Lewis Garner

Hello Richard, Thanks for your reply. Looking at it more closely you are absolutely right. I'm hoping it'll be possible to remove the bracket from the hull and repair it, but if the gearbox has to come out to aid access it is not really a problem anyway, as I have a spare recon gearbox sitting under the bench waiting to be put in. Wold definitely be a chance to find some aging German currency too :-D

Pictures to describe the problem. Yes I probably win the filthiest interior award!

Hello guys, Wondering if anyone has ever had any trouble with the gear change pedal pivot shaft underneath the gearbox? I have a problem on ours in that the shaft has actually worked its way out of one of its holders and upon pressing the pedal, bent one of them due to the mechanical advantage 'pulling' the shaft toward the front of the vehicle. It's a frustrating fault as obviously it could be a relatively easy fix, but just in a pain of a place!

Clive, I owe you a great many pints if we ever have the pleasure of meeting again. I was somewhat desperate to get the vehicle back in the workshop this evening so with your having led me to the source I wondered if a curious tap with a spanner on the distribution box would have any result. It gave me some lights and hey presto, she sparked into life. I will be having a look inside tomorrow. Thanks very much for that, your knowledge is invaluable.

Hello Clive my apologies, that was me being a bit thick! I have 24v at R, and with ignition on, starter switch held down as you said, I'm only getting approx 7-8v at INS.

Hello Clive, thanks for your reply. Do you have a location for the 10A circuit breaker? Presumably the distribution box is the square box to the rear left of the fighting compartment located next to the charging socket?

Now for example I've tried to start it and actuated the starter switch, the lights will go out and then I only get power at these points. Any ideas?

Now when I do get dash lights with ignition on which is very rare and intermittent, I get power to these points. As soon as the starter switch is actuated the lights go out, nothing happens and I lose power at various points.

Hello chaps, I've put the dash back together having cleaned up the contacts but still no joy. Upon pulling the starter switch down all that happens is the fuel gauge needle jumps up. Rather confused. I have to confess electrics aren't my forte, I've checked for 24v at ignition which I have one side, then the other when switched over. Will try and get a photo to illustrate where I'm getting power to.

Thanks for the replies chaps, it is indeed a Mk6 Clive. I have the switch panel apart at the moment, it is a complete sod to take apart in situ! I can't say I'm looking forward to putting it back together. It was a little dirty in places but nothing that I'd consider to be an obvious cause so I will follow that up. A number of the pins were looking rather crusty As you can see the way it's come apart is effectively backwards to how was intended, never mind!

Hello Clive, I assumed it was but now you mention it I'm not sure, I'll have a look after work. I'm determined to get it sorted this week as there's a local vehicle event at the weekend and I'm keen to take the Ferret.

Hello Chris, hope you're well. Yep I had the LH one to pieces by the ignition panel and cleaned it up. Indicators and hazards have now stopped working whereas they were fine before so a shoddy connection there now I think, my fault. I'll have a look at the RH one tomorrow. Presumably there is one common earth point for all the dash electrics?

Hello guys, Slightly odd problem with the Ferret in that it's developed an intermittent ignition problem. When turning the ignition on rarely it lights up as per usual, mostly I get no lights at all and when swinging the starter catch I get no starter, and the lights dimly glow, along with the fuel gauge dancing around. Even when the lights do illuminate it's hit and miss as to whether the starter will turn the engine over. My battery voltages are fine, I've checked them and when it does illuminate and turn over it starts and continues to run no trouble at all. I've had every connection out of the round rubber block and cleaned with some fine emery and electrical cleaner. To me it sounds like an earth issue?

I'm 21 at the moment and have a small collection of classic cars/other toys I like to run around in, as much as I love MVs and have been brought up from day one with them I just see them as a bit too 'niche' now, at most I could afford a decent army Land Rover, but then I already have a civilian Series 3 so what difference does it really make? I think of all the hundreds of people I know through cars etc. only one or two have MVs, it's difficult to spark an interest in people and get them turned on to the idea of buying them, although I do believe that some 'new blood' would perhaps revive the market a bit. I've noticed too looking on Milweb recently that a lot of the staple military vehicles that used to be come up regularly for sale such as Ferrets, GMCs etc. are all now a rare sight to see on there, yet 10-15 years ago you could pick one up as a bargain. I remember we bought both our Jimmies for in the region of £3500, if I could buy one for that now it's definitely something I'd consider!

