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Tony Dunkley

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Everything posted by Tony Dunkley

  1. The mirror was primarily for admiring myself as I worked, . . . . the main difficulty was that various bits of the machine structure were in the way and I couldn't position it on my 'best side'.
  2. Yes, there were many additions and variations to the governor linkage and speed controls on the Lister ranges, and not only from type to type, but between the 1, 2, 3 and 4 cylinder variants in the same range. I can recall one memorable afternoon of fun some years ago changing the pumps on an SR4 in a small skid-steer loader which had been run with the fuel filters by-passed because they were constantly blocking up !! The engine was sandwiched tightly in between the bucket arms and rams and everything had to be done at full arm stretch through a mirror.
  3. A fabricated steel structure which doesn't flex or move to some degree under applied load has yet to be made, and being statically or dynamically balanced won't prevent run-out on a rotating shaft and coupling assembly, or guarantee that the engine flywheel is in perfect axial and angular alignment with the gearbox input shaft.
  4. Those two photo's may be exhibiting a possible cause for the knackered driveplate. Unless the gearbox is in perfect angular and axial alignment with the tailshaft, and/or the plummer block doesn't permit even the slightest [fore and aft] axial movement in the tailshaft, the end thrust on that intermediate shaft [with the Hooke joints on each end] when in gear will be exerting a mis-aligning force on the free-standing gearbox. If the gearbox mounting is sufficiently rigid to prevent even the slightest sideways displacement of the box, then there's no problem, but in practice, even the most substantial and strong looking pieces of steel fabrication will flex to a surprising degree when put under load. It would also be well worthwhile to check the half coupling that carries the driveplate for run-out.
  5. Try operating it [from cold] with the control cable disconnected, and see if it still does the same thing. As far as I know they're very similar to the PRM mechanical boxes with cone clutches, and there's no adjustments that can be made to the box itself to take up wear.
  6. Unless the boat is being docked for any other reason it would be well worth disconnecting the tailshaft at the half coupling and checking for run-out on that and the gearbox half coupling before doing so. Some makes of gearbox can suffer bent output shafts or distorted output half couplings, and some types of flexible/resilient couplings can be permanently distorted following major engine mounting failures.
  7. There is a line on the motor's topmast [ it hasn't been used at that lock, . . it's laying across the middle beam], but if you look at how far the motor's counter is out, it wouldn't hold back well enough to pull both gates open, so whoever was off the boats on the lockside would be opening the butty's gate and getting back on as the boats came out of the lock.
  8. Frequently done with empty two-handed pairs South of the Cowroast, and elsewhere on the Junction where you wouldn't single-out empty boats. In fact, nobody's steering the butty because they running abreast, and they'll stay abreast all the way to Cowley Lock where they'll single out for the Cowley Pound.
  9. I wouldn't go near it with a puller, or anything else with the intention of disturbing the half coupling fit on the shaft. If it's tight on the shaft and doesn't want to move, then it's best left that way. If you did manage to move it along the shaft towards the engine flywheel, it's not likely to get you anywhere because, if the half coupling has been fitted as it should be, there probably won't be enough room between the end of the shaft and the gearbox splines to withdraw and re-fit the drive plate anyway.
  10. The first of the three photo's of the empty Willow Wren's at Croxley isn't the same pair that's in the second and third photo's, . . . the motor in the first photo looks like a 'Northwich', so it's almost certainly either 'Mallard' or 'Warbler'.
  11. Not necessarily, . . . the half coupling may be, and really should be, a shrunk-on interference fit.
  12. You'll have to either move the gearbox back a few inches [sterngear, thrust bearings etc permitting] , or lift the gearbox out of the way. The 'channel' in the shaft is a keyway for a feather [straight] key, and the grub screw is to prevent movement of the key in the event of it becoming loose.
  13. What was the reason for having to reset the governor, . . . have you fitted new governor weight springs or speeder spring, and is the engine a factory produced variable speed model with an external speed control lever and adjustable stops, or was it made as a fixed speed engine with the [now variable] speed now being controlled by means of the speeder spring rod where it sticks out of the timing case ? It's well worth re-checking the pump racks, as Bizz suggests, for anything that may interfere with their free movement, and whilst doing that also make sure that oil feed piping to the valve gear hasn't been bent slightly out of shape and is fouling where it passes close to the pump rack linkage.
  14. At the risk of asking the obvious, . . . . you have removed the setscrew from the locking plate modification [photo in Post #1] that someone has made to the crank pulley bolt, . . . . haven't you ? Don't be afraid of getting brutal with it if necessary. If you can manage to bust the crank in the process of getting the pulley bolt undone, then it would have been on the verge of failure anyway !
