Stone

Did you know the BBC Watchdog programme are having a go at the DVLA for the number of total screw-ups they make every year that affect peoples livelihoods??

Saw that, they had a load of errors from when people sent in their licenses to change their address, ranging from a bike license being 'lost', to a car license mysteriously turning into a bike license, to someone gaining category H at random! If only they knew how much effort we went to to get these in the first place :argh:

Stone

I lost my paper part so had to send off for a replacement (you get a new paper and card), and pay for the priviledge, fair enough. But rather than being valid for a further 10yrs it still has the same expiry date as the old one....

It's not ten years from the licence issue, it's ten years from them issuing a license with a new photo. If you sent off the form D2 for a replacement licence with a new photo and £20 attached (on top of the replacement fee) you would have added 10 years onto your validity. I just sent mine off to add a provisional category and they reprinted my photocard - so it's valid from about a week ago but still has the same photo expiry date.

The D2 is a stupidly hard form to understand because it's used for so many different things, so it probably wasn't obvious. If you're going to take a test for an extra category at any point then it's probably easiest to send them a new photo when you send your license in - I'm going to update my photo when I eventually get my C entitlement just so I can forget about it for a while. :argh:

Stone

All the units I've seen with the box bodies have been in signals regiments as sabre points out - there's a wide selection just for Ptarmigan rigs alone! From memory they have

Bedford + Ptarmigan radio relay (3/4 length shelter, front occupied by a pallet containing 2x3kW generators and a storage area with a ton of different antenna heads in and space for 2x12m masts, with a third mast mounted on the back of the shelter and a fourth, smaller mast mounted on the front of the antenna storage area above the cab) - this is the one we have

Ptarmigan 'power vehicle' - 2x20kW generators on a Bedford

Ptarmigan 'office' - bit like sabre's one but with a different door layout

Ptarmigan 'radio workshop' - similar but with a genny

I think there's an end node as well (Ptarmigan -> other comms systems), and I've probably forgotten some! I've also seen them with mixtures of the different types - short box body with the massive 20kW genny on the front, for example. I think they mixed and matched depending on what they wanted at the time.

We had to throw away about 300kg of Ptarmigan kit to get our box body clear :coffee:

I've also had a peek at the new Pinzgauer-based Ptarmigan rigs, they are some very swanky kit :cool2:

Stone

Thanks in no small part to your helpful suggestions I passed with 74/100. Thank you!

Now on to the main theory test...

Stone

Wow, that's very kind of you. Thanks

Stone

Just got my driving licence back with provisional for C/C1/D (lasts 20 years so figured I might as well get the lot!) and booked my theory tests.

I'm pretty happy with the questions, but the hazard perception (Tuesday!) has me bricking it :shake: Been driving cars for 7 years without any problems, but how hard is it? I keep hearing horror stories and really need to pass soon.

Any tips to stop a major f*ckup very welcome!

Stone

One-upmanship of the Tank Limo, maybe? :cool2:

Stone

Add £30 to the end price for a set of legal numberplates...:coffee:

Stone

Seem to remember my form 654 had the wrong chassis number on as well (from Withams). One digit entered twice or something similar. I put correct chassis number on forms at DVLA and didn't have any trouble they mustn't have noticed the slight error. :whistle:

Lucky you! :-D Ours had an extra zero in it - should have been obvious since all chassis numbers have only 17 digits but oh well...

I wouldn't say the MJ was uncomfortable but then I've had leaf sprung Land Rovers aplenty. Steering is almost unmovable whilst stationary but not that bad once moving even slowly. No need to go to the gym if driven regularly. Why would you really need to be steering whilst stationary anyway?

