JCB4

[Martyn Henley]

I thought seeing 2 of them on eBay was quite remarkable, seeing one in the flesh would be spectacular.

I have heard only about the couple of hundred myself ... but you should be able to see one in the flesh next year i think ... Mike Eacock of Worcester has bought one and is in the process of renovating the wee beastie ..hopfully it will be at SED next year as was his 3D mk2 this year.

Martyn

[XS650]

Some good pics of a JCB 3D with the parallel lift loader arms (were these an option or standard?) for sale here ;-
http://www.jcbdiggers.com/index.php?page=5819&cate=3
Worth looking at 'previosly sold' for good pics of old kit as well.No 4D's though unfortunately.

[Martyn Henley]

Hi Craig ... the parallel lift arms were another of JCB's inovations that did not work as well as they thought it would.. they had them fitted as standard to 3Ds and 4D's from late 1970 to 1973, they had a weakness in the lower half of the arms where the bucket rams fitted to the arms met ... so back to the standard arms but with a 3 spool valve block to enable the same effect the parallel lift arms did ..and that was to keep the bucket level at any height.

Chris Balls at JCB.com does a good job renovating old JCB's and selling them on given them a new life

Martyn

[essexpete]

Hi Craig ... the parallel lift arms were another of JCB's inovations that did not work as well as they thought it would.. they had them fitted as standard to 3Ds and 4D's from late 1970 to 1973, they had a weakness in the lower half of the arms where the bucket rams fitted to the arms met ... so back to the standard arms but with a 3 spool valve block to enable the same effect the parallel lift arms did ..and that was to keep the bucket level at any height.Chris Balls at JCB.com does a good job renovating old JCB's and selling them on given them a new life

Martyn

Martyn the valving you mention only (iirr) worked on the up side by pulling the spool right back. Nothing to level on the down stroke. At least this was how our old 3C 111 worked. The 3 levers were in an abysmal position as well so I added cranked extensions to the levers to bring them closer to the driver. It seemed a backwards step from a MK11 with a 2 function lever for lift and crowd plus 2nd for 4in1.

I take that the big selling 3Cs never had parallel likage.

Peter

[Martyn Henley]

Nothing to level on the down stroke.

Yes Peter you are right about that, pull back on raise gave you what was called Level Back.. push the lever full down gave you Float, reason being you did not need to have bucket level once you had tipped, other makers like Case had a return to dig, but saying that the 2 levers on the Case were better placed.

I have to say that the 3 lever spool was ok, once you learned how not to keep getting your fingers pinched , you did have to have large hands to operate all three at once, but once on the ground the float lever was free to just use the other two levers to close the clam when picking a pile of muck up.

And as far as i know the 3C never had Parallel lift arms

[Martyn Henley]

Going back on topic now, while i was researching for my next project i came across these two pictures that i thought i would share...

Taken sometime in 1960

jcb4inhole.jpg

And again taken in 1960

jcb4inkent.jpg

Martyn

[DaveS]

In an old piece of film I saw on TV about the building of the Clyde tunnel in Glasgow there is a cabless JCB 4 shown working in the tunnel.

The operator was giving the backhoe a real battering trying to loosen some rock!

Were the parallel loader arms on those later types not classed as the 'high reach' option - I know that they were bought for loading gritters in the winter by the councils.

Dave.

[Martyn Henley]

The parrallel lift arms did survive on the JCB 700

jcb700.jpg

Sorry Dave its not the best picture.
There was a "high lift" option as well .. i belive Essexpete has a mk3 with high lift loading arms

Martyn

[essexpete]

The parrallel lift arms did survive on the JCB 700

jcb700.jpg

Sorry Dave its not the best picture.
There was a "high lift" option as well .. i belive Essexpete has a mk3 with high lift loading arms

Martyn

Sadly not any more

[Martyn Henley]

Sadly not any more

Oh no Peter what have you done with it ?

Martyn