JCB 3c3 advice please?

[SiH]

Hi all,my first time on this great site so here goes!
I`ve been offered a 79 3c3,which has a good tight back actor,no leaks,manual box,standard loader bucket and 2 rear buckets.Its a tidy looking machine too,but has a few issues that need sorting really. The leyland/BMC engine burns oil according to the owner,but sounds sweet on tickover. Raise the revs and the whole machine vibrates like crazy,so not good. The owner thinks an unbalanced engine has been put in sometime by mistake-strange idea to me. Is it much hassle to whip one of these motors out and rebuild it? It seems these engines are hard to get hold of now,so is there any other engines that would do the job? Any advice would be appreciated.
Also, I couldnt get my head around the `x x` rear actor controls. Is there any way you can re-pipe/change the controls to work like modern day `+ +` excavators? Or have I just got to bite the bullet and learn these controls?!
Thanks all!

[charlie2]

I don't think the old 3c sticks can be changed to plus pattern every one I drove was on the x and the sticks pivot on a bolt with a ball on top straight to the valve chest. a mate of mine changed the engine in his 3c to a Leyland of bmc lorry engine had to change a fair bit from engine to engine but in the end it was fine. I think the 3c later engines had balancer shafts crank driven in the sump, could be the timing out on these?

[jcb4cx]

learn the X pattern is the best way ,once mastered never forgot then it will never have a problem driving another jcb , and no jcb ops will have any bother in yours

[philwheelton]

May be the gear has fallen off the end of the balance shaft, it is a common failing , is the engine still yellow , if it had been replaced with a truck engine it would be a different colour

[SiH]

Thanks you guys for your help. All of your pointers gladly made note of.

It makes sense to learn the JCB controls-although it might well take me a while to get used to it!

And thinking of it,I`m pretty sure the engine is yellow (hopefully not just blown over!),so maybe original?

At worst it means another engine on top of the £1800 asking price,-still a cheap machine really then-but then theres the new rear tyres needed and the......

Cheers chaps!

[TullyveeryClassicJCB]

Not necessarily an original engine, the early JCB's, 1964 to roughly 1970 were unbalanced. Also the Build 5 engine in JCB's were unbalanced.

[SiH]

Thanks William-thats also good to be aware of.
I`ll let you all know what happens next with it all.
Cheers for now.

[philwheelton]

(Not necessarily an original engine, the early JCB's, 1964 to roughly 1970 were unbalanced. Also the Build 5 engine in JCB's were unbalanced.)

The early BMC engine's had the power steering pump on the left hand side of the engine and belt driven the balanced engines had gear driven pumps on the right hand side .

[SiH]

Thanks Phil,thats good to know-I`ll check it out when I see it again. At least I`ll know what I`m up against then.

[TullyveeryClassicJCB]

Could a BMC engine with the power steering pump on the left hand side be converted to have a gear driven pump?