Think it depends on exactly which Bedford - our Ptarmigan one seems to be missing all the seat adjustments (the seats are just bolted straight down). You're right, shouldn't need to steer from stationary but I'm rubbish at parking :coffee:

Stone

Someone will be about from 6am...:sweat:

Thanks, I doubt I'll be down that early :-D

Stone

Oh, I also should have added it'll take an extra 4-5ish weeks to get it registered if the Army wrote the chassis number down wrong on the Form 654 :argh: We got Withams to arrange a replacement and that came back with the same mistake on it...in the end we got a letter confirming the correct chassis number and date in service from the nice folks at the MoD's Defense Equipment & Support section which served in addition to our Form 654. If you get this wrong you end up registering and taxing a vehicle that doesn't exist, so if you get stopped and have your documents checked, you can end up being done for being untaxed and thus uninsured and have the vehicle confiscated :shake:

To be honest the MJ is pretty uncomfortable to drive around - we got one because we specifically needed it but if you have half a chance of getting something more suitable for off-roading I'd go for that. Certainly without power steering I can barely steer it when stationary, I dread to think what it'd do in rutted ground. Probably not much :-D

Hope that's some food for thought, anyway.

Stone

Quick question: all you lot are turning up Thursday but some of us can't get down until the Saturday - but when are you going to open up shop? Doesn't appear to be on the website...

Don't much fancy sitting in the car park ;-)

Stone

Try doing that on mine - we'll have the ambulance standing by ready !!!! :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Might take you up on that

The thing that gets me is it's only held up by the tiny catch on that arm on the side - if it's anything like the British ones and suddenly gives way, the hatch'd snap your arm like a twig. Oh well, they're only conscripts I suppose :shocked:

Stone

If you're Russian, you vault in. Wonder how many broken ankles/legs/arms they end up with...

Stone

Here's a still from the middle of a Youtube video. What's that sitting in the middle of the SA-15 battery? Sure it's not a hard one, just not seen one before.

[edit: Found it! It's a MT-LBu.]

Cheers

Stone

I've had a few bits from http://www.specialistauctions.co.uk - lots of deacs etc listed (and generally everything else that eBay banned...)

Beware if you do sign up - use a temporary password and then change it, as part of the registration process they email you the password you used in plaintext :argh:

Stone

Hi Anthony,

This is fresh in my mind as I've just sorted out registering our MJ Hopefully I won't ramble too much.

Basically, when you get your MJ (assumption: from Withams, given your location) you'll end up with the vehicle and a flimsy blue A4 sheet called a MOD Form 654 (Application for Disposal of a Cast Vehicle). Whatever you do don't lose this - it's the only proof of the age of your vehicle and you'll end up with a Q plate if you don't have it. Get the Bedford home on a flatbed and stick a drip tray under the engine - it'll probably be there a few weeks while the DVLA sort things out.

First get the vehicle insured. This will have to be through the chassis number since it doesn't have a registration number yet - most insurers will only cover it for 1-2 weeks on a chassis number so you might want to make sure you have everything in place before doing this. We have a blanket company insurance policy that covers any vehicle owned by the company, so we didn't do anything special here.

Next get yourself to your local DVLA office - probably Peterborough. You'll need a form V55/5 from them (application for a first licence for a motor vehicle and declaration for registration). They have them sat in racks at my local office so you probably want to take a couple in case you mess one up.

If you want to claim exemption from plating and testing you'll also need a V112G form - you can download these from the DVLA website (here) and fill it in in advance - pick your exemption category and you're signing to say that you don't need an MOT for one of the stated reasons. (we fitted into exemption 14, but you probably won't). If not you'll need to get an MOT from an HGV testing centre.

Fill out your V55/5. There's an example here (filled in for a kit car, but you can see the fields). If you have the 'Purpose and Planning' document it's really helpful for filling the fields in (if not, PM me and I'll send you a copy). Salient points:

Tax class: Private HGV

Make: Bedford

Model: Truck 4x4 Fixed Platform 4t W/Turbo Eng

Wheelplan: 2 Axle Rigid

Fuel type: Heavy Oil

Cylinder capacity: 5400cc

Maximum Permissible Mass: 9650kg

Year of Manufacture: 1985ish (on the Form 654)

Leave all the other fields blank - when you get to the desk the clerk will help you fill it in (more so if you've tried to help them out by filling in as much as possible first).

