Vintage Horticultural and Garden Machinery Club

Just in case you’d thought I was slacking here is the next thrilling instalment! Well, not really thrilling, but you know what I mean.

I managed to set up a production line to plug the holes in the cast clamps; it was quite easy once I’d found a different sized bolt for every clamp. In fact it was quite useful in that I used up some of my “stash”…[Read more]

Glad to be of service! I knew all this rubbish inside my head would come in useful one day.

There should be a strong spring in the impulse mechanism which returns it to the fully advanced position once the weighted finger moves out of the way. You should hear a sharp click, quite loud, and the fact that you aren’t may indicate that it isn’t returning fully or quickly enough. Try dribbling a little engine oil onto the spring to start with…[Read more]

I was just re-reading your posting and I remembered something that happened to me. At the time I thought it was a one-off, but it may have trapped you as well.

Have a look at the impulse mechanism on the magneto. It sits directly under the carburettor and when you flood it to start the engine, the excess petrol drips onto the impulse of the mag.…[Read more]

.375 is the decimal equivalent of 3/8″ which is the correct amount of advance. In my experience so long as the correct ignition timing is set it almost always falls down to a carburettor blockage. There are some very small holes and galleries in that carb and sometimes I find poking them out with a fine wire is the only way to clean them out…[Read more]

I can’t get to mine at the moment, it’s packed away at the back of the garage. What I do remember about it is that the knife coulter is attached to one side of the beam with a U-bolt, about three or four inches back from the plough point; the side of the beam that it attaches to has a round profile steel strip rivetted to it so that it will rock…[Read more]

If you could post some pictures it may give some of our members a better idea of how to tackle it.

That plate confirms that it’s got a JAP 5 engine supplied by Tractors (London) Ltd., which probably means that it’s the original one they fitted at the factory.

If it was a replacement engine supplied by the local dealer it would have the J.A.Prestwich Ltd. address at the bottom. This plate has the Tractors (London) Ltd, White House, Barnet…[Read more]

That’s where I got the idea from! Thanks for the comment, Angus; I hope all’s well in your corner of the world.

That’s where I got the idea from! Thanks for the comment, Angus; I hope all’s well in your corner of the world.

I plucked up courage today to attempt the repair of one of the tine clamps on the cultivator. If you remember the clamps are cast iron, and so very brittle, and somebody had “repaired” most of them by drilling out the bolt hole and re-tapping in a larger size. OK, a working repair that probably got the owner over the immediate problem, but why…[Read more]

I’m glad to see that you’ve taken the plunge, Kevin.

The rule of thumb that I use for restoring machinery is that if there is no original paint left on it then I’m not ruining anything by doing a complete repaint. Quite a few years ago I bought a 3-speed Trusty which had still got original paint and transfers on it; not pristine, but you could…[Read more]

All of the Villiers engines that I have worked on have used Cycle Thread (CEI) throughout, which is a constant 26 threads per inch in every imperial diameter.

Best of luck with it, and a Happy New Year!

Henton and Chattell have been a long established machinery dealer with a main depot in Nottingham.

When I was writing my second book I contacted an old friend who has worked there for as long as I can remember and managed to get a few more of their old photo’s (and permission to print them!) from their Managing Director. A very friendly and…[Read more]

Over the years I have found that the Trusty was first offered with both Villiers and Blackburne engines. Neither of these was possessed of huge amounts of horsepower but was adequate for most jobs around the smallholding. Don’t forget that most of these were originally used for rowcrop work with cultivators behind them; this work doesn’t require a…[Read more]

Well said, Chris! Let’s all hope that a vaccine will be soon with us and we can get back to normal.

Merry Christmas to everyone and I hope to see you all around the shows next year, Covid-allowing.

Geoff

Why not start a new posting in the Projects section, Kevin? It would be interesting to see the problems you have and how we can help to get you out of trouble.

Don’t forget, whatever problems you are going to encounter with your tractors somebody on this forum will have had the same and, more importantly, will have a solution.

Be careful now, Alan, this isn’t the Fenland Ladies that you’re talking to now! I wonder what happened to Fenland Dawn and Fenland Eve, they haven’t been seen for a while.

Rain again today, so I thought I’d have a go at some of the larger pieces that won’t fit in the tank. No problems encountered and I used a small angle grinder with a wire wheel attachment which really made the rust fly! At one point the neighbour rushed in thinking the place was on fire because there were literally clouds of dust blowing out of…[Read more]

And there was me thinking that Steve Woollas would be somewhere in the picture!

Merry Christmas to you all.