recymech66

The MAN SVR belongs to the Red Top recovery section hence red panels, when new in 2010 it was first painted desert colour (showing on the wheels) with red panels but they then decided to repaint it green again. I have photos of it in desert with red panels.

why do you ask ?

I know somebody from this unit LMFAO.

Was this taken last weekend by any chance?

They are not used to 'tow lighter vehicles' Cosrec is correct they are designed to lower the hernia bar (Nato towing attachment) in order to tow the in service recovery trailer 20t Craven Tasker. Before these drop plates were issued the towing A frame of the Tasker sat to high when connected to the towing eye so these drop plates were designed to lower the A frame to the horizontal position. They also had the added advantage of keeping the stiff legs in the raised position due to being pinned through them.

Because these were an addition to the CES there was no correct stowage point designed therefore crews had their own ideas on were to best stow them, hanging off the rear step handrails were a bit chippy in my opinion. The best place was to fit them were they were intended to be fitted and you only had to unpin the bottom to lower the stiff legs when winching.

Incidentally 32KE34 used to be my Foden a few years ago. :-)

SA80 A2 Rifle clips, for stowing your weapon out of the way so it doesn't rattle around and smash you in the face. 2nd photo down, 2 items far left are used for retaining the periscope in place.

Hope the lads are ok, now for me the annoying thing is the fact the MoD still continue to pay out for a recovery contract when we have the tools to do this ourselves ie MAN SVR and the manpower available who are more than capable. What a waste of cash and resources.

Did you get the pics I emailed you on the 20 June?

 

A great day, but I understand it will probably not be repeated.

Probably not at Arborfield as the site has been sold and the school is due to move.

Yesterday afternoon M6 southbound just North of the M62 junction a civi lowloader carrying a white T34.

the more photos the better as need to completly rebuild the roof as previous roof hole had rotted out and was just plated over

Sorry just seen your reply, PM me your email and I'll send pics.

I'll take some photos for you but it will be monday now. Let me know if you get sorted before then.

Correct it is the auxilary winch,fairlead from a Chieftain ARRV, also Samson has the same one

Nice to see photos of your Foden at work Steve.

Paint is faded Nato green, markings are as follow's:

Chalk No = Means it's from a unit possibly RAF or airborne chalk number refers to order of march for flight.

FAW = Front Axle Weight

RAW = Rear Axle Weight

AUW = All Up Weight

Sorry can't help with the other marking with the bayonet.

That 6 wheel Pinz ambulance is from RAF Akrotiri Cyprus.

Never mentioned this before there is also evidence it has been Rolled onto its drivers side scour marks on O/S leg foot plate on crane seat bent and i mentioned damage to engine cross member which was cracked had had a chain wrapped around it. Although it had no damage on cab consistent with been rolled.

There were a number of Fodens which had cracked cross members due to a design fault so the whole fleet had to be inspected, all damaged ones were repaired. Is the damage on the crane seat possibly consistant with being caused by a tree branch? Lots of military vehicles suffer damage from trees when driving through wooded areas in the dark.

Got a cast note for Foden today but only had quick peek before swopping for a reg number.

Heres What i gleaned

 

Army no 32KE80 date in service 1986 cast 01/2011 Cast from Ashchurch

 

Would love to know more of its History or see any photos in service. I know Ashchurch is were vehicles from Canada arrive but do vehicles from other overseas postings also arrive here.

Steve,

Your Foden spent time in the late 80s (probably from new) at 147 Workshop Coy TA in Scunthorpe before being sent in 1990 on Op Granby the first Gulf War, on it's conclusion your Foden then went back to Germany with 1 Bn REME from Osnabruck. Trying to find out what other Operations it deployed on and some more details. Also waiting for somebody to hopefully get back to me with some photos of it in service.

I am going to show my ignrance here but.....

 

They were big and green, the one in the middle had 8 large wheels and carried what looked like a folding bridge on the back

 

The one in front, on a low loader, was tracked with a big blade on the front.

 

The one at the back, also on a low loader, was enormous and tracked with a hiab type crane folded into it.

 

They were clockwise on the M25 just transfering to the south bound M3 at 2:30 this afternoon.

TBT (Tank Bridge Transporter)

CRARRV (Challenger Armoured Repair Recovery Vehicle)

Trojan (Challenger based AVRE)

Carrying artillery shells, 2 man lift?

Edited to add: ignore that, silly idea.

Is it in relation to some form of sport?:undecided:

This one is easy and still done to this day just ask any PTI. Carried out on a PT lesson, 2 soldiers stand facing each other about a foot apart, one with left foot forward one with right foot forward. Both soldiers grip each others hands in the same fashion as the photo then pump each others arms furiously.

Not quite sure what it achieves but gets you warmed up on colder winter mornings.

Probably not the answer your looking for though :-D

On the video it sounds like a cheap old electric winch as fitted to a slide bed. Well chuffed with the equipment. Looking forward to giving it some proper stick if i can get any jobs for it.

I think the machine i was hung on to is a Priestman Mustang 140 and at a guess weighs around 14 tons so its a fair old pull broadside with tracks locked

Just had another look at the video with sound up, the whine from the winch sounds like all Rotzler winchs fitted to Fodens (got quite used to that sound). It wouldn't be pulling anywere near full capacity as it doesn't look like there's much rope out, maybe the angle the video is taken at, I'd would love to see it with a heavy 2:1 on it when you put it to work. Also once the revs are set you wouldn't hear that much of a significant change in engine tone. Looking good though

On the video you can see the soft strap used to link the winch rope to the shackle on the digger. This to me is a good example of how extreme the Mod are when quoting SWL. The soft strap is the one originally used to lift the underlift boom which i believe was rated at 8 ton max. When i fitted the hydraulics to the underlift i obviously had no use for it so removed it. it was inside a heavy material sleeve which i cut of. This revealed the actual polyester lifting strap which had wrote on it SWL 10 tons but when stitched inside the sleeve it was being used doubled eg 20 ton SWL. the stitch fabric around the sling shows 7 lines so it has a factor of safety * 7 so minimum breaking strain when used to lift 8 tons was 140 tons so it proves the Mod never erred on the side of being make do. Like i said on another post why use 1 wire/pipe when you can make 15 do the same job

These strops are rated at 96 Tonnes for Army use, never understood why they had to be rated as such just to lift the underlift, they were never used for anything else.

Are these two in Nescliffe?

 

Keep 'em coming

Well spotted

Winch looks like it's working a treat there Steve.