At the local office you need the following:

- Your photocard driving licence

- Your MOD Form 654

- Your completed V55/5

- Your V112G if appropriate or MOT cert if not

- Your insurance certificate

- £55 for the first registration fee

- More money for the first 6 months / 1 year of road tax (£120 for private HGV)

- Pictures rarely hurt

- Any extra documentation you have, like the purpose and planning booklet from the manual which has all the details of brake type etc in it.

We didn't fit side-impact bars - ask if you want to, but we showed them pictures and they didn't seem worried when registering it. Each local office varies, as per usual :-|

Once you've handed everything in you should get back a receipt within 7-10 days with a tax disc and Registration Authorisation Certificate attached - this lets you go and get number plates made up. Once they're attached and the tax disc is on display you're road legal - just have to wait for the V5C in the post.

At this point you can only drive it if you have Category C on your driving license. Find a friend who does, and get them to accompany you to a weighbridge for a split ticket - you want the unladen axle weights. (usually they'll give you the full weight as well for the same price). Send the ticket off to SV Tech along with £350ish and they'll do the paperwork and send you some metal plates - these bolt onto the suspension endstops to slightly reduce the suspension travel and thus the maximum load. They'll then sort out the paperwork with the DVLA and once the new V5C is issued with the correct weight on (and you have a new dataplate stamped and riveted in place) you can drive it on a C1 license. (note: we needed the extra cargo capacity so didn't do this, but we did look into it)

Also note you may need a tachograph fitted if you don't meet one of the exemptions - the rules are very complicated so I won't muddy the waters, but it's definitely something to check up on.

Not sure about the body torsion thing - I definitely wouldn't fit a Luton style body to it (as the bed is rigid but twists relative to the cab when going cross-country). You might want to take the easy way out and just convert a comms box body internally - they have a fair bit of internal space, and you know the work's been done already to make sure it won't fall off the vehicle! If you're not confident with what to do when it breaks down I would be a bit wary of taking it too far off the beaten path though, to be honest. Maybe the land rover isn't such a bad idea?

Hope that helped, anyway

Stone

I think I had a set of those 44 pattern ones on my cadet webbing set! We hated them because you couldn't fit L98A1 mags in them, they mostly ended up stuffed with bits of rat pack :-D

Stone

I've uploaded them all to my website - if anyone wants the link drop me a PM.

Cheers

Stone

As per your other thread, I got a CD off a friend of a friend :cool2:

Drop me a PM and I'll see what I can rustle up.

Stone

Stormin is right on the money, ours does around 4-500 rpm when nice and warm and does about 3000 rpm flat out. We got it to 56mph on the motorway (downhill, obviously) but the vibration increases a lot above 50mph - you'll have a much smoother ride if you try and avoid ragging it too much.

The manual says to idle at ~1000rpm for a few minutes before setting off to allow the turbo time to lubricate itself, likewise when you finish the journey give it a little time idling to allow the oil to remove heat from the turbo. Some of the cab controls were a bit non-obvious when we first started so you obviously want to make sure you know what everything does beforehand! We usually park it with wheels chocked and handbrake off since Withams warned us about the handbrake seizing on. Our service brakes were very grabby too - seatbelt on and have a couple of laps around the yard and you'll be fine

I have a full set of digitised service manuals (but they don't quite match up with the truck we have, so caution!). Which body type is it? Winch/no winch, crane/no crane, dropside/workshop body/Ptarmigan/tanker? They're all slightly different, but I'll see if I can sort you out

Stone

Do they ever apply these regulations retroactively though? I'm not sure how happy people would be with having half their entitlements taken away - we don't force holders of old licenses to meet the current standards to continue driving, f'rexample. My granddad was telling me about his driving test (a trip around the block with the emergency stop tested by the examiner jumping out of a bush into the middle of the road with his palm extended!) and his license is still current.

