What I do now………

[wull]

A short while ago I had this monster of a cylinder mower in for full service and sharpen, an Allett Buffalo 34 with a cutting width of 34” as the name suggests and weighs a whopping 175kgs. Some pics showing its size, next to a normal sized cylinder mower. A video showing it being sharpened etc. It made the grinder look small.

[wull]

Well today I got in one that was even bigger couldn’t believe what I was seeing

An Allett Regal 42 which weighs a stupid 375kgs, what the actual Fuckity fuck. I gave it a wash, rearranged the workshop so I could get it in then the grinder ramp said absolute no way I’m lifting that, it would go up about 2” and just stop, and looking at it I was thinking even if it did lift it there’s absolutely no way that’s fitting in the grinder, no way at all.

So I’ve had to go old school and remove the cylinder, source bearings to fit the cylinder and set it up on clamps etc for sharpening. Happy days. A bit more work but it is what it is.

[Skub]

Part mower,part road roller. That boyo would sink in our back garden,with that weight.

[Treadeager]

Might those big boys be from the local bowls club ?

[wull]

Might those big boys be from the local bowls club ?

Can’t mind who the Buffalo 34 was from but the Regal 42 is St. Andrew’s football club.

Just checked and the Buffalo was from Kelty Hearts Football club.

[wull]

Well after removing the reel for setting up on the grinder that itself was too wide, what a farce. I had to doctor the machine slightly to allow it to fit which then meant that it became a two man job, one to hold the drive for the reel as I couldn’t use the usual mount for it and I had to manually activate the switch for the transverse for the grinding stone, and one to adjust the stone to reel. What a nightmare. Then the bottom blade wouldn’t fit on the other grinder So that had to be doctored as well to fit, fuck me dead. Got there in the end up.

[Skub]

Tch.

1 bastard file.
1 second cut file.
1 smooth file.

You kids with your fancy new fangled grinders don't know yer born.

[wull]

I had this X748 in which the customer complaint was it would run for 30 mins then cut out, now he thought it was potentially temperature related because the temp gauge stopped working at the same time, at least that’s when he noticed it. Fact is, that wouldn’t cause it to cut out. All it does on these set ups is either switch the PTO off or not allow you to activate the PTO if it’s already off. The reason for the temp gauge not working was the connector had came off at the sender unit so I attached that back on and it’s working as it should.

I tried to get it to replicate the problem but it ran great for 30 mins, running full throttle with the PTO engaged. I believe if it was driving through terrain it would have more than likely replicated the customer complaint.

I suspected fuel supply was the issue so I set about looking at that and sure enough the in tank fuel filter tea bag was badly blocked, what a state. So everything was removed and cleaned, blew through with the airline, I fitted a new fuel water separator bowl filter as well. All back together and working as it should, he should have no probs with fuel supply again for many many years I would expect, these tractors cost roughly 20k new now

The fuel tank was filled and emptied a stupid amount of times to get it spotlessly clean. The debris that also came out into the fuel container was pretty bad, there was a ridiculous amount of shit in the tank.

[Count Steer]

Nice selection of screen wipes there.

[wull]

[wull]

This was my last job at BRF GROUNDCARE ENGINEERING back in the middle of October, maybe first third of October.

This is the kind of jobs that piss me off, mowers that come in for a service and sharpen but they fail to tell you that it doesn’t actually work as it should because they’ve been at it and made a complete arse of it. The mower wouldn’t drive and wouldn’t cut.




First and main problem was the bedknife to reel adjustment was far too tight which was causing the initial no drive to the reel, the centrifugal clutch to overheat like made, it had also stretched the buggery out of the reel drive chain. I slackened off the bedknife to reel clearance, stripped the centrifugal clutch down, cleaned it all up and replaced the bearings and the chain. That was all good now.

