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Ray, Welcome to the forum. It the best one I know about irrespective of subject. If you have a query, someone will know the answer. Your Rover looks great! John

What about the Land Rover axles? John

That is absolutely wonderful! You should be very proud of your work. John

Johhny, Thank you for this. I think that I will go for a jig on the rotary table using either a shell mill cutter or an abrasive drum. I will have to do some experiments. It is surprising that no one else has come across this issue. Normally the forum can advise on any problem. John

A 24 volt regulator would keep the voltage down to a suitable level for a 24 volt vehicle, say 28 volts. It will be interesting to see what it fits. John

It might not be the wrong one. It could be designed to run straight of the radio audio output. I dont know enough. On the Chieftain ARV the loudspeaker is defo driven by the amplifier Loudspeaker. John

I have reposted this in MV chatter rather than radios. John

Dear All, I have reposted this in a more appropriate place. I have a problem with some commercial trailer brake shoes and drums. In days of old it was common to grind the radius of brake shoes to match the diameter of the brake drum, especially if it had been skimmed. This was often achieved using a rig that would be mounted on the axle. On the internet I have also seen rigs where the shoes are mounted on a grinding rig. The drums have all been skimmed to different diameters depending upon how badly they were damaged. I have been told that matching the shoes to the drums will make for a big improvement in efficiency and it is easy to understand why. Nowadays it is more economic to start again and fit new shoes and drums. I would do that but for the fact that drums are not available. There are also quite a few drums involved. In terms of wear, the shoes are nearly new and will be non-asbestos. The first question is, does anyone know where there is a commercial vehicle brake grinding rig available to buy, rent or borrow? Condition does not matter because there is very little that I cannot rebuild. The second question is about the grinding material. I could make a bespoke brake shoe grinding rig by using my vertical milling machine, the rotary table, a jig to mount the shoes and a spindle mounted grinding ‘wheel’ or drum. Can anyone recall what grinding medium was used? I am thinking of using drums about 3” dia and 5” long, similar to the drum sander we would use with a die grinder but much bigger and more precise. Before anyone gets too excited about H & S I would use an industrial vacuum cleaner to suck up the dust. Any help or advice would be much appreciated. John

Dear All, I have a problem with some heavy commercial trailer brake shoes and drums. In days of old it was common to grind the radius of brake shoes to match the diameter of the brake drum, especially if it had been skimmed. This was often achieved using a rig that would be mounted on the axle. On the internet I have also seen rigs where the shoes are mounted on a grinding rig. The drums have all been skimmed to different diameters depending upon how badly they were damaged. I have been told that matching the shoes to the drums will make for a big improvement in efficiency and it is easy to understand why. Nowadays it is more economic to start again and fit new shoes and drums. I would do that but for the fact that drums are not available. There are also quite a few drums involved. In terms of wear, the shoes are nearly new and will be non-asbestos. The first question is, does anyone know where there is a commercial vehicle brake grinding rig available to buy, rent or borrow? Condition does not matter because there is very little that I cannot rebuild. The second question is about the grinding material. I could make a bespoke brake shoe grinding rig by using my vertical milling machine, the rotary table, a jig to mount the shoes and a spindle mounted grinding ‘wheel’ or drum. Can anyone recall what grinding medium was used? I am thinking of using drums about 3” dia and 5” long, similar to the drum sander we would use with a die grinder but much bigger and more precise. Before anyone gets too excited about H & S I would use an industrial vacuum cleaner to suck up the dust. Any help or advice would be much appreciated. John

I think that you need the box described as "Amplifier Loudspeaker". It has a volume control on it, I think. You could get the leads from a scrap AFV fitted for clansman. Alternatively you might be able to get new plugs if you had an NSN. John

Beautifully illustrates the point I just posted about starter motors John

I think we need to snap up every starter of this type that we see looking for a home. I think the engine is a Perkins 4.236 and I expect there will be some lurking in light vehicles hidden in the under growth. We will have to get more into making components for these accessories rather than just repair by repair.. For instance, I have successfully silver soldered new contacts onto a contactor for an electric forklift truck. Finally, I think that we may have to resort to finding ways of fitting contemporary starters to certain engines. We could change the pinion gear of the modern starter to suit the ring gear. We would need to machine an adaptor plate. Difficult, but not as difficult as you might think once reverse engineered. The most obvious candidate for this approach is Cent starter motor which does not work well in any case. Fortunately, it does not have a ring but reduction gears ins inside it. I will get onto it when I grow up and stop playing with tanks and tank transporters. John

Dear All, I have been using UPS for sending bits of kit around including a towing pintle for the Conqueror ARV. It is cheap, quick and you would not very far in your car for the same cost. You can despatch the goods from a local collection point and even collect from one rather than have the good delivered home. John

Dear All, I have got to re-fit the gear link between the gear stick and the main gear box on a Militant. It was not easy to get off but it had suffered a fatigue crack. The crack is now welded up. Can the floor plates be lifted to access the gear stick end of the link? John

We brought the REME Museum's Cent ARV purely because the organisers are so good to deal with. It is a great show! John

The problem with the commercial ones is that they are 5 mm dia and too long. What I have done is to saw a slit in the cap along the axis of the correct fuse and then solder in a thin strand of wire in place. I hope to be at Capel by Lunchtime. Clive I have not knowingly met you but would like to do so at Capel. John

Dear All, The REME Museum's Centurion ARV is already at Capel. First job is to fit the intercom and IB3 box which I have tested at home. Unfortunately, the commander's crew control box was merily blowing fuses until I worked out what was going wrong. John

