Ransomes MG5 Crawler

[julianf]

That looks like the same engine crane I’ve got in the garage, used it Friday to lift a Land Rover engine into the back of a Disco. As you say, very useful, the only thing is, ours slowly sinks, not fast enough to cause a problem, but you can’t leave something on it for long.

I have, probably, the same one. Ive had it years, and not treated it well.

After a few repairs, ram failed eventually (the master started leaking a load) and i worked out that i could get a brand new ram, delivered, for £25, before cash back.

(this was what i bought, but it was less money then, and there was an ebay 5% token or somthing also - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204702805091 )

Anyway, it was perfect, and now, for the sake of a couple of bolts, i keep the ram in the dry, and leave the rest of the unit to fend for itself outside.


At some point i may blast off the flaking powder coat, and get the parts hot dipped.

 

[Dieselman 63]

I have, probably, the same one. Ive had it years, and not treated it well.

After a few repairs, ram failed eventually (the master started leaking a load) and i worked out that i could get a brand new ram, delivered, for £25, before cash back.

(this was what i bought, but it was less money then, and there was an ebay 5% token or somthing also - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204702805091 )

Anyway, it was perfect, and now, for the sake of a couple of bolts, i keep the ram in the dry, and leave the rest of the unit to fend for itself outside.


At some point i may blast off the flaking powder coat, and get the parts hot dipped.

I have wondered about the quality of some of the welds on it. I'd prefer it if it was orange, the powder coating fades quite badly in the sun, and I thought I could strip it and re-do the welds... but for now it's fine I think.

The heaviest thing I've had on the end of it is either the Denbigh drill which was about 500kg, or the workbench which was about the same. Thankfully my ram isn't leaking, but that's good to know you can buy a new ram for it.

 

[julianf]

I have wondered about the quality of some of the welds on it. I'd prefer it if it was orange, the powder coating fades quite badly in the sun, and I thought I could strip it and re-do the welds... but for now it's fine I think.

The heaviest thing I've had on the end of it is either the Denbigh drill which was about 500kg, or the workbench which was about the same. Thankfully my ram isn't leaking, but that's good to know you can buy a new ram for it.

Ive had mine, maybe, 15 years. I think its probably been stored inside for all of about 2 weeks of that?

Ive lifted a number of rayburn cookers (360kg ish) with it, my lathe (in parts), a lister cs, landrover 300tdis, bits of wadkin machine tools, etc.etc.

So nothing greater than 500kg, and i try to keep the boom short, but, on occasion ive had to use it at reach.

I really think the numbers are chinease spec though, and i would not trust it with my limbs (at least not when thinking about it)

 

[Dieselman 63]

Right. I made a start separating the engine from the rest of the rotary hoe. There's some good and some bad. The bore is really really good, but the piston has some serious scoring to one side. Unfortunately, what I think has happened is someone has tried to get it going and not dismantled it. The seller did say it was his project to get going over Covid but this has caused damage. These engines are really prone to sludge build up and if left for a long time, that's exactly what will happen. When I took off the oil feed, emulsified oil came out, and when I took off the return, black engine oil came out. The head is also really badly knocked about, a lot of cooling fins missing and the engine manifold is completely cracked off. It's a real shame. The valve seats look mint.

The amount of muck on the engine is insane! Did nobody ever give this machine a hose off? Anyway, I moved on. The flywheel was really difficult to remove, I don't remember it being this difficult on the other two. I cut down two M10 bolts and cut 3/8 BSF to their ends, then machined some very thick washers, drilled to 10.5mm, and used this bit of puller to prise the flywheel from the engine taper. It was really, really hard and I had to use some very long bars to get the leverage I needed. Check out my fancy washer design before common sense kicked in and I made the second one flat. That's the 10:30pm mindset over-complicating things!

It's saying something that I can complete a job like this at home no hassle, yet I would be forbidden from using the lathe at work as it would pose an H&S risk as it would be an unplanned job that we don't have a pre-written job safety analysis or work instruction for. The mind doth boggle!

 

[Turbo]

Right. I made a start separating the engine from the rest of the rotary hoe. There's some good and some bad. The bore is really really good, but the piston has some serious scoring to one side. Unfortunately, what I think has happened is someone has tried to get it going and not dismantled it. The seller did say it was his project to get going over Covid but this has caused damage. These engines are really prone to sludge build up and if left for a long time, that's exactly what will happen. When I took off the oil feed, emulsified oil came out, and when I took off the return, black engine oil came out. The head is also really badly knocked about, a lot of cooling fins missing and the engine manifold is completely cracked off. It's a real shame. The valve seats look mint.

The amount of muck on the engine is insane! Did nobody ever give this machine a hose off? Anyway, I moved on. The flywheel was really difficult to remove, I don't remember it being this difficult on the other two. I cut down two M10 bolts and cut 3/8 BSF to their ends, then machined some very thick washers, drilled to 10.5mm, and used this bit of puller to prise the flywheel from the engine taper. It was really, really hard and I had to use some very long bars to get the leverage I needed. Check out my fancy washer design before common sense kicked in and I made the second one flat. That's the 10:30pm mindset over-complicating things!

It's saying something that I can complete a job like this at home no hassle, yet I would be forbidden from using the lathe at work as it would pose an H&S risk as it would be an unplanned job that we don't have a pre-written job safety analysis or work instruction for. The mind doth boggle!

When pulling stuff like flywheels I find if you tension up the puller and then give the end of the puller (where you put your spanner) a good belt with a heavy hammer the shock will release the taper.

 

[Dieselman 63]

When pulling stuff like flywheels I find if you tension up the puller and then give the end of the puller (where you put your spanner) a good belt with a heavy hammer the shock will release the taper.

No real way of tensioning the pulley in this instance that I could see other than doing this. The other end is completely obscured by the housing. The holes are blind as they face the aluminium crankcase. Realistically I'd prefer to jack off the crankcase but in this instance, you'd end up poking a hole through it. I really didn't want to put any shock loading on the bearing pin as this is the only part I really need from this engine (the crank assembly). I think there is a special Howard tool you have to make for this, except my manual doesn't have the JAP engine but the Kohler one

 

[Dieselman 63]

It's a video update for the fans of my video world:

Nothing like a good old fashioned problem to make a cheap project become expensive.

I'll sew a new oil filter sock in the meantime.