TLC forCRANKY written by ‘Spanner’
Rolling is about to commence in earnest and it is important to ensure that your machine is up to the task ahead.
The ubiquitous Cricket Club roller is either a purpose built machine, such as an AutoRoller or Poweroll, or it is often a retired pavement roller of the Stothert & Pitt/Aveling Barford style.
The former work hard all their life. The latter have already had a lifetime’s hard work and are looking for an easy retirement but, instead, they get more hard work.
Make no mistake, rolling is HARD work for the machine. Moving 1-2 tonnes of steel & ballast over a soft soil surface quite literally for hours on end is not easy. Accordingly, your roller deserves a regular dose of maintenance and TLC for it to continue serving you and your club.
Without getting into machinery specifics, here are a few pointers to help ensure your roller has a chance of getting through the season:
Change engine oil, air filter, fuel filter (and oil filter if you have one).
Rolling for just 1 hour a day will mean your engine oil should be changed approximately monthly. (25 or 50 hours -
depending on engine).
If appropriate, replace gearbox oil and hydraulic oil filters. Because of the loads placed on transmissions during operation the gearbox oils break-down and it is much less expensive to change oil than gearboxes.
Petrol engines deserve new spark plugs.
Lubricate chains, grease bearings and steering gears.
If the manufacturer fitted grease nipples, he did so for a reason - not decoration. Grease allows metal bearing surfaces to slide with minimal wear, and there is a lot of weight on a small area in a bearing. Like oil, grease is cheaper than replacing bearings. For some of the older Stothert & Pitt machines, axle bearings are no longer made, so sourcing second- hand parts becomes a task in itself.
Check and adjust selector linkages, throttle controls. A little oil here and there helps control levers to operate smoothly
Brakes. Do they work? They should. Lubricate linkages and adjust as necessary. It is important that, as well as going forwards and backwards, your roller is able to stop when necessary.
Top up battery fluid (or polish crank handle). Check recoil rope for fraying.
Despite their slow speeds these machines work very hard and benefit from a little TLC.
An hour or two spent now will be much less painful than fund-raising to replace a roller mid-season, as is often the case, so let’s not have any postings on PC of the style - “Help please, need roller, phone Desperate-of-Derby”.
Incidentally, does anybody have names for their rollers? Some of the favourites I look after include: ‘Old Faithful’, ‘Thumper’, ‘WG’, ‘Polley the Rolley’ and ‘Cranky’ who lives in a shed called ‘Dunrollin’.
If you haven’t had your mowers serviced yet either, then why not?
It was Benjamin Franklin who said: “If we fail to prepare, we prepare to fail.”
POWEROLL
The Poweroll range of rollers comprise of 5 different machines to suit differing budgets and requirements. We also bring new life to elderly Stothert & Pitt 32rds and Auto-Rollers with new power packs or complete rebuilds. Even old cranky can be made to work again, by utilising our wide range of workshop facilities to manufacture parts for your old treasure.
Rollers new and used for cricket wickets and lawn tennis courts
ROLLERS Tel: 01822 832608
NEW AND USED
sales@poweroll.com
www.poweroll.com 6
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www.pitchcare.com/re 23
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