cosrec

Not all the mk3 Antars had the Motor Panels (rust bucket) cab. The Ex beverley Museum Antar has a totally Fibreglass cab. Fred Lawton owns another example with a glassfibre cab ( oh I wish mine had one too!!!)

Visited Musem many many times years ago. Drooled over that antar never realized it was a glass fibre cab. Where the cabs genuine fitted at factory or later additions

ops should have done a bit of research before posting

late last week got involved in an rta involving rolled tanker. after vosa had done their job we had time to kill while plod did their bit. Got talking about over width vehicles top man from Vosa just said convert them to run on gas job solved. Maybe an avenue here for Amazon Joe and stalwart owners. Must be worth some research guy would not enlighten me any more than that.

Re post #226 Absolutley spot on you have summed up the whole situation. Let those who have taken on the task of trying to get the best results for the bulk of the forum members EG Antermike have there head.

if the matter gets bogged down in waffle no good at all will come out of it for anyone one. there will be casualties but there are in all battles. There will be more if you dont all work together and try and sort it out as group with out personnal gripes because you have something you cant see a place for under proposed schemes

As i have stated before on this forum the biggest problem is peoples fear of the unknown. If you are presenting a vehicle for test all you have to do is make sure it is roadworth. How this or that is tested is the examiners problem not yours. EG (not a good example i know) if abs is fitted it must work . If not forget about it. If present safty belts must be in good condition etc. Sombody quoted i had to remove a fan to get a clear field of vision. I dont know the exact wording but it goes something like "there must be a clear field of vision through the swept portion of the screen" Eg nothing between you and that swept portion. Your own private car will fail if you have a sat nav stuck to it. after the screen you can have a completly obscured vision eg duck boards they cannot fail it for that. Also if you have lift up screen all the above goes out of the window so to speak. You still have to have washers by the way. All military vechicles when going in to service will have been street legal and i iam led to belive this is the standard to which they are tested in the present day. If they have scince being updated by fitment of things eg 4ways these must work. I think every body should be presenting ideas on how to ease the passage of the whole group through these talks not fogging it with individual concerns and worries many of which have no foundation

Any talks have to be clear concise and terse and if anything clear up rather than complicate the issue

Famous qoute Chuurchill "If you have ten thousand regulations, you destroy all respect for the law."

If you look on the pacific thread on the vintage vidios the GIs are using two identical pieces of kit to fasten winch lines to front of a tank to haul it onto trailer the yolk on end of winch line is to small to fit towing eye on tank so these bits on kit adapt it. so i guess similar used in british forces

I think the biggest problem with the proposed changes to mot regs on this forum is a fear of the unknown.

Instead of thinking of ways of thinking of ways of getting out of testing vehicles why not do a check round and present it.

Instead of thinking how are they going test this or that forget about it thats their problem not yours.

Once you have seen how the tests are conducted mainly on the braking side you will agree if it fails it should not be driven on the road.

One other thing i have noticed is an excuse for being exempt from mot on historic vehicles is that it will cost me this much to make it roadworthy. Now iam not a clever person but if i was proposing changes to mot regs this would not cut much ice with me. Why is it still being driven around

lastly when it does pass you will have a smug grin on your face as you drive out

sticking my oar in again anything with 1600 x20 off road tyres will not grip on rollers at a least two local test stations i know of so tapley meters. all it must do is reach required percentage. ( you know you have passed when it falls over)easy and pull up straight. hand brake is tested by pulling up ramp at test station and it must hold vehicle still you are are allowed to put foot on brake while applying hand brake. Honestly after you have done it you will agree if it cant comply the vehicle shouldnt be driven on the road

I am not sure you are getting good advice from DVLA. They do make mistakes. A ballast tractor is not a vehicle definition. If by Ballast tractor you mean heavy locomotive, then the width limit rises from 2.55 m but only to 2.75 m, still not wide enough to allow use of a 2.9 m wide vehicle.

If by ballast tractor you mean HILV then, because of its relataive youth ( I am presuming it is post 29/7/1983) it needs to be fitted, at manufacture with an STGO plate containing maximum axle, gross and train weight, at speeds of 20,25,30, 35 and 40 MPH. If it doesn't have this plate and is post 29/07/1983 it cannot be classed as HILV.

May be getting over my head with this one but i think crane trailers were originally given dispensation because the weights were origonally one lump. I think every body tends to over look this now they are a multiple parts and will cotinue to do so until something trajic happens involing one and some smart *****

lawyer comes in with a big claim. Same to be said for overwidth vehicle i bet you have no way of recompense of DVLA if proved wrong after all buck stops with owner

Have read posts with interest.

Please dont sit back and think you will get exemptions for this reason or that. Make your representations in bulk now as a combined group it may do some good.

Many years ago they brought out propsals to start road taxing recovery vehicles upto that piont we had used them on trade plates. this meant at the time that our own companys road tax bill would have jumped from £150 ish to £18000 overnight, as companys we all wrote to our MPs our assosiations had meetings with people in high places, We didnt stop it but we did get concessions.

Next came the proposal that all load carrying recovery vehicles had to have MOTS. talk at the time said thats finished the recovery industry the countrys roads will become grid locked.

All that happened was a load of death trap vehicles vehicles went to scrap yards.

