Restoration Blog

Project 'DNF'  - No.5 Refit

The assembled team today managed a variety of jobs.  Painting featured, as it most often does as did interior cleaning of the cab.  The painted deck plates were installed on a gasket of sealant and tightened down.  At leas the rain water cannot run into the hold now.  Last Friday's, storm Erik, left quite a deep puddle to pump out.

After looking in the obvious places and failing to find the woodruff key for the turret hydraulic motor, it eventually turned up in an unexpected place, but we were pleased it did.

When it came to fit the key, we noticed that the keyway was 3.3mm smaller on the new pinion and required milling down, but tight along the sides (as it should be)  In the old pinion there was 1mm of slack - not good.  A large cover plate that protects the bearings was found to be minus its fixing screws, so had been hanging down out of place.  This we fixed in place with new screws.

The actual fitting of the pinion took a bit of care, especially checking the dimensions of the shaft etc.  In the end we achieved a fantastic fit by heating the pinion to about +80C so that it slipped nicely over the shaft.  When cool, it will be a very tight fit.

The motor assembly was then lugged into position.  It is very heavy.  Now back in place, we just need to secure it down.

All the holes in the deck that once had various hydraulic fittings have now been filled and sealed with coach bolt heads.  The largest was the return pipe to the hydraulic tank, one of the largest trip hazards.  

Late in the day, the hydraulic tank was extracted from the barn and placed in the hold.  Mountings are required for this.