TooTallMike

Thanks for the info Mike, have you any idea what the two rollers above and in line with the rear legs are?

I wondered about those as they are not from the original body. In that location on the original body were the pivoting bases for the telescopic support legs for the boom so it is a reinforced area. I cannot see what rollers achieve in that location, unless they are actually something else?

The yellow truck seems to have them as well.

- MG

Same fugly truck in slightly happier times:

- MG

I've only ever heard of these called by the name 'Kraka', which is presumably an abbreviation of the full name?

- MG

I agree. It looks like an entire WLF rear body and Garwood crane frame have been transplanted. There are a few interesting points to note:

1) the rear winch area is un-modified. Generally in civvy service vertical fairleads were added by recovery companies as the winch rope rapidly wears the area of bodywork just behind the rear winch if used for anything other than straight pulls.

2) the area below the crane just in front of the pull-out side legs has had a locker lid added. This is such an obvious conversion to do and yet in the hundreds of WLF photos in my collection I've never seen/noticed this done before.

3) on both lower rear corners there are vertical tubes with holes in them welded to the rear 'mudguard' area. These are in fact the outer sections of the original telescopic rear legs from the WLF body. The originals simply slide down and are pinned in place at the desired length. On this truck the hinged section is not original but the bottom section and foot is a shortened original (notice the holes). I wonder whether the originals got bent or damaged as I can't see why you'd go to all the effort of including the holey tubes in the bodywork to then not use them.

4) On top of the lattice boom is the original hinged return pulley arrangement for luffing the boom and the crane hook is also Garwood.

5) The rear locker on the RH side step with the two bottom hinges and the hole at the top is a WLF side locker. This would originally have been bolted directly beneath the crane frame sticking out forwards over the rear part of the step.

Thanks for the photo!

- MG

If it is repairable we may be able to get the parts from Memphis as they have supplied bits for it before.

Reomie in Holland are the other possible supplier and they have crated engines, but at £5k a pop that's not really an option when we fit a diesel for half that.

- MG

Many people on HMVF know that on the way to W&PR last year CVRTNick’s long bed International 5 ton M55 petrol engine consumed its big end bearings coming off the motorway at Folkestone. It had to be towed onto site and after a subsequent test drive it was recovered home to be looked at later. We finally got around to it last weekend and a crew of us removed the engine with a view to dismantling it for further investigation. The TMs show the correct sequence of operations for disconnecting everything and everything undid apart from the exhaust flange nuts which were removed with the hot spanner. At some point in the next month the engine will be dismantled to see how bad the damage is and to decide how to proceed.

We used the WLF crane to take the weight of the engine and the chain block hanging off the crane boom at 45deg. to ease it forwards. A certain amount of trial and error was required to find the correct angle of dangle for the front engine mount to clear the radiator crossmember without the rear of the rocker cover hitting the cowl. In the end there was minimal damage and all fingers are still intact.

Mr Johns on an urgent mission:

Who is that handsome devil???:

It was a largely enjoyable 6 hours. Many thanks to the team of Chris, Peter, Ross and Nick J. Special thanks go to Nick C for his invaluable supervision and guidance. Also many thanks to Adrian for the use of his workshop and of course his splendid and manly WLF.

More to follow once the engine is apart...

- MG

Great thinking Mike.

 

I love watching the recovery trains at GDSF - that's always a crowd pleaser.....

That's certainly an old favourite but it feels a bit same-ey. Of course if our slot were over the weekend it would be more of a family crowd for whom it might be new.

- MG

why dont u just buy a reliable 4x4 rather than a disco!

Because I want to tow 3.5tonnes legally and there are very few vehicles in my price band that are homologated to do so. I would not own a Land Rover product otherwise!

- MG

There's loads on the various Land Rover forums on this subject so I'd do some reading there. While I wouldn't condone disabling an ABS system, we have 2 Disco 300tdi's and I spend more time working on the ABS systems on them than on any other aspect of maintenance. 1st gen ABS is not very reliable.

- MG

Photo of toolbox taken from TM:

Looks like a good match. Do they have any more of them?

