Tony Lawrence

The re-construction commences slowly. Chassis and wheels painted green, compressor stripped down and re-painted. Mr. Corden came over and helped put the flywheel back on (it must weigh 40-50 lbs) and after a bit of WD40 the piston turns over quite easily. Compressor put back on chassis and already the "lightweight" element of the trailer has gone forever. The next stage is putting back the various stands, rear hook and replacing the electrics before starting on the engine

Just a thought - my mortar trailer was probably an early one (lifting handles attached to chassis so probably had early barrel type hitch) whereas the one for sale and in the 1960 book have the later hitch. Were they modified to take electrics as production continued?

This is from the 1949 manual. I have never seen the 1960 parts list - can you scan in the relevant pages. Certainly my mortar trailer has no electrical fittings or has ever had any provision for them, unlike the GS trailer.

See the thread in British Vehicles section. Tony

Given the cost of new ash timber and any other fixtures and fittings I can see why he is asking this amount. I also cannot see any data plate or even the bolt holes where it should go. Also it appears to have a hole at the end of the chassis bar for an electrical cable and indeed one appears to be dangling from the hitch but these were never fitted as built (see manual). Is it a 'bitser'?

Help, just as things were going well I have come upon my first problem. When I original took everything to bits I noticed that one of the pressure relief valves was loose on its union. having now taken it off, dismantled it and got it working I have found out why it was loose. The union to which it was attached is steel and the valve body is alloy and the steel union male thread has stripped the alloy female thread - not completely but it cannot be tightened. Does anybody have any ideas how I can overcome this? Would one of these plastic metal compounds be of any use or does the ingenious collective out there have a better solution?

The compressor is being dismantled and re-assembled bit by bit. As I do not have any manual for it seems safer to do it this way rather than trying to re-assemble a pile of parts. So far all nuts and bolts are undoing with no effort which infers that it has been well maintained in the past. After removing old paint and priming I will be painting it British Army green (1944 spec) with certain parts such as the fan blade being painted red. Even though the engine and compressor show the remains of light grey/duck egg blue, underneath there are definite traces of green so that is what I will go with. All moving parts such as piston and crank appear spotless.

Ian, It looks good - original cleats and it looks as though it has the data plate as well. The woodwork appears original but well worn so it will be interesting to see the results when you begin restoring it. this is the trailer I photographed at Southsea. It might be worth contacting Sean as his trailer had that type of hitch. Richard Farrant thinks that this trailer was made by Templewood . A quote from the previous GS trailer thread regarding the above photo "Tony/Richard, The preparation of the Dingo,Jeep and K2 for Normandy next month have prevented anything from being done to our trailer since this post over two years ago. The pictures do show the tail/headboard arrangement and poses several questions which are still unanswered. Hopefully work will restart on the trailer this summer. Since that post it has become apparent that trailers exist today with a hinged headboard, a hinged tailboard or a combination of both front and rear. Both Orme Evans and TEC produced 10 cwt Number 2 trailers-Mortar,Mortar Ammunition and GS variants concurrently in the same contracts at their respective factories.that is a matter of contract record. It would seem that Mortar trailers were designed with a hinged headboard only,the GS with a hinged tailboard only. The mudguard shape is a red herring as all 10 cwt Number 2 trailers by these makers had the rectangular mudguards. Is it possible that at some stage a number of trailers were retrospectively converted as an improvement or even perhaps to increase the availability of normal load carrying GS trailers in use by providing a rear tailboard or was it possible that all combinations came out of the works during the war ? Pictures of the trailers deployed behind the gun in an ammunition supply role shows the practicality of the front hinged headboard when the tow ring is placed on the ground and the headboard opened but for normal loading of ammunition or general stores surely a rear opening tailgate is preferable especially when the trailer is attached a towing vehicle. I have a friend who uses his Mortar trailer to collect logs and he curses the front opening headboard as an inconvenience. So the question remains ? David." Check around posting 312 on the GS trailer thread. Tony L.

Ian, as you can see from the official manual, this type of trailer fitting is shown as standard for the mortar trailer. this is the only info I have but back in the GS trailer posts sean Walsh had one on his trailer and I posted a couple of photos I took at an MVCG rally at Southsea many years ago of a trailer with the same hitch - both trailers had opening front and rear gates leading me to suppose that they were from one manufacture and possibly a post-war variant. The manual is 1948 so it could be an illustration of this variant...it doesn't say. However, as I said at the time I would be most interested if you were selling it. Tony L.

