paulob1

Hi Paul. There will be 2 new front axle hub pressure relief valves (12psi ) in the post to you tomorrow.

 

Regards

 

Clive

you are a star clive, still getting tank 3 losing air when manouvering with a trailer. WIll do a bit more checking on the rear end...might be the trailer but never seen any leaks on her...

Fantastic weekend, I was only there friday and saturday and it was great...cannot imagine anyone not enjoying the show. Ice cream was great food was great company was great vehicles were great, especially mine..:-D weather was great location was great...cannot think they could do much more to improve it...keep it going boys...I love it and so do all the people I met at the show.

next year I will be taking a load more vehicles, at least 9, as my foden and Tatra will be working and that means I can haul at least 6 vehicles on the DROPS, the Foden and the Tatra, plus the said three makes a total of Nine.

I would like to see a big hill in the arena...maybe a challenge hill...see who can get up or not...not too big just steep...would be a great spectacle and great challenge every day/year...

bet my ural will out climb most anything big out there...except maybe the tatra..

sure will, got a few today..

anyway back on thread, she drove lovely down to overlord, no roll overs and quite a few roundabouts, only loaded with 11 and a half tons of MTLB, yes armour and a uaz on the mesa trailer,, we have modded that a bit removed all the heavy hydraulic gear and plates and made it into a vehicle trailer...we are hoping once checked on the weighbriodge that the trailer may be down to 1 and a half tons, its all up weight is 4.5 tons or thereabouts and so if we have brought her down to 1.5 tons or less she will carry around 3 tons or more...shame these trailers dont go to 5 tons would make it ultra more useful....we will see once it is finished with new lightweight panels in between and a small extension on the rear to make ramps easier to use...

still getting some air loss when constantly manouvering back and forth using the hand brake...will investigate this further...when we get back from the show.

here we go again...a 432 is 13 tons, the truck is legally allowed to carry 32 tons. It is 15 tons unladen...the reccomended maximum load is 15 tons on the flat racks as that is all they are rated for I understand although it is well known that these trucks have been used with close to 50 tons laden in soe scenarios.

However you look at a DROPS truck it is high, but it is not inherrently unsafe. Have you ever seen a loaded high skip roll on truck, have you ever seen these new two car transit vans with the second car high in the air...all are inherrently safe but if you were to drive them like a loon you can turn anything over...as has already been stated...mercedes a class cars another example...the way you drive is the significant factor not the load or design of the truck, thease are all factors if done wrong but not the main reason...

the racks were never designed for 432's, and therefore it isnt the easiest of loads to carry, even with rubber tracks on a std pallet I would think you would have less than a couple of inches on the load bed...dodgy in anyones eyes but I have seen it done.

for instance my MTLB is on a specially adapted rack with side extensions permanently welded on, and anti side slip bars inside the tracks which mean it has less than 15 mm slip side ways. for the 432 I would use a similar arrangement if I ever loaded the 432 on it...

How on earth any axle would be overloaded I do not see...with the load on the pallet the 432 is 17 foot long, it sits with the engine forward and inside the rear axles and the front. The loading maximum for each axle is 10 tons. ie 20 tons. the front two carry the majority of the trucks weight as the lifting gear and engine are all in this area, say ten tons, 5 ton max per axle on the front, add 35% of the 432's weight which is 5 tons approximately you will have both front axles loaded at beteem 6 and 8 tons, tops, well within limits, the rear of the truck is unloaded so lets say it carrys 5 tons unladen and then they carry a further 65% of the 432's weight...this means say 9 tons worst case...this would be spread relatively evenly over both axles so 2.5 per plus 4.5 is 7 tons...worst case...I cannot see how or where you would be overloading the axles. It is well within limits.

hence my incredulity to those who say it is not....

ANd anyone who knows anything about risks knows that as the numbers increase the risks dont change but the chances of you meeting the minority percentage increase exponentially...

yes those things are useless, drive us mad, you fix ten today and other ten leak tomorrow, its a forever task...

I work with 38 tons....I used to think it was 40 but I cant confirm that these days...under current regs wide wheels over 300mm count as double wheels...

I have heard that teh drops was intend for the bigger wheels but became even more unstable...

