TheAmericanPatriot

On 12/13/2023 at 3:06 AM, Nick mead said:

Just stumbled across this post and wondered if anyone is interested in the facts.

we sold 120 vehicles to Ukraine up until last Christmas when Barclays closed our 45 year bank account although the vehicles were intended for casualty evacuation and we stripped out as much interior to make more room 432 434 Spartan Samaritan sultan snatch Pinzgauer vector and 6 ferrets. The ferrets were the only ones not listed as casualty evacuation.

we tried every uk bank including bank of Dave which isn’t a bank and as soon as the word Ukraine was uttered the doors closed firmly shut. We waited a few days and managed to get a few accounts opened on line but these were mostly closed as soon an any money from Ukraine was banked. 
since last Christmas we have got only 2 vehicles to Ukraine which were sold to brave souls who paid from a UK account plus the vat as a uk buyer and drove them out there themselves reclaiming the vat after person export.

the money bit. Ukrainians shop around and look for a bargain if you’re overpriced they tell you and either shop else where or negotiate. Initially I had some cheap stock and they loved it then I advertised and bought privately and many of those were expensive or we were really turned over ,YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. The majority of the vehicles we bought blind were fine and the sellers totally honest. Brightwells prices were rising fast and their was one moment when I had 15 Spartans leaving at £45,000 each overhauled and painted and them coming in from brightwells raw untested at £65,000 which was slightly worrying. I showed the brightwells invoices to my customers and kept a record of repairs, gearboxes etc and they were very understanding.

we have about 75 vehicles sitting here for Ukraine with three different customers and still can’t get a bank to take payment. These vehicles have no been sold many times and eventually the buyers money is returned or impounded for 120 days which really piss them off.

profit,. Initially it was fine when I had all my cheap stock but I have constantly re stocked as prices were rising so I have slightly more vehicles and a bit less money but in theory if we find away of ever getting them to Ukraine one day we will hopefully get a decent pay day as all of my competitors are thousands more than me.

has it been stressful. Fuck yes every deal has six people involved you’re trying to broker 4 deals at once they all have the same names and most have terrible English thinking they can handle all the export paperwork themselves. And trust me they can’t. Some are dishonest and they need getting rid of which is risky.

hard boring work. fuck yes the first few are interesting then it’s just a slog. Staff have been fantastic and we have a night shift to, every one knows he’s helping Ukrainian and this keeps them going the extra mile.

how have we survived cash flow. Luckily with 35 years of all sorts of tanking we have a massive customer base and we run the business just like a butchers shop.sell good meat at a fair price and make sure the deal you give keeps that customer coming back. Monty driving voucher sales are good, corporate days down a bit. Utubers very good. Tv and Film up this year. Weapons development very up this year. Funerals up this year. Wedding about the same, London Tank tours well up. the private car crushes are up to. So all this has funded the overhaul of the stuff going to Ukraine.

what really pisses me off. politicians and others saying how the UK are helping Ukraine when I can clearly see many cracks. Politicians who pretend to be deaf. People who think this is easy and we’re profiteering. People who lied about their vehicles thinking it’s only going to Ukraine what does it matter. Roman Hoban who stole our spare parts money, beware of Roman he’s scum.

state of play, lots of vehicles still lined up fun ukraine customers still trying to pay. off shore very risky, crypto even more ,magic beans ,maybe. Cash useless and impossible. We think we have one life line who charges 5% to do special checks on the customers and if they pass then they can hold the money for us in Turkey. So watch this space.

mental health, fucked family life, she’s hanging on in there just about. Christmas plans 

working mostly just in case we get a uk bank to stand up and be counted and these vehicles can finally go.

ps we have received no finders fee for the gold or it’s return.

