Total novice just bought a JCB 5C - help!

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Total novice just bought a JCB 5C - help!

Post #1 by motornoter » Fri Jan 18, 2019 12:13 am

Hi all, I've always been a fan of old machines and have run classic cars for 35 years but this is a first - I only just moved to a house with enough space!
I bought this one from a farm near Buckingham, got it delivered today - it's in working order but a bit tired, in many ways - plenty of oil leaks, tracks a bit sluggish, part of engine cover missing, most wiring disconnected, etc etc.
Hoping to improve it all round but don't have a clue where to start - all advice welcome! Info on how to maintain it and where to find parts would be a real help, to get me started...

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Thanks!
Malcolm


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Re: Total novice just bought a JCB 5C - help!

Post #2 by strontium90 » Fri Jan 18, 2019 7:07 am

Hi motornoter….Good luck with your new purchase...While I know nothing of JCB's, in 2016 I was in the same boat as you, having bought a Hymac 580 C (a machine from the same era as your JCB)….I remember saying to my brother in law, who had one previously, that "I knew nothing about them" and he replied "by the time your finished, you'll know all about them"...
I would start by looking online and try to source a workshop manual and users manual for her...they will be your Bible...
Try to house her or get somewhere sheltered, with access to power, to work on her...you could start by tensioning your right hand track, as you don't want the hassle of a track coming off...Also, there is a Swedish site which has some downloads (https://www.maskinisten.net/downloads.p ... C&start=25 ) and the guys are quite helpful...Happy digging..


Edit...There is a Parts manual for your machine on this site, in downloads, which gives you an exploded view of things, which will help you understand better how she works.


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Re: Total novice just bought a JCB 5C - help!

Post #3 by Jeremy Rowland » Fri Jan 18, 2019 9:05 am

Hi Malcolm and welcome to CMN :thumbup: nice project you have there and a real classic to boot :thumbup: Although I have always been a big construction machinery fanatic since I was a kid many moons ago now and have a general all round knowledge of machines, my own purchasing experience has been interesting but expensive. Old machines need lots of TLC and as I am discovering with my Hymac 580BT and Poclain 75CKB the jobs are seemingly endless, however every job done is one less and the machines get that little bit better each time.

So where do you start? My suggestion is to start basic and simple, was this machine stored in a barn because if it was there may be no anti-freeze in it? Check that first; a good quality tarpaulin sheet helps to keep machines clean and protected from the elements to a degree. The engine cover from what I can recall was fibreglass on these machines so you are unlikely to find one, as said above I would get the track tensioned, this is accomplished with a grease gun, slew the machine round and use the arm to jack up the slack track then grease the tensioning nipple and hope that the seals are okay and that it is not seized, you can see the hole in the side of the undercarriage by the idler wheel where you will find the tensioning nipple.

Get the digger warm and have a good play with her if she slows down and grinds almost to a halt then the most likely cause will be that the main hydraulic pump which is the heart of the machine is shot; not to panic! although expensive to repair they can still be done, Tony Flint repaired mine for the 580BT well worth having done and will last the life of the machine now; you said she tracked slow that could be the track motors, again these are repairable, I am getting a bit carried away here :oops:

Good luck with it keep us all updated if I come across any spares I will pm you. :thumbup:

Jeremy


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Re: Total novice just bought a JCB 5C - help!

Post #4 by essexpete » Fri Jan 18, 2019 11:08 am

As Julian has said plus check/change oils in track drives and slew gear box. What would be interesting to find out: are any components like drives, rollers, idlers interchangeable with any other machines.


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Re: Total novice just bought a JCB 5C - help!

Post #5 by Jeremy Rowland » Fri Jan 18, 2019 11:50 am

essexpete wrote:As Julian has said plus check/change oils in track drives and slew gear box. What would be interesting to find out: are any components like drives, rollers, idlers interchangeable with any other machines.



Julian? :think: :lol:

Jeremy

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Re: Total novice just bought a JCB 5C - help!