- MG

Could use my scrap WLF but it's a bit far to drag it just for that!

Some interesting suggestions have come up. Thanks Andy for the offer of starting any pre-rig in advance. That allows us to do something a bit more involved.

I have a vision of doing a few 1- or 2-vehicle displays across the crowd line while the rest drive around. We could roll a scrap car over and back between two trucks. Ok, it doesn't show the full power on tap but is at least manageable and can be set up quickly and can be done quite close to the public with minimal risk. I like the idea of a zip wire too but I'm not sure how to make a safe display out of it in a flat arena.

Please note I am not just looking for things for the WW2 trucks to do, it would be great to get everyone involved, and that includes Shrek!

What about parking all the trucks up in a row with their back ends facing the crowd line and doing a synchronised lifting and swinging exercise, maybe with a spare wheel on each hook. It could be impressive if we got all the trucks involved and maybe park them in age order so the public can see the evolution of design? (Edit: those with non-power cranes had better start eating their Weetabix so they can keep up with the rest!)

- MG

Hi,

I was involved in a small way in the original negotiations regarding how the LEZ would be applied to collectors' vehicles so I know some of the background, which may help you understand why you are in this position. Please note I am stating the situation as it applies to your vehicle; I am not defending or promoting TfL's policies. Please also note this is an overview of the situation as the detail is very boring.

The purported intention of the scheme was to reduce the number of highly polluting diesel vehicles on the roads inside London. The newer the vehicle, the higher the Euro rating of the engine and therefore in theory the less polluting it will be. The scheme was intended to apply primarily to commercial vehicles rather than private cars. For simplicity TfL use the 'body type' as shown on the V5 to determine whether a vehicle is commercial or not. Anything which is not registered as 'estate', 'saloon' or similar (I don't know offhand the full list of acceptable body types) is assumed to be commercial. Private individuals who choose to drive commercial-type or commercially-derived vehicles are unfortunately caught since there is no exemption for this small minority.

Vehicles registered as 'Historic' are exempt for two basic reasons 1) their emissions rating cannot be determined due to manufacture before such things really mattered, and 2) there are so few of them in regular use on the roads in London that their contribution to pollution isn't really an issue and it isn't worth the bureaucracy involved in dealing with them.

There is an odd situation for vehicles such as Land Rovers, Astra vans etc. where the same drivetrain was used for both commercial and 'car' type vehicles. So I can drive my 300tdi Discovery 'Estate' in town but not a 300tdi van bodied 110 despite both having exactly the same engines and running gear. It is all down to what is on the V5.

It is very important to note that the body type is determined by the manufacturer and you should need a manufacturer's letter to have it changed by DVLA. I understand that Land Rover will only supply a letter stating the original body type of your vehicle based on the build record for the chassis no.; so for example they will state that a factory Station Wagon is an estate car, but a van bodied 110 converted into a station wagon is still a van body variant according to the chassis no. Therefore a Wolf with extra seats fitted in the back is still considered by LR to be a commercial type.

I would suggest that anyone who currently has an LEZ exemption for this type of vehicle has probably been economical with the truth somewhere along the line. A Wolf bought from Withams is almost certainly a commercial type according to the chassis number. Fitting seats to it and then declaring it to be an estate on the registration application is quite possibly fraudulent. Remember you are obliged to provide accurate information to the DVLA. If they accept information that subsequently turns out to have been incorrect it is your responsibility.

All that said I have heard apocryphal stories of people appealing directly to DVLA and/or TfL and gaining LEZ exemption for vehicles on an individual basis but I cannot corroborate this. The scheme is not intended to hit private individuals so any letter should emphasise this

As I see it you have a few possible solutions but I doubt you'll like any of them:

- replace the Wolf with something LEZ compliant (LEZ only applies to diesels so a V8 Snatch would be fine)

- fit several grand's worth of emissions abatement equipment

- fit a petrol engine (again a petrol V8 would be fine)

- move house to outside the LEZ

- store the vehicle outside the LEZ and don't use it inside

- rebuild your Wolf onto a genuine Station Wagon chassis

Sorry if this wasn't the news you hoped for :undecided:

- Mike

Calling all owners of wreckers and recovery vehicles who will be attending W&PR 2014 (and anyone else with ideas of what they'd like to watch).

