New poster, looking for JCB 3 info

[essexpete]

I think all the ford skid would sport blue under the yellow. I have understood that the skid left Dagenham painted. That is the New performance engine which increased the hp to about 58 IIRR.

[XS650]

Nice machine , see even in foreign parts early machines get the white cab makeover Identical to the Airfix smaller version.

loriotjcb1.jpg

[Scooby]

You have a JCB3 machine, not a 3C, of probably 1963-4 vintage. I bought a '63 machine as a first JCB in 1968. May I offer a word of warning please ? Do be careful when getting into and out of the digger. You are clambering over the controls and if you catch them on your clothes it can be nasty. I once caught the slew service when I was getting out and the boom came round and trapped me against the rails. If I hadn't been able to stop the slew it would have been nasty.

When I wanted to show off I would make sure that the bucket was resting on the ground in the appropriate place and would stand on the edge of the bucket and work the boom service and lift myself up into the cab. I did it one day and slipped and pushed the lever back too hard and it nearly threw me against the windscreen.

[Scooby]

I forgot to mention a strange phenomena with this age machine. There are no front mounting points for the engine. It's all hung on the bell housing !!! After I discovered that I was always careful when diving into a heap of soil and if the front wheels came off the ground (they were quite light on the front end) not to dip the clutch too quick and let the front come down with a bang. I reckon it could have parted the engine and the gearbox.

[essexpete]

I forgot to mention a strange phenomena with this age machine. There are no front mounting points for the engine. It's all hung on the bell housing !!! After I discovered that I was always careful when diving into a heap of soil and if the front wheels came off the ground (they were quite light on the front end) not to dip the clutch too quick and let the front come down with a bang. I reckon it could have parted the engine and the gearbox.

The Chaseside Loadmasters based on Fordson were like that and with a little wear the sump could bash the fron axle!

[newjcb123uk]

You have a JCB3 machine, not a 3C, of probably 1963-4 vintage. I bought a '63 machine as a first JCB in 1968. May I offer a word of warning please ? Do be careful when getting into and out of the digger. You are clambering over the controls and if you catch them on your clothes it can be nasty. I once caught the slew service when I was getting out and the boom came round and trapped me against the rails. If I hadn't been able to stop the slew it would have been nasty.

When I wanted to show off I would make sure that the bucket was resting on the ground in the appropriate place and would stand on the edge of the bucket and work the boom service and lift myself up into the cab. I did it one day and slipped and pushed the lever back too hard and it nearly threw me against the windscreen.

Cough Cough Scooby remember this discussion? -
MY JCB TOY

I remember - "I think this is about the most stupid thing that you can do on a 180 machine."

We rub thumbs it seems

[Scooby]

What I was doing was only ever going to hurt me, not the machine.

Rubbing thumbs ??

[Holger]

Easy now please guys!

[newjcb123uk]

No worries Holger - But Hey!

[kaos]

I think all the ford skid would sport blue under the yellow. I have understood that the skid left Dagenham painted.

Yes, since writing that I have found several other spots where the blue shows through the yellow, all over the skid unit.

Nice machine , see even in foreign parts early machines get the white cab makeover

Thank you; it isn't much for the eye in it's current condition, but the engine runs sweet, and while there are a couple of other problems (more on which below), I think they are all fixable. What is/was the white cab makeover? Didn't these machines have a white cab from the factory?

May I offer a word of warning please ? Do be careful when getting into and out of the digger. You are clambering over the controls and if you catch them on your clothes it can be nasty. I once caught the slew service when I was getting out and the boom came round and trapped me against the rails. If I hadn't been able to stop the slew it would have been nasty.

Ouch. Thanks for the warning; we'll be careful. As a matter of fact, we're thinking about removing the cab altogether (it's badly rusted, and this will be strictly a fair weather machine from now), and if we do, another entrance route might be better.

I forgot to mention a strange phenomena with this age machine. There are no front mounting points for the engine. It's all hung on the bell housing !!! After I discovered that I was always careful when diving into a heap of soil and if the front wheels came off the ground (they were quite light on the front end) not to dip the clutch too quick and let the front come down with a bang. I reckon it could have parted the engine and the gearbox.

The Chaseside Loadmasters based on Fordson were like that and with a little wear the sump could bash the fron axle!

Thanks for that warning too. Yes, I had noticed that point myself, but from what I can make out from the service and parts manuals, that was the way the Fordson agricultural tractors were built also, so I guess the engine and gearbox were designed to handle the load. No point in abusing it though.

Now, for a couple of problems we have and that we would much appreciate some input on:

0162-0068 24-07-2010 18-59.thumb.jpg

I found this delicate little fastener lying on the floor underneath the valve body. You can see it's mate on the left hand side of the picture.

0162-0053 24-07-2010 18-06.thumb.jpg

This is how it looks like from the outside. Now, my guess is that much shorter bolts were originally used in the outer holes. That they were only supposed to attach the upper swiwel to the main bracket of the kingpost, and never reached inside the cabin. Then, for some reason, a previous owner got scared that maybe the inner bolts were failing, and decided to supplement them with these, but maybe didn't get a sufficiently good grade of bolts, so one of them broke off. Can anybody confirm whether my guess re. original arrangement of bolts is correct? And if the inner bolts really are cross-threaded or otherwise damaged, would it be possible to get the mounting plate with bolts somewhere? Another idea I had was to get the mounting plate out, cut and drill out the bolts and mount some new ones, welding them in place. Anybody know what grade of bolts would be required?

0162-0048 24-07-2010 18-05.thumb.jpg

This is our second problem; a leaking hydraulic swivel joint. I would think it should be possible to get some seals (or O-rings, or whatever is used) for these, but our local JCB dealer doesn't know what will fit without the serial number of the machine, and that's something we haven't been able to discover yet. So, does anybody know of a part number for this?

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Best regards,
Kári