Vintage? dumper spares and repaair

countrryboy

Well-Known Member
Alright folks.

Just got a couple of quick questions about a vintage? really old dumper.

Just bought an old (barford?) dumper, a wee 15cwt (3/4 ton) with an old lister 1 cylider engine hand crank engine. I got it fairly cheap, thankfully as rougher than it looked (altho seems to run and start fine), could put ur hand throu the holes in the back wheel rims. Just doing it up for working about a wee building site i've bought so will never be fancy but i'd like to tidy it up a lot and get it all workiing the way it should


Where do u get parts for old vingtage machinery?
I had a quick google but nothing much came up, Need a few various springs (mainly for returning pedals and levers) and lot of of other ones are fairly rusty dso might not last long
Also the locking doo da bit out of hand brake is missing (the wee button u push down) thinking will prob bodge it with a loop of chain/rope on to body to hold handbrake on in the mean time but where would u get the part for that?


Drum Brakes. This sounds a truely stupid question but in old things like this do u put grease on the brake surfaces (both shoes and drum) I'm only asking as brakes were non existant (after being told they worked fine by seller as were disconnected when i bought it,threaded bar was broke) when i used it today, took 1 hub off late on tonite so was slightly too dark to see exactly wot was going on but it was absolutely swimming in grease and all over the vital braking surfaces. I
know its not normal but there is soooo much grease on them it cannae have been accidental. Or possibly would u grease it for storing long term? (quite near sea, so is quite rusty)

Sorry for the stupid questions but this is the oldest thing i've tried to fix and dinae have a clue where to get parts or even loo on the web etc

Cheers
 
somebody may have put grease on the brakes, but I have no idea why someone would as by doing that its ruined the brake shoes. Most likely the bearings have leaked grease. Try some vintage commercial magazines for spares or magazines devoted to stationary engines as they often use lister engines. Hope this is some help
 
I have an old dumper. Mine is a Benford I think. Three cylinder Lister. Starts every time first time even if left standing for 6 months over a winter, smokes like a smokey thing on full bore. First gear is so noisy you can't use it. Brilliant old thing. You probably won't have to do much with the engine.

A lot of the old dumpers seem to use generic parts, the handbrake on the dumper is the same sort as the one on my little Manitou buggy forklift so you might be lucky like that. Agricultural and plant dealers would be the obvious second port of call…the first being to try and track down the manufacturer. There might well be a Barford owners club forum…If it is like the one I am thinking of it is fairly basic fabrication, so any metalwork will be straightforward to repair. I seem to remember seeing those with motor car wheels, which might give you a clue as to the axle source.

Post some photos, somebody may recognise bits!

Alan
 
Cheers folks for the swift replies.

Aye i didnae think the grease idea was very clever, might of explained the lack of brakes!! Hopefully i can clean them up tomorrow.

The other question i was going to ask is. It seems to jump out of 1st gear quite a lot, the boy i bought it off said its sort of normal for them to jump out of 1st.
Wot will the problem most likely be? Is it easy to fix and a common problem on these type of dumpers?

Aye i'll try to get some photos up, althou hey all seem to look the same those old dumpers
 
The first gear problem on mine sounds almost like a tooth has come off a gear wheel! It is a very low ratio gear and must have a load of torque. I presume they are all much the same. I just use second and third gear. I did toy with the idea of rebuilding mine…it has been pushed by a JCB at some time I think and the frame is a bit on the twist! I thought I could cut and straighten up and re-weld and while I was about it, do the gearbox…one day one day.

There is a wonderful extended family of tractor and general plant collectors local to me and one of them managed to just buy individual gears for a dumper gearbox in order to rebuild it. Again I think they are largely generic units fitted to a number of different makes. Do an Ebay search on Barford dumper if the other suggestions prove fruitless…?

Alan
 
Try a company called L and S engineers they stock hundreds of parts for all makes and a lot of old dumpers parts are interchangeable there is also a vintage plant magazine that has a good classified section for parts
 
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You could try contacting the owner of Welding Engineering Company of Darwen near Blackburn,( A Mr Hartley) I saw a Benford dumper in the delivery bay one week in pretty tatty condition, within a month it was showroom! This guy is super wealthy & has contacts all over, he has many vehicles that have been restored. Steve.
 
Cheers again folks,

The problem i have found with just googling it is that u get sooo many matches esp as they stilll make dumpers and are so common, will have to put a bit more time in searching and pick up a vintage tractor mag.

Similar to u Alan, there is an idea of shot blasting it and re srpaying it as pretty rusty, althou mainly surface rust, it may take year until that hapens and i have time/money and will just keep patching/bodging away the now.
The spring that fell off yest for the accelerator looks a similar size to old fashion folding deck chairs so i will try to scavange 1 somewhere.
 
Do NOT put grease onto the brake lining surface, it will penetrate the friction material which will then need to be changed. If the linings are contaminated with grease then take them to a good truck motor factor for reline. PM for a likely company, I had 42 years in that industry so know a few people depending on where you are.

Past Parts from Bury St Edmunds are a good source of no longer made gear, contact used to be Nigel Wigg.

A
 
The man you need to speak to for old dumper spares is John Lewis of 'John Lewis Dumpers'. Based in Herefordshire, Coombes Moor, near Presteigne.

I bought a load of gearbox spares off him last year to rebuild the Newage gearbox in my old 3 ton Benford dumper. He has an absolute Alladins cave of old dumper spares although is probably more into classic Unimogs these days.

I can't believe I don't have his number in my phone but it isn't there! I am pretty sure I have found it with a bit of googling though don't really think I should list here as it is his personal mobile and home phone number. Drop me a message if you want it... Or google, 'Lewis Coombes Moor Presteigne' and the top entry will be his landline at Pear Tree Cottage :)

I don't know if he is into mail ordering, although he could be? Really it's the sort of place you need to go to with a shopping list of parts you are after (obviously having discussed with him beforehand) Not sure where you are so this may not be realistic but for anyone within sensible driving distance I don't think you would find a better source of spares for old dumpers at realistic money in the UK..

Richard
 
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