fv1609

Kevin of the 2-speed generators ie Generator No.2 there were only two Mks, the main difference being the screw threads. Mk 1 by BTH with BSF threads Mk 2 by CAV with UNF threads I would first make very certain that is not a problem in the Gen Panel. I remember once I had a dozen panels that I tested & I think only three gave an output that was within the correct voltage range. The most difficult thing with fitting the generator was not just guiding this heavy thing in place (I used a sling around my neck to take the main weight) onto the locating spigot but getting it to line up with the oil outlet pipe going into the sump & getting the collar thread to engage. I had to use a sawn off Whitworth spanner for this. The last time I changed a generator it took over a week of intermittent work especially to get the thing in place properly. The time before that I did it over the course of a weekend show. But the time before that I drove it home, changed the generator over in 3 hours then drove it back to the show. Amazing what you can do when you are younger. When you handle a 2-speed generator you will not be able to spin it as you are fighting against the engaged gear box. If you can spin it then the gearbox is bust although it may still charge but not at low revs. If you get stuck for a Gen Panel I have a couple still in their boxes. That is not why I suggested that but they are more likely to fail than the generator!

Kevin glad you have the UHB. You should be able to hear the change in dynamo tone in the cab as you take it through the 1000rpm ish barrier. Sometimes people wonder about priming it what happens to the extra oil? I think a B60 was reckoned to burn a pint of oil every 100 miles, so it sort of balances out.

Kevin not sure if you have a copy of the UHB, but it is an invaluable guide to daily running. https://www.greenmachinesurplus.com/humber-1-ton-4x4-armoured-pig-user-handbook-1266-p.asp If the gearbox is working you should hear a change in whine around 1000rpm as you go up & dip down on the accelerator. This will be matched with a slight shift in voltage. I would suggest using an analogue (moving coil) voltmeter for this so that you can see a trend in voltage rather than a digital voltmeter that will jump around incessantly so your brain has to keep working out whether the voltage is going up or down. I much prefer what I call a proper multimeter like an Avo 12 specifically intended for vehicular use esp 24v systems. If the gearbox has failed it will be unlikely to jam. But you will not get any useful output below 1000rpm & there will be no change in whine as there will be no speed change. As for Morse code although it is still widely used by amateurs around the world, there is an increasing use of computer generated systems where you use a keyboard & a computer generates the Morse to be turned into text by a computer the other end. No skill is required by either operator other than to type fast. To me this is a hollow achievement, a bit like taking part in a bicycle race but turning up on a motorbike & thinking you are a skilled cyclist by winning the race.

Kevin, Humber I Ton (armoured & non-armoured) have a 12A dynamo. FFW (armoured & non-armoured) have a 25A dynamo. The problem with dynamos is that below 1200 rpm-ish the output is very low. The 25A dynamo has a gearbox that comes into play at about that speed to increase the rpm of the dynamo itself. So that you can get a useful output even with the engine ticking over at 200rpm. These two-speed dynamos are force fed oil from the engine, but the gearbox will not get lubricated until the engine is running, so if not run for 3 weeks the dynamo gearbox needs to be primed with 1/4 pint of engine oil. Placed in the oil filler hole protected by a brass boss, do not pour oil into the meshed hole which is the air breather hole! The noise from the gearbox may be noisy at start up until the engine is pumping in oil. There will a change in note with a sort of whine as the gearbox clicks in at 1200 rpm. Often this oil top up is ignored either by ignorance or arrogance that it will still work as it is robust so just ignore that requirement. I have seen a few dynamo gearboxes that have failed, it will still charge but not on low revs. The EMER describes how to repair the gearbox which looks a nightmare with special tools etc better to treat it with respect out the outset. You really need the User Handbook WO Code No.12246 it is very good at explaining everything. When it was written drivers were trained to have an understanding of automotive skills & expected to do minor servicing, maintenance, fault finding etc. unlike today's handbooks that are very basic describing where the steering wheel is & how to adjust the seat belts : ( Check that your Generator Panel is complete. Unscrew the large cover at the top & out should pop a smaller cover, which should aways be carried in there. These two caps screw into the air input & output on the dynamo when wading. The trouble is that the dynamo will get very hot so the dynamo is switched to 5A output & the charge warning light will come on. This is because in normal use the cap within the cap stored at the gen panel top presses down on two microswitches that allow normal charging. So if either cap is missing or the bigger cap is not screwed down fully, it will only charge at 5A. (Radio? Yes, another hobby I have been a licensed radio amateur since 1964. I'm not much interested in talking round the world, if I do communicate with other countries I only use Morse code. My main interest is in the microwave bands, the highest band I operate on is 24GHz (wavelength of 1.2cm) Most of my daily activity is on 10GHz (3cm) using rain & snow scatter, aircraft scatter & tropospheric scatter. The heavy rain today has been particularly favourable, it all helps to get my signals from out of my valley where you can't even get a mobile phone signal)

