cosrec

Sorry for delay . Both the Foden and Scammell can benefit from a longer boom. I have over the years fitted 5 to the scammells one to my own Foden and one to the Civillian version of the EKA fitted to a Modern Daf. The boom is one we manufacture at our works and will extend to 3M i can give a price to fit one or supply drawings. Which ever it is fitted to it can bring up a little problem in that the fold ram is no longer strong enough to lift the boom. But there is a simple way of curing this with no expence. I stated early that the geometry of the boom is wrong for low level lifting. This is easily rectified with two simple wedges welded in. On the foden though the boom then does not go low enough for coach work due to its design. So for your use the scammell would be best. As for power from the single hydraulic ram it would have no problems with the wieghts/distances your aiming at. When testing one EKA off a scammell fitted to a Volvo FL10 considrably longer than a scammel and fitted with a ballasted bumper with its rear legs down it had no problem raising the front wheels of the floor. All the EKAs ex Mod i have worked on seem to have there main relief valves set at 1200 to 1500 psi the civillian ones are set at 2500psi. I believe this is due to the Mod insistance of using as little flexible hydraulic piping as possible. Thus the MOD variation of the EKA has a solid steel pipe feeding a complicated system of cradles and O rings and on to the lifting ram. this system does start leaking if the pressure is taken up the cure is so simple and costs about a tenner

By Daf i guess you mean 4x4 leyland Daf ?. on What grounds is it a special vehicle or could it be an engineering vehicle

Re the Scammell Foden ex services first of all let me stress they are both excellent bits of kit for what they were designed for recovery of in service military vehicles’. Unfortunately this does not mean they are any good for suspend towing modern day commercial vehicles/coaches. Although either in standard set up would be better than a standard road going unit for straight tows having more weight. For suspend tows they both have 3 basic failings 1 the under lift boom is too short to reach the front axle of most commercials and coaches more so. The scammell has an extension boom that can be fitted but I doubt this would be long enough to reach and would with out doubt crunch the front of you coach before starting to lift due to the way it is designed. 2 the t head design is not like modern practice being drop in from the top this also makes positioning under modern low slung air suspended vehicles a pain 3 the geometry of the bottom boom means that the boom is at about 3ft of the floor on the scammell 4ft6in on the Foden when parallel with the floor ideally on modern vehicles it should be around the 1 ft mark. There are things you can do to solve these problems and would be willing to write a bit more if it helps. As to being able to actually recover your coaches from any situation they ended up in to a position ready for towing it would be no sweat to either vehcle

hi welcome to HMVF. Will try and put some thoughts in writing over the next few days

depends where the conection piont is could be 17 metre. but overall length means overall length eg back to front

you havnt told us if the head gasket had blown when striped. but sounds to me like no puolled down rightt

with out a doubt the finest 4 x 4 ever made in its class i had one but never got it to its limits my bottle went before it gave up

Yep thats what i was trying to descibe. I believe the actual concept was first used on the Century range of wreckers. Jige is owned by the same company as Century hence they use them as well.

If you look at commercialy built civillian modern recovery vehicles the rear legs are developing and getting wider apart as time goes on. Modern recovery vehciles with rotating cranes have now started getting rear legs that extend out to the side but not at the top eg like cranes but actually at the bottom of the foot its self. (does that make sense) will put pic on to show

Getting close to what i am thinking

I think we all worry a little to much about street legal. Why bother when you can do it like this

Spot on i am no crane man but i was always told never subject crane booms to side forces only slew once wieght is clear of floor. Also i am confident that the EKA will do the loads stated on the boom @ radius given comfortably. According to REME manual boom fully luffed with crane fully extended 9000kg through out working arc. boom fully luffed with crane fully closed 12000kg through out working arc That is if they are as conservative with their ratings on the crane as they are with all other equipment they have in service Some where on you tube there is a vidio taken in northern Ireland of one rotaing right round with an empty 6 wheeler cement mixer on thats got to be 13 ton Found it

Storewood Camp 73 Yorkshire Still exists pretty much intact. It is owned by company called Melbourne Autos. Jim the owner lives on site in the one of the original buildings. It is a well laid out car breakers yard dealing in modern car parts. Jim has a bit of a thing for milatry pieces. When i was there a few weeks ago he had a F70 Gun and a bloodhound missile as gate guardians, There is often a helicopter in the yard The Gun can clearly be seen on google maps

Could it be to lower the towing jaw 6" lower when towing certain trailors ???. Or to keep tow bar parallel with smaller vehicles.

