What are the JCB 3CX Varients and a basic Operators guide?

[Slooby]

Nice one Ian!

I take it that the tapped hole goes all the way through so you can use a bolt to draw the bush into the arm/hub?

[Slooby]

This maybe a daft question, but are the door lock keys on 3CX's generic?

Mine only came with an ignition key that is exactly the same as the one used on out MF65, it's not a door lock key!

Foolishly I thought that I could simply pop out the lock barrel and find the key number stamped on the inside so I could get the key cut. No such luck, the barrel is crimped inside the button push and there are no markings on the hexagonal inner body. All the replacement barrels seem to be sold without keys, and are over 20 quid each! I bought a whole set of 4 barrels with keys for my camper for less!

[essexpete]

Someone will know about keys on here if not phone Simon Vicary of Vicary plant.

[Slooby]

Cheers Pete

Spoke to Vicary and ordered a set of keys along with the pins and bushes for the steering drag link and ram.

So, the White Cab and Black Cab models all came with generic door lock keys and the generic Lucus ignition key (which is exactly the same as the one on our MF65). During Grey Cab production when they switched over to the same key for door locks and the ignition that was the point when they went to one size fits all to keys dedicated to your machine.

Ian, apparently my Black Cab model doesn't have seals for the steering pins and bushes, they were introduced with the Grey Cab.

For some reason I had assumed that the more modern looking all-glass doors of the Black Cab meant that it was the newer design, turns out it wasn't. Because people didn't like the lack of visibility on the white cab, where only the door uppers were glazed, JCB quickly came up with an all-glass door design, but they had problems with the glass quality and the doors shattering, so they designed a steel frame door with glass panels to replace it that came out as the Grey Cab. When glazing technology improved they went back to an all-glass door for Project 8. Officially there were no project 5, 6 or 7 models, they were just identified by the different coloured cabs until the Project 8 which was the first time the JCB Backhoe got referred to by a project number.

[Slooby]

Meanwhile I have made and fitted these to the front axle, not sure if they will last or even work yet...

[essexpete]

How is the nylon or plastic held in place?

[Slooby]

At the moment it is a very tight clamp around the axle beam. I may yet drill through the thicker (yellow) backplate and either tap it take a lock screw that will seat in a peck on the axle, or drill through the back wall of axle too then tap it to take a securing bolt. I didn't want to invest too much time in it yet in case it is completely useless and I do have to resort to pulling the pin and fitting nylon spacers.

The (white) bearing surface side, that faces the chassis ends, was made from a single piece cut to 5mm thickness and then heated using a plastic welding heat gun until it was just soft enough to bend through 90 degrees to wrap tightly around the axle. The corners that face the chassis are therefore radiused.

I used offcuts of cutting board (500) grade High Molecular Weight Polyethelene because we have loads kicking about and I thought I'd give it a go. Years ago my dad made up some replacement runners for an Extradig boom out of the same material for a local sole operator who was helping clear our field of brambles and trees. It worked well for a while but needed to be replaced after a year or so with the heavier 1000 grade engineering version of the material. I have a block of that here just in case the wear rate is extreme and we need to upgrade

[gecko.cx]

:thumbup:

I take it that the tapped hole goes all the way through so you can use a bolt to draw the bush into the arm/hub?

Yes - exactly! The thread doesn't need to go all the way though (takes too long to cut!). For mine, I needed to use it from both sides.
From memory, normal design calls for a tapped length of 1.5x the thread diameter, but this is a low use, low stress application, so it's far from critical.

Ian, apparently my Black Cab model doesn't have seals for the steering pins and bushes, they were introduced with the Grey Cab.

Ah - ok, thanks.
In that case, most of the (diameter) steps can be ignored and it doesn't need to be reversible. I guess you only need the Ø24 x 25 as the minor diam and something larger than the OD of the bush (say Ø34), but there is no need for this to be machined.

Officially there were no project 5, 6 or 7 models, they were just identified by the different coloured cabs until the Project 8 which was the first time the JCB Backhoe got referred to by a project number.

I've been told mine is a P7, but never read anything to confirm. This explains it nicely, thanks.

[Slooby]

Just got back from picking up a ditching/grading bucket and a 24" digging bucket, both of which are genuine JCB buckets complete with the 'JCB' stamped plate welded to them. They need a bit of welding to deal with some rust where water has collected and they have rotted through, but it's nothing too dramatic and they will work fine as is with some new bushes. Only paid £100 for the pair which seemed alright compared to what some people on ebay are asking.





To save some pennies I'm only going to replace one of the rear tyres for now; thought I had found one for a good price on ebay but when I tried to buy it I just got a one-word message from the seller: 'SOLD' the listing, of course, is still active

[Slooby]

Flush with the success of bucket purchase I have been busying myself this afternoon with removing the cab floor matting so I can scrape out all the mud trapped beneath it.

Bit of a mission but I got it out in the end without breaking anything. It was fairly crusty beneath it but there don't seem to be any holes in need of attention. I'm going to get in there with the vacuum cleaner and then the pressure washer tomorrow before wire brushing it down and giving the whole floor a good coat of Tractol 927 Cold galvanising paint. I'm also jacking the cab up so I can get to all the seams and make sure they get a good coat of paint too.