New to the Site and in need of lots and lots of Help!

Discuss loaders/backhoes here

Topic author
Centro
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Real name: Tony Bennison

New to the Site and in need of lots and lots of Help!

Post #1 by Centro » Wed Nov 19, 2014 12:15 am

Hi Guys & Girls

First off what a fantastic site with dedicated group of people but please as this is my first post and such a newbie please be gently.

OK a little bit of background..... I am trying to build my own house and have got my land and removed most of the old buildings and just going through the circles commonly called local planning laws......

Clearly I need a machine to do some work lifting and moving and digging, but had a very limited budget (funny Very Limited Budget) so my thoughts are that I probably will not now start my build until early next year so had lots of jobs to do around my small plot.

I decided (in a late night decision) :dizzy: to buy a very very old JCB 3c and over the next few months get the old girl up and running and functional. I know my little Mig welder is going to be busy but I don't mind a challenge and it will keep me out of trouble while planners decide what kind of flowers and shrubs I have to put in the front garden.

OK so here are the bad points :-)
I am not a mechanic or had to many dealings with engines but very willing to listen and learn.
The old girl is old and I not sure much about her apart from been standing in a field for about 4 years.
The farmer says his Dad got the machine and he thinks it was in 1964 and says its an old Fordson Engine.

I am a little confused about this statement as looking at the past threads it looks like a 1967 3c than an earlier model but again I will bow to your more experienced eye.

I am just arranging for transport to me in Aldridge West Midlands and then I can start the process of trying to put her back to some form of her old self.

I have added a couple of pics below so if anyone can maybe pass there experience eye over them and give me as much info on this JCB as possible I would really be in your doubt.

I have got a pair of JCB forks which I will fab up the fittings to go on the front bucket as these will be a must for me to move things around.

So please please please guys help me in the process of getting this old girl back to looking her beautiful self.

Thanks
Tony

:bow:
Right side 1.jpg



cab.jpg


Engine 1.jpg


Engin.jpg


$_57.jpg


Front 1.jpg
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essexpete
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Re: New to the Site and in need of lots and lots of Help!

Post #2 by essexpete » Wed Nov 19, 2014 1:52 am

There seemed to have been some cab variations in the 60s but that looks like a Major skid unit which would put the machine at '64 or earlier.


Jeremy Rowland
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Re: New to the Site and in need of lots and lots of Help!

Post #3 by Jeremy Rowland » Wed Nov 19, 2014 8:49 am

Hi Tony and welcome to the site :wave: there are some very knowledgeable folk on here who should be able to help you out. :thumbup:

Jeremy


Topic author
Centro
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Re: New to the Site and in need of lots and lots of Help!

Post #4 by Centro » Wed Nov 19, 2014 11:00 am

Good morning Peter / Jeremy
Thank you for the comments.

Omg she's older than me :-( but thanks for the information.

If anyone has got any pictures or general information on the original colour"s cab layout, maintenance pdf's this would be most helpful.

Also please comment on all the areas that I should start first. First job is the engine and fuel system.

I will get there, I have a lot of determination and love trying to return things back to their original condition and of course all the board members help and views.

Thanks
Tony


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Re: New to the Site and in need of lots and lots of Help!

Post #5 by Martyn Henley » Thu Nov 20, 2014 6:12 pm

Hi Tony.... welcome to CMN... :thumbup:

Your 3C was built somewhere between 1964 to 1967 looking at the pictures you have posted .... but i would say more 1964 ish .... seems original apart from the dipper, the dipper is from a JCB3, however JCB used to export the 3C with the short dipper, so it could be an export that did not get exported, or its come back to the UK ... this might help you
JCB 3/3C/3D timeline

Hope this helps :thumbup:


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Re: New to the Site and in need of lots and lots of Help!

Post #6 by Scooby » Thu Nov 20, 2014 11:01 pm

Hello Tony, and welcome to the Forum. I do not wish to sound like a doubting Thomas in the slightest but I have a few concerns about your proposed projects. The first thing is about when you have said that you have taken down some old buildings. Was this wise with regard to the planning aspect ? The planning laws are a minefield and some of the planners can be really unhelpful. I speak from experience, having just finished building a new house !

The other thing that I would say is that you really have taken on a project with that digger. It looks like a Fordson Super Major skid unit and so you should have no problems with regard to spares. But my first JCB was a 1963 JCB3 which I bought in 1969 and your machine will be without some basic capabilities that we all take for granted these days. When we eventually got the 4 in 1 front bucket and the extra-dig the machines were transformed overnight and for working around a building site I would even forego 4wd as long as I could have a 4 in 1. Your machine may also not have hydraclamps and it will also have those horrible swivel couplings round the king post.

