Grumpy

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Idea robbed from another forum :whistle: and not really a competition, but just add your caption.

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Jack is your normal road insurance with RS & Fully comp. :dunno:

Happy Birthday mate hope you had a good un

:beer:

I thought recovery vehicles were exempt from class C license but can't find it now so I must've been thinking of the testing reg's.

 

- Mike

 

Only if it has an unladen weight not exceeding 3.05 tonnes, above that and normal license restrictions apply

As Chris said etch primer, but be very careful and only use in well-ventilated areas and preferably with a good mask. Most etch primers contain sulphuric acid and tend to sting a little when breathed in :shake: You can get it from any good paint supplier in aerosol tins. One thing to remember is when you rub down the primer, if you rub through onto bare alloy you will have to prime again as your top coat will just peal off.

Great news about the clutch Neil, least you can use the beast again :banana:

 

As I understand it, the Chieftain will run on petrol, but the ignition timing settings are a compromise between those for diesel and petrol, so to paraphrase Doctor Johnson*, it runs indifferently on either.

 

 

The Tatra is multifuel and will run on petrol or diesel or any combination of. To run on petrol you start on ethanol and there is an electric primary fuel pump that is switched on to elevate problems with petrol “steam” bubbles in the fuel injection system. The manual recommends a maximum of 10,000 km of petrol before you switch back to diesel.

Main problem is petrol burns much slower than diesel so the injection timing has to be retarded to account for the slower burn. To run on mixture of petrol / diesel, Tatra supply you with a hydrometer to measure the viscosity of the fuel,you then set the fuel injection pump timing accordingly via a little lever in the cab. The manual does recommend that if you are going to run on petrol to chuck a couple of gallon of engine oil or DERV in with each tank refill just to keep the pump lubricated.

If you present a recovery vehicle for voluntary testing what do they test it as? Do they just treat it as they would a truck of the same age?

 

Yes

 

I think I remember that you tow a trailer? so is your Militant plated?

What are you going to do about the 'O' licence?

 

The Militant might be re-registered as a Heavy Locomotive :dunno:

 

 

As regards mine, my train of logic goes like this:

 

Truck is exempt from plating because:

1. it's Historic (which supersedes all other categories)

 

Just because its taxation class is Historic doesn’t make it exempt from MOT / Plating for example a 1972 Landrover is eligible for Historic tax but it still needs to be MOT'ed. It’s the vehicle type / and / or use that makes it exempt.

 

3. it's not carrying any load and is therefore acting as a heavy motor car, or a heavy locomotive if towing a trailer (like a ballast tractor)

 

 

Only if it is registered as such

The exemption for testing also removes the need for an HGV licence to drive it.

 

Not strictly true the two are not connected, a 22-ton recovery truck is exempt from plating but still requires a class "C" to drive it

 

In the real world you can get away with a lot simply because most people in the relevant government departments don't know the regulations. It's all good till there is a problem such as the unfortunate accident in Holland mentioned elsewhere. Then the police and your insurance company get very interested in the letter of the law....

 

Very true and if you ask two people in the same department you would get different interpretations of the law, but remember just because a vehicle is exempt from plating you can still take it to a test station for a voluntary test or even just a voluntary brake test which is where the Militant is going shortly.

Neil

Both the clutch fork and actuator are splined and don’t normally spin even with the bolts lose. You can try and remove the "horse shoe" spacers to get a bit of clutch adjustment, but if the slave is moving the full stroke (there is a sharp pointer on top of the lever) it very much sounds like the clutch thrust bearing is breaking up. Adjust everything up as per the book and take it from there.

