Restoring An Old Engine Crane | Reviving History 

I bet I wasn't the only one shouting..."No working underneath!" Lol. Great video again Dom. 👏

It's good to see the faith you have in your trolley jack. That's bold.

Thanks Dominic. Watching passion and enthusiasm like this is brilliant.

Let’s gloss over how the Ranalah ended up on its back (when the whole point of this crane referb, was so you could do that)! As for those rear castors, I think you’re wasting your time there from what you showed. The rollers in that flat bearing race seized ages ago and then the castor revolved without their assistance, grinding flats on one side. Just buy a new pair. 👍

For the wheel bearing just go to your local bearing supplier and ask them for an alternative.

Binns and Berry Lathes are the Rolls Royces of lathes, built in Halifax, they just have the edge on Dean,Smith and Grace, great vid Dom, love the full compliment needle roller bearings in wheels 👍

I did something similar to putting that crane on it's back on my own, ended up with a double hernia - be careful. Also standing under that arm, sometimes things will un-sieze suddenly with dire consequences!

Thanks for making Sundays great. To use a term of precision; Spot Bollok On

Great video - very encouraging to see a Land Rover in the background. That speaks volumes about you!

Thanks

Great too see another bit of what other people would call junk is saved by and for the enjoyment of people who think old junk should be saved, cheers Dom 👍✌️🇬🇧

Laying the crane on its back was common sense Dom. Keep at it mate it will all come good.👍👍

Dom, Dom, Dom... I would have thought that after the spider invasion you'd have learned to clean (power wash) things off before dragging things into your shop!

Reassuring to know that even for Dom; things don't go perfectly every time! Looking forward to next Sunday.

Dom, Dip the bearings in a 1 to 9 mix of mollasses and water. leave for a week or so and hey presto, rust removed

Good old British engineering loved that large castle nut on the caster and the fact that they used roller bearings instead of ball bearings, I guess they take more load. Its going to look good when its all painted and being used in your workshop. Thanks for sharing.

Dom! There's never going to be a better opportunity to paint the crane! Get your self a wire brush and some Hammerite. You know it makes sense.

Thanks!

Hi Dom, while you have the crane apart, take the components out to a sandblaster and have them sandblasted and undercoated, then on their return you can paint them in whatever colour you desire. Although that process is not expensive, it will cosmetically make a huge difference to the overall project turning it from a rusty looking engine crane into a talking point in your workshop, With your signwritting skills you could on the jib arm sign write your company's logo there. Another great video Dom, look forward to the next installment. Regards a fan from Aus.

Love the dodgy dropping the crane on it's back explanation,keep up the excellent work Dom

Glad it's not just me, running out of stuff I need halfway through a job. I love the fact your using something to lift something that is probably as old as the item your lifting. And how many of us had done something where we thought, nope that's not going to work, too late! 🤣😂🤣

Dom, you are, without a doubt, a resurrection genius. With the ability to see and bring back to life amazing and unique pieces of machine history. Your dedicationand

Just watching you working on that crane brought back memories of me in the motor trade 40 yrs ago doing same sort of thing restoring my 1937 Wolseley 15/60. All those lovely rusted bolts and pivots all solid and the eureka moments when they free off. Happy days. :)

Dom turns crane into giant catapult. Perfect 😃

That Crain/ engine hoist is awesome. Need to bring the old stuff back to life. They don't make them like they use to. Alan from the states.

Dom, you are, a resurrection genius. With the ability to bring back to life amazing and unique pieces of machine history. :-) Artist 100 percent

I was looking forward to seeing it getting fully restored. Ah well, good to see old items getting brought back to life. I have an old Guyson shot blast cabinet in my shed waiting to be put back to working order

I am certain I have a photograph or have seen one of that sort of crane being used to change the engine in a Spitfire during the war. The trouble is knowing where to start to look in fourth plus years of archive! Harvey Frost certainly supplied the military and I am sure there were still some like yours about in the early Eighties.

Totally loving the resto of the wheeler. I was trained on the exact tool in the 1970’s as an apprentice at Vauxhall Motors Ltd. I ended up as a “body in white” engineer in AJ Block experimental making panels for the die presses. Get yourself some Aero Kroil penetrating oil you won’t regret it.PS get yourself a decent socket set and a nut gun. Lol

Hi Dom, love the way you just keep plugging on whatever happens. Have had to do a fair bit of that myself - it's how you grow. You WILL get there!

Great project love this stuff bummed this episode is over

Great video Dom will be amazing to see the engine crane back together and working again soon and being used around your workshop ♥️👍👍👍👍

Thank you Dom for another brilliant VLOG 👍

oh tell me about it Dom....I have to make a tool to make a jig to support a part that makes....etc. that's the story of my projects too !

Excellent to watch Dom good luck with your plans & see you when your ready. Take care.

No gas…..hells bells Dom. These things are sent to try. You did a lot of work on the associated parts of the crane in dismantling - so that’s something. Looking forward to the next great video.

