’s price ... but they had no stock anyway and I’d be mobile again by some time on the Wednesday!!


When Dave called back – again and we finally got it sorted, he said he’d been talking with one of his colleagues, who’d said ....

“Oh that must be Derek Bushrod’s old M1500 ... only one in the UK .... If you look up the purchase history for that part no. you’ll find Derek had a few of those .. they’re a troublesome item!”


Let’s hope it’s the only one I’m ever going to need ..... was very tempted to say to Dave, better make it two!!!!!!

During our search for the offending item’s part no. Dave had actually found it .... on it’s very own page .... in the parts book we both have, to quote page numbers at each other, from ..... but listed in the planetary reduction tranfer box section !!


Sure enough, there it was .... Fig. 1.9.12 ...... Druckshalter (Pressure switch) ..... explains the DS stamped in the valve block too!!





With a Hydrema part no. too 14 001 038 !!


It also confirmed to me that the washer I’d found between the plug and the unit was in fact supposed to be between the plug and the nut holding it in position, as I’d thought it should be and would’ve allowed me to rotate the damned thing, instead of the major struggle I’d had to undo it, as it had bonded itself to the rubber of the plug !!!!

[v8druid]

I'd assumed/guessed that yon pressure switch is a ‘make’ across its poles and one of the guys on t'other had suggested bridging the plug with a wire loop, which I wasn't keen on due to 'lack of positive control from the seat', so having ‘hot wired’ a wander lead into its plug with a switch on t’other end, I could op it from the cab, once the pressure was up and the valve block made its usual click, throwing the switch gave me transmission again and she'd move ......





Which I did with her once I’d shifted a few bits and bobs with the forks that morning as it looked like it was gonna throw it down any second ..... most of the morning ......





At least she was back off the potential ‘cheesecake’ and hopefully I’d have the new pressure switch the following day ..... I’d better, ..... for the delivery cost !!


We’d had a few cloudbursts, but it had been so warm that day, that the ground had dried fairly quickly, to a passable degree.




on a different note ..........
Had a request from a friend to go op a 1.5 ton Kub for him end of that week to pull some footings for a new triple garage he’s building, so I'd better take a shoe horn, to squeeze into it .... apart from my walker, I ain’t been in/on anything that small in many years .... I’ve no idea exactly what it is, ‘til I get there !! was considering ringing the man and asking him if he could get something bigger !!

Last footing I dug for a garage was another triple and did it with me walker, years ago ... tidy job it was too .... I'd said to me mate who I was doing it for, make sure you've got plenty of bodies and at least 3 barrows.

He had 3 barrows .... but no extra bodies turned up .... it didn't have to go far, but he was on his knees, by the end of it, keeping up with the lil' Fleming and 3 barrows that were never empty longer than about 1 nano second

[v8druid]

Thursday 9th june 2016 !!!!!!

remember that date and lament

broke the VA-r that afternoon !!


Several contributory factors ..... the primary one being me, being a stupid ****er !!!


Couple of pix, for now .... I’m off to bed .... full report tomorrow !!














It’s fixable ..... thought initially I’d burst the slew ring, as I’m sat there looking at the Roemheld ....... from the cab !!!!!
One hell of a bang .....!!!!!!!

[Stock]

'tis grand to see you back here mr Wizard

[v8druid]

'tis grand to see you back here mr Wizard

Why thank you kind sir ....... nice to be missed

or is it just the digger porn pix

[ianoz]

Good to see you back,and the saga continue .

[v8druid]

Good to see you back,and the saga continue .

Cheers Ian ...... got a bit more to tell yet mate

[v8druid]

well it had been quite a good day 'til that point .... she'd been ripping out rock and shite all day ..... just did the last dumper full before tea and thought ....... I'll just have a nibble at that one boulder!!!!

at full stretch and 'nibbling' with the crowd ..... big mistake !!

three rear bolts let go and BANG!!

looking at it now ........ I'd omitted a few more welds, that'd have helped a lot ...... this started life as a flat on the bench powered bar bender, in a previous existence, with me, when I first go me paws on it .... it's in here somewhere!

The two side plates were only ever covers, with the centre plate taking all the grief ..... obviously too much grief for these 3 bolts with the limited supporting role, played by its buddies either side. In hindsight I should have beefed up the welds on them!!

