robin craig

Todays observation is about the rear lights, that is the upper unit (picture to follow). The same unit is used on the old series Dutch lightweights, there is one in town and I compared them. R

Reccymech, The inferior M113 thingy has similar marks and there is a gauge, that according to a former M113 wagon driver mate of mine. Yes im aware of the flipping around to increase life, same principle can be used on bulldozers but most people dont 'cos they cant be bothered. Great responses guys R

Thanks guys, sounds like I am on a logical plan. R

we attempted this afternoon to get the filter housing undone but there is precious little room to work in there. Think we are going to make up a 1 13/16" socket on a flat bar with a nut welded on the other end to get onto with from on top, kind of like a massive crows foot spanner. Otherwise its take the hoses off and drop the assembly from the brackets and do it on the bench. We are grain fed beefy guys and it is on solid. Any tips gents? R

I have shared your experiences, and would comment that adjustment does help, use of vehicle often helps, but caution is a watchword on MJ brakes, they are more aggressive than your average civvy daily driver. Dont neglect to put methyl hydrate in the resevoir for air lines and drain your air tanks on a regular basis ie daily. My best moment with "grabby" MJ brakes was with bar grip tyres on a narrow mountaineous road in Quebec with a load on in a sudden summer down pour and a plug of a wazack pulled out of a minor road in front of me without looking, I was looking at him the whole time and we never once made eye contact. Needless to say the truck broke traction and hydroplaned and I did the MJ dance across the road and cursed. My speed was such that in a normally shod vehicle I would have been fine but I neglected to throttle back because of the tyres, my fault. Shortly after a change of underwear a call was placed to "higher" informing said higher of my dislike for near death experiences and a hearty suggestion to change tyres to a better grip which we have since done. R

If time allows we will pull the filter and inspect, likely wash out and take for cross referencing and re install pending a new filter from UK or local source. I have been pleasantly surprised by the ability of my local guys to measure and using manufacturers specs cross reference most filters. The only one that still stumps them is the Vokes petrol fuel filter element, sadly R

I await the obligatory picture of the JCB assisting in the process somewhere! Good luck with your project mate, should be a beauty when finished. Although its not my gig I have always had a secret shine for the half track. R

We have just received a Stormer and a 432, both with multiple battery set ups for running radios etc. We are thinking of pulling the now unused batteries for other usage and removing the charging cables associated and capping anything obvious. Will this cause any problems? R

Actually Andy, as a fabricator, with a couple of decent pictures of the bracket removed from the vehicle I can mock it up and make an ersatz copy if they are not around. Looking at it I would bet that there is only one part number and not a left and right as it looks as if the part is reversible so that it can go on either side. I would be grateful of a drawing but that would be deluxe! Many thanks and keep up the good work guys Thanks R

Check the fuel system carefully, do a filter job and add lots of new clean fuel. It is a fuel supply issue somewhere, crud is the cause somewhere, that is my suspicion. I doubt you have sufficient heat to the engine bay to thoroughly thaw everything or get the heat under the floor to all the lines. Can't develop any theories further as I dont know the machine enough to diagnose it remotely. Robin

Lewis many thanks for your pictures, you have clearly identified what we were looking for. A mate of mine, Mark V Sten, who is on this forum from time to time, has the bar but not the brackets but the rubber has the notches. Im not sure if he has the welded blocks that the brackets attach to, and am wondering if they were fitted to all Mk1s . Did you have to buy the mounting brackets that the tube slips into? Im wondering who has them for sale. R

Howdy Carl, Welcome to the forum, you must know Baz who used to work for Budge? R

Not being an expert on the 432, but living in an artic climate, what you are describing is a common occurence every year in the transition from Autumn to Winter. Your fuel system has water in it somewhere and has frozen. Over here we have diesel fuel system "fix in a bottle" thawing liquids. Poor housekeeping has caused your problem, low fuel tank levels through the year promote condensation, lack of pre winter fuel treatment has failed to rectify any existing problems you have. Sorry to bear bad news. If you can drag / shunt it indoors it will be easier to resolve, if not see what any heavy duty truck repair shop has for "fix in a bottle" material. Alternate is tarp + heat vehicle, not a fun gig. R

Ah hah! I was kind of thinking that flow rather than level might be an issue, We will see what we can achieve. R