I have never turned my DROPS over...However I guess if its possible to induce a roll in a normal vehicle at 5 mph it cant be that difficult to induce a roll in a top heavy off roading DROPS truck loaded with a 432...mind you not seen as many roll overs on drops as I have on the foden wreckers, now they are top heavy..

perhaps they need to be banned and eradicated from history they must be so dangerous...sorry guys but we all know there are risks in driving anything, i dont use my truck for hauling thousands of miles every day its used to take the mtlb to shows, once last year twice this year...total of less than 1000 miles, it has had more service hours than it has been on the road...

I am just glad that it holds air..although I think the hand brake is leaking some too as it drops a bit of air once this is applied, will check that over too now...maybe that is the final source of leaks causing it to loase any air at all...wouldnt that be good, no air leaks on DROPs..

.and I have a fix for my diff leaking...there are two types of pressure relief valves 8 and 12 psi, I have the 8 ones so will replace with the 12's. well done Clive...

Oh here we go, was waiting for this, those who know it all have all the right answers because they were there and they did it.

Expert witness are the people who put quite a few innocent people in prison. I am not sure that they have much credibility anymore..they dont see the wood just the trees and their evidence is generally fogged with their own prejudices and inclinations...I think I see where you fall..

432's fully combat loaded are just over 15 tons, which I guess includes 10 to 13 soldiers, empty it is around 13 tons....sure someone can look in the book.

I had two stalwarts on the DROPS and sweeks once and I am sure if we were driving like a loon we could have toppled the lot...I didnt and we journeyed 500 miles without problems...

have seen many many 432's loaded on a drops. no matter how you look at it the drops platfrom is high and the centre of gravity therefore high...so care is needed when driving a drops. it is too easy to go hurtling along at 43 mph and then overtake a ferrari at speed and cut in and lose your load all over the said ferrari. Joking aside,

the load limits for all axles is 11tons approximately and with a 432 on the rear the loading of just 13 tons will not overload any of the axles. she is designed for 32 and a half tons but in UK can only take 32 tons. As she is, with a full load positioned on the bed spread across evenly, she carries some 65% on the rear two axles and the remaining 35% on the front two axles. A 432 would spread the load evenly as she is fairly balanced across her tracks.

So total poppy cock that is it a problem for a drops to carry them...the only reason I can see why a drops is not used by the army is because it only carries one and there are no specific pallets for it, where as a low loader will carry two for the same journey cost. ie one or two drivers and the same fuel and time taken, for two 432's deliverred, where as the drops is just one per journey. And the DROPS off road perfromance is not needed when delivering a 432 which will go further on its own than the DROPS would do off road..no brainer,

So anyone who thinks a DROPS wont carry or cant carry a 432 is in cloud cuckoo land. its within UK regs and perfectly safe..if driven carfully, just like any truck.....just warn ferraris I may come past then at 43 mph and swerve violently.

Anyway she is running sweet now, only annoying thing is the leak I get from the front hub from that brass pressure release valve, cant seem to make it stop...damn annoying...

Okay it looks like we have fixed a few more air leaks on the thing, she is running a treat after the kind David Crouch supplied me with the spare relays. The guys who were fitting the hydrogen system blew out the cab electrics, all fixed now.

it holds some air for up to 3 or four days now...however I still think we are leaking air via one of the brake units...anyone know how to check these...the leak must be tiny as we cannot hear a thing...

Andy just has to do a small bit of body work to her and she will be perfect...

I have two pallets, one is partially adapted as the MTLB carrier, we are going to do a couple more changes that will mean we can simply drive on and it stays on without chains etc...we will bolt it at the front which will mean it is fixed solid and then add an emergency restraint at the back just in case of catastrophic failure of the front holding device...

the second bed we are going to adapt with a complete flat bed wire mesh inbetween the main beams and this will be used for general loads....its the 10 ton body but we are strengthening it so it will easily take 15 tons...

I plan to get another body so that I fit it up to carry the 432 or 434, as well as other tracked vehicles...will be off to see Dave in a few weeks to collect..

then need to restore the weeks trailer, only cosmetics. All running gear lights and brakes already done I am thinking of removing the mechanical winch and other bits and pieces which should give me an additional 300 kgs of load. its only a 14.3 ton trailer and we guess the trailer is 3.5 tons, we have not weighed it yet, so it can carry 10.8 tons...the extra 300 kgs should then give me enough leeway to carry an 11 ton load. although I then have to be careful what I have on the foden or daf as I May go over my weight limit...

