CLASSIC CRANE!
As we’ve seen ‘once or twice’ before over the past few years, Neal and Nigel Davis are prolific old vehicle restorers with a particular liking for the unusual. Their latest, however, is probably the most unusual yet. A crane. A proper crane, as in lifting very heavy things; weighing up to 25 tons in this case. When acquired, it was so derelict that it took six months just to prepare for moving! It’s no surprise, then, that the five-year restoration (alongside numerous other projects) presented one or two ‘challenges’ along the way.
WHAT IS IT?
PJ0727J is a 1969-built John Allen Grove H2564 mobile crane – H2564 denotes a hydraulic crane with 25ton lifting capacity and a 6X4 chassis. The chassis is powered by a Leyland 680 Powerplus engine feeding into a six-speed gearbox incorporating a low-ratio splitter. The six conventional gears comprise an ultra-low ratio crawler gear, four conventional gears and an overdrive top. All this is contained within a single casing. Drive then goes into two large rear axles, with an air-operated intermediate diff-lock for use on rough terrain. The axles are mounted on individually-sprung walking beams with the spring in the middle, an arrangement which makes the crane sufficiently stable to lift light loads (up to around 12 tons) without using the built-in stabiliser arms.
The front axle appears to be a standard Leyland beam mounted on cart springs and with power steering. The “cosy” half-cab also appears to be a Leyland unit, with a control panel identical to that on many Leyland bus chassis of the period.
