ekawrecker

I still have the telephone number of someone called Martin who was selling a Militant tipper for £800 near Heathrow many years ago. I think that like most tippers, they got worked to death, and then scrapped. That's what makes Will's Albion, with it's super cool headlight plinths, so unusual.

 

I saw 'Martins' tipper, it wasn't a genuine one, just a 'normal' Militant someone had put a scow ended tipper body onto.

What Albion is Will's?

Thank you very much for posting this wonderful photograph. A Militant tipper is top of my list of desirable lorries and the tipper is one of the rarest Militant Mk 1 variants in preservation. The 6 X 4 in the 'photo was about 20 years old when this picture was taken. I wonder if it survived.

Yes, they're very nice!

I've never seen any in preservation 6 X 6, I've only ever seen a couple in a yard once.

I wonder where they all went?

Well done on your achievement Mike, which seems no mean feat bearing in mind the hurdles you have faced.

I found this on Ebay today-item no 220378263358- just what you need now (not!!), although it might have been handy a little earlier perhaps?

Here is a pic of the Douglas. You are right, it is very nice.

Thanks for posting that, not seen it in those colours before.

I went to look at this diamond T with a view to buying it. It was a real heartbreaker, heavy rust everywhere, as it had been used as a snowplough and the salt had rotted it badly. I'm glad I walked away!

The Douglas Matador looks nice!

I don't believe there is any interchangeability, between the Rzeppa Hub and the Tracta Hub. The castings appear to me to be different shapes

 

The end of the axle case itself is not the same Note the extra bearing in the Tracta axle. (but the Rzeppa axle illustrated is Hydraulic braked. I can't at the moment find an illustration of an Air braked Rzeppa axle.)

 

The bearings fit in the end of the stub axle, and this is clearly different. I have never tried to swap hubs between types. It is difficult trying to work out from diagrams only. The hubs aren't vastly different, I suppose they might swap over.

Good point Mike, thanks for pointing that out. I'd forgotten the end of the 'Rzeppa' axle casing is slightly tapered, and the 'Tracta' casing is parallel.

Just goes to show how easy it is to forget important details!

Initials MR by any chance?

........No N.O.S, it's AS..

.... Do you have any more info on the location/vehicle?

Sorry, this is one of the few photo's I've got that I didn't take myself.

I will try and contact my friend who gave me it and see what he knows.

What about the hubs, I have a good set of hubs with good bearings/brakes etc will the outer part of the shafts be the same?

Not sure I'm afraid.

I knew rhe joint was different but are the outer parts of the shafts the same, ie will either shaft fit in either hub?

You can fit 6.25 diffs in a 7.9 axle as the half shafts have the same number of splines and the main axle casing is the same forged type on both 'Tracta' and 'Rzeppa' jointed axles. (there was also a cast front axle but you'd know if you had one!)

Even though the chassis seems to be longer than the one in the pictures posted by 'Antar', I was wondering if this might have been an ex-Military Constructor as well?

 

ekawrecker what brought you to visit these yards in the late 80s?

 

 

A Matador hunting crusade! :-D

(I can't say anymore for fear of revealing my true identity. lol)

Glad you liked the photo Steve, I also found these in my filing system!

Surely the best kept and least abused Timber Matador ever, just look at the cab interior!!

A real credit to its owner 'Kinver Sawmills', who had run it since they bought it in 1964. They even had the redundant body stored carefully nearby.

Seen in the late '80s at their yard.

If my memory serves me correctly, this Scammell Constructor-NGY593-has already featured earlier on this thread as it's now in the process of being restored.

After Stan Wass and the MoS had finished with it, S.Grundon bought it and used it to move skips from 'road lorries' across the dump for emptying and it was at their yard in Colnbrook I took these pictures of it in the late '80s.

It even looks as though there is a Ruddington Auction lot number on the left-hand front wing?

I think I might have a picture of your Matador whilst it was with Giffords. I will try to find it and post if I'm successful!!

Success!:-D....My filing system, (a big box in my cupboard) is better than I thought!

I took this at Giffords yard in Cobham in the late '80s.

I am looking for a pair of good 4.79:1 diffs from an RAF S26 re-fueller as the ones I bought are in a poor state; if anyone knows of any NOS ones perhaps they could let me know.

