robin craig

The Saxon variant appears to have the driving position reversed from what I recall in the UK usage. Cana anyone comment to that? The Centaur half track is very interesting as only a handful of those exist. The Land Rovers appear to be based on Pinkies but are lacking some kit, wonder what a more detailed set of pics would reveal, i'm wondering if they were left behind by MOD? The 101 Ambulance reminds me of the Santana version of the same vehicle. Nice museum when you consider the size of the country. R

Interesting, we have one of those east german gerry cans with the three food containers in it and insulation sitting in our stores. R

Andy, Yes whacking it with a sledge and block of wood is another way of achieving the same result as what I plan to do in what I feel is a bit more of a controlled manner. Don't forget we are "employees" and I have to be wary of "work place injuries" to myself and my fellow employees while achieving this result. While we do not suffer quite the same from H + S wombles, safety is a consideration. Robin

If you thought the A bar snapping sound was bad imagine what the RSM said would have been worse! R

Welcome along, nice to see someone who is into Land Rovers and Ferrets. So many of the Rapier trucks have been LPG converted, ugh! Look forward to pictures of the rebuild. R

Tony, you are booked on the next flight out of Gatport Airwick. I could use some dead weight or blocking . . . . Thanks for the encouragement, now to develop the recovery plan. I know I will have to split the track at some point, I just don't want to do it where it is. My thoughts are to put some tension on the track towards the middle of the vehicle and slowly release track tension and see if I can get the guide horns to drop back into the idler. Then using "team blue" ie New Holland tractor, pull it very slowly backwards to the shop. That approach will likely see the track stay in place and not throw, i'm hoping. Once in the shop it will be track clamp out and split the track and remove the idler for inspection. Im going to split the other side as well to inspect that at the same time. In for a penny in for a pound is my thought. Recovery slated for Monday morning, idler may come off that day or on tuesday night which is our scheduled maintenance night. Anyone else have any thoughts? R

Andy, Thanks for the question, my principle took the vehicle out so I'm sure he did a first parade and checked the tension. R

I went in to work yesterday to sort out a piece of agricultural kit for my principle as he wanted to use it. I noticed that the Stormer was out of it's bay, he had wanted to take some of the guests for a ride so presumed he was doing that. About 25 minutes later as I was finishing up my work, he turned up but not in the Stormer which didn't bode well. Long story short we visited the stricken vehicle. Hats off to him that he heard something was wrong and stopped it where it was. The pictures show the basic problem, I believe I know what the fault is, and that is that the bearings in the idler / tensioner wheel are shot. The recovery will be interesting. I will have this to deal with on Monday morning. R

Welcome to the friendly forum Henry. Ransomes and Matadors, you cant be all bad mate! Hope you find a vehicle that you feel is worth buying. Big tip, spend the extra money and buy a running complete vehicle, make number 2 the restoration project! Robin

Great work Andy, more video please!!!!! R

Ah yes the Holleybone bar slap! It is at around the 5 minute mark on this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD6ZoXigm7Y And here is the original post about it http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?20558-How-not-to-A-frame-tow-a-432 Robin

Thanks guys, I will take a happy snap today in daylight and work on the data plate a bit more. Once we identify which it is then I can order a manual of course and maybe find that seal number . . . R

Woah! I said "Sankey" type trailer before anyone chews me out! That is my problem, one of our trailers, purchased about 3 years ago, was dragged out yesterday from storage for our MV work night as a rush project for early september. We have proven lights. Next we turned to the wheels and brakes. We need to find out a seal number (or seal dimensions) for the hub. We have the bearing numbers off the old ones. This trailer, as with the other one, lead a hard life at BATUS and has more than multiple coats of paint. It has also suffered the indiginity of being messed about by the seller. A lot of the identification is gone. What I can tell you is this:- -It has a fixed towing eye with back up plunger -It has a dolly wheel at the front right but no jacking leg -It has a drop down tailgate with opening plate for drop in water tank -The rear legs stow across the trailer underneath. -The brakes are rod actuated drum type - Forgot to get tyre size or the full registration but think from what is barely visible it is a GT registration. - The data plates have been abused with sand blasting and scrapers what can anyone tell me about replacement data plates for it and what about the inner seal? Regards Robin

I really like this thread, the explanation a few pages back about your funding for the project explained a number of questions that have built up over time as I have read it. For me the lightweight Land Rover or airportable or whatever you call it, was the epitomy of the British Armed Forces in the late seventies / early eighties on exercise. They were always loaded with more kit than was reasonably possible for a Pickfords pantechnicon to carry and that was before you counted the clobber in the trailer behind. The sight of the cam net rolled up on top of the canvas with real branches cut from hedgerows to support it was it for me, the days when you could dig a hole and backfill it after the paperwork was done right and before everything went terribly PC with portaloos! Keep up the great work and the photos and writing. Robin

well, thanks for the posts chaps and ladies. The cup is an inch and an eighth as described, the cup looks near perfect but the bore does not look so perfect. We will "borrow" a new cup from a stack of Land Rover spares we know about and replace afterwards. We will touch it with a hone in the morning and see what happens, if not we will have to await a new housing. We are crossing our fingers. Note to file, change this puppy over to silicone brake fluid long term plan perhaps. Thanks to all concerned. R

