Vintage Horticultural and Garden Machinery Club

Sorry for the delay but farm work has been taking over now the warm weather is here. The plough is now almost finished with only a few little pieces to touch up with paint. The problem I was finding a few weeks back was that the paint wouldn’t dry because it was far too cold in the garage; no such problems now that the temperature has moved up the…[Read more]

I’m glad to see that you’ve located some filler caps. I’ll have to remember that they are the same as Howard, that will make them easier to find if anyone wants any in the future. Luckily mine came with them so I didn’t have to go searching.

One thing that people ask me from time to time is,”Where can I get my Wico A magneto refurbished?”. Not…[Read more]

Looking at the set-up of the belt drive to the mower deck, does the blade rotate in the right direction or does it go backwards as well? Look for the sharpened cutting edge on the blade to see if it is going the right way.

It may well be that somebody has put the wrong replacement engine on it with the rotation going the wrong way.

It looks to me as if somebody has adapted a Clearway mower deck to fit on the front of a European two-wheeled tractor (maybe Agria or Bucher).

If you could post some pictures of the overall machine it may give us some idea. Close-ups are not an easy way to identify something of this sort.

Quite right! There used to be a lever on the left hand handlebar that controlled the hydrostat. It sounds like your lever has been left in the reverse position so that when you engage drive to the gearbox it starts to move backwards. If you move the hydrostat lever to the middle position you will find it will stop the wheels rotating, and if you…[Read more]

We had a few through the workshop back in the eighties. From memory they used to be fitted with a special 12 Volt battery that had three terminals- one negative and two positive. This allowed for two speeds on the motor as the voltage could be altered from 12V to 6V to suit conditions.

As far as I remember the rest of the mower was quite…[Read more]

A shame but I fully agree with the decision. I doubt that everyone will have had their second vaccination by September and so it’s the only decision the lads can make.

Looking forward to 2022 already!

The artwork is now finished and the next stage will be production. Nearly there!

As an update I thought that it would look better with a plough underneath it as well, so off to the farm again and dug out a plough. Everything was seized solid with rust so into the fire it went and after a five minute cooling off in the stream the bolts came undone…[Read more]

These things need to be heavy to penetrate the ground so I’m not surprised that it weighs 30lbs.

I’m sure that if you advertised it in The Cultivator (our club’s magazine) somebody would love to give it a new home and a new lease of life. Once thrown away it’s gone forever.

It could be an early Patisson product. Are there any makers’ marks on it at all?

I’m told that the artwork for these stickers is nearly finished so I’ve taken a little time out to fettle up a headstock to put the first one onto. I had the idea that I would make up a display of all of the Trusty tools that fit to the headstock, so this is the first stage.

I don’t know about you, but it’s ages since I’ve tried to get one of…[Read more]

Mr. Haggle, thanks for the praise but I fear that if I put what really happens down in writing I may be summonsed!

But maybe if I write “allegedly” after every sentence there may be some scope…..

I would like to add my thanks as well to the team that put it together. It is the only magazine wholly dedicated to “our” machinery and is a good…[Read more]

This is turning into a marathon rebuild! The castor wheel is now done and awaiting a coat of paint.

If you look on one of the previous pictures you will see all of the parts laid out and the one troublesome bit- the leg- which had originally had a circular end turned on it for the castor wheel fork to rotate on. In it’s long working life the…[Read more]

It’s a shame that all of those dealers have now disappeared around here. At one time Midland Shires Farmers would have been the place to go but they have long since gone and the only place that even approaches what they used to do is Telford Farm Machinery (TFM). All of the other main dealers are relatively new and staffed by youngsters that know…[Read more]

To say that I’m surprised would be an understatement. After 24hrs most of the rust and orange paint had come off and was floating on the surface with the bubbles of hydrogen above the positive electrode. There was a large-ish patch of orange paint at the bottom of the wheel so I changed the hanger around so that the hanger (which is conducting the…[Read more]

More problems to solve this time.

I was lying in bed about a week ago dreaming (as you do) and something occurred to me about the cultivator. As it is pulled through the ground it will keep getting deeper and deeper unless it is fitted with a depth wheel to oppose the downward force. Also, because it is bolted rigidly to the rear of the chassis…[Read more]

There was only one fitted to the right hand side of the headstock. The left hand side had a maker’s plate rivetted in the place it would go.

I can combine the postage if you want a set of Trusty transfers as well as a Greyhound one; I still have a few Trusty waterslide transfers left. For prices see the Classified Adverts in the back of The Cultivator.

The one thing about this time of year is that it’s so B****y cold! I’ve tried painting all the parts that I’ve de-rusted but the paint just won’t dry. It reminds me of the story that one of my mates told me about a farmer who bought a very large quantity of paint at a post-war disposal sale of ministry stuff. He painted the whole farm with it,…[Read more]

As far as I know they were a standard fitment on the headstock, Robert. When you consider most headstocks were sold with a plough underneath then added to at a later date with other attachments, that would probably mean that the majority had the sticker on.

A little more information before you commit. By the time I’ve paid for the artwork it looks like I’ll have to charge about £7.50 each; they will be very high quality vinyl stickers rather than waterslide transfers.

Is anyone interested? I won’t hold you to it if you decide to change your mind later.