Do you need a special licence for the Volvo Grumpy ? HGV or anything

 

You need your HGV "C" category or in the old days class 2. I know a few people drive under a normal licence using the "Mobile Project Vehicle" to drive post 1960 vehicles have a look here on page 4 section R.

http://www.dvla.gov.uk/media/pdf/leaflets/inf52.pdf

Mike

The vehicle ceases to become a recovery vehicle as soon as you put a trailer on the back, remember a recovery vehicle can only be used on the road to recover a recently broken down vehicle either un-loaded on its way or with the vehicle on board, it can also be driven on the road for general service and maintenance duties i.e. road testing after a service, but it should not be used as a general run around, technically you are breaking the law just taking it to a show unless you are on you way to pick up a broken down MV :whistle: As far as the new “O” licence regulations again another grey area, your lucky as the WLF is pre 1960 so exempt from plating anyway so you don’t need the recovery status to be exempt and as you say as a private user also exempt from “O” licence. Be very careful with the private use though, it must be “not for hire or reward”; there have been a few cases recently where the ministry have successfully prosecuted Stock car drivers and Horse Box owners driving under “Private HGV” on their way to or back from an event where prizes were given and they classed this as reward

Heavy / Light Locomotive are very useful categories :-D and are exempt from MOT / Plating, however you need to consult the “Road Traffic Act 1988” to make sure your vehicle complies.

Have a look here section 185

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/Ukpga_19880052_en_1.htm

Mark

Only recovery vehicles that are of the suspended tow are exempt from plating, trailers, beaver tails etc. are not exempt from plating. My militant is registered as recovery and exempt from plating, however as soon as I put a trailer on the back it is no longer exempt. Currently recovery vehicles are also exempt from operators licence but the law is changing very shortly (end of June I think) so that an operator’s licence will be required.

How heavy is the WLF, I run a Volvo FL10 Beavertail, with a 28' x 8' bed and an 11-ton payload, which we use to drag the Stalwart around. You can pick up something similar for 3k - 4k, £165 a year for tax and Footman James were happy to include it on the MV insurance policy and because its Private HGV its operator licence exempt. As far as plating is concerned as long as you keep on top of the maintenance and the trucks in good condition when you purchase you shouldn’t have too many problems.

And a jack :whistle:

 

Don’t you mean a Militant - Jacks are had work :roll:

Sounds Logical to me :tup:

Looks like a jolly good piece of kit to me. :-D

 

The problem would be in the vehicle that was required to haul it. If he brought one of those home it would be a different matter. :n00b:

 

But doesn't every home need at least one AEC Militant :dunno:

We are hoping to take the Militant and the Stolly to War & Peace this year.

The plan is to be traveling down in convoy with Militant Graham & Militant Pete, Graham will be driving a Mk3 Militant Recovery towing a Samson on a 10 ton recovery trailer and Pete will be driving a Mk1 Militant towing a 10/30 ton recovery dolly. We will be in the MK 3 Militant Recovery towing the Stolly, problem is we hav'nt got a trailer :dunno:, well until now :-D. In a fit of Friday afternoon madness I aquired this from a man in Leicester

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Now just got to wait untill pay day and we can get our new toy home :-D and try and think of an excuse for SWMBO element :whistle:

We have got a problem with the clutch on the Militant (Mk 3 Recovery). It started just after we took delivery, where if it sat for a couple of days you had to pump the clutch several times to get a pedal and then it would be fine for the rest of the day, it’s never lost any fluid. Now it’s got to the stage where you have to pump the pedal after a couple of minutes standing. We bled it out tonight from the slave cylinder and it takes a fair few strokes to get the fluid moving but when it does there is plenty there, initially we had a bit of air out but it made no difference after leaving it a couple of minutes. The master cylinder in prime candidate at the moment but how the Devil do you get at the thing, we have had a quick look but it was getting dark and we couldn’t even see it let alone how to remove it - help :dunno:

On another note the air / over hydraulic booster has two bleed nipples, the one in the picture is seized but there is another on the opposite end of the booster that we managed to bleed from, does anyone know the sequence for bleeding the clutch.