Good post Nick, its important to hear all sides and it certainly seems that everyone thinks you are making out like a bandit scot-free in this ordeal unfortunately

On 4/11/2023 at 11:20 AM, teletech said:

There is a pad on the fuel tank for a switch.  I believe I saw a reference to it being perhaps related to interior lighting, but can't be sure now.  It could also be a PTT or other radio feature.  I don't see it on the schematics I have in my manuals.  Anyway, I've managed to get one of the switches and now I'm wondering how to wire it up?

 

I've got those in my Sultan for the commander and officers spots, I'm pretty sure they are push to talks. They're wired in with the radio sets

I've done alot of brainstorming and cant come to a solution myself so i'm gonna need some help before i really commit to tearing into my Fox.

As the title suggests I've got a FV721 Fox that is stuck in gear and i cant get it out. I took it for a few mile drive and as i got to my destination i found it wouldnt leave 5th gear. I did a lot of pedal changes in everygear to no avail.  I've got the access cover off to the gearbox and can see the adjuster moving when i depress the GCP. The gear seems to be fully engaged but the GCP only comes about halfway back then stops. I'm not sure how it normally is in 5th gear. I can easily bring the GCP closer than halfway like how it is in gears 1-4 if i pull on it. The Gear Selector (GS) seems to be functioning fine. I can watch the linkage move freely to the gearbox when i am selecting gears and i can hear the cam in the gearbox moving when i move the GS. I've tried shifting with the GS in between gears as some have shown that the linkage can come out of alignment and not actually be in  the gear you have selected but that produced no results either. The only thing i can think of is that either the spring that pulls the gear out of engagement has failed for 5th gear and thats why it wont disengage or its something with the spring loaded clutch that makes up 5th gear. This had been the first time i used 5th gear since i got it so i'm thinking that it might not have been used in a long time and got stuck when i used it? I have no idea. 
 

I'm just looking for some help if possible before i have to actually commit to randomly and inefficiently tearing my gearbox apart

On 12/8/2021 at 2:03 PM, Elphiel said:

I have collected british night vision scopes from rank pullin for several years and even repaired one from completely destroyed back to fully working with pretty much everything replaced, so got my little share of experience.

Sold everything to fund me my own Spartan, so am on the lookout for one of these sights too of course.

@TheAmericanPatriot:
It seems pretty much your intensifier tube died. Either because of slow sunlight exposure while still turned on or other unnoticed unwanted light exposure of the tube.
Thats atleast how most of the old gen1 cascade tubes died. You should be able to get it running again replacing the tube with a "new" one. They are still available here and there, because they became popular for diy home build night vision devices.

What about if the sight gets blurrier as you let more light in? I have another one that is crystal clear with minimum shutter exposure but when i let lots of light in it gets very blurry. Its capable of seeing at night pretty well it just gets pretty blurry when i open the shutter all the way! I'm gonna check how clean the lenses are and if they're bad i'll tear it apart and clean em

On 12/6/2021 at 2:03 PM, RRb Machining said:

Did you ever find any information on these, I have just acquired 4 of them complete along with some spare parts

Still no manual like info but i have now mastered complete dissasembly of the lenses that control the amount of light entering the sight down to the shutters themselves as mine had seized up after going unused in exterior conditions unfortunately. Difficult without the proper tools to avoid scratching it all up but definitely doable! Works like a charm again and has been re oiled and waterproofed and will be getting more attention from now on.

On 8/24/2022 at 1:57 AM, sirhc said:

I doubt that the cargo box took any fire other than from someone with a drill. The rear mudguards are often smashed as they are quite fragile. The row of countersunk bolts on the gearbox mount is a standard repair.

What would they be a repair for?

On 9/6/2022 at 7:45 AM, aikmanmosquito said:

I've been advised not to name at this time, as I may be getting a lawyer involved, but when the time comes I do plan on letting everyone who owns a Jeep see the standard of this apparent specialists work. He's also not fitted good quality panels I've supplied, but pocketed them and fitted cheaper alternatives, which he's then charged me for!!!

