paulob1

If I did not have my other machines I would still be with autohome but after three episodes of some very very long waits on the sides of the road...You now have to do cover each vehicle its not cheap for all my vehicles. They don't have their multiple vehicle policy any more that was the real killer blow.. Cosrec, pardon ? As I said those who are interested PM me those who are not, no problem. Its your choice, that is the way of the world. Sometimes you cant help people no matter how hard you try...

Modern rules and regulations? We run a recovery business we know the rules and regulations thanks. We are not offering an illegal service...there is always someone. I will offer the service to those who have taken an interest. Just let me know if anyone else wants to join...

Yes this is a club, where ever you start from a vehicle has to either get you thee or get you back. if you start in manchester and finish in London but want to get back to Manchester then the vehicle is travelling a good distance one way or another. My thoughts are that this is a paid service but is a very specialist service. you wont be sitting there wondering if someone with the right kit is coming.... someone will be coming... I am just gauging interest initially... so far I have a handful of interested parties... keep PM'ing me if interested.

yes, AUTOHOME to my mind are the best out there price wise....however its 165 per vehicle, and they will only recover a truck, you have to register the trailer at extra money. They will try to fix you at the side of the road first commendable but not always possible. They have never recovered my vehicles, I was stuck at the side of the road for over 12 hours until I fixed the truck and we sped off, autohome couldn't really help... my ural broke down, it took them hours to get to us, by the time they had arrived I had worked out what was wrong, the police had put out bollards all around us and we didn't get any help from them... I had a breakdown on the m11, in the daf, with trailer fully loaded they sent a tilt and slide 7.5 tonner after about 5 hours...they did help us fix the fuel problem after 9 hours...but they were thinking they could tow us off the motorway with the 7.5 tonner...oops I am 40 tons worth... I have to add that of the lot Autohome are the cheapest and they were great when they had the multi-policy but now they don't. They only use local firms that are paid very little so you are very low priority...they are still great and everyone should have this as a minimum, but like me with over 70 trucks at 165 per truck...hmm maybe I will recover myself is how my head worked...and I can honestly say that with all the trucks I have it has always been quicker to call one of my boys than get the RAC or AA or Autohome to attend...I still have autohome. my service would be a service, you breakdown we come to get you..we drop everything else we are doing and we recover you home. This would be a priority service not secondhand service...anyway offer is there...PM me if you have any interest. just so you know we run a manned 24/7 operation, so you will always call someone who is awake and ready. we will come to you as fast as we can once we know what is the problem...we don't do punctures..but can do temporary repairs to some tyres to get you off the road, but we do have a lot of military wheels and we can usually provide a temporary spare if needed. We are Military enthusiasts so we understand the issues...

Hi guys, I have been working on an idea for recovery of our precious toys for a long time now and things are sort of coming together. I had to recover a friends Gaz 66 over the weekend, it has cost him a small fortune and took all night and most of Sunday..we were called last and got him home...after a lot of hassle... So my thoughts are to start a recovery club. if we get enough people it should be viable to offer good support throughout the UK and just maybe Europe...but thats maybe for the future or maybe on a planned basis... my thoughts being that we will prioritize the club members. obviously our trucks are working on other jobs from time to time but its more of a service to our club members than a service for general use.... Anyway just gauging interest... no need to help with trucks under 3.5 tons and I think the RAC will do up to 7.5 tons nowadays but i am thinking for the bigger stuff... thoughts please...

check the wiring to the starter motor, this is your best bet of finding out how it is wired...

we fired up the old girl ran up the crane and swim gear, all running sweet, just that damn clutch...truly stuck, I dont think it is just the plates stuck together something is not moving in there...must get my manual out and see where water ingress could rust things and have it stuck...its a very naughty clutch... https://www.facebook.com/TheColdWarCollection posted some pictures on facebook for those who want a look...was good to see my old crane working again...slowly getting back to getting things sorted again...

anyone know if the 10.5 ton is the payload or the gross trailer weight, I know usually the ARMY spec'ed them and called them by their carrying capacity for these larger trailers but can anyone confirm this...

tried all of that we are going to have one last go at getting her running, getting her all hot and bothered and then see if we can get her released but this is not just a stuck clutch the hull got a bit of water in and the clutch sat in water for about three months before we noticed the bung was blocked...and its now been three years since we had the last go at it...this time one way or another she will be sorted... as regards the transfer box, I am sure someone said I can change the final drive, or a gear in the transfer box to up the gearing so she will run a tad faster...that is all I need to do I think, I have two spare transfer boxes and one saracen box will have to have a look...am sure someone on here has done it though.....

