the DT guy

cheers rootes going to try and get 3 of my T's there for the 80th. the 980 and 2 project trucks, looks like there is going to be a really nice selection next year so will be worth coming along. regards sam

evening every one finally got round to wiring the head lights in, got to say for someone who absolutely despises wiring and most things electrical, the electrics are one of my favorite jobs i have done on the whole truck. so the lesson really is don't hate it till you tried it! planning to take her out this sunday for a road test and will be the 1st time it has been on the road in over 20 years. got the new registration number few weeks ago from the dvla. was very impressed with their 4 week turn around so no complaints here. like to thank Richard Adams and John Wardle from the MVT for sorting out all the verification paper work etc both very helpful chaps. will be taking her to the Diamond T 80th anniversary event at Wartime in the Vale at Evesham 2021 and Capel military show, obviously depending on covid. till then enjoy the short walk around vid and there will be more vids coming in due course. regards sam WP_20201128_15_43_19_Pro.mp4 WP_20201128_15_53_39_Pro.mp4 WP_20201128_15_53_39_Pro.mp4

thank you goes to show time and hard work pays in the end.

well every one the end is nearly in sight, remaining jobs are bonnet, wire in head lights and sort out the wind screen wipers and that will be her done. will be sending the registration paper work off to DVLA tomorrow so will be on the road very soon can't wait! 4 years this december when i purchased the truck and never driven it out the yard so happy days are coming. hope every one is keeping safe & well regards sam

got new wind screens fitted last night and the bonnet has returned from being shot blasted so that is know being worked on. managed to get the nova number last week as well so started the registration process. hopefully be driving it on the road this year.

not managed to do to much on the rogers but got the turn table blasted and painted last weekend.

no worries thought i'd offer before parting it out.

nice job your doing, don't know if it is of any interest to you but i have the Hercules RXC engine out of one off these trucks. with the Autocar specific parts like the updraft carb and aluminum sump etc. regards sam

finally had a week off (last week) so had some me time with the diamond and it is amazing how much you can get done in a week. wiring in 7 pin trailer plug floor mat as the smooth floor is a bit slippery and just adds a bit of comfort for the long trips planned. ballast box with under side already top coated and top side primed/rubbed down ready for top coats. just like that it almost looks finished! fully ballasted with about 10 1/2 - 11 ton of cast steel blocks. have been test driving the truck in the field and it pulls very well and handles the bumpy field with no issues. only issue so far is the auxiliary transmission gear linkage dismantled it self, due to a stripped thread but that has been fixed know. next jobs will be fitment of inner door skins, wind screen glass ounce i get the new rubber and some stencils. regards sam

the M9 only has 2 hand brake wheels John one on the nearside front corner and one on the front face of the dolly it self in the middle.

pics should help with the differences between the trailers John & Wally. but Diamond T with a 50 ton looks bout write to me. regards sam

a clearer close up pic of the trailer would certainly help the identity as Cranes used a lot of the same parts as used on their 40 ton trailer. the large castings that carry the axle springs are very distinctive to Crane trailers. i am basing my assumption that this might be the Cranes trailer on the date the photo was taken as it's mean't to be prior to the Dyson built 50 tonners. out of interest Wally how detailed are the plans and drawings of the Dyson that you have? regards sam

evening every one i have been reading the book about Cranes of Dereham "we built trailers" and there is a very small paragraph about them being asked by the mod to design a trailer with 50 tons capacity in the late 40's. Cranes produced drawings and built a prototype which reading the description is the same as a Dyson 50 ton. ounce the prototype was built and tested the mod gave the drawings to Dyson who then got the contract to build the trailers. so is the photo of the prototype built by Cranes? or one of the very first Dyson built trailers?

not much to report on the Diamond as i am actually running out of jobs to do on here which seems odd after 5 years. both diesel tanks, mud guards and battery box lids are know on, and got the new 300 ft winch cable fed onto the drum 2 weeks ago. all that is left is: repair bonnet blast/paint ballast box new wind screen glass & rubber inner door skins wire in head lights fit windscreen wiper motors & pipe work stencils so no excuses not to have it finished for next season.

is this the truck Richard Taylor owned near Hop farm? nice to see it is getting the full chassis up treatment look forward to seeing it progress.

no trailer is still sat there i couldn't trace an owner so land owner and the quarry didn't want to really get involved as far as doing a deal on it. got myself another trailer project know so i don't know what the future holds for this 50 tonner

i have 2 NOS filters for my trailer as originals are missing. think they are simple multi stacked layers of brass discs which you remove, clean and re stack.

this is the truck/trailer John drove it from bristol to Arnham and all the way back last year on the 30 core trip, just over 1000 miles absolutely loved it. hoping to take this set and mine to normandy for 80th.