I cant say much for the rest of the ordeal but that alone is enough to justify the way you feel i would say. Him doing that is flat out absurd.

Awesome work i love to see it, the CVRT's in the scrap yard are an awful sight

Theres a place online where you can download the maintenence instructions for CVR(T)'s and it contains wiring diagrams for all Varients, including Sultan. I can probably find it if you still need it

On 12/6/2021 at 2:03 PM, RRb Machining said:

Did you ever find any information on these, I have just acquired 4 of them complete along with some spare parts

I unfortunately have not besides just small illustrations explaing how to use them. nothing along the lines of Work Shop manuals or anything actually useful. The search continues

No expert but i would agree that it doesnt look like its taken during action. People dont realize that a large majority of photos out there are training photos and everyone seems to have a bad habit of assuming all photos are genuine

4 hours ago, MatchFuzee said:

2 sites that should help. 

https://www.emlra.org/index.php/british-army-green-paint

https://www.e-paint.co.uk/colour-alternatives.asp?cRange=BS+381C&cRef=BS381C+285

Many thanks! Those are both very cool and super useful websites! 

I dont know the exact color that it is so im kinda in the same boat as you, but i do know that Rust-Oleum has a camoflage paint line and one of the Flat Non-Reflective Greens is close to the green that is on my Sultan and ive been using it to touch up and for just an off the shelf thing it matches pretty close. Like you though im still waiting to figure out the exact color code so i can give my Sultan a real paintover

Well i got everything around this weekend and got my belt replaced. It was pretty straight forward and im glad it was. Anyone have a good method on disconnecting the coolant hose? I wasnt ready for mine about drained half my coolant into my gearbox compartment, other than that, super easy!

4 minutes ago, sirhc said:

Do you have the petrol or diesel manual?

It is fairly easy but a bit involved. You need to lift off the complete engine deck, then remove the fan section of the bulkhead and remove the drive shaft. Do not disassemble them drive shaft, you need to remove the bolts that hold it to the flywheel and gearbox input module. You can then swap the belt and put it back together. 

That is making alot more sense, ive got the Diesel manual but im just apparently terrible at visualizing what its saying, youve been an immense help and i should be able to do it now no problem. Thanks for letting me know about not dissembling the drive shaft aswell, ive heard they are a pain to get aligned just right and im a very strict follower of "if it aint broke dont fix it"

Can anyone give me a rundown on the best method to replace the Fan Belt on a Diesel Spartan?
 

Ive read the manual about 10 times now and just cannot make sense of the method its wanting to use, it keeps mentioning an access plate to the drive shaft to undo it so you can slide your belt over to your clutch but i cant seem to find the access that it keeps mentioning. Im assuming this process is much more involved than the manual is making it out to be because i just cant see an easy way to go about it. 
 

Anyways i appreciate any and all tips or advice you guys are always a great help

This isnt as exciting as some of yours are but my Alternator belt in my Diesel Spartan exploded when moseying around my field, simple fix as you just loosen the fan belt tensioner, pop off the fan belt then sling on your new alternator belt

4 hours ago, teletech said:

I'm sad to say that we in the USA are slow to understand that there are other pronouns than he/his.  Thanks for all your knowledge and support.

 

Might want to change your friends if you have problems such as those!

17 hours ago, Terra1936 said:

Where are you buying the beer? 

Wherever you send me to bud!

On 5/10/2021 at 1:36 PM, Diana and Jackie said:

If you remove the hydraulic  line (disconnect it at the master cylinder) underneath the floor plate on the cylinder you may be able to push the pistons back, or more easily slack off the bleed screw  on the caliper after placing a bleed tube over the bleed screw (so the fluid doesnt go all over the place) then push back the pistons.

Remember the right cylinder controls the left caliper and visa versa

It;s fairly obvious when the pads are worn, unlike sticking your head under a car and trying to judge.

Getting the caliper off the gearbox with the box in situ is umm- difficult!