With a little TLC can you see the join? Also I managed to get the flywheel off the compressor - it is a heavy brute and I had to use crow bars and blocks of wood as I had no suitable puller. Now it means that I should be able to inspect the bearings. Slowly, slowly, catchee monkey!

The wheels for my compressor trailer are non-fluted and completely devoid of any markings or stamps - I have just had them sandblasted and the correct tyres fitted (6.00 x 16). The wheels on my lightweight and mortar trailer are fitted at the moment so I cannot tell but they are all fluted. A spare rim I have is non-fluted and also devoid of any markings. I would have thought that my compressor trailer is the latest of all of them but apparently fitted with the earliest wheels. Probably like most military things, completely mixed up in the workshops.

And so can telling tales out of school!!!!!!!!!!!

Richard, As always you are the fount of all knowledge. I checked some of the old bolts and they are BSF, not UNF. I have been playing with my old Grey Fergie tractor recently and must have UNF on the brain!!

Richard, those are the additions when they cut the chassis and lowered it. They are not part of the original chassis. The bolts I am replacing are those holding the mudguards and stand clamps which are 5/16th

I have now had everything back from the sandblaster and it all looks good. The chassis is almost immaculate with no pitting around the shackle bolts or brake rods. The next step is to get the front of the chassis welded back into it's proper position, hopeful in the next week or so. new tyres will be fitted next week. Now to process an expensive order of 5/16th UNF nuts and bolts from Namric.

Ooops - just read the bit about the hitch being replaced. The rest of my reply still stands.

The chassis appears to be a 10cwt chassis with a lightweight chassis front stand mount. If the cylindrical tow hitch barrel is correct (the brake handle is of the same period) then surely there should be grab handles welded to the chassis bar. The mudguards and mudguard brackets seem definitely post-war. Would the brackets/metal hoops on the top be supports for when the lids are opened - the lids would then act as flat working surfaces. All in all it appears to be a post-war build using some wartime components.

Never let John Corden drive your pride and joy - I asked him to bring it into the arena as out of over 300 jeeps on site we only had four bother to come in for the 75th anniversary of the jeep event. He was meant to drive it around sensibly!!

post-war linesman/GPO trailer. I followed it into W&P

Looking at the radiator/oil cooler there are definitely the remains of an eau-de-nil (duck egg blue) paint and as can be seen on the previous photos the engine at least is light grey with red bits. These colours appear original so any thoughts on whether these colours were just left by the military from civilian stock of engines/compressors or a complete re-build and re-paint when demobbed? I need to make a decision soon on what to paint and how.

The chassis has been cut and bolted to pieces of channel to lower the tow hitch. Luckily it has been cut and bolted to the channels without any reduction of the chassis length and so after the chassis has been sandblasted I will get the two pieces welded back as per the original spec.

[ The heavy compressor will then be removed from the chassis in near future. The heavy compressor was removed this morning. The engine hoist had just enough reach although in the process the compressor tipped and deposited it's sump oil on the floor due to the side plate/air tank support being removed. Surprisingly the operation proceeded in a straightforward manner and it is now sitting in the middle of the garage floor. I then proceeded to remove one wheel and then the wing followed by the other plus the two forward side stands and the trailer chassis is now on the drive waiting to be towed to the sandblaster. Having got the machinery out, the question of colour remains. The Austin engine is a light grey, as is the radiator and possibly the compressor with features such as the flywheel and certain accessories painted red. Would these have been the original military colours or a repaint in later years. If a repaint then a lot of time was spent on it. Original military green can be seen behind the mudguards. Opinions would be welcomed. The photos show all of these colours.

I trust you are not referring to IMPS and MVT!!! Seriously, I wonder how the DVLA vet the clubs on their list. I do not think that they check with the FHBVC

Unfortunately the e-mail bounced back. First lot of bits are now with the sandblaster and today I have taken delivery of two new 6.00 x 16 tourist tyres. Engine and compressor should be out by the weekend.

I couldn't resist it - the radiator is now out. I forgot to drain it in my excitement and so I now have a lot of water/antifreeze over the garage floor. Interestingly it appears that the radiator also acts as an oil cooler as there are inlet and outlet oil pipes and a matrix at the back of the radiator. Telephone the sandblaster tomorrow.