rbrtcrowther

Autohome are a recovery service a bit like the aa or rac but they also do the heavies too, they do horseboxes and commercial recovery and also rates for classic commercial but you have to phone them up.Vehicles up to 3.5ton £93.50.....Vehicles 0ver 3.5Ton up to 16ton £105......vehicles in excess of 16ton (incl drawbar and other articulated combinations) £159..... Recovery anywhere in UK up to £1000 costs (i don't think they cover you if you run out of fuel, Get stuck in snow or soft ground...

Ok thanks for that, The good news is i had the metalastic couplings re manufactured professionally so they should last another 50 years and the engine has been lined up as close as i could be botherd with ( about 2 or 3mm out but out the right way so the torque reaction hoiks the engine over back in line) I've had the hubs off to do the seals and spanked them up tight and they were scribed accross the nut and shaft from the last time they were off probably in service. everything was marked....The hubs, both keys, the nut ,and the shaft. As for the propshaft it seems in good nick but the seals arn't much cop. I grease every time it moves but there is a pressure release valve in the yoke that lets the grease out. Shoud i block this release valve so i can definatly force the grease through the yoke or leave well alone?

thanks for that.....that's really inspiring:-D I wish the guy down the road would pull his finger out and get his bus sorted so we can have a bit more piece of mind....

Yet another blast round and all seems well, It's rather funny how people come out of their houses to look but then you can hear it 2 miles down the road!! The guy down the road came out so i let him have a run round with me and it seemed to make his day, he's restoring a bus so i hope it spurred him on a bit.:laugh: Going to get my roadside cover from Auto home this week for piece of mind, Not bad at £105 for the year. I still get worried it's going to break down or something stupid is going to happen so here is a questions......Appart from the propshaft whats the most common form of breakdown of a scammell. how many miles is a long way........ an what is a sort of average speed?:nut: I try to sit at about 25-28mph althought it sounds ok at full throttle on the flat at about 34mph. (speed record to date is 37mph down hill with trailing wind:drive:)And even then its sort of sounded ok and sat there whining away merrily. I just have visions of the rear propshaft exploding if i keep the speed on. I think what i really need is a ride in someone elses explorer at speed as i have nothing to compare it to. For all i know i might be awfull or even really smooth.

Fingers crossed all is well so far... another test run tomorrow then a 50 mile round trip in two weeks to a rally..... yey!

So did it ever stop raining.......? How you getting on?

You want to get some shut eye mate, no good sitting up at quarter to one in the morning on here you'll never get it done... you could be down the yard now with the spanners

Your not still out driving that low loader are you? Been looking forward to some fresh and exciting new updates of progress and the like..... Anyway been poking around on youtube looking at engine related stuff and wonderd if anyone has ever fitted a Detroit two stroke in an explorer or have they got too much torque for the gearbox? Aparently some rev to 2600rpm and like it up there

I plan to convert a series 2 ambulance one day into a camper and will probrobly also swap the engine for a modern diesel

Went out again yesterday and all seems well,Really starting to enjoy plodding around but still debating weather to turn the pump back up a tad.A round trip of 6.5 miles uses 1/2" in the tank at the mo and that's cold on some really hilly stuff. Only had one small mishap, After setting out from home down the stupidly narrow lane i belted a bloody great blolder sticking out of the poxy stone wall with the front hub. Had to stop and check for steering damage but all seems ok apart from a huge graze on the front hub and rear hub:blush: Bloody steering wheel nearly flung me round the cab though> If i hit it again i'll rip it out the wall with the winch and leave it in the layby. All this because a lorry hit it years ago and nobody has ever botherd to sort the wall out. well i'll sort the bloomin wall out if nobody else...........:argh: P.S lane is slightly wider now

Now the Scammell is up and running i thought i should just drop a note to say if anyone is in the area or planning a trip up to north wales with their military vehicle (or other toys) I am more than happy to offer any help if you conk out. I have a good workshop lots of gear and a Scammell if you are close enough....(about 20 miles, You might have to chip in a couple of quid for the juice till my funds improve:-( ).......for a short pull to safety. Other than that i don't mind dragging the tools out to you if it's bodgeable. Also able to offer an air bed for the night or room for a tent in the garden and if it's really broken a shoulder to cry on:-) Just drop me a PM if your planning a trip and i'll send you my number and let you know if i'm around on those dates.