  15. Injection timing won't have any significant, or even perceptible effect on idling speed, and there isn't much travel on the pump racks from idling off load to the stop position, . . . that's quite normal. Have you disturbed, or made any adjustments to, the governor arm fulcrum in the timing case, or the external adjustments to the speeder spring and speed control stops ?
  16. Despite whatever you have done with the governor, linkage and injector pumps, there can only be either something preventing the pump racks from operating freely, and / or the governor, and it's linkage, isn't correctly set-up and adjusted. The scribed marks [on the pump racks] that line up with the sides of the pump bodies are nothing to do with pump timing.
  17. Do you fancy a bit of spannering while you're getting some juice back into the batteries ? If you do, then unfasten the air-ducting from the engine and get it out of the way. Then take off the pump cover sideplate, . . . it's the upper one of the two sideplates [ the lower one is the crankcase door and gives access to the crank and big-ends] , and the bottom lefthand corner of it is slightly above and to the right of the lever we've just been talking about. Behind this cover plate [held in place by six cheese-head screws] you'll see both the injector pumps, . . . check [with the end of your finger] that the pump control racks are free to move horizontally in both directions when the stop lever is in the start/run postion.
  18. From memory [ another topic and posts] I think you've got an SR2, . . . yes ? You're on the right track re. fuel starvation, and it's going to be something preventing the injector pump racks from operating freely and returning to the start/run position. Is this 'lever' an extension lever attached to the small 'butterfly' control [near to the bottom corner of the air ducting] that rotates clockwise to stop the engine, and was the 'good shove' needed when stopping, prior to starting, or when checking when it wouldn't start ?
  19. Can you elaborate on problem 2) a bit more ? There's a good possibility that it's linked to the reluctant starting.
  20. This form of head gasket failure is comparatively rare, and only occurs if the gasket has failed between the oil feed to the valve gear and a water passage, or if there's a severe enough blow to reduce compression to the point where the affected cylinder virtually ceases to fire at all and unburned fuel get forced into the water jackets.
  21. We've got a Combustion Leakage Detector. It fits into the filler neck and passes air from the small space above the coolant inside the Heat Exchanger/Header tank/expansion tank through a coloured liquid which changes colour in the presence of carbon dioxide. Testing customer's engines with it creates a good impression and gives the appearance of being technically 'up with the times', but truth to tell, I've never yet detected any head or head gasket troubles with it, that I hadn't already diagnosed by watching the coolant surface in the filler neck and sniffing it for exhaust fumes.
  22. You do need to establish whether or not the engine is going to overheat again, and a good way for you to start diagnosing what, if anything, is wrong in the cylinder head area, would be to check the coolant level and then warm the engine up to normal running temperature with the pressure cap off. Whilst it's warming up, adjust the engine revs to minimize the vibration which will be disturbing the surface of the water in the filler neck of the header tank, and watch what's happening to the water, and the level. Small bubbles and/or a trace of fumes/exhaust smell in the filler neck of the header tank are indicative of cylinder head or head gasket problems.
  23. Shouldn't they be very firmly slapped down by the Master next Thursday for this blatant time-wasting ? The question of you being permitted to assist Leigh and speak on his behalf got fairly extensive coverage on 23 March last, and I would have thought that this second bite at something that's already been ruled on won't be well received by the Court.
  24. Far too factual, truthful and revealing for either C&RT's 'in house' or 'in pocket' lawyers to be comfortable with, . . . to raise this at a Directions Hearing, particularly as, effectively, the same gripe was disposed of in March, is one of the best examples of clutching at straws I've ever seen. The MNC and PRN arguments won't be aired in Court in Nottingham until 17 October, which is when the Directions hearing for C&RT's Claim against me has now been listed for, and I'm sure they will try anything they can, however futile it ultimately proves to be, to bring about the longest possible delay before they're heard in London either.
  25. I see this as little more than another clear indication of just how desperate and fearful C&RT and their legal thugs have become. They achieved a sort of minor victory back in March when they succeeded in having the Statement of Case sidelined pro tem, and now, possibly in light of just how weak their Defence is, they are indulging in fairly blatant time-wasting by going back over much the same ground again with old information upon which they chose to remain silent at the time. If they had anything resembling sound and effective arguments to put to the Court, then they wouldn't be resorting to this sort of piffling nonsense. Let's hope that the Master takes a similar view next week, . . . . I think there's a very real prospect that he will.
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