With the fluid out of the calipers(s) you should have plenty of fun getting the air out when you  go to bleed them 🙂

BTW when you pushed back the other caliper pistons you didn't by any chance fill up the fluid reservoir? as that's where the fluid will flow back to.
If it's full that may be one reason why you can't get the other caliper pistons back......

Well i re-investigated the caliper this weekend and sure enough you were dead on the money, the hydraulic oil resevoir was chock full of fluid and it was the exact reason that i could not push the piston back into the caliper. How simple! What would i do without you smart fellas around to guide simpletons like me! 

Anyways thanks for the advice i am ever grateful. 

Wyatt

9 hours ago, Diana and Jackie said:

If you remove the hydraulic  line (disconnect it at the master cylinder) underneath the floor plate on the cylinder you may be able to push the pistons back, or more easily slack off the bleed screw  on the caliper after placing a bleed tube over the bleed screw (so the fluid doesnt go all over the place) then push back the pistons.

Remember the right cylinder controls the left caliper and visa versa

It;s fairly obvious when the pads are worn, unlike sticking your head under a car and trying to judge.

Getting the caliper off the gearbox with the box in situ is umm- difficult!

With the fluid out of the calipers(s) you should have plenty of fun getting the air out when you  go to bleed them 🙂

BTW when you pushed back the other caliper pistons you didn't by any chance fill up the fluid reservoir? as that's where the fluid will flow back to.
If it's full that may be one reason why you can't get the other caliper pistons back......

I appreciate the reply and you have given me alot of useful advice. That is a very good point about the fluid rushing back into the reservoir and that might be stopping me from pushing it back! The caliper didnt feel springy at all as if it were being stopped by fluid but there might not be any spring with the fluid after all. I make sure i keep the reservoirs full so that is a definite possibility! Im excited to see if thats the case when i get to working on it this weekend. I'll let you guys know if i figure anything out. 
 

Till then, much obliged!

21 hours ago, Terra1936 said:

pb blaster 

Pb Blaster it is, no rusty bold can hold its own in an enduring confrontation with PB blaster

19 minutes ago, Terra1936 said:

Did you try a hammer impact?

Ive tried my 1/2" impact and it didnt budge, i know there are better impacts out there, i'll have to get my hands on one. The big problem i have is that the line for the brake fluid goes directly over that bolt so i cannot get directly on it with a socket and i also cant take the line off till i get some space by taking the bolts out ironically, i gotta use a crows foot and ontop of that, the radiator is above it aswell so i gotta use a swivel adapter to get on it good so even further lost torque. I could use a torque multiplier but crows foot wrenches cant take near as much as sockets can, they flex real bad and pop off the bolt. I definitely wanna stay away from torches, maybe it just needs a longer bath in some liquid wrench. I'll hit again this weekend and see if i cant coerce it to break free

15 minutes ago, Terra1936 said:

Any photos of the bolt? 

I dont have any of it in situ but i can point out with the pictures i'll have attached to this

Hi Guys,

Long story short one of my steering tillers starting pulsating slightly so i checked my steering brake pads and low and behold i am dearly in need of some new ones. I have the new pads and started replacing them, the one side went easy as pie and the piston slid right back into the caliper *almost* easy enough to do with your finger. Then the fun started with the other side. Despite all my might i cannot get the piston to press back into the caliper so i decided to take the caliper out so i can get at it better but alas i cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the darn thing out. From my limited understanding there is two larger bolts that hold the mount for the caliper onto the gearbox and i can find the one but i literally cannot break the bolt free. Ive tried liquid wrench, PB Blaster, Cheater bars, Half inch impact and lastly just my Raw Might but nothing will get it to come lose. so obviously i should just jump to the other bolt but i cant find it? im not sure if you guys know any tips or tricks but im in desperate need of help here. 

P.S. If you guys know of where i can get a Fan Belt or a part number for a replacement that would be much appreciated it. Thanks in advance!