I take it you want 'SOMA' ones, and not 'Rockwell'? I assume they're not the same?

The man from the Ministry must have dropped his reserve, it was £5k just a few weeks ago.:shocked:

I've often wondered if the 'Man from the Ministry' actually exists?

how long ago was the picture taken?

From memory, in the mid '90s Simon.

Dave Crouch has an S26 for sale on Milweb at the moment ! :-D

RAF reg no 03AY12 if anyone cares!:-D

My Matador

 

OUC 973F, 0853 8386, First registered August 1967, Left the AEC factory on 4th November 1944, its last military reg No being 99 YY 52

I presume it was converted to timber crane in 1967 and subsequently worked for Clinton Deveon Estates at Budleigh Salterton until November 1987, it then passed through the hands of L, W, Vass before being sold to Kim Gifford of Gifford Tree Service at Cobham it changend hands again in 1996 and was collected from where it had been working in Windsor Great Park being bought by Ian Smith of Plumpton from whom I purchased it.

 

All the steel skin of the cab is rotten along with a damaged beyond repair fuel tank and front wings. For some time it seems the jib has been hitting and damaging the roof when it was dropped and this also will need attending to,

 

Who was Bob Ansell and where did he operate from, the crane and winch spade look to be the same as others that I have seen described as that of his work.

 

The vehicle was overhauled in 1954 by the military at MTRS B403

can anybody tell me what and where this was.

 

If anyone can fill in any of the gaps in its history or have any memories of it working I would be most interesed, also any parts.

 

 

Thanks Steve

Bob Ansell was from Wisborough Green in Sussex. He converted a few Matadors for timber use according to the book 'Men, Mud and Machines' by Maurice H. Sanders.

I think I might have a picture of your Matador whilst it was with Giffords. I will try to find it and post if I'm successful!!

Blimey, you've been about a bit mate ! Thank you for posting more wondrous Militant 'photos. I can only assume the operator of this dustbin lorry was hoping to recruit Militant enthusiasts as drivers, to work free of charge, just for the pleasure of driving a MK1 around all day. I would have done.

The Glaswegian dustbin lorry operator had another 2 Militants, a skip loader and another dustbin lorry, both of them the more conventional Militants.

I can't find the pics at the moment, but when I do I'll post them.

In the meantime heres another HAA Militant with the 'Rusty wheelarch disease'!

I saw this in North Yorkshire and it worked the A170 and surrounding roads including the notorious Sutton Bank.

An imaginative use for another one of the batch of 0859 Militant RAF tankers was this conversion to a dustbin lorry!

It's also been fitted with the more conventional 14.00x20 tyres and wheels.

I saw this one operating in Glasgow in 1987, but I'm not sure how long it lasted in this form.

This is an 0859 Militant 6x4 tanker as operated by the RAF reg no 37AD13, which I saw in a dealers yard in the late '80s.

One of the least common Militant types, they were also unusual in being fitted with 11.00x20 tyres all round. (twinned on rear axle!)

Ekawrecker, thank you for posting these two wonderful photographs. That 'fresh out of MOD auction' look is the look that I'm always trying to recapture with my lorries. I wish I could have been there to help you bolt on the replacement rod. Both of these AEC's appear to have had work done on the lower part of the cab doors and 01 BP 28 seems to have had a plate welded on the front bumper. It also doesn't appear have the usual type of towing jaws fitted.

 

What did your friend do with his Militant ? Was it converted into a recovery vehicle as so many of these gun tractors were ?

My pleasure 6 X 6, glad you liked the pics.

My friend rallied his Militant for a few years (I took it to GDSF in the late '90s) and it's in bits at the moment having the cab and body done.

Rest assured, he'll be keeping it as a gun tractor.

These two 0860 Militant 6x6 Artillery Tractors went through Aston Down MoD auctions in 1993, very late for these type. They were latterly used as driver training vehicles.

A friend of mine bid for and won Lot 356 which was a non-runner caused by a broken gear linkage rod between the gearchange unit and gearbox (suprise-suprise!)

When I went to collect it, I took another rod, bolted it into place and drove the Militant on to the low loader.