I am taking the Daf DROPS MTLB newly refurbed with lights and things, Gaz 69 and Uaz 452....we are doing a bit of advertising for restoration work...now we are set up with the work area and shop etc..

you definitly need a c class on your licence, rigid body over 7.5 tons.....some did drive them on b licences but thats when we were less knowledgable. You would need to bring the weight down to less than 7.5 tons register it PLG and MOT it as gross weight 7.5 tons...

losing the weight isnt that difficult, loads of gear can come out and you should have around 7 tons. Things like the swim units, the fire system, the gearboxes for the dowty drive, the front winch if fitted, the fuel tank and fit an alloy one, and other paraphernalia that are no longer used...

I think it is just about do-able...as to the MOT no chance but the reclassification is just a paper excercise..ie you just register it as a 7.5 ton gross vehicle weight. Not as simple as it might sound due to other potental issues.

I must weigh my stripped out stolly and see how much she weighs..

monty we have tried the coke one, it used to work on old rover clutches..hasnt worked here yet

Remember you have a twin plate clutch and they tend to be harder to free off, hence why a catch is provided to keep the pedal depressed while out of use. Any water in the hull will get into the clutch too, if it has been standing outside. Probably end up with taking the engine out, as trying to free it otherwise, may end up with ripping the centres out of the plates.

thanks richard just add to the pain...the boys forgot to lock the clutch pedal down and yes it filled with water because a temporary bung had been fitted and not released...we have one last play to try...

Okay I have tried all the tricks I know, anyone got any ideas what to do with my totally stuck clutch on the stolly.

tried driving with clutch peddle down, gone up very steep hill with clutch peddle down, towed it at speed with clutch peddle down, rocked it back and forth, she is stuck solid...

any ideas...

just shows we need to keep vigilant and we have to drive these things ever more carefully, we know they are not as safe as modern cars. No reason to panic but it does mean we need to be so much more careful than when driving our normal cars etc...

I hope the guy with head injuries recovers....

Harsh , but true

 

Jamie

not true at all they are wonderful vehicles and very easy to drive, very practical and easy to fix...made with russian steel which is generally good....and when something breaks it can be repaired with basic tools..should add not the lrgest of cabs inside, you have a very low seating position just like a stalwart...

That looks a nice truck,Do You need an HGV License and/or HGV Plating/MOT Test for it

HGV licence yes, plating, currently under review by the DVLA but at the moment no...however some users of them as work trucks have them voluntarily tested.

the gearbox in my munga is broken, one of the bearings on the splined shaft to the box has failed completely...its the smaller of the two splined shafts, anyone have a number for this bearing, its a ball bearing unit, must be an equivalent...

got to say that actually there are a lot of excellent war films but if I had to sit and watch a film over and over again and still be able to do so it is

the battle of britain...fantastic fim, and the final part where no german aricraft appear, and everyone is sitting doing nothing is just so poigniant (did I spell that right can never get it right) it is believable over and over again...

and those famous lines 'where are you simon,' pink floyd loved them too...

gosh makes me want to go watch it now...

well had an intrersting moment with my munga...driving along and bang it locked up...not sure exactly what happened..anyway rolls in neutral, engages gears but...it wont start without the clutch peddle pressed, and if you try to release it in any gear neutral or drive it stalls...

looking at the clutch cable it looks like it has broken the sheathing, but can tell exactly...will have a look at my other ones today and see...but anyone any ideas, it feels like the clutch hs failled mechnically in some way thrust bearing or similar..

anyone any ideas, will have to strip it out I suspect...anyone got an air filter for one going spare..

out of the £30 fee £19 is land rental cost,£7 per driver liability insurance and the rest go,s on advertising and costs for running the events

wow thats a lot, 30 pounds is a baragin at those rates...

it is a good site for playing but 30 quid per vehicle is steep...the membership is annual not every time...but its a great site to play and does little harm to your vehicles if driven with some sense...

Power supply to the cab comes onto 2 studs located below the passenger glovebox, just to the left of it. I had several dodgy earths, so remade all these and things were a lot better. the Rev counter is run form a seperate alternator output, so may be connected with having the alternator repalced. The tacho interface is mouted below the fuses and relays.

 

Good luck

the alternator repair guy said it had been wired in a very odd way inside, i am just wondering if that odd way was the correct way for the truck...anyway he is coming to have a look tomorrow...your comments all help but i have to suspect disturbed or broken wires when they have been fitting the HHO system...