Dear All, I am experiencing trouble with this fuse as well! The fuse required is 1 amp, it is 0.189 " dia X 0.626 lg or 4.83 dia X 16.10 mm. None of the fuses from RS are anything like the right dia and length. We might have to ID a more modern fuse holder. Any ideas? John

Dear All, One of the advantages of having an electronic fuel injection system is that it can be all new. so that there are no compatibility issues. There are four component classes: The fuel filters, the fuel pump, the pressure regulator and the injectors.. I now only use copper, aluminium, steel and modern fuel quality rubber hose. Soft solder is a disaster area (as I have posted before) so I only use silver solder for joining steel components where I have not used TIG welding. The problem is that for so many of our vehicles non-originality to the extent of EFI is completely inappropriate, I accept that. It would not be too difficult to buy a large quantity of ethanol free petrol but for the impracticality of storing it legally and safely. John

Happy days! Unfortunately Headington is on the same weekend as Capel. At the REME Museum we are taking the Scammell Contractor loaded with the Cent ARV to Capel. The big trailer is unlikely to be operational this year, the Conqueror will not be able to escape from MOD Lyneham. John

This is not an unlikely scenario! I have crewed Mr Edgar Shone's Sentinel DG6 steam lorry driven by the late Dan Doncaster. We were loaded with coal but I cannot remember why! If a vehicle over 40 years old is not being used commercially it will pass its MOT despite having 10 year plus tyres. Another way of looking at it is that a vehicle is caught by the new rules if: either it is less than 40 years old OR it is being used commercially. Solid tyres came before these new fangled pneumatic tyres and I have never heard of a regulatory problem with them. Obviously they are only suitable for low speeds..

Yes, I can imagine the AA towing dolly working well.

That is the one!

Dear All, Some time ago I drew the Forum's attention to a Written Parliamentary Question which confirmed that we can take advantage of the 40 year historic vehicle exemption from the ten year tyre rule even if the vehicle was being used laden. The relevant part of the 10 year tyre rule (The Construction and Use Regulations) say this: Nothing in paragraph (1)(i) to (k) applies to a vehicle of historical interest used for non-commercial purposes, and for this purpose “vehicle of historical interest” means a vehicle which is considered to be of historical interest to Great Britain and which— (i)was manufactured or registered for the first time at least 40 years previously; (ii)is of a type no longer in production, where “type” in relation to a vehicle has the same meaning as “type of vehicle” in Article 3(32) of Regulation (EU) 2018/858(2) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on the approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles; and (iii)has been historically preserved or maintained in its original state and has not undergone substantial changes in the technical characteristics of its main components.”; By using the words "non-Commercial use" and staying silent on the issue of being loaded or not, it is implicit that being loaded or not is irrelevant. It was therefore not surprising that the PQ confirmed this in clear language. Unfortunately, some believe that this also means that you can use a goods vehicle exempt from testing as being a Historic Vehicle, loaded either fully or in part. Unfortunately, each piece of legislation can define what is meant by a historic vehicle and so it can vary slightly. The Construction and Use Regulation above does not interfere with regulations concerned with testing and their exemptions. Furthermore easily accessible government guidance makes it clear that an MOT exempt goods vehicle can only be used unladen. The words from the guidance are: Large goods vehicles Large goods vehicles are generally exempt from testing, if first used before 1960 and currently used unladen, unless ‘substantially changed’. However a small number of pre-1960 large goods vehicles may require testing. If your goods vehicle has never been tested you may apply for a first test using a VTG1 application form. Other testing exemption And the link to the Government site is: Historic (classic) vehicles: MOT exemption criteria - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) The good news is that I understand that our camping equipment does not count as a load. It obviously should not because it would be far too light to have any impact on the safe operation of the vehicle. As I understand it, apart from very short journeys, agricultural purposes and use on certain islands the only significant exemption from testing when a goods vehicle is to be used loaded is if the vehicle is running EXCLUSIVELY under a Special Types Order. Special Types is a complex subject and outside the scope of this post. Furthermore, the legislation is relatively imprecise and there are quite a few oddities within in it. This may not be what some want to read but it would be remiss of me not to make these observations because I would not want to see anyone get in a muddle over it. John By using the words "non-commercial use"

Dear All, I am pleased to say that after over three years of effort by many and not just me, the REME Museum's Conqueror ARV is now running properly with electronic fuel injection (EFI) and after a complete strip down of the Meteor M120 engine. The ignition is by the Attlee discombobulator system that replaces the magneto. The final piece of the puzzle was to fit two Bosch type 044 pumps to deliver enough fuel so that the fuel pressure does not drop away when opening the engine up. The EFI means that it starts reliably and consistently. If it does not start after about four revolutions, it is not going to start at all. There is nothing in between. It is more economic than the Cent ARV which runs too rich.. Yesterday we took the tank out of the hanger to give it a test. It was pulling very well and occasionally I got that lovely whiff of fully burnt petrol. Heaven! That same smell you get with a petrol Rover when it is very hot and on a long run. Last year the Conqueror dragged a Chieftain with both tracks locked and that was with the engine NOT running well. We now need to: 1. Refit the Jaguar 'J60' winch engine and associated controls and systems in order that the recovery equipment will work, and, 2. Replace the track adjustment system so that we can tighten the tracks correctly. Many thanks to: TSB, Mark D, Andy A, Adrian F, John D, Roger Jones RIP, Wayne, Vic C and Barney. John