I broke my leg a few weeks ago so am unable to do much but my son has been on a roll. he has fixed the brakes on the ZIL, only an air chamber failed and a handbrake stuck, but hopefully they will last for a few more years. he fixed the Green Goddess, new points new coil, handbrake and service. He fixed the tatra 813, she was just getting stuck in between high and low drive, took a lot of fiddling to get her to free off and engage drive.. He put the CET back into operation and re-attached the bucket, she is running sweet for now.. he has pulled the Stalwart 1 out and is working on freeing the clutch, that is going to be a pig of a job, we have a 50 quid bet he wont do it without splitting the box and engine...I hope I lose the 50 quid. then we have to fit the diesel engine to Stolly 3. That will be my regular on road truck, although am thinking I might need to change the transfer box for a Saracen one to get the higher gearing for road use, with the standard box I think I will be struggling to get more than 30 mph as she is. With the saracen box she should run to at least 40mph I assume. The bedford engine will really be at max revs at 3000 but will cruise reasonably happily at 2800 all day long. but ideally we don't want to be pushing the old bedford units so hard if we can help it...I have an old saracen transfer box, anyone know if its a straight swap for a stolly one, I know the internals can be changed..

for more power I reckon, the gaz unit is only about 120 or 130 bhp cant remember exactly...not massively powerful but basically enough...

on my fug the seating position is a night mare, the clutch is heavy and has a lot of travel and its awkward to push it and stay in the seat....it may all be adjustable but the BRDM is heavenly compared to it..and the steering if you dont keep the revs up can become massively heavy if your not careful, ie in the wrong gear which is a pig to fin cause the clutch is hard to use...so you get into more difficulties. but each to their own...OT64 has to be one of the worst driving positions ever..

keep everything as it is and just change the voltage for the chevy big block, assuming it is petrol that only means a 12 volt feed for the starter and ignition system, you could do a wholly independent loom for the two and keep it away from any of the 24 volt systems...the alternator I am sure you can adapt to be 24 volt and run a 12 volt feed to keep the 12volt starter and ignition alive...

if your about pop into my place and have a look at mine to do a check...your not far away...

so far I have had a UAZ on the TV,,,a Ural in New World Zombies, and an MTLB in James Bond. hope to have more...

wow that is knowledge that is hard to find..thanks for that...so replacements from a Saracen not easy...but some bits are interchangeable might be a fair description...

yes we have to keep Richard going..he has a lot of gear...he needs to sell some of it I guess

Interesting, they are about Sean but usually take offs, I have never seen a new one come up for sale...I am sure some people have them lurking about. I do not think the saracen one is that different but cannot say if it is for sure the same...nut cannot brelieve it is that different.ALVIS always changed as little as they could... Are you thinking to get your hub fixed...is it a broken hub or a broken bevel box...or tracta joint I do wish I could buy yours but I have no time and definitely no money at the moment.

Understand the popularity of the jeep, but restoration costs are not easy...we are about to repair an MK cab, new cabs are available but cost plus 1000 pounds, repairs will be close to half that...it is clear that restoration is very very expensive, and if you really want it to be high quality you have to think it is going to take time. We do it by running multiple projects and work on each project in parallel, cant work on the truck whilst its drying for instance so we work on other things, this reduces our restoration prices to our customers but in the end restoration is never cheap...we all know that. we currently have an M62, a Foden a Munga a riley RME a Striker and a a few other museum toys plus now the MK....we will fit it all in so we do not have to charge silly money but realistic money..that is still not cheap... trying to recover restoration costs has always been virtually impossible so people have to be realistic. there has been a bit of a glut as many people have fallen for top gear rubbish and other articles in the press about their values...but I think the true collectors and owners out their know what they will and wont pay and that keeps prices sensible... said it before, too many people thinking this industry is a cash cow...I really don't think it is...

personally I think Withams are part of the problem..they have a glutt of stuff and are drip feeding the market at high prices then once the big payers are done, selling stuff at lower prices destroying the market...look at the DROPs, they are a prime example...loads of them available, they were 10k plus once, now heading fast to 5 k...I bought mine at top money 12k I will never see that back.. also the DVLA and VOSA have their part to play, always hassling the motorist always interfering, I have personally given up registering vehicles because of the palaver it has become, registering taxing and sorning. It all adds up to a not very pleasant market in the UK, with too many people dipping their hands in the water of an enthusiasts market and thinking they can pull out a plum all the time, too many regulations aimed at taking money off us. all the time we are being fleeced by one or the other... reality is coming to our industry...

it is the way of the world....everyone wants to make money when they sell something, some think they can live off the profits of it a business, these people can drive prices up, especially for spares...this can then increase the prices of restored vehicles..... greed hangs around anything like this.... but you cannot blame people for wanting to make money..and you cannot blame people for not wanting to pay anything for it...truth is supply and demand is not matched at the moment.

yes you certainly need to wash it out, I recommend using a good strong soapy solution first then wash it with clean water and finally allow it to dry using a hair dryer....will clear it out completely...and make its safe, your nose is not a bad way to check for fumes...also rolling a chain in the tank when your doing the washing will help remove any fuel impregnated rust spots, which can remain if your not careful...

I sprayed the inside of a tank with hamerite petrol resistant paint and it has been leak free for over 10 years... soldering works too...

bummer...

lovely...hope she has to pay for the scratches to the tank...