In the parts manual fig G6 shows the brakes. It is unclear what the make up of the parts related to the wheel cylinder piston are. Conventionally one has a rubber cup mounted on the front face of the piston facing inwards and a dust excluding seal around the mouth of the bore. Does anyone know the sizes of either of these or have a picture they can post? We have a Ferret in for a safety check (MOT) and the wheel cylinder is leaking and we are trying to expedite the process and get it on the road asap by buying seals locally. Some dimensions would help, if not we are waiting over a week for seals or new wheel cylinder from the UK Any answers welcome here or by email Robin

Call the plod, simple. R

Chris, I'm sure I asked this before but i'm not sure I ever got an answer. The AT registration, is that the later build for the RAF Regiment that then got turned back to the Army later? R

Its even more classic when you consider who the narrator is or was. That is the sadly departed "Mr Monotone" John Peel formerly of Radio One and other forms of entertainment. He died in 2004 so it is before then. Great stuff, is it out on DVD, surely it is. R

looks like a great find there mate. Save her, likely will need a new chassis as the tall grass storage will not have done her any favours. Classic looking vehicle, looks very complete and unmolested. R

So, Yesterday we had guests on the property and management was giving them rides in the commanders position of the 436. After all the guests had been through, the boss decided that one of them, an ex Tankie should be allowed to drive the 436. So, he gets into the drivers seat and as he is sitting there the vehicle that was idling now dies and stops running. It sounded such a classic lack of fuel kind of death to the engine. Anyhow, I called up to the boss and the Tankie and asked if he had pressed the emergency engine shut down pedal, which as you know is painted red. "No I didnt" says the tankie, somewhat awkwardly. Anyhow a few attempts at re starting and it wouldn't run, so the guests were shuttled back to home base and other activities ensued. I then got my manuals out and a few tools and some fuel in jerry cans, as I never trust fuel gauges as they are only instruments of approximation. As I'm doing this the ex Tankie bimbles over and offers to help me go and sort it out, having removed himself from the other guests and their activities. By this time I had fired off an email to Chris McMillan ( Sirhc ) as i expected to recover the 436 to the shop on the A bars and go home for the night if a quick fix had not been found. Aamazingly Chris was still up, and replied very quickly with the common faults that could be the failure cause. So off go the Tankie and myself, and as we drive along he coughs that indeed he did press the red pedal but i'm guessing the boss man didnt see him do it. We opened up the front cover and fiddled with the shut off cable and linkage and rolled the engine over a few times but still no joy, it was moving very freely. For good measure we the dropped in 60 litres of fuel and then removed the engine covers inside and I got my hand onto the lever on the side of the injection pump and moved it fully through its travel a couple of times. I then fired it up again and she spluttered to life. So, the moral of the story, if you want to call it that, is that it takes a good number of cranks to get enogh fuel back into the injection lines to allow the engine to fire and run and stay running, ex Tankies dont know everything, especially if they have never driven the 430 series before, and that in a group setting people out of shame wont admit what they did wrong. What amazes me is that he played with the pedals without being told to do so, but then again he was an officer . . . . . Thanks go to Sirhc (Chris) for the advice, and thanks go to the ex Tankie for restoring my faith in officers! Regards Robin

Oi! You taking the Michael or what my son? Shall I have Terry come over and sort you out?!! I think we should call that a "classic short" Andy! R

Ahah, another sale at Withams perhaps "Rare last one ever" as the advertsing blurb or will it go down the road to the local scrap merchant with a standing offer for waste metals? Be interesting to keep tabs on it, as it would generate parts for someone. R

There are upsides and downsides with ebay, you have to be cognisant of them and accept the risk if you are going to play in that sand box. My experience is that the country you are dealing with has no bearing on the ability of the person you are buying from to become a real nightmare. My own experience was that I won an Action Man Fox armoured vehicle and was well aware of the cost to post it transatlantic to me here in Canada. The vendor didn't want to send it, for the reason that he perceived that us colonials were of a lesser moral standard and would claim it had not arrived and would ask for a refund. I had paid the postage and the purchase price at this time. He then re advertised the same toy using the same picture using a different ebay identity. I contacted ebay and they did nothing about it. It was only because I had a UK based relative give him a call that he finally mailed it. Gary Im sending you a pm Robin

How about a big cam Cummins, up here there are lots of them around, plenty of torque, but i'm guessing its too tall. R