Big Q now was ....... did I fix it and carry on digging (subject to weather) or did I do the mods I'd been putting off for ages -- due to it being in use pretty much all the time!!??

Could've been a hell of a lot worse !!!!

As said this was originallyreated from summat else .... very annoyed I didn't beef up the welds on the outer plates .... it just got by me.


The bolts were 8.8s and had thought on a couple of occasions, I ought to stick some 10.9s in there ..... you know what it's like (and my memory) .... just forgot. TBH .. had I done so, I think the damage would've been far worse


Fixable though, just a PITA as it was needed for boulder handling......again !!





and some of the rubble heap, which grows inexorably also has some chunks I could't shift by hand





I was supposed to be sat on a 1.5 ton Kub that morning, but it wasn't ready for my input, 'til the next day. The m/c has also changed and is now going to be a 1.5 Tak.
so that's why I was here, wrecking the VA-r .......... and not in Ross!!


Having asked me mate just what we're going to be doing ...... the thing is 10m x 8m , 450 wide founds ..... 900 deep!!!
Tha's a lorraspoil and likely to encounter all sorts at that sort of depth !!


I've asked me mate to try and ensure there's at least one edged bucket in the selection, preferably a 450 one and as it's a Saturday, he'll have it 'til Monday morning, which'll be handy, if we find anything unexpected!!


So ..... we shall see.

[v8druid]

some of the 'rubble' is half tidy stuff ..... a lot of it is soft as sh1t and a hell of a lot of it is concrete blocks ... from a retaining wall beside our drive, that collapsed, before we bought the place, due to lack of/inadequate drainage behind it and the accumulation of water pushed it over !!





another tidy up and it's coming ... ready for the next lot!!!!!!





that's the sort of bed thickness on top of the boulders, in places ...
so they's been there a 'kin long time !!




some is real good hard stuff, some is soft mud-stone,
there's some real soft shale and there is some that's a sort of soft conglomerate




The concrete block wall had a 'stone effect' render on it .... there's a bloke round here who's pretty good at it (wouldn't be my choice though) ..... you should however see his 'oak beam' effect ..... bloody AMAZING !!!

[v8druid]

Right then .... rewind a couple of days .....pre VA-r busting ...


Pressure switch eventually arrived at 16.30 on the Wednesday, I expected it to .


I’d rung Dave in Hydrema about 4 o’clock to make sure it had deffo been dispatched .... and got answered by Paul Weeks, the service manager .... we had a really good long yap.
He started life with Hydrema as a fitter .... and used to service my ‘Drema 3 or 4 times a year .... knew it inside out and said that Derek Bushrod had one of these switches about every 18 months or so .... they have full service pressure behind ‘em trying to escape !!


Paul gave me a pretty good low down on her ... she’s a 98 machine that Hydrema used to take round the shows for a year, before Derek bought her. She had a brand new slew drive assembly, complete, after having been sat around for several months and having the seals go hard and fail, prior to Derek’s purchase. Top spec for the time.


As I had been told, she spent her life in treatment plants clearing filter beds, to process and filter the sand, before being replaced. Derek drove her himself for a good 10 years and Paul said he’s a hell of an op..
She had floaties fitted to her from day one, but was delivered to Derek on twins ... presumably what is on her now, as they’re like new, aside from showing signs of age.


So ... everything I was told about her, when I bought her is spot on and she gave Derek faultless service .... apart from this bloody pressure switch !!!
In Paul’s opinion, I couldn’t have bought a better machine. I have to agree with him!!


He suggested I speak with Derek, ref the ‘mystery switch’ .... he’ll know immediately what it does.


I’d got her plugged and ‘hot wired’ on Wednesday and was using her .... ‘til I bust the VA-r, so the new pressure switch didn’t get put in ‘til the following day.





My plug solution .......





Had to squeeze an extra O ring between the washer and the fitting’s thread recess, to be sure of a seal.










Pulled the VA-r apart on the Thursday morning .... needed to get the slew ring gear off the underside of the upper, cos there was two ‘remnants’ that did not want to come out and were going to need a bit of trickery to extract ‘em.




The other halves .........








And sat her down on the ring gears grease guard, very gently, on some ply and ratchet strapped it in position on the bench .....





Do not want it falling over .. or worse still, off the bench!!!!!


Spent what was left of the day pulling boulders .... old skool .....