This drive spare drive sprocket came with ours, not sure if it came from a CVRT or if it will fit but its all part of the eye candy. The double punch marks are supposed to be used in conjunction with a gauge to measure wear in the sprocket. I have not seen a gauge, does anyone have one spare? Most of the stowage positions are straight forward, this one on the front right confuses me as something goes here between the end stops but im lost as to what. On the rear left bin is this bracket, again a mystery to me. R

I guess it was fortunate that ours was marked as a runner. We have purchased a different vehicle that was marked with "oil pressure" that threw a rod but thats another story! The army number for ours was srayed over as per disposal policy, but with some proprietary chemcals it was exhumed! As we received the vehicle's exhaust goes to the right and down. Im thinking of turning it up and putting a flapper on it, any comments? Its funny how the antennae tube that is so familiar to Ferret owners and orginates from around the end of WW2 is still fitted to such a modern vehicle. R

First off, the Stormer looks like a CVRT Spartan but isnt, see separate thread. Its close but different. It looks similar to a Spartan but has an extra roadwheel station and is wider and powered by a Perkins tutbocharged diesel. It is a curious mix of improvements and regresions and uses parts that if you have been around MVs for a while you will recognise and chuckle. One that made me smile is the hand throttle which is a Land Rover 90 / 110 FFR part. The driver and commanders seat are a big improvement, in that they have a hydraulic pump to raise and lower them and are mounted on cylindrical tube runners and are way better than the old CVRTs. The rear of the hull is not vertical but rather has a back angle which I think was likely done to make the rear door safer and open easier. Mounted on the inside of the rear door is a step that folds down if your vehicle has the missile launcher which ours does not. When you receive a vehicle like we did, nature may have deposited itself on the vehicle, melted and refrozen, so thats why we unloaded ours from road transport using A bars for 100 metres to avoid anything frozen causing problems. As better pictures are taken I will upgrade, but here is a start R

This is by way of a walk around and explanation of the Stormer vehicle. There is to my knowledge only Dan in the UK and myself involved with them at this time. There are no manuals around as yet, maybe that will change. In the hope that this may be of use to other who follow, i'm starting this thread as a bit of colour on the vehicle and also to answer some questions. This will be the general section. Any particular issues that are ongoing I will post in a separate thread so as to easier file the various components for search in later time. I will be opinionated as I am often noted for, Im just being blunt. Hope some answers and enjoyment will follow. Robin

The picture posted is not quite as per ours, ours is tight against the deck plate. I have put 2 litres in cold and brought it up to the mark but gearbox light doesnt go out when driven out of the shop and back in. We may jack and block the vehicle and run in gear to warm it to see if it takes more and that shuts the light off Cant believe they put the gearbox fill under a different cover than the dipstick, the shuffle required is stupid, and dont mention where the engine oil dipstick is! Sadly dissapointed with the ergonomics of the whole engine bay and gearbox bay. What an opportunity missed to improve on the old design. Im dissapointed that both bays dont reflect the cleanliness of the interior and the shiny paint job on the exterior, pig pens by comparison Any tips gratefully received. R

Well, that absatively posalutley clears things right up! Ok, well apart from I think that in the Stormer's case I would say that the CVRT stands for "clearly very roughy toughy", we will leave the moniker off but shows it's lineage as "a development of a next generation on from the CVR(T). Thanks guys R

I have found many pictures of the missiles but cant find what a reload looks like in its tube, at least I presume its in a tube. Can anyone post a picture of what they look like and some dimensions ie circumfrence and length and markings. Thanks R

Gents, The follow on build of Stormer and Shielder etc from the original design poses a problem that a friend ask me. Is a Stormer a CVRT or not, and if not what do we call it? R

Gents, As we know there is a canvas type cover with a rope around the edge that gives weather cover for the open top of a Mk1 Ferret. There is a metal pole that is supposed to support that cover. Can anyone show how that pole fits to the vehicle, it goes from side to side we know because of the loops on the under side of the cover that match to it, but we just cant see how the pole attaches. Thanks R

Ahhhhh, Good day Mr Kitson, I look forward to your posts here. . . Robin Craig

Malcom, thanks for posting, good to hear from a current owner, thats what I was looking for. If all goes well I will be quizzing you more in a few months time! Robin