Normal wreckers eg lift and tow trucks were not included in the Mot scheme. As we work for two police forces our contract insists that all vehicles have MOT this is not as bad as it seems

the modern heavies are treated as per normal trucks the older one are treat in a different light.

personally i have taken many times Leyland martian and foden gun tractor no problems. Remember they cannot fail on worn components only dangerous eg shackle pins bushes track rod ends etc. Brakes cannot be tested on rollers (when you leave them in all wheel drive) so they resort to a tapley meter with you driving around the yard. this would also be used for over width vehicles Frankly if they dont pull up quick enough in a straight line they should not be driven on the road anyway. All other things are CU regs which you could get fined for anyway if caught eg lights horn etc. air and fluid leaks are frowned upon. At no time were we asked about speed limiters tacos. Matrian did fail first time due to no screen washers dispite beng exempt wipers due to opening wind screen. Personally i see no problems for the bulk of the people and vehicles on this site. This only leaves cost all i can say there is if every body drops out then surely those who stick with it will see price of there vehicles rise????

Finally dont sit back and think well i will be exempt for this reason or that cos if things do go wrong it will cost you a lot more

Dont really understand what you are saying is there an exemption for private heavy goods vehicles. or maybe an age limit thing. Not knocking but that was the only reason we didnt buy one because Vosa told us we could not use on road with out notification. I understand were you are coming from with antars but as far as i am aware majority of mobile cranes are road legal By the way i am on about the Foden Drops not the scammell

Quite fancied one of the foden drops but put off by width. are ther any issues with the width of them. When in civvy street always thought legal max width was 2.55 m excluding wing mirrors lights unless special types

After you'd stopped cursing for a week, what happened to the Martian?

I fitted a David brown 6 speed overdrive gear box to the engine. Because of the length of the box and propshaft angle i had to move engine forward completely destroying the looks of the vehicle worked on until early 80s. engine sold to farmer for corn dryer vehicle sold for scrap 350 + Tulsa winch off 1940s corbit truck. Original RR engine was sold to another farmer who reckoned he was recon aand fitting in grey Fergy for tractor pulling

Hi little story about a Leyland Martian.

Around about early to mid 70s we bought a gun tractor with the big crew cab of a chap in North Yorks for use in our recovery business it cost £400 we chopped the rear of the cab of and added home made recovery gear and it worked great for 3 years.. One day it disgraced its self and dropped a vavle insert. after being stood for a month i lost my temper with it and took out out the engine and box.

I then bought ex blue circle cement scammell 8 wheeler and removed engine and box for £300. two days after i had cut truck up Blue circle Melton offered me £300 pounds for rear axles of it . I was on a roll i then fitted engine Leyland 680 and scammell six speed box into Martian. Boy was i chuffed once fitted i had moved the radiator forward only slightly so lhe truck still retained its looks. the unusual design of the scammell box meant i could retain the original floor. then i had a long wait for a clutch flexy pipe being made to mate a master cylinder i had cobbled up to the scammell slave cylinder. The truck was parked up against the rear wall of our shed. When the flexey pipie arrived i hastily fitted it upon trying it i could not get a gear the clutch plate was stuck to the flywheel. So i stopped engine selected first gear and started engine again truck lurched backwards through asbestos steel wall and finally stalled when it climbed on top of a jones baler in shed. cost me 450 to repair wall and straighten baler. Thats how i found out that scammell gearbox went different way round to every body elses i ended up with six reverse and one forward

Bob phoned me today, He has been advised not to go the insurance route, as insurance companies now, as a matter of policy, write off all claims involving fire, because of the the potentially hazardous remains that are present after a fire. Bob is thinking that to get the Martian back on the road, he will have to repair it hiomself and bear the cost. He is desperate for an FV style dash and instruments, as this is the hardest part to source.

 

Bob was welding in the cab, but his house phone rang, he went indoors for 15 minutes to answer the call, and came out to find the fire, (which also claimed two angle grinders and a Mig Welder).

 

Bob now wants parts rather than photo's and valuations.

Sorry havent got used to posting on site yet. Another job old Foden did. This had defeated all attempts to move it for two weeks wieght 50 tons arm 28meters long 400ft up a pile of fly ash from power station alongside very deep lagoon. 2 days submiting method statements to get get control of site some compond rigging and job sorted . miss that old Foden

Hi long shot but have you got fixed up am coming down to kent wed next week to pick up a mutt could sort for you

Yep for sure

Looks to be in really good condition got a quick look over today in daylight. Very clean has front hub problem but have new axle to go on. might be having a spin very shortly. will be taking drops gear of if anyone has use for it.

Hi bit exited just picked up a leyland drops today . This is going to be converted into a recovery vehicle for use in our family business. Havent seen it in daylight yet but looks to be in in excellent condition. will post some pictures as soon as i get chance. When finished it will take place of Foden FH70 which we have recently sold

Re bogged Foden

Foden had recovered 20 ton digger out of pond 400ft down hill side. What you cant see is it is lying sideways at about 30 degree angle. When hauling in slack rope after recovery we hadnot spotted was that winch rope had a broken strand and had created a right bird cage mess on fairlead. We returned following day drove digger in front of foden and hung on to high side engaged diff locks and drove out picture os scene when first arrived

Hi heres some pictures of a FH70 that made it in ti civvy street. The crane is EX leyland Martian we fabricated the legs bodywork and underlift in our workshops. It worked very hard for us for 7years all in all very nice truck. we sold it last year and is working hard up in the North of Scotland