Kevin well done very satisfying. I hope you primed the dynamo with 1/4 pint of engine oil if it has been stood idle for 3 weeks or more, this is in order to lubricate the dynamo gearbox until the engine is running & can force feed it with oil. You say it is not charging is that because the charge warning light stays on or you have measured the voltage out from the dyamo or something else? I will reply later as radio conditions are very good at the moment as it is raining heavily & I need to seize the opportunity.

I was just wondering about the manner & extent of the painting?

Did you mean to post a photo?

1965, I have a black & a green one so dated still in use. I have seen a puce green one of slightly different design dated 1964 but the NCB is 66 (Australia) not 99 (UK)

This has just arrived, a heavy 359-page book but with a broken spine, well used but complete for only £2.99 It is fascinating to look through on several levels from the historical point of view because of the military aspects & as a radio amateur who mainly uses Morse code. In addition to that as a book collector it has some interesting features, by identifying the '51' code in the imprint I can see it is a Board of Trade publication not an Admiralty book. Judging by the price a 'serious book collector' would not value it at all. But I am a serious book collector, but I want the content & the experience of handling a well used book. I don't collect books as an investment to stay on a shelf never to be read for fear of devaluing it. Books, whilst we still have them, are there to be read! But I suppose there is a tendency for unused things to have high value, it just seems inherently sad that toys that have never been played with are so highly regarded. Yet the whole function of the item has failed. I have a Manual of Field Engineering 1883, it was in such good condition that it looked as if it had never been read. Even by gently peering in I have cracked the spine covering, not a major tragedy, the greatest tragedy is not to have read it. Amongst the nuggets I found the details of wire entanglements but not with barbed wire. Although American cattle men were using barbed wire it had not been absorbed into military engineering. Anyway end of rant! This has thousands of 3-letter codes to be used in signalling that was to simplify communications. The instructions in the last entry 'WBA' are sobering!

It looks like the temperature sensor on a B Series engine.

Diogo have a look at these links: https://old.shorlandsite.com/Model_Shorland3apcGNR_Lemos.htm

Welcome to the forum Diogo. Do you happen to know if any of the Shorlands that were used by the GNR are still around? The GNR Museum had one in preservation that would come out once a year, but I'm not sure if they still have it?

Yes fair enough, the pictures I was using come from the gauge on my Wolf. I was using those as guide to the commonality of the two-coil system, I was forgetting you would have a common cluster.