Took the Scammell out again tonight and the horrible grumble had gone.....It still whines like a good un but i think it is slightly better than before. It's also the the first run with the injector pump turned down and it was even more gutless on the hills, however there is only a sight black haze at full power and i dipped the tank again and it seems to have used about half the fuel compared to last time on the same route.Thats about an improvement from 4.5 miles per gallon to about 8 miles per gallon. Black smoke costs a fortune it seems. I might have a further fiddle just to get i tiny bit more poke but to be honest i'm not too botherd, i'll just change down.......alot:red:

Thats odd.......A load of defender bonnets stolen not long after and article on "country file" about thieves targeting land rovers where a man demonstrated to john Craven just how easy it is to remove a defender bonnet:nut:

All of it... Well apart from the bloomn computer :computerrage:

Well good news so far.....gave the scammell a run up and the flange runs true, There was no need to put it in gear the flange turned with the oil and gears turning. I then refitted the bolt with the good washer from my mate and tightened it back up and there is no sign of any end float at all now:-D I then pulled it all apart and cleaned everything with petrol and then thinners and bunged it all back together with the loctite 660 and now hope for the best. Fitted the propshaft but after the huge effort to lift it up to the flanges i gave up and came in. I'll jack the back wheels and tighten it all up tomorrow hopefully:)

Well i think the only thing to do is bung it all together and give it a whirl. Being as the nut had broken off and the thing still drove merrily along one can only expect a huge amount of improvement..... My instinct keeps telling me "the amount of end float we have here compared to the size of the gearbox and the rest of the truck should be nothing to worry about" But i'm a bit of a mechanical perfectionist :rolleyes:

So how you getting nick? Hope its all going to plan. I'm really looking forward to seeing some updates here soon....I get all excited every time i log on:cheesy: I had mine give ma a good ass kicking last weekend....almost had a "put the *&$*&*$ thing on ebay moment":banghead: But after a long weekend of painfull graft all should be well again:-)

I did de burr the end of the splines on the flange and it is a good snug sliding fit on the splines. I also measured the the length of the flange and compared it to the distance in to the bearing you can see when you look into the top of the box and all seemed ok. I don't think there is any run out on the flange but I suppose if i start it up and stick it in gear and have look to see. The end float was about 2 1/2 mm in the shaft with the flange removed ( just pulling the shaft in and out by hand ) and i could see the shaft and bearing moving in and out together. When i fitted the flange and then tightened the bolt up (for a dry run) the end fload has all but gone but is still just about detectable. Having looked at the diagram in the book all the bearings are straight roller bearings so i'm not sure how they are pre loaded for end float. I'ts all very similar to the land rover tranfer box but that runs on taper roller and has shimms under the outer bearing housing to tighten the shaft up. just to try and make clear it's the whole shaft compleat with flange and nut that has a tiny bit of end float with everything bolted up tight.

Thanks guys for all the support and kind words and advice, It really helped motivate me onwards. Fingers crossed it will all stay together and prove reliable......Now all i need to do is copy it to fixes and workarounds:)

The guy that lent me all the tools is the chief engineer at a steam railway hence the bolt being whitworth. He turned up with a suitable washer but only had a second hand one of an old steam loco that is very likely to be 100 years old!!!:shocked:

Job done:)............ There was about 2mm of end float in the whole shaft with the bolt loose which was a tad worrying. I was waiting for my mate to bring a washer for the bolt because the old one is part of the nut. I made a temporary washer out of a smaller one opened up and tightened the bolt fully home, there is now just a slightly detectable bit of end float, All that remains to do is gob some of the magic glue on the splines and bung it all back together..... Which makes me wonder if the thing will be any quieter in top gear bearing in mind my flange nut was compleatly off and the the whole thing flapping about like a good un. It would also explain why the transmission brake drum was polished up shiny after the run out and the brake shoes worn away, me thinks its been broken for a long time before i got hold of it>

Not sure about the gearbox being the same but I'm sure it's very similar. Mine still has the remains of the transmission brake fitted which i think was the only thing stopping the whole lot sliding out of the box. Normally when the prop comes off an explorer it whips round and gives the transfer box a good beating normally smashing the cast mountings off the gearbox. Not forgetting that it's an overdrive box so the propshaft is getting on 4000rpm if the meadows petrol is still fitted and running flat out:shocked: These things are sent to test us.

:bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow:pm sent:bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow::bow:

The toy store.......

Well i have a hole..... my arms are hanging off. Bloomin heck i've been shook to bits and flung round by the flippin thing. I never ever ever want to have anything to with a drill bit this big ever again unless it's firmly fixed in a large heavy piece if machinery. Tomorrow I will mostly be tapping a inch whitworth thread, yey happy happy joy joy