ajmac

Years ago I brought a Triumph TR6 gear knob from an autojumble, that was the spark, a few months later I found a TR6 to go with it! You will find a project Loyd one day.

That great Pete. Soon to change your user name to "Mr4.2InchMortar". I can't wait to see that trailer fully stowed with all the clamps etc, I'd presume it will be the only one in existence...which is always nice.

Pete, it's all coming together by the looks of things! What is the capacity of the straight six Bedford engine?

Thanks everyone, its a slow project, but I'm enjoying every minute. The front axle is now installed but I have taken a break to rebuild another Flathead V8, this time for a friends Universal Carrier. It improves my knowledge of Flatheads and helps get another WW2 Carrier back to the living! Drive axle installed. 1944 Ford UK Flathead 3.6L 1944 dated Crank. Firing order and cylinder ID is cast into UK Heads but not on the USA version. Cleaned up one head yesterday.

That is poor condition Pete. I've stripped a 239 Ford Flathead V8 that was in a similar state, it is still in the workshop being used as a Christmas tree, but one day I will get the block lined back to std.

Back on its feet and starting to look like a Loyd Carrier again!

Andrew, what does the speedo look like on the back? I have a speedo for my Loyd but it is not correct, it has a 90 degree angle drive which I presume is from a tank install.

I THINK that the Mk I relates to the version of Tracked Towing (TT) configuration rather than the version of the Loyd that it was based on. You will find very little about the 'Anti-Tank Mk 1' but loads about the Loyd TT for 2 Pdr / 6 Pdr, in my view they are the same machine, just a change in nomenclature. I'll have a look tonight at the manuals. PS. I've got all of Pauls restoration photos as he stripped down the Loyd, its all original to the vehicle, you are very lucky. Edit: I was wrong.... just found ref in the November 1944 parts book to the MK I TT, it says the first 1630 machines had the old style track adjusters, which means Bendix brakes were used. I would imagine that means the early TT contract started out as Mk I and then changed to Mk II but were never officially re-classified during the production run at M.B.Wild.

Do you know when it was built? I haven't yet managed to find any document that specifies when the change from Mk I to Mk II took place. The dates in the wartime documents would suggest that the MK II must have started production after June 1941. The trouble is that all the documents that I have found dry up in about 1942, thus anything concerning the majority of the Loyd mods that occurred during the Mk II production run have no records. I've no evidence that all MkIs were upgraded to Mk II spec but as the wartime reports are so scathing one would suspect that they were! Just found a letter dated 30th October 1941 that references the Mk II. Edit: Its getting earlier: Letter ref Mk II dated 22nd September 1941. Edit 2: Earliest reference I've found: 13th May 1941 letter states that the Girling brakes have been implemented in production machines, thus that means the Mk II was born.

Extract from original Loyd records:

Richard, Paul's Loyd is a Mk II, its an early TT (probably the earliest survivor) badged up as an 'Anti-Tank Mk I'. The only difference between a Mk I and a Mk II Loyd is the brakes, Mk I brakes were a total design failure and Loyd issued a kit at £64 to convert a Mk I to Mk II standard so that they could drive for more than 1/2 hr without total brake failure!

I am looking for a Fabricated British Bogie main fork, as shown in the photo below at the top.....anyone?

Lauren, I am after one of those for the Loyd, the original lamps that I have are IIRC Lucas ones, the Loyds manual states either Butler or Lucas so I presume it was a lucky dip as to which manufactures unit was fitted at any given time on the production line. Do you know if the Lucas blackout cover fits either lamp or is there a specific Lucas version?

What I should have said Simon was that locating, purchasing and then restoring a mortar trailer is something that I could do, a 6 pdr would be very difficult to locate and even then I wouldn't be able to afford it! I saw a complete QF 6 pdr in unrestored condition last year and was told that the owner had refused a £15k offer. I have followed your trailer restoration with interest, hats off to you, if you know of a project mortar trailer please let me know.

Thanks Rob, You can see the trailer in the photo too....an easier restoration prospect than a 6 pdr!

....and a friends immaculate Loyd Carrier has been on active sale for two years at £30k and still not sold! Its a strange world.

I guess there would have been a set at that scrap yard in Germany that Rick visited in 2015....if they hadn't all been put to death with a cutting torch :cry:

As the springs are coming along I decided to prepare the other bogie parts that I need to have ready. I will be building up two bogies initially, a third is already in good condition when I picked it up last year. The bogie arms need the asbestos cup linings changing and the pivot shafts cleaning up. I have six or seven shafts but only managed to get three that had suitable bearing surfaces, these were cleaned up along with the support that hold the other end of the shaft in the body of the bogie. The two arms that were cleaned up had good bushes but in one the grease nipples have been broken off, there were extracted.

Andrew, Will you be fitting NOS tyres or will you have to have new ones manufactured and pressed on? In the photos the original tyres don't look to be in too bad of condition.

I would expect they are available in the UK. They are only Machined and heat treated alloy steel bar stock.

It seemed rather silly to turn the chassis over and then still have trouble moving it around so I have decided to rebuild the four bogies first, thus when the chassis is the right way up I can slide on the bogies and then push the Loyd outside to work on it if required. As I am still struggling for springs I had a look through the scrap pile as I remembered throwing away a couple of spring assemblies that were rusted solid and did not separate like the others. A couple of hours later I have a good half a bogies set of correct Loyd springs, well worth the effort. Cutting through the Cast Iron ball that sits between the spring and the cup in the bogie. Once the ball was removed the assemble could be stripped. A happy ending. Two Bogies worth, left hand set came from the range target and are all UC springs, the right hand set are half from the range target and half from a Loyd scrapped in Holland.

There is a very good guy who rebuilds vintage engines regularly. He rebored me flathead v8. Search for a d engineering. He is a couple of miles out of Lincoln. WIGSLEY ROAD, North Scarle, Lincolnshire LN6 9HD East Midlands Tel: O1522 779249 07976 569595

Barry, i had managed to completely miss this thread! It's great, thanks for posting. Looking through the photos, it seems that there is no chassis, the leaf springs being mounted to the floor plates. Is that true, is the armoured hull structural?

Inevitably this same train of thought will lead to the banning of private ownership of armoured vehicles within the EU. Why should a member of the public be allowed to own a dangerous machine designed for a war zone? I can see it coming a mile away! The road to hell is paved with good intention, never a truer saying in my experience.

How will the proposed regulations impact wartime AT and artillery pieces? Would some of the wartime automatic AA guns be banned?