Another brilliant episode in the journey that is the workshop. Thank you and please try to work as safe as you reasonably can. I did hold my breath for a few moments, lol. Cheers mate.

I love that thing,you are so lucky to have it. It’s so satisfying getting those parts freed up. Thanks for the video

You get such cool projects to work on, if I lived close enough, I would be happily be down for the weekend to help out. The crane has certainly done some time lounging around, will be great to see it back to a working condition.

Great vid that Dom, cant wait to read the "I am a Retired Engineer and H&SE jobsworths" comments. Keep it up mate. Oxy will cost you a few pennies these days.

The oxy did the trick.The Ranala is so close to finished its definetly time to start a new project. They take time to ramp up . first stage pulling apart is slow, repair can be fast depending how fussy you are, nice work on the wheels. I would have kano kroiled for weeks with gentle hammering. laying down a normally vertical machine. picked up a few big pillar drills, . love to watch. thats a serious crane.. the bridgeport saddle can support x Kg.

Dom, some sort of penetrating oil would help a lot, in both releasing roll-pins, axles, nuts and the like in the first place and then allowing them to be wound off/knocked out/unscrewed without damage to the component or its housing. I’ve used lots of different sorts, but a nice, cheap, and very effective version is a 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone. Apply it the day before: works wonders! Also a light brushing of old engine oil now and again will keep old machinery stored outdoors from deteriorating too fast…. And like all the others, I’d just dismantle, blast and repaint the crane while you’re at it. Cheers, Will

Sorry! Your dedication and the gift of sharing your talents, gladdens many a heart and makes the world a much richer place.😎😎. Keep up the GREAT work you are doing and please BE SAFE. A Friend ans subscriber in Utah, U.S.A.

How about an impact socket set to get your nuts and bolts undone and done up again?? Love seeing old stuff brought back to a useful life. Good on you..

OM MY God There was a BBC show called That's life That I watched when I was stationed at with the Brits in Germany . One of the running jokes was 'I have No Gas" Where viewers ,would tell the stories of how the Gas company would threaten the person ,that if they did not pay their gas bill they would shut them off . They did not have gas service !! So the show would send a person out to watch the gas company come out , only to see "you have NO GAS" . I laughed so hard when you said you were out of gas. Thank you. Keep it up !

Hello Dom, Good to hear some off camera jiggery pokery went on... I was slightly concerned that as the parts became free the boom would drop and land on your head - lol... an enjoyable video, thank you. Take care. Paul,,

Really enjoying your content every week Happy to give a little help, in repairing the Ranala and the Craine is great! Thanks

If you can get those rollers out of the plate in that caster and the slots are reasonably ok or repairable then you could replace them with some silver steel rollers. At least you can use the original casters then. I trust you are going to give the crane a good coat of paint and clean up and paint the front wheels. It will be a great crane when restored, and a great find.

Dom, another fantastic video as usual. Can’t wait for the next one. If you need some extra heavy duty lockable castors, I have some I could send to you foc if it helps your project at all. They have been lying around in my garage for long enough! All the best!

Great effort be and watch ability 👍🏼

Keep up the good work

Another great vid, and when it goes wrong for you, it makes us novices go easier on ourselves!….know what you mean about the place where you found it…I have literally just got back home a Morris 8 series e that’s been left in a tumbled down garage since the sixties!!!….the gentleman’s grade was littered with various vehicles gone to seed and reclaimed by nature….so sad….keep up the great work…love the honesty in the vids.

really cool engine crane, never seen one like that! maybe that could be the next old design you bring back!

Thanks for another great video Dom will seem like an eternity now until next week 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Watch Cutting Edge Engineering Australia to see some really big lathes in use.... as well as other various engineering... and lots of welding...

Great project, could do with something like that myself when lifting chucks and huge faceplate onto my Colchester Triumph lathe 👍👍

What an awesome old machine. Love this channel.

I have an old advert here from a copy of the "engineering" weekly dated 1940. It's for Stauffer engine hoists. It says"so simple a girl can use it"... looks like your crane.

Great video, I fear for your back. Take care, best wishes

Great content as usual. Looking forward to the next instalment. Thank you for the video Dom.👍🏻👌🏻

Hi Dom, surely now you have stripped all those parts out you could media blast and paint the frame without too much difficulty. Maybe a good idea to get some old tyres to act as a cushion in case of any mishaps when you finally use the crane to move the Ranalah frames.. Robb Torremolinos Spain

Nice project Harvey Frost was the crane to have in the day, LandRovers with there cranes on saved the nation as did the big wreckers , There cranes where always over engineered but you where always safe with there stuff I’ve got one sitting in my yard which was apparently used to change aircraft wheels with a sand box for counter weight I had a feeling the neighbours had given you a hand to lay the Ranalah because you couldn’t eat that amount of weetabix 😂 Great vid Dom well done stay safe 👍👨🏻‍🏭

Jay: "Welcome to The Repair Shop" Visitor: "Thanks, Hi I'm Dom and I have this huge engine jack for you." Jay: "Wait just there, you need to talk with Dom, he's... Oh." Visitor: 😶 Hi Jay.

