carnage 3ciii

[MrF]

Do I win the 'worst loader bushes on a jcb backhoe' award? Yes this machine was probably a great candidate for getting cut up with a gas axe, and I paid its value in scrap iron for it but I'm kind of attached to it. I have KNOWN these bushes were really bad since I got the machine, there's no way you could not. I ignored it because I didnt at the time have space/workshop facilities and we were living in a caravan. Besides these bushes there is chickencrap welds on the H brace and in a few other places too. Besides the safety risk from the bucket snapping off, it also has made it difficult to grade with...
Yes I could cut it all out and let new steel in and remake the arms but now, I have spare loader arms, in decent condition...
Left side bush is loose...

jcb_broken_loaderarm.jpg

But then, the right side is even worse. On this side the ears of the front bucket were bent on one side by some ancient calamity, and it had twisted and locked up the pin. Someone had stuck a 6mm bolt in as a pin but it wasn't moving anyway. I've managed to straighten the ear back to nearer parallel in situ which I had to do just to get the pin out, and now its off get the bush ear bosses true, so should be good for a actual square pivot bush.

jcb_broken_loaderarm2.jpg

This is the worst bush on the loader arms going on, it does have some evidence of a repair but it looks to be solid. When I told the seller of the 3c2 that I'd use more than just the engine it was a understatement...

jcb_good_loaderarm2.jpg

Well, its late afternoon, and after a fight with one stuck pin the loader arms are off and lying on the ground. I have taken the opportunity to take off the twisted grille so I can knock it straight and clean out behind it but I've stopped to scrub up myself for something as it takes a few hours to get all the ingrained dirt out of everything so I look half respectable.
I can't work on it tomorrow because I have something official I have to do which will take the whole day so no more updates till Friday.

[Jeremy Rowland]

I guess that's well and truly worn Phil; you would be best welding a new piece of tube in with new bushes fitted in it, the hardest part would be making sure that the whole thing is in correct alignment.

Jeremy

[Matchless?58]

Blimey I think the previous owners got their money's worth out of your machine . I know that things wear out but sometimes it's just abuse and sheer lack of maintenance that causes no end of problems . I think it was a good decision to buy the other JCB seems like it's worth its weight in gold for parts .
My machine has decided to have some downtime now as I have a water l water leak from the water pump shaft seal . Ho hum another problem . Anyway that's for a new thread . Glad you are making good progress I think it will repay you in the long run . Cheers Chris

[MrF]

Jeremy, for the arms in the first two pictures, I agree, it would require a test bar or some arrangement to keep the two tubes in alignment during setup for welding or the geometry could be wrong if theyre out and it would wreck the repair, and if I was going to repair them that's the route I'd take, but as I have the luxury of spares, I'm going to put the complete loader arms from the 3c2 onto it as in the 3rd photo they are in reasonable shape and all I plan to do to them is to add the hard lines for my 3-in-1 bucket onto them.

Chris, yes it was a complete nail (and it still is in a couple of places that I plan to address also), and yes there was no way I wasn't buying that other machine for spares and parked just down the road. Opportunity doesn't knock like that too many times for sure.

[Slooby]

Ooofff

Funnily enough I've just taken the grill off mine to bash straight ish and repair...and in doing so found some crispy fried wiring in the process to investigate

[Matchless?58]

Good Idea to address that problem slooby . I had some wiring like that on my Nuffield 4/65 tractor . I thought I must take a look at that when I get time . I came there one morning and the stay dry cab had almost burnt out ! Turned out the crispy suspect wiring was related to the previous owners bodging of the windscreen wipers motor . That burnt out and created enough heat to burn things in its immediate vacinity . Luckily it was not worse and I didn't lose the whole cab and tractor ! Now whatever vehicle I leave at night I always pop one of the battery leads off . Minor damage repaired and a lesson learnt . Cheers Chris

[Jeremy Rowland]

Jeremy, for the arms in the first two pictures, I agree, it would require a test bar or some arrangement to keep the two tubes in alignment during setup for welding or the geometry could be wrong if theyre out and it would wreck the repair, and if I was going to repair them that's the route I'd take, but as I have the luxury of spares, I'm going to put the complete loader arms from the 3c2 onto it as in the 3rd photo they are in reasonable shape and all I plan to do to them is to add the hard lines for my 3-in-1 bucket onto them.

Chris, yes it was a complete nail (and it still is in a couple of places that I plan to address also), and yes there was no way I wasn't buying that other machine for spares and parked just down the road. Opportunity doesn't knock like that too many times for sure.

Good used parts can be just the job good luck with the repair.

Jeremy

[MrF]

I didn't get anything done Friday as was dog tired. But today put the arms on with the forklift (bliss) & the hard lines after it was mounted so that I didn't damage them accidentally, then of course spotted it didn't have the mounts for the bucket pipework. So I sawn out a 20mm wide x 130 long strip from some 20mm plate and tapped & tig welded it in place to use the line clamps from the other arm. Grabbed some black aerosol to stop rust.


Same up front, but I replicated the method from the old arms, that is I welded two unf bolts on and used locking nuts to hold the pipework. The lines were bent out of shape and caught on the edge of the bonnet but got them back mostly into shape and they don't snag now & covered with the black aerosol again. Also swapped some of the hydraulic hoses that were looking very suspect with better looking ones.


I have just the bottom pins to go in then the bucket hoses to reconnect, but that can wait until tomorrow as tiredness & accident damage kicking in said it was time to stop, so I'll do that and then cut the fork mounts off as theyre a mess and then I can use it as is for a few small jobs. Its slowly turning a different shade of yellow. My daughter wants to paint the whole machine, maybe when we get the cab sorted out & I find some 1k in the correct shade of yellow & some red for the wheels/buckets.

[Jeremy Rowland]

You have made a nice job of that

Jeremy

[Matchless?58]

Great stuff . That looks a really handy machine front bucket will prove to be really useful . Your cab looks in a similar state to mine , absolutely knackered . I don't really know where to start with mine but I suppose it's like all the other jobs it will just develop as it goes along . Cheers Chris