I used to live next to live next door to an Italian POW. i spent a lot of time talking to him He got me drunk on homemade wine more than once. He was captured in North Africa early in the campaign along with two of his brothers by Australian troops. One brother was injured and died shortly afterwards.The remaining brother and Matthew were put on a ship to be transported he knew not where. The ship was attacked and sunk and his second brother drown. He was picked up by a British ship and ended up in "Welsh Wales" to use his words. He then ended up in Storewood Camp North yorks. Some prisoners suggested they should try to escape. Matthew told me he would he saw no reason it he was happy where he was . when the war finished he was put to work on a farm. When the time came for repaturation he said he tried every thing he could to avoid it as it was the happiest time of his life he had nothing to go back for and he hated the Italian Goverment for what they had done to him. He stayed on and was taken on by the farmer who he worked for his keep for many years. when the farmer died he got a job a Areospace Brough sweeping up virtually until his death. I remember him for his ability to fashion jewelery out of copper wire coloured perspex glass and other odds and ends. He made me a ring out of an old half crown the out side was polished smooth the inside you could read the writing. He also made toys from carved wood for young kids in the village this was in the 70/80s

I was at Spaldington on Sat winching a heavy machine out of a bog i got a free display. Was there a spitfire flying sure i heard that distinctive merlin sound but was up up to my chest in mud and water so to busy to look about. About six weeks ago i was doing a job on the airfield its self first time i had been for years i was amazed just how much flying activity there is there.

I think this vidio clip is ideal to have a friendly competition with. Hows about ideas if the job could have been done with what was available on the video. Plus how it would have been used. It would all be theory of course as none of us where there and could not have the full picture. I think it was possible and post my ideas if any body else has a go.

Somebody has just told me it was called Vehicle Recovery, Ron Grice, last reprint 1977 Newnes Butterworths Ltd. It was the only book about at the time and was the civillian industries bible. Now i have heard the name again i believe the author worked for Bill jackson at Dial Holmes

I had the same book for my 15th birth day read it over and over till it dropped to bits. I cant remember who wrote it or what it was called. Can anyone one else remember its name i would like to find a copy. Seem to think it was wrote by someone with milatry back ground as he discribed snatch blocks set ups as gun tackle

Hi have brand new coil of wire 500 meters to fit crane let me know how much you need when ready

Dispite what impression i give with the amount of knocking i do on here. I am not a Healh and Saftey freak either. But and this is a real big but i am passionate about using common sense and people using it. After all it is the most essential tool in everybodys tool box wether on on a recovery or getting through life in general. Unfortunatly there seems at the scene of a recovery to be something of an adrenal rush macho thing happen that makes common sense evaporate. I am all for everybody getting stuck in and having a go but take time and think it through. A little thought for you all some of the best most profitable jobs for us have come about because people have tackled jobs will a bullish no thought approach. Like last poster if i see something thats not safe happening i am retreating to a safe place.

last time i stick my nose in this thread its worth exactly what you pay if you want it (and seller accepts)else its worth intrisic scrap value. To put it in basic down to earth terms (f *** all )nothing till its paid for. Question you have to ask is what is worth to you forget how much everyone else MIGHT pay they are not buying. There used to be a saying if you have to ask the price "you cant afford it" hows about if you have to ask the price "you dont really want or need it" Looking at it from the sellers side its worth what you accept not what observers say they MIGHT pay they arnt buying.

If it aint a recovery come on what is it? where do you draw the line ?

You can see how the hook is pulling on the top jaw at around 4.28 mark. the whole force being applied will have been held by a tiny sqaure pip on the the bottom of the towing pin that is till it let go. Thankfully as has being said by various people on this forum "before winching is a harmless" occupation nothing to it (tongue in cheek smily here)

If you look at the video it is a complimation of various shots that have been put together. In the wrong order. When you look the bit were the towing eye snaps it should have been after the bit it precceds. Also it shows something i have stressed on this thread before only use towing eyes for direct pull never for lifting or sideways pulls. It states this in manfacturers hand book. This may seem like a told you so comment but the people stood close came away very lucky. Also they desrve an A*** kicking for hanging the hook directly into the toweye lifting on the top jaw lets hope they learn't something