Next problem was the rear roller drive, there was none there either, I inspected the clutch for this closely and found that the friction plate had been fitted the wrong way round, they must have found that the reel wouldn’t drive because of their adjustment on the bedknife but suspected something was wrong with the rear roller drive clutch, stripped it and put it back together the wrong way and left it at that. So I fitted it as it should be adjusted the cable and it was all good.

Gave it a full service, fitted the new bottom blade sharpened it all up and set it to whatever the height was that they wanted, can’t mind now, 10mm or something like that.

[wull]

I forgot to elaborate on the post above, that was my last job with work being sub contracted to me from BRF, that whole promise of taking over once they retired was just bullshit, unless I could find £250,000 to buy everything. It was all just utter nonsense to get me on side to reduce the work load for them whilst they still made plenty money.

Anyway since October 14th I’ve been a groundsman at Perth Racecourse which works well for them as I fix all their machines and service them. The money is good and I’m loving it, there is a promise there of me becoming the head groundsman once he retires so there is plenty to look forward to.

I have kept my self employment going as I’m going to keep servicing and fixing the machines at Muckhart GC essentially taking that work away from BRF. It saves them money and makes me some extra cash. My ex boss who used to be at Muckhart with me is now at Kinross GC and they have the grinders that I need to service cutting units and they have said I can use them for doing the units for Muckhart GC, so that’s good as there is good money in servicing cutting units.

[Skub]

Sounds like you have fallen on your feet despite the lying bastards. Shitting on folk will bring them the luck they deserve.

All the best in the new venture,wull.

[Dodgy69]

Hoping for you it's not another Keir Starmer special.

[wull]

First mechanical job at the racecourse was on this Kubota RTV900 which turned out to be a bit funny. They were complaining that it was very poor starting and wouldn’t run very well initially before being ok thereafter. My first thought was glow plugs so I set about having a look.



I tested to see if there was voltage at them and there was. I then tried to start it and on these there is a preheat position on the key before you start it. I left it for 10 seconds then tried to start it and it fired up no bother at all and ran perfect.

I couldn’t help but laugh, I was thinking 100% they don’t bother preheating it or don’t do it long enough and just try and start it. I said to them and of course they said that they do it properly and wait so I thought ok I’ll test them further just to prove that they are working.

I didn’t even bother testing the resistance so I just whipped them out and bench tested them showing them working properly and as they should.



So they work perfectly well and as they should, what’s funny is since that day I’ve made a point of paying attention to them starting machines and they don’t bother their arse at all, all you hear is “crank crank crank crank”

[Skub]

No helping some folk.

[wull]

Next job to do at the Racecourse was to sort the headlights on the big MF5420. They were not working at all, the fuse and relay were good but there was no power getting to the fuse, the wiring from the fuse to the lights was good, I applied power and sure enough the lights came on. I tested between the light switch and fuse and there was no continuity. After a bit of tracing I found the break, new wire in place and everything back to working like it should.

[wull]

I got a call out to Muckhart, they phoned me saying the tractor wouldn’t start so after work I headed there to have a look, hopefully get them back up and running for the next day. I had an idea partly due to the weather and them keeping it outside, also the fact that the fuel filter system on these TYM’s are out front so they don’t tend to get much heat in them whilst in use.

It was -2 when I arrived and after some tests I found the issue was the secondary fuel filter, the fuel had started to gel and was so bad absolutely zero fuel was coming from the supply side of the filter housing to the injection pump. Luckily for them the service kits had been delivered earlier in the week so I replaced it, bled the system and had it back up and running. It was a cold one, -4 when I left.

[weeksy]

A more interesting topic than it has any right to be.

Keep it up fella.

[Count Steer]

A more interesting topic than it has any right to be.

Keep it up fella.

Eh? It's got machines in it, and engines, some big ones too. Tractors, tools, fixing stuff. Perfect 'men in sheds' material. Could be a YouTube channel. 'Wulls's Wonderous Ways with Wonky....err Wagriculturals'.



PS It's also a great CV.