Fascinating as usual, Dom!

Thanks for the videos. Love your enthusiasm

Thanks Dom excellent video 😂👍

Great progress Dom, it’s looking great. Kind regards, Richard.

I feel a Risk Assessment coming on😃😀🤣

Cheers Dom, looking good 👌🏻

You're braver than I, Dom, for taking these projects on. However, to quote Nevil Shute, ‘Maybe we’re too apt to scrap things in the States.’ One thing, I would have used an extreme pressure grease rather than lithium general purpose: the EP grease will hold up to the line contact better without breaking down and also regular lithium grease can become hard with time. Cheers, Charlie.

Thank you.

Great content- I,m sure it will worth all you effort. Onwards & upwards

Another great video Dom, but gas never runs out on a Monday morning when there's plenty of time to go and get some more.

Nice one Dom, maybe a few days before you stated working on the hoist, I would have been a good idea to put some penetrating oil on all the moving parts, that may of helped you out, can’t wait for the next one Dom,👍👍.

Dom,swarfega Duck oil would help you loosen the seized bolts ect.used it for years in the motor trade. Used a L .R series 2a with HF hand operated cable lift for recovery jobs,talk about hard work. Great vid,see you next Sunday.

Do you own anything else other than adjustable wrenches? That's a sick old crane. It'll be rad when it done. That's the biggest engine crane ice ever seen.

Could be worse, you could be an astronaut. 😁

😬 all done safely Dom. I wish you’d ask for help sometimes. It’s a fantastic thing to restore, we can’t wait for oxygen to arrive!

Time to find an old forklift to restore so that you can safely lift and lower the old crane so that you can restore it.

Not to plan is to plan to fail ! Check you have what you need before you start. Anyway you should be sorting out that nice little Epco engine hoist with the bent leg - super cranes - I have the slightly bigger model.

In the early 1980’s I worked in Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Airport they had a purpose built machine shop with all the best equipment that money could buy. One of the items was a huge lathe that as 10 feet between centres. There was however a major problem with the infrastructure of the machine shop, when they built it someone forgot about installing electricity so all of the machines were in effect useless! The fire department had a major problem as some of the equipment was American and some was British, both utilised the same size phosphor bronze hose coupling however one used a rounded thread and the other a V type thread. The head of the fire department decided that he wanted an adapter coupling turned up, to get round it they fitted a flywheel to one end of the lathe equipped with a handle, they then persuaded a number of Filipino workers to queue up by the handle and to spin the lathe by hand, as each one began to tire the next worker would take over. It apparently took quite a long time to achieve and resulted in a lot of knackered Filipino workers, but they did it. I think that this encouraged them to eventually bite the bullet and dig up the floor so they could install the electricity! The funny thing is in the room next door was a several megawatt generator that was meant to kick-in and maintain the power to the airport in the event that the National grid failed.

Another great video!

I don't know about you but i don't function with out a coffee so have a couple on me ,keep up the good work ,Hopefully catch up with you in Bicester next time your there stay safe.

Im sure you can pour your babbit in position (no need to tip) look into foundry sand box set up should flow nicely. ask you foundry man he should be able to explain the process

Maybe get an induction heater for doing the nuts. It would be cheaper than using gas and you won't run out of electricity.

Project - fix crane, new project - take it apart and move it, new project - rebuild crane wheels ;-)

The castors look like standard off-the-shelf items by manufacturers "Revvo" or "Hughes" for example.

Love this sort of stuff, getting old, rusty non functioning items working again. Looking forward to seeing the next part where it gets completed.... No chance you fancy a full on resto of it, like the jack from The Repair Shop...? Now that would look spectacular!

Great Video Invest in an Impact Driver to undo all those rusty nuts and bolts,also save you a lot gas! Cheers

"crane part" =Jib I think 🤔 😃

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Man! You look sensational! Thank you for sharing all of your sincere content with us. (if I'm searching for nice chick's this is not the channel I'm using by the way..) All the best, Job

Now that’s the sort of comment I understand ‘the uppy downy tippy thing’. 😂 talking of unfinished projects, what’s happening with the Defender? Imagine how much room there will be in the workshop if that goes 😜. Good luck

Dom, you need a induction heater tool, no gas, very direct, and obviously electric.

YES ! ! More light is ALWAYS better. Get some more gas. Produce more videos. 356?

I wondering, with the front rollers you temporarily fixed. Could you stick the pins in the lathe, run then down a bit and get larger rollers bearings? Nice and smooth and new? Would be a great use of the new lathe. That's if you can get larger roller bearings? Love you channel mate.

I was expecting you to make a couple of casting blocks, the rear with a vent and the front with a filling cup, sprue and basin.

Where's the oil blow lamp you restored?. That's what they would have used in the past to heat up nuts.

Give it a coat of black magic rust preserve black paint look a treat.

With the crane you can load the 'coffee' Land Rover and finally finish it!

Dom, another great save. Had you not thought of using your car lift to lift and lay the Ranalah on its back?