This is one off my bucket list.....
When I was a kid, we used to live opposite a little park.
Every week during the summer, the Council would come and mow the grass.
I fell in love with the amazing little machine that they used, and would follow them all day on my Raleigh Grifter as they went from park to park.
I promised myself that one day I would have one.
.....wind forward 35 years and I now have my very own Ransomes Motor Triple!
Here's a quick video of me playing in my garden with it.
It isn't as tuneful as my V8, but there something 'honest' about the sound of a little diesel.
Ransomes was founded in Ipswich in 1789 and probably best known for their mowers and agricultural products, but they also built locomotives,trolley buses, planes and even the turntable that revolved the restaurant on top of the BT tower.
Wikipedia article on Ransomes here.
Motor Triples were manufactured I understand from the mid 1960's right up until the late 1980's - largely unchanged in design.
They were the weapon of choice for most councils/local authorities in the UK.
The Motor Triple is proper old-school British engineering.
All driven by belts,chains and UJ's with clonking great levers to throw and pull making it all work.
Health and Safety would have a fit with with all the exposed pulleys and shafts.
The size of some of the castings would put a steam train to shame - which is probably why it weighs over 1/2 tonne.
My Triple is a Mk4, probably dating from the mid 1980's
The later ones were fitted with the Kubota Z6oo 2-cylinder diesel engine, and earlier versions used a MAG petrol or diesel engine.
My garden is quite big, but still way too small to actually use a 7'2" wide mower.
So the plan is to restore it mechanically (belts, bearings and get the cutters reground etc) and attack my Village cricket pitch.
Most parts are still available from Bartram Mowers - who I think bought all the spares from Ransomes when then closed.
All the part numbers and exploded views are online which is handy - clicky
I'm not sure yet if I'll leave the 35 years of patina and war wounds or fully restore
As far as mod's go - I've seen one fitted with a snow plough blade, but as there's a duplex chain drive and PTO right at front I might take it a bit further and bolt a snow blower on the front. I can use it summer and winter then!
It's like being 7 years old again
... and some more pics from the garden today:
When I was a kid, we used to live opposite a little park.
Every week during the summer, the Council would come and mow the grass.
I fell in love with the amazing little machine that they used, and would follow them all day on my Raleigh Grifter as they went from park to park.
I promised myself that one day I would have one.
.....wind forward 35 years and I now have my very own Ransomes Motor Triple!
Here's a quick video of me playing in my garden with it.
It isn't as tuneful as my V8, but there something 'honest' about the sound of a little diesel.
Ransomes was founded in Ipswich in 1789 and probably best known for their mowers and agricultural products, but they also built locomotives,trolley buses, planes and even the turntable that revolved the restaurant on top of the BT tower.
Wikipedia article on Ransomes here.
Motor Triples were manufactured I understand from the mid 1960's right up until the late 1980's - largely unchanged in design.
They were the weapon of choice for most councils/local authorities in the UK.
The Motor Triple is proper old-school British engineering.
All driven by belts,chains and UJ's with clonking great levers to throw and pull making it all work.
Health and Safety would have a fit with with all the exposed pulleys and shafts.
The size of some of the castings would put a steam train to shame - which is probably why it weighs over 1/2 tonne.
My Triple is a Mk4, probably dating from the mid 1980's
The later ones were fitted with the Kubota Z6oo 2-cylinder diesel engine, and earlier versions used a MAG petrol or diesel engine.
My garden is quite big, but still way too small to actually use a 7'2" wide mower.
So the plan is to restore it mechanically (belts, bearings and get the cutters reground etc) and attack my Village cricket pitch.
Most parts are still available from Bartram Mowers - who I think bought all the spares from Ransomes when then closed.
All the part numbers and exploded views are online which is handy - clicky
I'm not sure yet if I'll leave the 35 years of patina and war wounds or fully restore
As far as mod's go - I've seen one fitted with a snow plough blade, but as there's a duplex chain drive and PTO right at front I might take it a bit further and bolt a snow blower on the front. I can use it summer and winter then!
It's like being 7 years old again
... and some more pics from the garden today:
