tacr2man

I have seen same arms used on LDV (sherpa) motor caravans , they used same door handles as well , HTSH

Went to a lot of trouble to fit that , pity he hasnt a clue about how to recover vehicles :embarrassed:

IIRC the old lucas beacon was "voltaged" by the bulb you fitted , as the current went thru bulb and motor in series , but am going back about 4 decades :yawn:

If you are taking it tio Australia , you will find parts more easily, I had three FC whilst I was living there in W.A. They were used by the old GPO quite a lot of them . The steering isnt that bad IMHO although a bit heavy at manoevreing speed . The ENV diffs and axles are pretty bombproof . The brakes fade quite quick a couple of quick stops from 55mph and it starts to get interesting .

Just a little bit of advice , it greatly extends the life of thre transfer box if you put it in neutral and put the main box in gear and run for a while to get the oil pumped round before driving off especially in cold weather , I was given this tip after having to replace the trans box on mine. :embarrassed:

I found with the original engine , mine was a guntractor converted to wrecker, max continuos road speed was about 43/45 mph at about 3650 rpm , rev limited to 3750 IIRC . Longest revovery I did was from silvertown to bicester ( lift and tow artic) . Steepish hills would sometimes get you into 1st high ( 3 speed transfer box) . They were very efficient at converting fuel to heat tho

Not surprised covered by usual VOSA etc anomalies left hand /right hand etc :-D

Its regarding RV being sold in UK that are from USA which are body width of 2.55 (or more) but with awnings cameras etc are well over this . If you go here it will give you a start point http://www.rvda.co.uk/#/latest-news/4535371199 there are various motorhome forums in UK that will ahve various references to this , they will probably be back a year or two as this is not mentioned now as its been pretty well sorted HTSH

Just a question, as there seems to be a lot of concern on "overwidth vehicles" does the recent accomodation of American RV vehicles being imported that were and are over the 2.55 have any relevance . :???

I know a chap was fitting V8 cummins in Salamanders, and converting them to agri spreaders, good few years ago tho , and they were a bit slow as they could not match the revs of the B81 . ITAH

Mine was powered enough to recover a loaded ANTAR with an exploded clutch - none intended :-D

Would this be replacement for the Antars and Rottinofs in the oil industry http://www.roadtransport.com/StaticPages/nicolastractomas.htm

I had one prob during my ownership of martian , that was seized up transfer gearbox. When I swapped it was talking to an ex reme mech , and he said always startup and put transfer in neutral and and main box in 4th and warm up for about 5-10 mins before driving especially in cold weather, to get the oil pumped round the gearboxes as they were pressure fed bearings etc . I followed this advice and never had any probs with it , including having to tow a loaded antar that blew a clutch . The vibration with the replacement transfer box fitted was almost zero , I usee to travel at about 3500rpm if on a long tow , but if hurrying to a job then just below rev limiter . MPG worked out at about 3 to 5 (petrol) . brakes were a bit poor after standing for a while due to rusting , but soon polished up . Steering was quite light, if you maintained the accumulators at max pressure . Its a full synchro main box so easy gearchanging . Another strange thing is the front diff was slightly higher ratio than rear, (to enable climbing out of ruts and giving good steering response off road) because of that it should only be put in low low on highway if absolutely necessary as wind up is pretty severe, front tyres will actually tear up tarmac . :nono::-D

The first pic I was in the red landrover stage1 v8 and it had not long happened , most of the passengers were oap's when we asked if anyone was hurt or shocked etc They all said it was all quite exciting , such a different attitude to the now generation who would want name and address of who they could sue . I had to recover another of these busses out of a ditch about a mile from this location. It was winter time and I was in that LR SW (which was also licencsed private hire) having taken a customer home as normal cars could not get thru. I came across a side road closed sign , but could see orange beacons flashing down that road , so decided to go have a look . It was blizzard conditions , and there was a double decker in the ditch about 3foot down but upright. The bus company wrecker was there but ahd been unable to get it out and was now trying to get out itself due to drifting . just past the bus was a line of cars with occupants also all snowed in . I asked the bus recovery crew if they wanted a tow out, they said was I joking pointing at the landy. Anyway i said I had something that could get them out , they agreed on a no cure no fee basis. I went and got the martian with the snow plow on the front , and came into the other end of the road, plowed past the cars and bus(about 4ft deep) , and pulled their wrecker out as I went by. They then decided that the bus could stay there till morning as they had enough and it was about 23:00 hrs. I turned round went back and towed the cars out. Next morning met them plowed the road again , but due to narrow road could not get enough of an angle on to pull it out so . went upto crossroads and into ploughed field 6WD across field , backed up to hedge and winched bus up ditch sideways . Thats when you want a slow winch

