Richard Grosvenor

Howdu! :-D In Withams last tender sale Lot 1 , the Nimrod on an artic trailer, does anyone know what it sold for and where it is now? Richard

I've got one. It was brought for use in the house but wasn't that great so I "borrowed" it. It's actually quite good, especially for cleaning around engine bit's before doing any work on them. And for £20 you can't go wrong really. 8-) Richard

WOW!!! I want a Meteor engine! That sounds great. :-D Richard

:-D Thanks Chris, I thought that it might be buried deep down in the engine compartment. Richard

Where about's is the hand pump on the Ferret? I've never been able to find it on mine. :? Richard

YEY!! :-D. I've finally found the switch! Very strangely it was clipped to the wire going from the coil to the distributor :dunno: ! The only thing I can think is that sometime in the past it had been knocked off the choke cable and not knowing were it should go, someone clipped it to the coil wire. Needless to say it's now in the right place and for the first time since we brought the old girl ( about 2 years ) we now have a working choke light 8-) Many thanks Richard

So you mean it might be worth putting in a really silly bid on this ? http://www.witham-sv.com/tender/lots_detail.php?ID=1 :whistle: Richard

Hmmmm :?.... I had another look at it tonight but as it was raining it was only a quick look. I tried turning the knob but unfortunantly the light still stayed on. I also had a look near the carb but couldn't see anything on the choke cable. I can only see 2 wires coming from the carb but one appears to go to the coil and the other to the vacuum advance on the distributor. As I said it was raining so I'll have a better look tomorrow. Thank you :-D Richard

Ah ! I've not tried that. I'll give it a go. Thanks Larry. I had a look for the little micro switch yesterday but couldn't find it, nor any wires that could be going to it for that matter. Am I in the right place, I'm looking near the choke next to the ignition switch? Regards Richard

Thanks Clive and Richard, right, I see now ... I think. That would make sense that it is stuck because the Land Rover hasn't been used much lately so yeah , it is almost certainly stuck. I will have a look tomorrow and see what I find :-D Many Thanks Richard

Have you thought about getting a normal civy tractor unit? I know it won't have the same image as a Military based one but it will be alot easier to get plated not to mention be faster , more comfortable and more suited to long distances. We've got a Renault Magnum 420 and with it's large cab it's ideal for weekends away....well it would be if I had the time to go! The only warning I would give about going down this route is to remember that modern second hand tractor units while being cheap to buy still have huge running costs and the man at the test station couldn't care less that you only use it a few weekends a year. It will still have to comply to the same standard as a truck hauling 44tonnes 7 days a week. Saying that road tax is incredibly cheap for a Private HGV. How does £165 a year sound! 8-) And you won't need an operators license if you don't carry anyone else's property for hire or reward. regards Richard

I may be stupid but.....I have a problem with the choke warning light staying on on our Land Rover S3. Until tonight I had never seen it come on before but now it won't go off! :? I've had a quick look around the choke control but as I have no idea how the warning light is switched I don't really know what I'm looking for. Any help would be much appreciated. Many Thanks Richard

While Hammerite is good I've found Black Friar's QD 90 to be a lot better. It comes in loads of different colours ( including Land Rover Green ), is heat resistance to 150 C and their rust inhibiting primmer stops rust coming back for years . And you can thin it and clean your brushes with normal White Spirit. Which is nice! ;-) You won't find it the B & Q type places though, I get mine from a local Crown Paint Center. Richard

Yep Well Done! So you're now a professional driver Fun isn't it :-D I did mine just before Christmas, unfortunately I took 3 attempts. The first time I nudged the barrier which is an instant failure ( but I only got 7 minors ) . Second time I got 8 minors but as 3 of them was for hesitation ,again it was a fail. But the third I nailed it with only 2 minor faults :-D. As Jack says it does help to open up some doors. I did some work for Tesco over Christmas drawing 45ft fridge trailers and the moneys not bad. You could soon earn the cost of the course back. Mind you, what they don't teach you on the course is how to back a 45ft trailer into a crowded RDC's loading bay with no-room...in the dark! And you know how you're not meant to touch the barrier in the test? Well in the real world you have to hit the bay quite hard for it to lock on to the trailer! 8-) Richard

While I can see both your points, every second-hand vehicle you'll ever buy will have used seat-belts in it ( if it has seat-belts of course). It's just like people who'll say they'll never buy used tyre's but I wounder how many people change their perfectly serviceable tyre's when they buy a new secondhand car? Richard

well the Militant and Ferret are both older than me. The Fh70 and the Land Rover are younger. Richard

You're right there. I would think you'd be hard pushed to low load at anything less than £2 a mile even at "mates rates" Richard

:-D I think that's persuasive enough ;-) Richard

I shouldn't think it would take that long. If we're ever at a show together I suppose I could be persuaded to give up the keys to the old girl ;-). I will always remember when I first got the Militant and I couldn't change gear at all. It didn't matter what I did I just couldn't get a gear without loads of crunching. Then a mate of mine who has been driving HGV's for years jumped in it. He pulled away and went 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 without even a hint of a crunch. It was quite annoying, but it did prove that the gearbox was ( and still is ) fine. :-) Richard 45 mph in a Militant!!!!!! :schocked:

The one thing I would say is not to depress the clutch for too long before trying to select the required gear. Remember, you're trying to match the engine speed and the road speed to the ratio of the gear you are going to change to. The second the clutch is depressed the gearbox is no longer linked to the engine and the two start to rotate at different speeds and then you have trouble trying to engage the gear. The way I learnt with my Militant Mk1 was to not use the clutch. It sounds a horrible thought but in practice you can "feel" the gear in much easier than when using the clutch and the changes were smooth and silent. Once I got the timming right I started to use the clutch. Saying that, even now I still miss the odd gearchange but I think thats all part of the fun of a crash box. Richard

Oh something else...I've found if asking a Non-Military Vehicle supplier for anything to do with a MV don't tell them it's for a MV. It only confuses and panics them and you get the response " We don't do anything like that! " :-) Richard

here you go. Have a little looky here. :-) http://www.hmvf.co.uk/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=49&topic=584.0 Richard

Hello, this running problem wouldn't be the problem most Ferrets seem to have in the cold weather? Hmmmm....I put a question about it last year because mine always runs bad in the winter. ( Mine has met yours by the way. :-). ) I'll find the thread and put a link to it in a bit. Richard

Why swap her for one Neil. Why not get one to transport her about? :-D. Well other than the fact that they need special permission to go on the road and their fuel consumption is measured in gallons to the mile of course. ;-) Richard

Well the Ferret is called "Eric" because that was what the previous owner called it and as it really suits him the name has stayed. The Militant is called "Mally" after the chap who owned it before. The Howitzer is called "The Enforcer". Do you really need to ask why! It's a 155mm FH70!! 8-) The Land Rover is called "Florance" as in Nightingale because it was a field ambulance. :oops: And the ZIL was called "The Bitch" because most of the time it was :-) Richard