I don't doubt your enthusiasm and I wish you well in all your endeavours but you could pick up an early 3CX with a few more luxuries for not a lot of money, especially if it was 2wd.

I also made a carriage for pallet forks for my early machines and I thought I would throw a couple of photos. in. You just used to drive into it and pick it up.

ImageImage
Six up front .............................means plenty of grunt.

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TullyveeryClassicJCB
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Re: New to the Site and in need of lots and lots of Help!

Post #7 by TullyveeryClassicJCB » Thu Nov 20, 2014 11:42 pm

But not everyone is the same Scooby. I own a grey cab 3CX all the way down to a '58 Hydra Digger. The 3CX does have its qualities but so it should at the prices they command. The digger I have that I would always prefer to drive first if I had a job would be a manual gearbox 3C or 3D. Especially one with the 3x3 box. Yes changing from forward to reverse is lovely on a TC machine but the power and ironically the extra torque you have from a manual gearbox machine for me more than makes up for it.

I find the older skid mounted diggers are much nicer to maintain and repair than younger TC machines. A lot of other people find that TC machines are easier to work at. Its horses for courses. Everyones different.

It also depends on what you need the digger to do. If you need a digger that's to be driven on the road then yes a 3CX is the one to go for but if its to be an on farm machine or on site machine then you have many options.

One concern I do have is the steering on the mark one 3C. That assisted steering can be a bitch if not been used in a while or well lubricated. Hardened grease is enough to prevent steering. The JCB 3 was a lighter machine at the front and was better suited to assisted steering and that's probably why more survived than 3Cmk1's.
William

JCB Hydra Digger Loadall 65
JCB 3DIII Powertrain
JCB 3DIII (Manual)
JCB 3DII
JCB 3CIII
JCB 805B


Topic author
Centro
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Real name: Tony Bennison

Re: New to the Site and in need of lots and lots of Help!

Post #8 by Centro » Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:01 am

Hi Guys,

Thanks so much for your comments.... I am taking them all on board.

I only paid £750 for the machine which is less than half what I have already paid in 360 machine hire cost's so its got to be better.

Love the pallet forks Scooby ..... mine might not be that good :-(

I have got a pair of 3cx forks which I plan to mount on a bar at the top of the bucket.... I will be more than happy if it picks up a pack of bricks and moves them around the site.

I know I have loads to do on this machine and its never going to be anywhere close to a 4x4 5 / 6 years old machine but I just have not got the allocation of funds for that type of investment.

On the building side.... I needed to remove the buildings to remove some of the conditions the planners had put on me with planning.... so now I'm just fighting about my shed, which they say is too big and more like a second house..... but as I have sold my last house and moved on-site in a caravan I had no where to store my stuff and I was not going to pay the silly price of storage. Planners you just got to love them.

What I am looking for at the moment is some idea of what the cab dash should look like as currently there is nothing :-)

I have decided to call her "Sue" after my partner ....... she is about the same age with very similar features (I can say this as I know she will never see this) :-)

Sue is due to arrive to her new home tomorrow afternoon and then I will start taking stock of what needs doing first.

So please keep the advise coming .... good or bad.... I can take it.

If anyone has got any good resources/contacts that I can approach to buy some parts from this would really help.

Thanks again guys.... its really appreciated.

Tony


Topic author
Centro
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Re: New to the Site and in need of lots and lots of Help!

Post #9 by Centro » Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:08 am

Also Guys,

I have been offered the trenching bucket for this machine when I collect for £200 do you think its a good idea to take this or use the money on something else?

Thanks
Tony


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Re: New to the Site and in need of lots and lots of Help!

Post #10 by Scooby » Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:31 am

Centro wrote:Also Guys,

I have been offered the trenching bucket for this machine when I collect for £200 do you think its a good idea to take this or use the money on something else?

Thanks
Tony


Any bucket is useful Tony but it depends on size and what condition it's in. For £200 I would want a bucket with decent teeth and side cutters and the leading edge not looking like it's been used without any teeth. The bigger the bucket the better for tidying up but if you want it for trenching then it obviously depends on what you are going to be doing, and, to a degree, what ground you are on. For example, if you are into red marl or blue lias you will find that a clay spade is better for narrow trenches than a narrow bucket because that sort of stuff sticks in a narrow bucket. I have never owned an ejector bucket because it's a bit heavy round here mostly and I always favoured a clay spade for cables, water pipes etc.

A ditching bucket is always a very useful thing. You can use that to good effect on tidying a site up and you cover the ground a lot quicker.
Six up front .............................means plenty of grunt.

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