.....and sorting a large pile of rubble !!!




As said earlier, I should have been in Ross that day in the 1.5 Kub ........ that metamorphosed into a 1.6t Tak ..... which I’m told that evening got dropped off at 4 o’clock, ...... with this funny yellow paint, a tubular boom and 801.8 on the side of it !!!! Argh!! A jake !!!!!


Rory, on t'other, suggested I take the Micron ..... might make better progress !!


My mate’d also asked for a 450 edged bucket ... so they sent him all the buckets .... with edges .. not a tooth amongst ‘em ... hope we do not find any rock!!!!


So had to be in Ross for 08.00 in the a.m. ..... early-(ish) night for me!!


Looked at the forecast ..... and promptly went and found a few sets of waterproofs, me wellies and stuck ‘em in the car ...... lest I forget ‘em !!!!


Hope I don’t have nightmares .... several impending hours on a baby jake'll do that to a fella !!!!!

[v8druid]

Well Saturday was an early start ..... for me .... in Ross for 08.00 and ready to grapple with this 8018 I’d been told was the mount for the day!

A little dismayed at the disorganisation I found ..... and surprised .... skip at end of drive, which was too narrow to get a truck down .. fair enough!!
Two bodies for barrowing duties ..... one barrow !! “Best go buy a n other barra mate .. smartish .... you boys ain’t gonna keep up anyway”!!

CAT duly produced for a suss ..... what a piece of crap .... would not work, even on a known live cable!!!! So it was a take it real easy/gentle/careful approach.

Found a pipe and a cable within ten minutes of gently scraping, what proved to be excellent digging ground.





Water and leccy supply to his original garage, that had come down earlier in the week, to make way for the new triple ...... emanating from his neighbour’s place !!!! Interesting!!

As you can see .... could not get any tighter to the boundary .... if you tried and how the hell he got planning for it that close is a mystery to me .... Herefordshire are obviously a lot more ‘laid back’ than Monmouthshire is !!!!!

Drawing said 450 wide x 1050 deep FFS !!! it’s a single skin, single storey garage? No helipad on the roof .... now’t !!

Pulled a lovely clean trench in some lovely digging soil, working into a corner, clockwise, which became a bit of a struggle, with the crap offset, to the left on yon Jake and had to swap sides eventually to pull back out from said corner, with the beast precariously balanced where I’d already been.

Fine .... moved on to the back wall’s footing, from the corner out and went well, considering the mess that was the back boundary, ‘til all the infill crap started to surface, together with the extended founds for the existing (now demolished, original) garage !!
Took some digging / juggling around.

The first side had more than filled the first skip and I’d asked what time the next one was due? ..... ‘’Didn’t order another one for today!” was the reply !!!!!!!
“We’ll stick it in Ken’s trailer and haul it out on that” .... “ to the tip?”
“Nah, top of the drive and then bang it in the next skip” !!!!!!
“Um ok, but it ain’t gonna take me long to fill that!”

By the time I’d gotten half way across ‘Ken’s trailer’ was groaning and I was banging it on the old slab and running out of space rapid !!
As I say a little dismayed ...... !”
Time got called and I returned the following day, Sunday, to find/be told that the pecker for the concrete had also not arrived, with the m/c and it was gonna be a hand job with one of Dan’s (from t'other's) favourite ‘Titan’ screwfix beasts!

Have to say, all credit, where due ..... it was some lil’ breaker for a hundred and forty quid and‘d show many a Makita/Kango the way to do it!!!!!
Can see why Dan rates them .... bloody excellent bit of gear !!

Ripped that out Sunday morning and everything for 850mm below it and got time called again ..... we’d just run out of space/capacity to deal with any more, after I’d pulled the return for the entrance, on the left side.





Right by that bloody pipe and cable!!
Couldn’t get right into the corner, for it, so it got handballed, the last few ‘spoonfuls’!!





Man looking very happy with results .......





Was due back there Monday morning to load out Ken’s Trailer into an empty skip and another skips worth into the next one too .... neither of which were available that morning !!!!!!
So that knackered Monday’s plans!!!





SO ....... went to, initially eyeball me recent ebay purchase and hopefully arrange to collect it, or maybe even get the guy to deliver it, as stated on the listing ...... only10 miles away.
Ten tortuous miles, as it turned out, as the ‘direct route’ is closed for road works for 2 weeks !!
****!!!!! It’s like a rabbit warren of lanes up around there .... thank God for sat. nav.!!