i re build riveted boilers for traction and railway engines and do some heavy machining so i am fortunate to be geared up for a project like this, get a buzz off it turning rough to smooth. but same time what your doing with your tanker with all that tin work is incredible! any thing less than 5 mm thick i just hate but different skill sets for different levels of projects. been following your AEC tanker from the start and she is a credit to all your hard work. best regards sam

and to come right up to date, put the dolly up on the horizontal borer to drill and bore out the king pin hole which is 5 1/2" dia to take a 1/4" thick aluminum bronze bearing to accept the 5" dia king pin. when i took it apart there was no bearing at all and the old bore had been nickel welded and machined then worn out again. so hopefully this will be the last time this trailer will need any major work for a long time. WP_20200517_17_42_44_Pro.mp4 in the process of sourcing some aluminum bronze at the moment and some T16 steel to make a new king pin and retaining nut. also need to re bore the holes for the A frame pins but i'll need to turn the dolly the other way up to do that, bit of a cock up on my part but hay ho. probably wont be touching this for a week or 2 but will have fuel tanks for the diamond so will be back to that very soon. regards sam

the dyson was more of a replacement for the rogers as the rogers was never designed and couldn't really carry the centurion as not enough tires and they were for ever blowing out. my rogers was definitely used post war so would have carried centurions and it does show. early post war years british army were trialing ballasted versions of the dragon wagons and other trucks before antar but even between 45-48 it was already decided the DT's were going to stay in service which is why many got re engined with the rolls engines around 1950 on wards. think last DT was with drawn in the early 70's so a 25-30 year service life, so would that be the longest serving tank transporter model in british army history??? i don't know anything bout the antar and commanders service history. regards sam

this was the start of the endless task off machining and fabricating the various worn, broken and missining parts just on the dolly. started with the dolly hand break as this front plate (pic 1) was gone completely and the rear support plate on the back side (pic 2) was worn out. simple enough to make and luckily a friends trailer is close to hand to take measurements. next i sorted out the coil spring mounts which bolt to the under side of the main dolly frame to house the 4 suspension (coil) springs. the main pins them selves were necked around the heads slightly and the threads for the retaining nut had stripped when i removed the nuts so easier to re new. pins were welded in to the housing originally as you can't get to them to stop them from turning when the housing is bolted to the dolly frame. vast improvement! new cast steel pintle eye housing for the A frame, the original had deformed and wasn't really suitable to go again so new one cast, machined and waiting to be welded to new A frame when i get to it. also cast new steel alloy eye and retaining nut as original eye had multiple inserts welded into the eye to keep it going. complete assembl. machining one of the spring retaining pins (T16 steel was used). WP_20200429_17_38_13_Pro.mp4 new 1/2" thick top plate being positioned onto dolly frame, the original was bent like a banana and the king pin hole had been welded up and machined before. also after needle gunning the original plate there was to much corrosion to really save it. took a good day to remove the old plate due to various welds being hidden behind other plates etc. welding under way all ark welded as original with a single root and single cap weld. used 1 & 1/2 boxes of 2.5 mm welding rods to do all the welding on the dolly. on average a 12" rod was putting down about a 3" - 4" run with 2 passes just to go around the out side as in pic below. internal stitch welds as original these were a single root with a double cap same as original welds. new 1/2" doubler plate for king pin the original was 1/2" thick x 1 foot square with a single seam weld but over time that had bowed with the main top plate so decided to upgrade it by quadrupling it in size but keeping it 1/2" thick. went down the root of riveting it in with 26 3/4" rivets which will greatly increase the rigidity of it all and hopefully prevent the problem the original had from rearing it's ugly head. (marking out new doubler.) tack welded the new doubler plate into position and drilled the whole lot under the radial drill. the whole lump was then flipped over to counter sink the holes on the top side. welding more new plate work on as the old plate was removed to get at welds which are behind it holding the top plate to the main frame. trust me cutting it up was a night mare! hot off the press doubler riveted it just got to grind the excess metal down flush then onto the horizontal borer to machine the king pin bore and true up the A frame mounts. as they are very badly worn and will need bushing or something. will bring you all right up to date in next day or 2, stay safe every one. regards sam

that set is know in the US with a collector, used to live just 4 miles from me.

purchased my rogers a couple of years ago from the Shopland collection near Avon mouth, figured my 980 was a really rough example that was parked under a tree so why not have a trailer the same lol. don't have any info on the trailer's service life over than it was used post war by the british army and quickly got sold in to civi hands. it worked for pounds in southampton and was worked dam hard!! various people owned it in preservation but nothing really got touched on it. this is definitely one of them probably should have found a better one but the price was write and well it's a challenge. first 3 pics are as i 1st seen it 3 years ago and didn't take me long to say yes. 2 or 3 months ago started dismantling the dolly/turntable assembly. removed the wheel stations as complete assemblies are easier to dismantle ounce separated from the main turntable. had to make a puller to remove the hubs as the break linings were stuck to the drums. hub off and luckily they were rammed full of grease so wheel bearings are perfect. the trunnion pivots were not seized but not far off it, brass bushes are ok so just clean the grease holes, paint and re fit. h breaking down wheels luckily none were rusty so they all came apart with ease which makes for a nice change. starting on 2nd unit. removing break drum backing plate both units completely stripped mostly cleaning and paint required some machining work required but generally not to bad. have already done a load of machining and other jobs so will add a few more posts over next few days to bring this project up to present day real soon. regards sam

that's a rag top 980/981 with a 50ton dyson. 2nd pic gives the trailer away and i agree probably one of the pre production models as it doesn't appear to have the large A frame sticking out the front of the bed which was used for chaining down and supporting the towing A frame. the truck can't be mack as macks had a conventional cargo body which from pic 2 it has the typical slab sided garwood box which only the T's had and stands out being shorter than the macks body, with the typical dog house on top which macks didn't have. some have talked about the nose and you'd be surprised how much bonnet,rad & bumper there is beyond the front axle. not sure when macks were pushed out of service but i would think by 1948 the macks must have been nearly gone?? i'll let everyone make their own minds but 100% 50 ton rogers (prototype??) with DT 980/981, have started restoring my Rogers so will start a new thread on that soon. regards sam