Power barrow

[chrisg3103]

Well German ebay came up trumps, now if only i hadnt stripped the rest of it down...

humming a and hawing over the grease most of the week, its not as clear cut as i thought. Apparently bentonite being clay based is totally incompatible with lithium or the like which is soap based, so everything would need to be spotless before swapping.
Plus the fact it must be in there for a reason? so after reading far too much into it, including the conspiracy therorys that say the bentonite is there to grind down the gearbox so it blows up after a few years... i just ordered some genuine peerless grease from good old Salem Indiana (Cinderford England) not cheap but its kind of an important bit.

Not much else has happened, got the engine and gearbox off of the frame and thats about it, time is lacking!

Might get some of it stripped degunked and primed today, cant have this one lingering too long

 

[KemppiFrog]

Going nicely!
First narrow dumper truck I saw was in the Dordogne. Like a conventional sit on, but narrow enough to go though a doorway, so less than 80cm wide. Think that was in '85.

 

[chrisg3103]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203090379399

One of these per chance? they look handy, bit narrow and long but high reach

 

[KemppiFrog]

Nope, it was smaller and had a large square tube for a chassis with a little diesel in it. Well suited for those little hilly towns with tight alleys.
I glaced at the web to see if your manufacturer is still about. Was based in a suburb of Reims but seems not now.

 

[chrisg3103]

Gears degreased and degunked, all in good condition except for the drive sprocket, bit of wear.
But thats the guts of the box, top shaft gears are fixed to the shaft by splines, bottom shaft the gears are free to turn until the sprung shift keys (4 metal strips) are shoved along the groves and spring into the slots on the respective gear, locking that gear to the shaft.

bit of chain wear, might just turn it around if i cant find one easily

degreasing the case, want to chuck it into some degresaer and sand blast it but these needle rollers will be a bit ruined. Didnt even attempt to remove as they are surely some weird imperial size!
Quick look online they seem to be 5/8 inner x 13/16 outer x 1/2 thick or a B-108, only about £5 each so might as well change them.
Fancy grease still not arrived so got time to kill, also seen this https://ratbarrow.com.au/
the way it steers is interesting, this barrow has a big double wheel caster in the back pivoting though a big pin, might not be too much work to re purpose that pivot point for an articulated mini dumper type thing. Although maybe see how it performs as is first

 

[chrisg3103]

Bit more progress, first off removed the needle rollers

Opps
Turns out they are two different sizes in this model... ah well i have a spare bearing
So thats a B1012 and a B108 needed

Casings degreased, sandblasted (outside only) and sealing surfaces cleaned up. Seems the bushes and outer edge were sealed with a kind of hard setting compound, ill just use red hylomar, sure it will be fine.

New bearings, rollers seem slightly different, maybe the wrong ones but dont think they will explode or anything. Fitted fine anyway, interesting point in the peerless rebuild manual thingy i found, these bearings must not under any circumstance be lubricated with the bentonite, seems bentonite is bad for bearings but good for bushes and gears

300ml of grease specified, so break out the calibrated measure.

everything greased up as it went back together, then drizzle what has the colour and consistency of condensed milk over, looked lovely.

Quick spin and add the gear selector, skoosh of hylomar and pop the lid back on jobs a goodun

 

[chrisg3103]

Quite a bit has happened

Bits removed and given a gunk and pressure washer bath

Spot of rust removal, but the wire brush was a bit past it... new brush purchased

spot of primer

Bit of colour

Fitted gearbox and lever, i am not liking the amount of sideways force on the selector with the really tall lever. Probably one of the reasons it failed. Could be doing with a plate with a support bearing or something? will do for now until the rest is together

Axle assembly, could not get the hubs off of the shafts, so split the differential to remove shafts. Nothing wrong with it, just wanted it apart to clean and paint.... but turns out i was justified! of the 4 bolts holding the differential sandwich together, one was mostly missing, just the tail end holding the brake disk on, and one was sheared at the brake disk internally.
So had to order 2 5/16 x 4'' bolts, which then didnt have enough thread so had to find a 5/16 bsw die at work, crazy Americans and their fractions

Dont know what grease was in there but some more bentonite seems a fitting choice

Nice, clean and shiney. Utterly pointless but makes me feel better

So i then stripped, cleaned and painted the working engine. if it still works but looks nice

 

[chrisg3103]

Axle fitted

Maybe do with making a chain guard to keep muck out

As it stands today, getting there!

