Charity rebuild - 24 hours in 37 seconds...

Students from Bicton College have completed a 24 hour rebuild of a David Brown 880 Selectomatic tractor and you can see the whole process here in a short 37 second video.

The tractor, donated to the Bicton Overseas Agricultural Trust (BOAT) was rebuilt by students of the college using parts donated by Vapormatic to support the charity.

The rebuild began in earnest at exactly 12:00 on Saturday. The tractor was immediately stripped down to its component parts before each area was examined and any parts needing replacement were switched.

The shabby looking David Brown had suffered years of abuse at the hands of previous owners, so there was no area left untouched by the rebuild. A complete engine and gearbox refurbishment, new wheels, tyres, rear linkage, dials, wiring and bodywork were needed; in total over £3000 worth of parts were used.

The day did not pass without issues. A problem setting up the engine timing caused considerable delays in the early part of the morning, which meant the students had to work even harder to meet the tight 12:00 deadline.

As midday approached, the last few pieces of bodywork were fitted to the tractor. As the college clock struck noon the students finally finished the marathon rebuild and the tractor was fired up for the first time in its completed state.

Raffle tickets to win the tractor will now be sold by BOAT at various shows and events around Devon and the UK throughout the summer, or by contacting Bill Vellacott on 01884 277329 or bv@woodbeer.eclipse.co.uk.

Below you can see a time lapse video of the entire rebuild