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Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:03 pm
by GB_Groundworks
so a neighbor asked if i could do them a favor and dig out a silt trap at the bottom of our lane that takes all the water off our hillside.
this is at 3pm on a friday so a jump in our schaeff(now terex) 3 ton and track down the hill dig it out no problem and start the 200m back up the lane to our house when a big cloud of white smoke starts pumping out the exhaust. i was only just above tick over, talking to said neighbor.
i shut it off and then it wouldn't start, like the fly wheel or hydraulic pump and stuck stopping the engine turning over.
so now got the only road onto our hillside blocked with a 3 ton lump of metal at 4 pm on a friday.
so a lot of buggering around later i managed to drag it up the lane to our drive with our jcb, the lane is the odd bit of washed away bitmac and lose scatter so it travelled ok.
got to our drive with is cobbled and it wouldn't travel, so dad had to pick it up at the back with telehandler while i lifted the front.
not very health safety friendly but it worked, except my dad smashed the door glass 
so then had to get it into our barn, managed to pick it up with our forklift and position it into the barn where we could start stripping it down. all the while the misses is ringing reminding me her sister is coming to stay and not to be late oops haha
so no more favors haha
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:15 pm
by Dave_L
Last week, 8.30am on Monday morning our 3 tonner burst a hose as we sunk the bucket into some footings. Good job the existing driveway was due to come up, otherwise we'd have had to resurface the driveway.
This week I jumped into our 5 tonner swung the door round to the fully open position and it clipped into the catch - and promptly smashed.
Not the best couple of weeks - although the replcement glass was only £125. I was expecting much more.
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:17 pm
by Dave_L
GB_Groundworks wrote:when a big cloud of white smoke starts pumping out the exhaust. i was only just above tick over, talking to said neighbor.
i shut it off and then it wouldn't start, like the fly wheel or hydraulic pump and stuck stopping the engine turning over.
I'd interested in what you find wrong with either the engine or pump. If you got white smoke out of the exhaust then I'd assume the engine is at fault - and now won't turn over? Could be hydraulically locked from either oil or water into the combustion chamber.
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:35 pm
by GB_Groundworks
yeah i thought seized engine, but water was full and not hot cap came of radiator and could stick my finger in it tasted it and no oil in the water and same with the oil no water in it. had headcaskets or liners go before and you get that creamy clotted oil. well we got the counter weight off last night and i left my dad stripping it down so will inform when we know more.
my dad was saying he thought maybe piston ring gone.
dont talk to me about glass and diggers haha, i pulled a tree out with our 7 ton and it span around and swung back and crashed though the bottom glass on it, which was curved so had to replace it with a piece of percpex.
then the other day our john deere tractor was parked in the barn and we came to it and the front windscreen was smashed and there was a dead rook/crow on the bonnet. that was £220 for anew one.
edit: they do say bad things happen in threes, fingers crossed
Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 7:02 pm
by dig dug dan
find that some days, disasters happen big time, always when you have to be somewhere at a certain time and your other half os on the phone saying" what time you gonna be home?" is if you can answer that question correctly 
interested to hear what the problem is with the digger. How many hours has it done?
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:28 pm
by GB_Groundworks
update:
so stripped it down today and took the hydraulic pump off, which you can turn over with your hand so thats not stuck.
stripped the radiator off and got a socket on the end of the crank and managed to turn it over and it has now become free.
connected fuel back up and the bugger ran haha
so some how its unstuck itself so we thought maybe it was water in the pistons stopping it from turning over, but no water in oil or in exhausts.
however looks like we are getting exhaust gases int he radiator pipe so thinking head gasket might have gone.
keep you informed as we learn more
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 5:52 am
by seanandruby
dig dug dan wrote:find that some days, disasters happen big time, always when you have to be somewhere at a certain time and your other half os on the phone saying" what time you gonna be home?" is if you can answer that question correctly
interested to hear what the problem is with the digger. How many hours has it done?
I get the train at the same time every night and have done for 12 months. get in the car and drive home. but er indoors still asks that very same question every night ....." what time you gonna be home?" One night the train was late so i phoned my wife ( as you do when you've been brainwashed ) i said " i wont be back till 8.00." Her response... " But your usually home for 7.00?" ???
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 10:51 am
by Digbits
I think the fatal word here is "favour".
I've lost count of the number of times we sell people bits for machines - new rubber tracks, bucket linkages etc. - because damage incurred whilst fulfilling a promise.
Sometimes, more understandably, someone lends his digger to another mate (a fatal favour!) who then promptly busts something, or tips the machine over in an inexplicably short time. That's kind of understandable, but why it should happen to people using their own machines to do a 'good turn' isn't. All I know is that it does happen!
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 7:38 pm
by Dave_L
"Lenders are loosers" - never a truer word said.
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:50 pm
by Dave_L
How have you deduced that you have combustion gasses in the cooling system?
Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 1:23 pm
by GB_Groundworks
running it with the radiator off, exhaust gases coming out of the pipes
and head gasket has gone, head is currently off and being skimmed. water must have hydraulically jammed engine.
someone asked about hours only 2500 hrs
Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 9:05 pm
by Dave_L
Ah, good, not too bad a job on that engine, I guess? Access not too bad?
Simple old OHV engine, no cambelt to worry about etc!
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:00 pm
by GB_Groundworks
yeah access was ok only had to drop the counterweight off and take the engine cover off and it was fine, yep simple 4 cylinder mitsubishi engine.
all fixed and back in work now
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:51 am
by Tommy
Bloke who drives the JCB loadall at the main council depot loading skips and sorting waste etc managed somehow to shear the front righthand wheel right off, completely snapped the axle. Loadall only 4 months old 800 odd hours. Cue dealer from Gunn JCB and all the Bin and skip lorry drivers taking photos
Had to go and rescue another bloke who had been cutting in a valley alongside a stream on a John Deere flail, and we found him in mud over the axles. Took 5 blokes, chains and our two Iseki mowers... all in front of about 35 kids having a good giggle.
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:51 pm
by Dave_L
Tommy! You can't post like that an not post any pictures!!!!