Hello folks, Mick's son here. Thanks for the responses. The vehicle has not moved out of the shed for a few months now but I intend to give the tracks a go this weekend as I've been playing with other toys recently. I'm in much the same boat as you Robin as I work as a construction plant engineer so I'm sick to death of tracks when I get home! In short, I have replaced almost everything on the tracks, all sprockets and carriers are as new. The roadwheels are all good, I replaced a rear idler last time we had a play with it as there was an abnormal amount of play in the hub. All oil levels have been checked and each hub checked for play/tightness. The alignment seems to be good, measuring from the hull all measurements to centre are within 5mm of each other. The track itself does indeed curl 'up', perhaps Dad didn't make himself clear in that I rolled the track out flat right the way along its length and looked for any abnormal 'bumps' along the run. Any I found I replaced the links with others we have for peace of mind. My plan of action is to measure the length of both and whilst everything is off just reaffirm that all is okay. We know the usual clatters and bangs of CVR(T) awfully well by now and trust me having been on the road these are not the norm. I'll let you know how I get on. Just to add this is where I usually break the track, at the front between sprocket/first roadwheel. Lewis

I wouldn't say it's dying out by any means, I know many young classic car owners but the military hobby has always remained a bit of an obscurity to them. Personally I would say not enough effort is made to 'get the message out there' but in a way having a 'closed shop' also has its advantages. I have a couple of classics and look after dad's military vehicles, as much as I'd love something like a GMC you have to remember prices have tripled in the 10 years or so we've been in the hobby. Years ago you could get a nice runner and driver for £3500 whereas now that figure might get you a wreck. Insurance is another consideration with most of the classic insurers not willing to even consider you until the age of 25. I am 20 and insurance on my 1970s Land Rover is nearly £700, that's an awful lot for a weekend toy, especially whilst on an apprenticeship wage. As has already been said 90% of youngsters now know absolutely nothing about mechanics, it was all good and well when you had to 'tinker' with your car or motorbike on a daily basis to keep it in fine fettle, modern cars are not so now. From early on I have always been interested in how things work, dad has helped me here and there to learn things but crucially it is about having a go yourself as that is the best way to learn. It can be daunting at first but after all the majority of military vehicles are big, simple engineering and relatively easy to fix. Three years ago I wouldn't have even dreamt of changing the engine in our CVRT, now it's easy!

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread but I noticed the talk of Servicing Commandos and had to contribute this. It was brought back from Tunisia by my great-grandfather, who served for a while with 3203 Servicing Commandos. A 25 pdr shell carved and shaped allegedly by one of the locals, a nice little ornament to have. Regards, Lewis

Better to know than not! Might see you there, I think we'll be going as visitors on the Sunday

Tim it looks as if your hoses might need a bit of rejigging if I'm right looking at that diagram...

Chris you are the man, thanks so much. Engine going in this weekend then!

I hope so, on my new recon pack it confirms that 4 is indeed outlet and 3 is inlet as you said. The top hose obviously goes off to filter, which in turn goes to the upper fitting of the two on the gearbox, then the bottom bulkhead hose goes directly to the lower gearbox fitting. On the filter there is an arrow pointing away from the engine toward gearbox but it's slightly curved also, so could it be direction of flow or simply the way to undo the filter housing? This is turning out to be more of a headache than I first thought! Chris? :-D

Thanks Tim! Again we've also got a spare gearbox sitting on a trolley so I'll have a look in a sec.

Hello all, I've recently taken out our Spartan engine to replace with a recon. Just flicking through Timbos Sabre engine change thread and I noticed the heat exchanger hose diagram. I checked our hoses in relation to that and they've been the other way round. Looking at Timbos handy drawing (thankyou!) on our vehicle the lower bulkhead union goes to point 3, and the top goes to point 4. My question is have our hoses always been wrong and Timbos drawing is correct, or is our vehicle correct as it is? Lewis

Welcome Rob, we are at Sandy so not too far away from you, the Cent happens to be one of my favourites too Lewis

Good film, I'm not a great fan of Daniel Craig, I think the older Bonds have a character we can never get back sadly.