Thwaites dumper

[essexpete]

If you look at the photo I shamelessly lifted from YouTube you can see the position of the axle. Slooby may be right that the axle has been sourced elsewhere or perhaps reassembled at some point.

[essexpete]

I meant to add that the skid/runner arrangement for the skip can wear on both the chassis and the skip which will drop the skip and also allow a bit of lateral float. Our old dumper was so worn that the skip could jump off the rail.

[AJ.]

That's the way the machine was built,the machine travels in reverse so the axle had to be turned around to suit,if you consider a conventional power train the engine is out front,clutch,gearbox axle,your dumper has the axle out front,gearbox.clutch and then engine so everything is back way,loosen the diff cover if you want to change the oil.
AJ

[Matchless?58]

Sorry but how come my Orion ( virtually the same machine ) has the diff drain plug at the bottom ? Good engineering practice would surely dictate it would be that way ?

[essexpete]

That's the way the machine was built,the machine travels in reverse so the axle had to be turned around to suit,if you consider a conventional power train the engine is out front,clutch,gearbox axle,your dumper has the axle out front,gearbox.clutch and then engine so everything is back way,loosen the diff cover if you want to change the oil.
AJ

It is such a long time ago but I am certain the drain on our Nimbus was at the bottom. Even a small niche manufacturer would not have sent something out like that. British Leyland might though!

[XS650]

Is there enough detail on this 1961 brochure pic to tell which way up it is-

[Slooby]

British Leyland might though!

Urgh...tell me about it...I have two Salisbury real axles, both off Stage One Land Rover 109's, that are supposedly from the same build year...and the hubs on each are different

[AJ.]

Bottom line, if the drain plug is at the bottom with that axle,crank up the engine and get into the seat,into first gear and let the clutch in,you are going in reverse and you will go in reverse when you select second and third as well but the good news is you will go forward when you select reverse ,now if you do not want to turn the axle to get the drive reversed you could change the engine direction or fit a transfer box but then it would not be authentic any more,every model that had that had a conventional axle had to turn them round to suit the direction of the drive and that applied to nearly all makes of those small dumpers made after the war using surplus parts left over.
AJ

[Jeremy Rowland]

While it may be a pain in the backside if you need to drain the oil simply take off the rear axle cover or the oil may even drain out through one of the lower cover bolts, just don't forget to fit a new gasket and use a bit of sealer on it.

If the hubs or parts of the axle are catching something then you either have a non-standard axle fitted by somebody else or another issue more than likely with the suspension.

Jeremy

[cobbadog]

XS650 the only thing that you can say about comparing the brochure pic with the actual diff is that the filler plug is in the same position. Too hard to say much else.