I think this one was back in about 87 , the double decker was coming from Upper Heyford USAFB,as it came out past the end of a wood a gust of wind blew it into the ditch , no one was injured at all this time :yay: The first pic shows the replacement bus picking up the passengers , the 2nd shows the bus after recovery with the martian in the background having just winched it out and returned to the same side of the road as the bus. This day got very busy . A bedford pantech blew over on the A43 near where the cherwell services would be , tipped it back up and all it had done was break the passenger door mirror , not even a dent , amazing. Then a mobile home transporter blew over on the A41, blocking the road . While I was recovering that , a 71/2 tonner took a short cut across the grass on the inside of this large sweeping bend . Three other trucks followed it, all went down to the axles. Made a few bob that day:beer::tup::

This one does not include the martian, but the RL . Early morning ,car travelling over long bridge .Truck came down steep hill onto bridge, that was wide enough to both pass OK. The american servicewoman driving the car panicked , and braked , skidded into front of truck ,jamming steering. The truck went straight onto bridge and pushed car thru wall.The carending up underneath . One of my taxis arrived about 30 secs later , called in over radio, I got radio op to call all emergency services nad jumped into RL and went flat out 7 miles to scene, the RL managed to lift front of truck, to get at car, but driver was trapped and had drowned. The police commandeered the crane on way from main rd about 2 miles away. I was surprised how well the RL coped, unfortunately to no avail .

couple more, you can see one of cables to stop it going over .

Heres a couple of pics at an accident that was on A43 where it crosses the main london Birmingham rail line The foriegn artic pushed the 7.5 tonner backwards, and thru the wall of the bridge. It happened at about 05.55 and I heard the call over cb (before it was made legal) . I went straight down there just over mile away. The wall had fallen onto the line, and an express was due, I had one of the first bagphones, called Police Control room,to get them to stop the train. The driver of the 7.5 tonner had jumped across the cab just before the crash, but was trapped by feet. The impact took the front axle completely off the smaller truck. I used the martian to pull the artic (wheels locked) away after securing the 7.5 with the RL which then lifted the 7.5 had to have police escort as the rear axle was so out of line that nearside was against kerb and I was driving with white line going thru center of my wrecker.

A couple of pics before and after an RL I had couldnt find the relevant gallery so if needs moving please oblige The bus had been pinched by kids who got it bogged (not really an offroad vehicle)

Heres one of the martian just after painting , the hiab was to lift the spare wheel on and off it masks the jib which was telescoping 9 feet , and had three 8 inch lifting rams might have some crash/recovery pics as well if anyone wants to see them

I will try and find some, and scan them , should have some of an gen Ex mod RL recovery I used as well. and had 2 K9 austins , liked the army vehicles as built strong .

Re exploding clutches in Antar, had occasion to tow a loaded Antar just over 3/4 mile , when they were starting to build J10 on the M40 He had stopped at traffic lights on the old A43 went to move off and the clutch went bang, only prob he was off route so was desperate to get up to the A41 so he was back on route(been visiting a lady friend I understand) Luckily for him a guy in the srices station put him onto me and I gave him a tow with my martian . a couple of weeks later he dropped off a crate of beer . I think they came out from COD Bicester to recover him. He said at the time that he new he was chancing his arm as he had a breakdown about every other trip :shocked:

IIRC the bottom reduction in 1st low awd was 254:1 in handbook of my modded artillery tractor mind you that was approx 20yrs back . Had to build a crane on back as they had not released rec versions when I bought mine from VASS . when I had it tested with front chained down lift was 24 tons at 3ft from rear of truck . Front started to lift at 12 tons , fitted two front bumpers one full of railway line. Installed ex Brit rail snow plough V type in winter. Had to be very careful at junctions as it made the nose a bit long:banana: As the pto was used for the integral winch built in morris minor engine and gearbox to power hydraulics and run 3kva genset for floodlighting and boiling the kettle Did some good recoverys with it , never found wanting for power.