70-year earthmoving addiction persists, unabated

This provoked the interest of Winston Brocklehurst in Melbourne, who also worked for Britstand in Sydney. I put him in touch with Ken.
Winston, born in Manchester, England in 1938, remembers only too well when he caught the earthmoving machinery disease: at the age of 8 or 9 he stopped his bike and became completely immersed in watching an Allis Chalmers crawler, pulling a Le Tourneau scoop, on a construction site near his home. He says never really recovered.
At the age of 13, he emigrated with his parents, a sister and a brother to Bankstown in Sydney, where he completed his schooling. At 16 in 1954, he started an apprenticeship in the new machine section of Britstand Distributors, 637 Gardeners Road, Mascot, NSW.
One of his first jobs was fitting grouser plates to new Oliver crawlers, as they came in from America. They came in boxes so the boxes had to be dismantled and the grouser plates rebolted to the track chains. This was done because the tractors came out as deck cargo, and with grousers on they damaged ships’ decks.
Turned crawlers into dozers
Another of his early tasks was to fit new crawlers with hydraulics, such as pumps, valves and hydraulic mounting points, for the various dozer blade options. The particular tractors on offer were the Oliver OC range, the last Oliver crawlers produced. The range comprised 6 models with power output ranging from 22hp (16.5kW) to 133hp (100kW). The models were the OC-4, OC-6, OC-9, OC-12, OC-15 and OC-18.
The OC-9 was a brand new concept with what Oliver described as a “Trans O Matic” transmission. At the time it was quite a radical new design, where the tracks could be separately controlled and be made to contra rotate, so that the tractor could spin on its own axis with just finger tip pressure by the operator.
Because Oliver had torque converter and power shift type transmissions, I have been told that this tractor was a dream to operate, being very responsive and punching well above its 55hp (40kW) capabilities. Another trick: they could be loaded from the side of a truck as a competent operator could spin them 90 with a flick of the wrist.
Winston’s time at Britstand was not boring. He was one of a workforce of 40 to 50 men in the workshop in the late fifties.
One day he said he could have been involved with a track press, fitting new pins and bushes, or turning existing ones. Then he could be involved with new equipment deliveries.
Winston mentioned that he spent many hours engaged in the innermost parts of Hercules engines, fitted only to Oliver crawlers, righting wrongs that ingenious owners had inflicted on them.
Ether start
Like many manufacturers then, Oliver fitted whiz bang Roosa Master rotary fuel pumps to the engines. But they were hard to start, because they injected diesel into a precombustion chamber and not directly into a cylinder. So to help the process along, the seated operator crushed a small vial of ether, like a fish oil capsule, inside a special container. He then used a plunger, to propel it via a thin copper tube to the air intake, before attempting a start.
However the copper tubes seemed to have a heavy mortality rate, so that everything from lighting a rag dipped in diesel and stuffed into the air cleaner, was substituted.
I recall another time and place, where a recalcitrant Hercules engine was failing to proceed, while an anxious owner waited for delivery. Finally a frantic fitter gave the creature a more than adequate dose of raw ether. The result was a large explosion, and as the dust settled, it was clear just remnants of the Hercules remained, lavishly spread around the workshop floor.
Hazardous braking
On one occasion, Winston had to drive a 75kW Aveling–Austin 99H grader, 170km south from Sydney to Nowra. But because of the slowness of the grader, 32km/h, many hills and only one largely ineffective foot brake acting on the drive shaft that overheated with just moderate use, he arrived so late that he had to park the machine in the street to give delivery the following morning.
Some of you may remember from these pages, the wild ride Ken Wells experienced when coming off the Moonbi Range to Bendemeer near Tamworth, NSW, when this type of brake system totally failed him.
Winston recalled a trip out to Trundle in Western NSW for a pre delivery of an Oliver Super 88 diesel wheel tractor. The very thoughtful farmer insisted that young Winston spend a few hours on the tractor ploughing a paddock, so he could get first hand experience in tractor ownership and the feel of farming.
On another occasion he set sail from Sydney for Port Macquarie, in an 8t tandem drive Britstand AP 40 grader, powered by a 45kW Perkins P6 diesel. This 440km trip took 2 ½ days due to hills and a top speed of just 23km/h.
The firm also sold Aveling Barford dumpers and rollers. But their dumpers were babies compared to what we see today. The top of the line then was a 30 tonner, boasting a 300kW 8 cylinder Rolls Royce engine that propelled it at up to 50km/h.
Winston worked with Britstand for 5 years and left on his own accord looking for new things to do. Many years later Automotive Components in Melbourne awarded him a doctor of motors certificate for his excellence in this area.
Service advice
Finally he is still offering technical advice. He recently helped the owner of an Oliver OC-18 cable operated dozer near Geelong, on how to properly set up a Heil power control unit operating its blade.
The owner said that the PCU raised the blade without operator intervention. Then when he lowered the blade, he felt that the brake did not hold it well enough.
Winston told him, “There are two main adjustments. The brake band holds the cable drum (spool) which should not be able to turn, when the machine is running. It is adjusted by turning a large nut and locknut on the brake band, so that when the control lever is moved, it releases the brake band, engages the cone clutch, winds cable onto the drum and lifts the blade.
“When you release the control lever, there is a neutral position and the brake band should hold the cable drum from turning and the blade in any position If not the brake band may need relining.
“The second adjustment enables the operator to establish clearance between the cone clutch and the cable drum when the machine is running. There is a heavy spring inside on the shaft that keeps the cone clutch assembly away from the cable drum which is turning all the time when the engine is running.
“To adjust this, there is a square hole in the middle, covered by a plate secured with two bolts. Remove the bolts and plate while the engine is stopped and turn this hub assembly clockwise, or anti clockwise, to get clearance between the cone clutch and drum.
“Check the spring by unscrewing the hub assembly off the shaft. You can then inspect the friction facings or clutch linings for wear. If the spring is ok, the cone clutch assembly must slide freely on the shaft.
“Note: Rust could be causing the cone clutch to engage the cable drum prematurely. Replace the hub assembly and adjust the cone clutch so that when you engage the control lever, it engages the cable drum, and lifts the blade. Releasing the control lever should apply the brake and hold the cable drum.