Not to set the cat among the pigeons too much, but what about tachographs? How many of us lot have vehicles less than 25 years old but above 7.5t MAM? By the new rules all these require a tachograph if they're not under another exemption, but do you have to fit one if you were previously (legally) running without one? :???

Stone

Answer to No.4: It's an actuator indicator rod. If it comes out too far (Red line) then it's time to adjust the drum brakes! As the linings wear & the slave cylinder pistons expand increasingly outwards. then the master cylinder is pushing more fluid from the reserviours. Its operated by an Air piston in the cylindrical chamber bolted onto the master cylinder.

Hope that helps on that one!.............:coffee:

Aha, thank you! Is it supposed to stick out that far, or are you supposed to shove it back in? There's about an inch of untarnished metal before the red stripe so I guess that means it's ok.

As regards 5, aren't there standard electrical sockets on the dash for pin plugs? It's quite easy to feed off the back of them with ring terminals. They're good for quite a high load as well.

I did wonder what they were for! (if you mean the ones above the dual air pressure gauge, that is) They looked a bit out of place - would never have guessed they were just attached to the battery. That does make it a lot easier then.

Obviously they're isloated by the battery and not permanent live so you'll lose station presets. If that's a issue then you'll have to go off the isolator.

Yeah, I'm happy with the sparky leccy bits

Cheers

Stone

Hi all,

While I get halfway up to speed on our Bedford's aspects mechanical, I keep running into more questions. Here's a little list

of things that's been bugging me; if anyone can shed any light I'd be very grateful!

1) Oil spec is listed as OMD90 - what's the best civvie match? Fully-mineral or semi-synth? How often will it need changing? Same spec for engine/gearbox/hubs, or different?

2) Same question with coolant: what civvie types mix with AL39? I've been topping up with deionised water for the time being

but I don't want to dilute the mix too much - equally I don't want to use incompatible antifreeze and have it clot in the block though!

3) Same question with brake fluid - is it actually brake fluid or oil-based (know the CVR(T) catches people out...)? It's labelled OX8.

4) While we sort out C licenses for everyone we have an ex-TA guy who's been driving for us. On his initial walkround he

pulled out a steel pin (rusty outside, clean and shiny on the inside, with a tiny strip of red/white tape on it) from the

rear edge of the brake master cylinder, peered at it then replaced it as part of his checks. When I asked him what it was for

he just said 'no idea, we were just told to make sure it moves freely'(!). What's it for? (pic attached)

5) Has anyone added anything in to the electrical system? Where's the most convenient place to splice things in? I was

planning to run an extra wire from the battery master switch under the driver's seat - but this will obviously only work if

it isolates the positive side of the batteries from the rest of the electricals, rather than isolating the negative side from

the chassis (which makes more sense and prevents 'dropped spanner' incidents, but hey, it's British!). Need somewhere to run

the stereo off!

Thank you

Stone

The military MK/MJ cabs have a large removable access panel over the engine..........the civvy TK cab does not have this. If both seats are removed the panel can be removed, many years since I was working on these but definitely worth taking out if you have a water pump to change. Those starter switches have a tendency to work loose and turn as you go to start the engine.

Didn't realise you had to take both seats out to get the panel off - the centre panel (with the ignition on) is clearly a separate entity but the bolts are all quite well-hidden! To be honest it'd have to be pretty serious to get me to take the top off, it runs just fine (and got the OK from an ex-REME chap) so I don't want to be tempting fate by fiddling

Totally understand about the starter switch - our switch body has two flats on it but the hole is perfectly circular. There's nothing to hold onto on the back without slicing up your fingers on the contacts, I think we did a pretty good job regardless!

Stone