Ransomes Marquis 18"

Hi  this is a question for Wristpin

I saw a post ca 2016 which I have now lost, maybe you remember it.  It showed a Marquis 18 and how you dismantled the landroller.  What I am trying to understand is how this roller was lubricated through its two holes in the roller.  Was the entire machine hoisted up in the air by its handle bars to expose the access holes. As it sits on my low bench I cant see what I have to do.  I have tested the rollers as you suggested by jacking it up and rotating the cylinders forward and backward and they seem free enough and doing the right things.  Given the sweat of dismantling, if all they need is a good oiling or greasing then maybe I can get away with that.  If it aint broke ......... This deserves a pint at the next meet

SAE 30 or 40 Oil, not grease. The machine would have been supplied with a small oil gun that fitted through the holes in the rollers and located on the oil nipple on the bearing hub of each roller. Depending on the age and model of your machine there may be another nipple located behind a rubber plug on the right hand chassis side plate and another on a tube inboard of the chaincase  below the clutch cable and actuating lever.

I can be quite difficult to seal the gun onto the inner roller nipples and the old mechanics’ trick of putting a bit of light cotton cloth over the end of the gun will help seal it to the nipple but allow oil to pass through.

Are these push fit nipples like this (6mm).  On my Myford they are 1/4".  Maybe my Myford oil gun will help?

Cant find any info on the Ransomes oil gun.  Is there any other general purpose oil gun?  I will investigate other oilways tomorrow and given the grassache of a seized roller  OMG

I remember in my mispent youth I acquired from a jumble sale a garage wall poster for the lubrication of 1935 ish austin 7 . There were 27 different chassis points requireing grease gun attention every 500 miles (that was the garage service interval in those days).  A pal of mine was a Ford apprentice and worked as a mechanic for a dealership most of his life.  He told me that the Ford Prefect 100e flat head only had a service life of about 50,000 miles before complete engine rebore and overhaul.  That was the state of post war engineering and poor quality materials

There is a school of thought (in the stationary world) that an old machine is better represented by by cleaning off the dirt and passivating  surface rust, and then give it the oily rag once over (I would spray linseed oil), on the assumption that the machine was reasonable in the first place - no point flogging a dead grass box

The showroom look (which it never had originally) is detracting from the vintage bloodline maybe.  On mine I replace all the rusty burred bolts with modern BZP bolts unc/unf - 1/4 thru 3/8" and I use SS nuts and lashings of copper grease

I quite like the thought of a greasy mower lurking in my shed

Well I can report that the plastic cap grommet 20mm (10p) works for those who dont like looking at dirty nipples.  you need to pare off the inner lip to expose the 20mm core. Whatever floats your mower

Having digested most of the recent restoration accounts and the surgical skills involved I can certainly see why WP is so vehemently opposed to grease.  Fixing some bits on my Marquis I came across lumps of solidified tar that need prizing off with a stanley knife.  You dont seem to get such extremes in the bikers world

Does anyone have details about the special tool that is used in the land roller shaft sits within my now fabled Grommet cap.  It looks like a piece of tube ca 3/4 od with two lugs sticking out axially to engage in same within the bearing carrier. Will post design

It has to be able to resist a fair amount of force as the sprocket on the other end can be mega tight.

I posted images of mine , designed for solo working, a while back. They are on my Desktop PC and I’ll dig them out later.

Ransomes did a tool for the job, LCG427,  but I can’t find any images of it any where and Googling the part number draws a blank.

My shaft locking tools. The bolt on one is for solo working. Remove the bearing holding screws one at a time and replace with the studs slide on the tool and rotate the roller shaft to engage the tongue into the slot in the shaft and do up the nuts. The tool is then locked into the shaft which has resisted the turning force of a three foot bar on the sprocket.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bflndqbmvwg8x4q/AABiVGJa3_G2L4QZ0d3gT0gAa?dl…;