Post #6 by FOWLER MAN » Fri Jan 18, 2019 7:22 pm

Hi Malcom,
I too wish you success with your purchase. The engine servicing you will be familiar with. I don't know the 5C but here are a few pointers for the hydraulics.
There will be a washable meatal suction strainer on the pickup in the hydraulic tank and in a long service machine like yours it will probably need cleaning and is probably accessed through a plate on the top of the tank. There will also be a return line filter where the used oil returns to the tank from the services, (rams etc.), via the oil cooler. This will be a throw away ellement in a canister like a heavy version of an old type engine oil filter.

You realy need to get hold of someone with a pressure guage to know what's going on with the hydraulcs. To see if the pumps are making the required pressure.( I don't know the settings for the 5C).
If the weak traveling is the same on both tracks it could well be a releif valve fault as both tracks are, like most JCBs, almost certainly controled by the same releif valve.
There will probaly also be one main releif valve for everything else, ( I think JCB called it a regulating valve),and for each of the other services JCB's preset bullet type service line valves, ( JCB call them ARVs), in the main spool valve block under the levers.
If however only one track is lazy it would point to a seal fault in the rotary coupling where the fluid is transfered from the revolving top end to the stationary bottom end or a track motor fault.
Let us know how you get on good luck.

Fred


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Re: Total novice just bought a JCB 5C - help!

Post #7 by motornoter » Fri Jan 18, 2019 9:04 pm

Thanks VERY much guys for your help - terrific advice here, very much appreciated!
Currently waiting for my application to the Swedish site to be approved so I can download the parts manual, that will be a great help. I've been hunting for manuals online ever since I first saw the 5C and did manage to buy one job lot of JCB parts books including 6/6C/6D/7B which may help, 805B which won't, Perkins Engines for 5C, 6, 702 & 704, which will be useful; and 680/690 Leyland engines which won't! If anyone needs the 805B and Leyland engines books, I'm happy to sell them on for what I paid (or even better swap for the 5C parts book and handbook/manual)!
Ideally I need to find someone in Somerset (or close) who's familiar with these machines and can have a good look over it, identify what needs fixing and help me find the parts I need and repair it... For now I've thrown a car cover over engine and cab to keep the worst of the weather off. Jeremy the machine has lived outside and the vendors assure me it has plenty of antifreeze and they topped it up on collection, along with the hydraulic oil and the diesel, which was very generous of them. You're right, the engine cover was glassfibre but if anyone has one I could borrow, then I can get a mould made and a replica laid up - it's the louvred side cover that I need most, as I have the remains of the top cover.
I do wonder how many of these beasts are still out there - there are a few videos on YouTube of one working at the Welland Steam Fair and I've emailed the organisers hoping to be put in contact with the owner; a couple have been sold on Gumtree in the last few years (including an immaculate one in Northern Ireland that was an absolute giveaway!) so they are out there, but there seems to be so little info and parts around - just loads of Britains and GAMA models!


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Re: Total novice just bought a JCB 5C - help!

Post #8 by Whitlock 505 » Fri Jan 18, 2019 9:54 pm

Fair play to you Malcolm that is a great project! There's a wealth of knowledge on here and we'll help where we can and we will love to see plenty of pics as it progresses. My advice " eat the elephant in small chunks," you'll have good days and bad days and sometimes walk away gather you're thoughts and revisit the next day on difficult jobs
Best of luck

Ian


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Re: Total novice just bought a JCB 5C - help!

Post #9 by Jeremy Rowland » Fri Jan 18, 2019 10:54 pm

Malcolm the guy who owns the 5C that was at Welland is called Christopher Ball; I know of two other machines owned by the same person, one for parts the other for renovation, when I next see him I will ask the question about the engine cover.

Jeremy


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Re: Total novice just bought a JCB 5C - help!

Post #10 by motornoter » Fri Jan 18, 2019 11:18 pm

That's brilliant, thanks very much!!


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