Went one way, came back (for the trailer .... umm, no, he couldn’t deliver !) another way. Went back a third route and eventually came back by a fourth .... all courtesy of Tom Tom. !!!!!! What an afternoon !!


This cost me 20 minutes sat, on the first trip up ......





.... but did get his card ..... does crushers too; plus only Abergavenny .... and then an artic unloading a traccy and spreader, another half hour sat, on the second run up there!

[v8druid]

Eventually got back with the spoils though ......











Took some bloody loading ..... and securing, I can tel yerz.
Like tying down an octopus !!!!!

and bloody heavy it was too .... really knew I had it behind me, coming back from the back of beyond


Only wanted the head which is in nice nick, apart from a small crack to the panel work, easily fixed (I have a good contact for welding)


Paid less for the whole contraption, than I nearly paid last year for just a head. It's had a lot spent on it recently BTLs ... lots of new hoses, tankful of fresh oil, etc.


Lots of bits to play about with .... tidy ish valve block for Humperdumper [and maybe a useful pump for it too] ....... and a pile of scrap/useful bits, all for 700 quid, which I thought wasn't OTT for such a tidy head!


Now to get it sorted before it's required for use and dream up a suitable mount ...... for all angles, under you know what ..... when i fix that too!!.

Having untied the ‘octopus’, ‘twas time to persuade it back out the next day


Head came out first and looked as good as I first thought ... if not better .....








Then came the body of the beast ... like juggling spaghetti .. but got some good balance points eventually and out it came .... bloody heavy, as said ......





‘Twas just a bit ‘damp’ in the afternoon



My ‘services’ had been required in Ross on the Tuesday, but was delivery day for me ‘hamster juice’ and I have to be here to sign for it, plus they were collecting the ‘meds’ fridge, which I’ve never used ... keep it in ours as it has an accurate temp. display .... glad to see it gone, taking up space for now’t.


They managed to keep ‘emselves busy in Ross though and I was gonna be ‘giving it some’ the following day, to hopefully finish it all off !






Anyone recognise any numbers off these plates ...





Off the motor on the Bomford head .......





It’s a very cleverly designed piece of kit and can be reversed for cutting off to the left or the right of the traccy .....
everything is reversible and I presume that the motor must be too as the head has all the necessary brackets/holes/etc., to mount the motor either side and presumably turn the drum end for end too, but would then involve turning all the cutters/hammers.


The tank is mounted on pins which fit the alternate brackets on the main frame, to swap left/right with the arm, which is also double bracketed for left/right/reverse mounting. Very clever and a lot of thought must have gone into its original design.





Must take some time to swap it all about though and entail virtually a complete strip !!

[v8druid]

A Q for those that might know ?? There is one single acting ram on the drop arm to the head ......




which is plumbed return/close only ....





and fed by the motor’s pressure line ...





I am damned if I can see just how this functions, but must pull the head backwards, when the motor is powered up ???
Anyone shed any light on this ???


As I said, someone’s spent a fair bit on this recently and the new 1” hoses fitted to it must’ve cost a few bob .... looks to be quite a few new cutters/hammers on the drum too.


However ....Like I say .... the head was what I was after ... the rest is ‘spare bits’ and will be contributing to a mounting system for the head, which I think I may have a suss on, to make it pretty universally position-able ....... more on that again ... I’d gotten wet enough for one day!!

[v8druid]

Last day in Ross was ---- interesting !!

How deep will one of these lil' buggers dig guys ??? (8018 .. apparently)





Uncovered an unknown and disused, back-filled septic today .... right in the 'line of fire'.


I was down as far as I could get and still didn't find the 'kin bottom of it .... must've been a good 10-12 ft





the large pile of spoil is the result of Speedyskips of Hereford , [****ing wa**ers] not living up to their name ..... should've had one there first thing and full one away and another immediately after.
Never turned up at all in spite of some pretty irate tel. con.s and being booked Monday morning ....... when the other bar steward didn't turn up either!!!!!


And yes the bonnet's open cos it stopped ....... due to the fuel gauge showing 1/2 and the tank being 'kin MT


few general pix for yers ... t'was a tight lil' site........