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It’s not really that yellow twas dark when we took the picture :roll:

Any ideas would be most welcome

Unless some bright spark has swapped the bell housing over :whistle:

Philistines!! How dare they sink fine examples of the scared mark :argh: Oooh! it makes my blood boil!

 

From the bloke who is just warming up his gas axe :rofl:

 

Often wonder these days how long it would take to get back into the hang of going up and down a Militants box after not having sat in one for 30 years....

 

Its only been about 20 years since I drove a crash box on a regular basis, having just aquired the Militant its still taking a bit to get into the swing of things again, going up the box is easy and a lot easier without using the clutch, going down is just timing. Last time we took the Militant out was to fill it up with diesel because we were moving lots of things around the yard and didnt want to bleed it though again :whistle: on the way back from the petrol station there is a long steep hill back to the yard, anway missed the down shift and decided just to coast down the hill, it was great fun listening to those 1600 x 20's rumbling away at 45 mph, what was scary was how quickly the air pressure dropped and anyone who has driven the 22 ton green lump will testify how poor the brakes are on a MK 3 recovery at the best of times. Twas great fun just glad we didnt have to stop in a hurry

Very nice looking Black Lab there, how old 20 weeks?

During the 2001 petrol strike I was on the team re-furbishing an Asda superstore, we had an agreement with Asda that we could fill up at the store petrol station but only in the early hours because as soon as the lights went on people started to queue.

I must have gone to work in a diffrent vehicle every day for a couple of weeks, even the bikes got a full tank of gas :roll:

We had a really good night on the Stolly last night, the engine is now fully disconnected and ready for the weekend when we can lift it out with the Militant and see what the clutch has decided to do this time. I think its going to be a bit more of mini restoration now we've had chance to get stuck in. The main trouble is the Stolly was parked up about 7 - 8 years ago after the clutch gave in and time has not been so kind. Whilst the engine is out we may as well drop the sump and have a look at the bearings and maybe the head will come off as well. Looking at the hull, although there is no major rot it needs a good steam clean and a fresh coat of paint, maybe the gear box, oil tank and fuel tank may be dragged out so we can freshen up the whole hull, but where do you stop :dunno:

I'll post up some more pictures up when I've get them off the camera

Dont know if its an age thing but for the second year running I have been knocked totally off my feet with a flu bug. This time I came home from work two weeks ago on the Friday went to bed and couldn't get up again till the Tuesday, I'm feeling a lot better now just a nasty cough left but I'm only just begining to get into a routine again, even managed a good nights work up the barn on the Stolly last night (its good to have some dirt under my finger nails again)

Does anyone on here have the flu jab and does it work?

Thanks for the responce guys, with the Volvo like any flat bed truck the engine is quite visable from the rear, I think we'll just NATO the lot and see what happens (along with some good primer).

 

As for heat resistance British Army postwar engines in general have used Sky Blue heat resisting gloss.

 

 

I was under the impression that the Sky Blue was only used on any Army reconditioned engines, with new one's from RR or LR etc. being the usual factory black. :dunno:

The B81 thats in our MK II Stolly was a new engine straight out of the crate from RR, it even had the factory Dyno sheet with it and thats just finished in the gloss black paint.

Now that is interesting!! Doesn't a Stalwart look odd with the centre wheels missing!! :evil: :evil:

 

Out of curiosity - what sort of price would you be looking at for taking my Stalwart down to Salisbury for the plains weekend currently being planned

 

Neil unfortunately you are the wrong end of the country from us so I would suspect it would work out quite expensive, we generally only get about 12 to 15 mpg with a Stolly on the back. If you were traveling up to the Midlands I'm sure we could sort something out. I dread to add up the amount of fuel has gone though the Stolly whilst in my ownership, its the main reason we got the Volvo and to be honest with doing a few jobs here and there for other MV owners it tends to nearly pay for itsself.

Only just read about the Salisbury meet, sounds very tempting, if the Stolly's finished I think we may show our faces, if its not we could always take a slow ride down in the Militant :-D