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[w3526602]

Hi,

I'm guessing most of us have seen "Ice Cold in Alex", where an army ambulance is "hand-cranked up the side of a sand dune? No doubt many of us have done something similar? I have ... my first Landy, up a steep drive, out of the garage where it had been hiding for eleven years. Energetic, but not difficult.

Right ... similar problem ... but this time across a flat,but rough, garden. No engine. No front differential. Assume a reluctance to roll. I can't be the only bloke who has met, or will meet, this problem.

How do I do it, apart from, getting a gang of blokes in, and asking them to grunt?

602

The best I can think of is to cobble up a dummy axle to prop-shaft drive flange with a large nut welded in the centre.

Bolt dummy flange to differential flange, lie underneath, apply socket to nut, turn nut with torque wrench. (Torque wrenches are a couple of feet long, and have a two way ratchet.

Probably less mucky would be to buy half a dozen 600mm socket extension bars, and pass them under the chassis, and crank from the front of the truck. Is there a line of sight? And yes, I do know about Hookes Law.

Would applying a socket to a wheel nut and using a long tommy bar, work? Or would it destroy the wheel stud and/or be beyond my strength?

Probably easier to buy a boat winch, and "ground anchor". ... Dig a hole, fill with POST FIX (ready mix) and add water. Hammer in a steel stake before it dries.

Any other ideas or suggestions?

602

[kev]

I've cast a couple of vehicles around some rough ground in the past, with a hi-lft jack.
It's quite knackering, - and you need to proceed with extreme caution.

You can also lever forward and backwards with a length of scaff under either the front bumper, or the rear Xmember.

[Peter Holden]

Traditionally it might have been done with block and tackle, you can get fantastic levereage.

Me I would and have used a sylvester( used in the mining industry for removing pit props) or a tirfor.

We used a sylvester to get the bulldozer in the photo below out of a hole when it sank in some very soft ground (it weighs about 2 tons with the blade fitted).

Peter

[w3526602]

You can also lever forward and backwards with a length of scaff under either the front bumper, or the rear Xmember.

Hi Kev,

Good thinking ... apart from finding and paying for the scaffold pipe.. Do you think a length of 3" fencing post would be strong enough?

Taking that a stage futher ,,, how about an "L" fabricated from 59 x 50 RHS,

Lay the long side on the ground, withn the shorty side pointing vertically upward, and touching the bumper ... then lift the long end, which will push the short end away from you? Job done, and you are stll left with some useful bits of RHS.

I wonder ... did I keep my Farm jack? I can't remember what I kept when I moved house. If it would work, it might be worth buying/hiring another.       Hmmm!

Thanks both!

602

[Formerlyjeremy]

Unless the ground is perfectly flat you will also need some method of stopping the thing rolling back when you pause either through fatigue or the need to reposition whatever lever you're using.

Or rolling forward for that matter.  Will it gain enough momentum to roll over that wooden block you hope to be able to put ahead or behind the wheel?

[GlenAnderson]

Tirfor.

[Roger]

I've always used a collection of blokes and offered beer.

A couple of times I've asked a few round for a drink, and 'while you're here...'  - but you can only do that a couple of times at best, even if you offer to pay their laundry bills afterwards, I find.

[w3526602]

Hi Glen,

No, The ground is flat, but not smooth ... not even "lawn smooth".

Annoying, but I have the length of the bungalow ... on the side with no windows ...  15 metres long ... bungalow on one side, scrappy hedge on the other( pavement) side, plus 15- 20ft of front garden across the full width.Probably room to park five cars without infringing on the drive to the garage. I doubt that I have walked on that patch more than half a dozen times since we moved here eighteen months ago. I'd post a link to a satellite view of my plot ... but I'd get my wrist slapped.

Naturally the garage drive has a dropped kerb. And so has the pavement on the corner, obviously dropped when the bungalow was built, for the benefit of invalid buggies. Was it built to Highways Standards? Dunno! But the house opposite has the same sort of thing, and it has been used for vehicle access to front garden parking, for many years.

Hey! I could trim a few feet of the vegetation, get the transporter to reverse directly to where I want the Landy parked.

602

[Craig T]

Those hand winches from Machine Mart are surprisingly good and not a great expense. Useful for lots of things afterwards too.

Craig.

[GlenAnderson]

I moved this with a hand winch. Time consuming, but not difficult.

[Wittsend]

How do I do it, apart from, getting a gang of blokes in, and asking them to grunt?

602

Well, I think this is not a such a bad option.
Plenty of club members within striking distance from you.

Offers of tea and butties and the thing should be positioned in half an hour

Get to your local pub meeting and ask for help.....

It would be the cheaper option, no buying of fancy gear you may only use once and no putting your back out.


 

[geoff]

Get to your local pub meeting and ask for help.....

[/quote


   Chance for a member to try out their winch and ground anchors 

[Clifford Pope]

I've hauled a caravan through a sloping wood using long cables and a hi-lift jack. Slow, hard work, but very powerful and effective.
Or for slightly less power, but more range, a pair of old wooden pulley blocks and lots of rope. This is my standard method for tensioning a tree so that when I cut it it falls in the right direction.
Or one pulley, a long rope, and another vehicle placed conveniently on firm ground.

[rmgosling]

We had to hand winch (tirfor) Red out of the bottom of the PO's garden/field.  Clutch was seized and engine wasn't playing.  One of the brake drums kept binding as well.

Was about 300 mtrs, up hill, through gates and then corner bends at the top (used hi lift for that part).  The final "push" we used a kinetic tow as the include was rather steep.

Think it took us 5 hours.

Cheers

[w3526602]

Or for slightly less power, but more range, a pair of old wooden pulley blocks and lots of rope.

Hi,

Off topic, but I din't start it ...

Dad (as a lad), watched a tall tree being cut down. Dad's mate was asked to hold a rope, tied near the top of the tree. The lad did not let go of the rope ... and was swung high in the air, by the falling tree. It killed him.

An Imp Club member recounted how he and four of his mates climbed a tree. Their combined weight pulled the tree down until the top branches was touching the ground ... the four of them jumped off. Number five survived ... without injury.

Dangerous things, trees. They should be banned.

602

PS  As an ARP warden, during the war, Dad and his mate found a large UXB. Dad went for help, leaving his mate sitting on the bomb. When he returned, with re-inforcements, all they could find was a cap badge.