It presses up on the inside of the metal case onto an extrusion that is the weld point for the earth thread the other side. So it is important there is no internal or external corosion and there is a good earth connection These are resistance readings I measured on a new fuel gauge. TEST 1: Terminal 1 to metal case - 320 ohms TEST 2: Terminal 2 to metal case – 750 ohms TEST 3: Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 – 450 ohms If in TEST 2 and TEST 3 both are high or both open circuit, it suggests that the internal earth strip is not effectively contacting the earth stud on the inside of the case. This will probably be due to corrosion. A reading of appx 600 ohms on TEST 1 suggests a failure on the “Full” winding, but an open circuit suggests a failure of the “Empty” winding. Open circuit on TEST 2 suggests a failure of the “Empty” winding. Coil failure would be most likely where the end windings are terminated as the wire is very thin. On TEST 3 a reading above 750 ohms suggests a failure of the “Full” winding. An open circuit suggests a failure of the 220 ohm resistor or its spot weld. The water temperature gauge works on a similar two-coil principle, except that the float and variable resistor are replaced by a temperature sensitive resistor in the engine’s water jacket.

Here are charts 3 & 4

Thre are two coils there at 90 degrees to each other. To work correctly it should be earthed at the case (red arrow) Fuel tank sensor resistor on the right.

I would be suspicious that your fuel gauge is incorrect or not earthed. The reason that 24v gauges require no stabilising voltage is that these gauges have two windings. One winding to pull the needle to empty & another winding to pull needle to full. These work in opposition depending on the fuel level but as both are energised by the same supply both windings are subject to the same voltage fluctuations. 12v gauges have a single winding so are voltage dependant & require that 10v stabiliser. Although the stabiliser is merely a thermal switch going on & off the erratic output is smoothed by the inertia of thermal gauge which responds slowly. If you do have the correct 24v gauge bear in mind it has three connections. One to supply, one to the sensor & earth.

Richard yes I can see the hereditary origins that fed to the Bedford Pig. It would be lovely to see the one that was at SEME restored, it was quite a massive thing, but I think they were looking for a donor chassis in better condition before attempting a rebuild. There was a Bedford Pig on here that turned up in the USA about 10 years ago in quite good condition. I think we put the owner right on its historical important but whether it got saved or "sexed up" into something silly I don't know. Many many years ago I met a Malayan vet & was talking about Pigs, but he had no knowledge of Humber Pigs, just the Bedford Pigs. He gave me a couple of nice pictures a couple of these Pigs & of a CT15A in use by the Malayan "Home Guard" as he called it. I sent them to a club magazine & were published but sadly never returned to me. I just wonder when the Bedford Pigs started production? I have a Soldier March 1956 with a Malaya feature that includes the Bedford but gives no details. In Soldier November 1956 it shows the Humber FV1609 "in service in Malaya & Cyprus". I imagine the term Pig was a soldier's nickname that eventually transposed over from Bedford to Humber. Although the first ever published reference to Pig for an armoured Humber was the Pig Squirt modification in 1976. But originally the term Wolf was specifically forbidden to be used that slipped into common parlance that eventually got absorbed into some semi-official documentation.

Paul I think its name reflects its operational role. But clearly uncomfortable for the crew if you read the alternative name in the commentary on this set piece demo of convoy procedures. Somewhere I am sure I read that The Bastard was based on a Chevy in support of two Ford 3-Tons that were armoured on a the sides & drove ahead of the Bastard.

Yes I thought you would enjoy that. I just stumbled on it whilst thumbing through some old Soldiers. Trying to find a further reference to The Bastard, which I'm sure I have got somewhere. Amongst these little gems are cartoons depicting racial stereotypes, a few ladies in bathing costumes, cigarette/Brylcream/jock-strap adverts, together with recruiting adverts for the police & mine workers, but it all gives a flavour of the times when I was in short trousers & knew nothing of cigarettes, Brylcream, jock-straps or ladies in bathing costumes.

That's fine Paul as long as it helped. My Wolf has a mish-mash of Bowman/Clansman fittings. I have modified one Bowman mount to accept a SO239 socket for my amateur 144/432 MHz whip. It has a stainless steel base & it is often pointed out that a shiny fitting like that would never have been used in service. I enjoy pointing that the offending chunk of stainless steel bears an engraved NSN, then the expert goes away : )

Stuarts & Honeys still in service in a modified form in 1952.