Ransomes MG5 Crawler

[Dieselman 63]

And for something completely different, I picked up a Mitsubishi T200 at the tip that said ‘parts only’ on it. I paid a guy to look over it and he managed to get it running and he did a sterling job, but he said the shaft won’t spin and that he reckoned it wouldn’t be worth my money as it might be a job I could do myself.

It was! The clutch was missing the spring. I save all springs out of any equipment I scrap. I had a lovely hard spring just right for modifying, and the brush cutter runs!

 

[Dieselman 63]

Had it running this morning.

That’s a great machine, $100 to keep that out of the tip, well worth it. All it was was a new plug and spring, plus the guy’s know-how to get it going. Well happy. Starting to become my own local authority with this amount of industry-spec equipment!

 

[Dieselman 63]

Here is the petrol/oil tank. I have had the oil tank full of phosphoric acid for the past three days or so. Look at how it’s come up compared to the petrol tank. It’s shiny, clean, very impressed. The valves work well, too.

 

[Turbo]

To help clean the tank throw a handful of s/s nuts and washers into the tank and shake it around. They will help knock off the rust.

Neutralise the acid in the tank with a mixture of baking soda and hot water.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Quick job before bed, rip all the brass fittings off this tank and get them soaking. They all screwed off apart from this one that snapped off. Great. Another job… always at 10pm!

 

[Farside]

I throw a six ft length of lavvy chain into the tank and rumble it around, and it's trivially easy to remove it afterwards.
I made the mistake of throwing small pebbles (aquarium type gravel, but slightly larger) into one. It did a good job, but ages to get them all out and there was one stubbornly clinging on to its new home - still in there.

 

[Dieselman 63]

More bits blasted and into primer.

 

[Dieselman 63]

The oil valves were seized.

I boiled them in vinegar which got the small one working, but the big one wouldn’t budge. I opened it up and it’s now been polished and works well again. The spring shattered when I cleaned it, so I found a suitable replacement in my spring box. These are all old springs from machines I’ve scrapped, I think today’s spring came from a DOL switch, or maybe a contactor. Another piece done.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Getting the cowl on with both pieces is a total pain!

I threaded the tail piece through the depth gauge and then put a g clamp on to keep it there. This was a good idea. Then, much swearing later, I had the main piece in place. I loctited the screws and nipped them up. I had to modify the link piece for the frame, not sure how this got to be like this, but anyway. A small kink had it aligned again.

Then I took it outside for a photo opportunity. That ring of hedge was planted five years ago, by me, as a nursery had the plants for $3 each so I think I bought the lot. Mum wasn’t impressed at the time, but look at it now!