rbrtcrowther

With regards to self recovering over the cab i am not so sure. With the cable so high i would have thought it would tend to pull the front of the truck deeper down into the ground. If really stuck it might even slew the whole truck round to one side. Still it might be a good party trick to stand it on its nose:nut: You might even be able to fip it arse over tit:D

I will have to consult the manual about the timing but there is a window on top of the bellhousing and a pointer on the pump coupling. I would check for spanner rash on the pump coupling nuts first for evidence of tampering;)

In the following pictures you can see the Meadows injection advance device mounted behind the injector pump coupling. The book says this requires no attention and i have given it no attention i think it is just a bob weight affair. Just above that is the max power adjustment with the shiny split pin sticking out of it. Have you checked the injection timing? White grey smoke and no go suggests retarded timing, A light black haze on acceleration is ok and lots of black smoke and harsh knocking is over advanced or over fueling. There is a plate on my engine that says brought up to a later spec (i forget which) but the valve timing on my engine has much larger overlaps and different timing to what the book says.( it is the same as the petrol engine) And is said to make the engine more flexible through the rev range. It is no greyhound but seems to pull the truck along with no worries. hope this helps.

Then make sure the throttle flap is set up correctly the max speed screw should be set up as to allow max opening without the flap going too far and starting to close again. quite common if people have been playing trying to get more speed.

Right Nick have taken some pictures so hope this helps. firts off make sure you have plenty of slack in the stop cable so the rack can move to the full extent of its travel To be checked with the cold start buttton pushed in.

Speaking of Fodens near dorset. There was an old foden in a garage near lime regis that closed a few years ago but i thought it was a lot older than that one. any ideas?

Yep it is a prototype that the army used for testing. has all the remotes and even some stuff the army ones havent got aparently. Think it is the only prototype that survived, the others got rolled ect in the trials. Think he part exchanged 3 or 4 miltiants and many thousands of pounds for it. He has just sold his crusader about 12 months ago also a minter with the plastic still on the bunk cushons. there is a picture on here somewhere think david crouch might have it but not sure might have been sold.

I will try to get some helpfull pics up for you Nick.The cracked pipe shoulden't have an effect on power might just smoke a bit lower down the rev range. The vacume pulls the pump back to reduce fuel. Noy really sure if it goes better but i know it has been "tweeked" as you can tell from the smoke:cool2: Think i pulled off in 3rd but it will happily pull away in 4th. The first vidio was flat out in 5th. there is a huge jump in ratio from 5th to 6th flat out in 5th then chugging in 6th. Also need to sort the clutch brake out one day to help quicken the up change. Got such a long decay on the revs not sure how i would get on going uphill. for now i dont bother with the clutch only for starting and stopping. Think i am going to sort out the rear tyres and oil seals next.

Steady on you don't want to wear them down too much:D

And a bit of in cab action too:D Something went wrong...

Took the scammell for a little test run last saturday:D this ones of you Andy not long now mate the speed your going at.:cool2:

I would have loved to do a restoration like this but not without a shed!! So a on going job is what i have to do rolling resto type thing. trust you have a working oil pump in that axle:cool2:

did you spot the militant?

The explorer is now fitted with a leyland 680 after much popping and farting with the petrol lump. Think he may still have the petrol engine if anyone wants it.

Just thought i would try to post a link to friends web site as he has a few ex military recovery trucks. also has lots of good pictures of said recovery trucks in action. Enjoy http://hesletonrecovery.co.uk/default.aspx And yes that is one of the fodens that the army havent broken and it has all the remote boxes too. really nice lorry.

Had another play with the plumbing today. Have decided to fit the air hose to the suction side of the pump. this has doubled the internal size of the pipe, i also drilled out the fitting screwed into the pump. This time when i fired him up it took about 45 seconds to prime up (The new pipe was compleatly dry) and i now have a steady flow of cold oil which will improve as it warms up. Also if you hold the pressure pipe you can feel slight vibration and hear the buzz of the pump so all i have to do when i grease the prop shaft is feel the hose on the axle for vibration and i know all is well. Final bit of piping at the axle end to do and clean out the last of the grinding dust from the oil pump and i might take him for a spin down the lane next weekend. Will try to post some pictures of this bodge when i get the camera sorted.

I think all vehicles that are tax exempt should be exempt from fuel duty too or at least pay a reduced rate. :cool2:

Is the rubber air pipe oil resistant? i don't want to find it going soft ect after a while. your thoughts please i have enough flow for the rear bearings it is just the worm and wheel that bother me. Your thoughts please:D

Right, after much faffing, bodging and machining i now have an engine driven axle oil pump. I have run the pipes to and from the axle to the pump and back but have not connected up the flow to the axle feed piping, it is just returning back into the axle filler plug so i can see what sort of flow rate i have. So the problem is i have only a small dribble of oil unchanged by revving the engine:embarrassed: I am pretty sure the problen is the thickness of the oil as it is cold. In fact the oil makes a small pile in the filler neck as it dribbles out of the pipe! The book says the worm and the rear bearing are lubricated by a "jet" of oil from drillings in the diff case. I think i would need a rather a lot of pressure to make this cold oil form a jet. I am happy with the amount of oil flowing to lubricate the rear bearings but i think the oil going to the worm will just run down the sides if the casing.The situation should improve as the oil warms up (and with an oil change to a 140 grade) but i cannot take it for a spin at the mo. I do have a larger feed pipe to the pump but the internal size is still only about 8 to 10 mm. The pressure pipe to the axle is about 6mm internal hydraulic pipe. The flow of oil from the feed pipe has air bubbles in and i can put my finger over the end and stop the flow which points to air getting in the suction side or Cavitation of the pump du to the thickness of the oil. I need to double check the feed for leaks as it went dark but really think it is cavitation. I pre lubed the pump before starting up and it took about 2 mins to start circulating oil (and air bubbles) I could always increase the feed pipe size as i have a large length of the air brake hose left over from the re pipe of the air system. The air pipe is at least half as big again as the current diameter feed.

Ah....:-) You could always fit a nice modern dynamicaly balanced propshaft. You shouldent know it's there.

Have i missed something:blush: why cant you run the truck as normal? If the propshaft will fit and connect between the flanges why cant it be turning ready for action if you need it? I would read back through the posts but the computer is being soooo slow at the mo:embarrassed:

how cute:flowers:

So when the local heavy recovery man turns up at the steam rally with his huge Foden with a Scammell Explorer hanging off the back and the police wind him up about the "broken " recovery truck on the back as he turns in the the field, he is actually breaking the law. :nut: It's a simple life up here in the welsh hills. Drag 12 tons of scammell 20 miles to a show....wave at the coppers as you go by :wave::whistle: and watch the poor bikers get pulled up for a noisy egg n sauce..... bonkers:rolleyes:

What is it like to drive on the road with a diesel engine fitted? Everyone keeps telling me they are just too slow and not much fun on a long run. Really like the recovery version but was put off by all the Quicker to walk stories:cry: One guy even said his explorer was a greyhound compared to his 680 diesel leyland.

i often see my local recovery man towing Buses and large HGV's with straight bars and on suspended tow with his Foden and militant and i know they are going back to their depot or if badly accident damaged back to his yard many miles away. Sometimes the front wheels lift off the ground with a big truck on the back:shocked: He is the north wales police main heavy recovery man and they don't seem to mind at all. Think they are usually glad to see the back of an overturned lorry ect.