One thing i could do with help with. These are the brake and clutch levers, have saker cast into them, clutch is ok but brake is mangled

Also have the remains of a ratchet mechanism, this would be quite handy for the brake, problem is i can not find any levers of any sort to fit 27mm handle bars... standard seems to be 22mm
Next nearest was classic motorbike levers the fit 1'' tube, not 27mm but closer, anyone got any idea of where to find 27mm or 1 1/16 levers? The brake lever is proving to be very difficult to straighten out

 

[Lewis_RX8]

Looking good, I do love a restoration.

I did a very similar restoration to a old generator and reminds me exactly of this. Great satisfaction from these jobs especially when it all goes smoothly.

Will be interesting to see if you ever bring yourself to get it dirty

 

[chrisg3103]

well thats the thing.... i bought it to hopefully help build a sizable workshop! once real work starts it will be minging and scuffed up in no time, but it will give me an incentive to try look after it a bit and not knock it over with the digger in two minds if i should touch the skip or leave as is

 

[badabec]

Hello, will any blade fit? You could buy 7/8" levers and just use the blade. Pedal cycles have more options including 31mm (shim down to 27mm) but have short blades, often made of nylon.
Or cut the ends off the handles, slide in a length of 7/8 tube and weld. Some levers come with a choke lever, use that for the throttle?

Is the brake lever beyond being coshed back into shape?

Apologies if I am teaching you to suck eggs

 

[chrisg3103]

Any information is appreciated, didnt know 31mm was a standard so will investigate that. Found 26mm levers for mountain bikes I think but they seem to work back to front.

Thought about fitting a reduction piece, but its complicating things and the bike type fittings seem to be a pinch bolt type design so would need to slide over the 27mm tube anyway, need a split clamp type thing.
Replacing the lever/blade bit sounds interesting, and I am still working on straightening the original. Being a pressed metal construction it has sort of folded in on itself, and the steel is beefy enough to be a bugger to pick back out into shape.
Few more avenues to try

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Great work!!

then drizzle what has the colour and consistency of condensed milk over

You're starting to sound like a TV chef.

 

[badabec]

How about this sort of thing?

https://www.feked.com/brake-lever-1.html

 

[tom2207]

thats great progress , almost too nice now to use , so you actually NEED another now.

 

[Agroshield]

Being a pressed metal construction it has sort of folded in on itself, and the steel is beefy enough to be a bugger to pick back out into shape.

As said above, a bit of careful cutting so you are only bending in one plane might help. Reweld, linish, replate when straight. If the clutch is the same shape, make a buck or former from that and then heat the brake to red hot and massage over the buck.

 

[chrisg3103]

I have thought about trying to press it back into shape, quite curvey though

How about this sort of thing?

https://www.feked.com/brake-lever-1.html

Thats the nearest i have found so far to the mythical 27mm, have taken a punt on https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00VE6HN90/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 with the intention of boring it out to 27mm... no idea if there is enough meat on it or if i can even get it to mount in the 4 jaw, but worth a punt at £7.50 next day delivery (got switch version as it was cheaper)

thats great progress , almost too nice now to use , so you actually NEED another now.

I have very nearly bought another one a few times now thankfully been pipped to the post by folk quicker off the mark

 

[chrisg3103]

brake lever sorted

cheapo lever arrived so removed all the bits i could and spaced the clamp with a little stack of washers

Very tricky to centre an oval so tried the center between center trick, seemed to be running pretty true! but because of the big sticky out bit thats as close as i could get the dial.

Very gently teased out to 27mm, that sticky out bit was giving me the fear twirling about! not bad, broke through to the thread and just tickled the bolt.

not so centered after all

slightly nibbled bolt

not too bad, just need to file a relief in the tube for a new bolt, i say its an anti rotation feature.

Fitted well and looks the part, i am resisting temptation to replace the clutch with one as there is nothing wrong with it! so far so good, see how it goes trying to run new cable.

On other news i have been working on reinstating the electric starter, my original idea was to use an 18v dewalt battery as the starter battery, but dont want to blow up my battery's, they are spendy.
So splashed out £7 on a 150A watt meter to see what sort of currents the itty bitty starter motor draws.
Well under engine cranking it peaks at 65A and runs at 20A dont thing a 12v regulator will like that, and that seems like quite a bit of current to be pulling from a power tool battery, especially with no protection circuitry.
So think the sensible route is to fit a tiny motorbike lead acid battery, currently printing a little battery tray.

 

[chrisg3103]

Mk1 battery tray, for some reason the layer adhesion on the black was awful, and i had forgot there was a clutch cover bolt in the way. just drilled out one of the mounting holes, but then it was squinty..

So quick redesign to incorporate the bolt and it is done, although the third mounting hole is inside the clutch cover and inaccessible without taking the cover off again... so two it is.

Little baby lead acid battery

Covered and clamped

Going to throw this in here as it may interest, im using 10 awg cable for the power, too big for my normal crimps and a bit baggy on the 16mm crimp terminals. Unless you only use half a die, flat side folds the terminal in on itself nicely.

Bit of heat shrink job done.

Wired up through a generic start solenoid

Used random hole in the middle of the handlebars for a key switch i had spare, was going quite well till i realised the way the engine ignition shuts down the switched ignition of the switch will kill rather than enable the ignition! so had to keep the handlebar mounted switch that looks like a bicycle bell, can probably get the key to work if i add a relay.

And this is where thigs get annoying for the next two days! starter spinning the engine up fine, will it run right? will it heck! wont start, when it dose it will run for a few seconds, cranking getting backfire through the carb.
Had carb off a few times to try winkle out any hidden passageways, had plug out and cleaned/cooked it. Trying to find a replacement carb is impossible, i seem to have a very rare manual choke version? all auto choke or primer bulb.
So trawling gumtree i found an add for a mower with the same engine, but primer bulb. £30 later

what a beauty suspiciously oily, very rusty and a bit bent. All i really want is its carb and control gear anyway, but got it going and it went not bad, spewed oil out the exhaust but ran!
Tried barrow engine one more time, just popping out the carb, kind of like a timing issue? so had a thought and swapped the spark plugs, barrow fired and ran like a sweety so i now have a project engine to pull apart and see why its spewing oil everywhere dont know what was up with the original plug, was getting a good fat spark but new filters and plug arriving tomorrow anyway. I can also use the mower engine to replace a few missing screws and covers on the barrow so no great loss.

 

[chrisg3103]

So then had a blast around the garden, is quite nippy in top gear! got to watch reverse, very real risk of running yourself over fairly easy to control but horrificaly noisy! these briggs engines aren't renowned for stealth.

After a bit of fun i put the skip back on, two pins and R clips, 10 second job.

In its natural environment, although i did find one worrying thing with the skip in place, can only select 1st gear.

Never liked the way the linkage worked, why its till rusty, but this nails it! Cant be the original system? to select higher gears the linkage needs to move to the right in the picture, its hard against the fuel tank and the bottom of the skip.
Next on the to do list, new gear linkage system! maybe go around the engine rather than over the top

Also with the skip on and balancing feet either side of the hoop bit, it can propel itself and a person, i really want to make a little trailing bogy now to try drive this thing