I have had a chat with Rex regarding our arena slot. My suggestion was that it should either be over the weekend or that we should have more than one slot. This was following various conversations with other owners so I hope this will be viewed positively. I also suggested that we should have a longer slot as we have been squeezed and squeezed over past years - last year being the worst when the preceding world record Jeep thing took much longer than anticipated.

Rex is interested in the idea but we need to justify the change and I'm sure we all don't just want to drive round in circles so I'm looking for suggestions for things we can do. Whatever it is needs to be completed in around half an hour to 45mins. To start the ball rolling I would suggest heavy hauling with a train of trucks, maybe all on front lift behind the one in front and taking it in turns to take the lead; heavy lifting; winching a car in half... Given the size of the arena I think we could probably perform several displays at the same time.

Just to give an idea of what can be done in this timescale we did this one year at Beltring with two WLFs while the other trucks were driving round and parking up:

I would like to go back to Rex with some proposals within the next month or so. All comments and suggestions appreciated.

Thanks in advance - MG

Mark,

 

As I'm not going to France our Dodge WC51 may be available that weekend.

 

Vince

I was going to make the same offer :cheesy:. I presume you'd prefer military coloured vehicles rather than yellow ones otherwise I'd bring the truck down?

- MG

Hi,

Our FFR is still for sale. Fairly original apart from having a hard top fitted. Very good chassis and very good bulkhead. Located Gatwick area.

- MG

In the photo showing the six black wheel brace socket bars, does the one on the left hand end have a square recess one end and a hex the other? If so, does it have any manufacturer's markings on it?

- MG

Hi,

We have an FFR for sale. It's definitely 24v :cheesy: and genuine ex-mil.

It is about the most un-mucked about with you will find and would make a splendid basis for a radio install project.

2.25 petrol engine.

It has a good chassis and bulkhead, also a fresh MoT and new tyres.

Call me on 07747 772838 or PM for more info. or email 'tootallmike at hotmail.com'

Located Gatwick area.

Regards - Mike

It would be useful to know the approximate years of manufacture of towing vehicle and artillery piece. The older they are the fewer regs apply.

Note most of the advice you get on here will be regarding the legality of towing this, not whether it is advisable!

- MG

Well done Mike, she sounds well on song and gallops up over there far quicker than the old Scammell with load:clap:

Cheers John,

I'm tweaking the fuelling and boost response to improve the performance so next time I go up that hill I may really give those motorists something to worry about!

- MG

Mike;

After viewing your youtube video, I see you encounter the same problems we have in the US. No one respects a big vehicle towing a load, the person driving the black car that pulled out in front of you could have waited. Those drivers are clueless and impatient.

 

John

I think the problem is the truck is just too inconspicuous...

Over the winter it's going to get a set of air horns. I can't decide whether they should be under the bonnet, on a front wing, or on the roof. Front wing would be at a good height for car windows :wow:.

- MG

Link to video of truck working hard towing another WLF.

- MG

Mike

 

Nice to see a white cab JCB working for a living, I have one exactly the same, it does far more lifting than digging and the most useful thing I've ever brought.

 

Did the Cummins engine fit on the original engine mountings on the truck ?

 

Andy

Agreed that JCB is a very useful tool. I use it at least twice a week for lifting and shifting. The telescopic boom will reach right into the back of a container to pick or place heavy items.

The engine is sitting on the original chassis mounts at the rear, but with custom mounting brackets to the bellhousing as per photos. The front chassis mount is made up from 90x90mm 6mm RSA as the original chassis mount is too far forward.

- MG

I recently changed all 6 flexi fuel and oil lines on a customer's Dodge as they were showing signs of perishing. Two of them literally fell apart when I started undoing them. He was very lucky.

Glad to hear no damage done to the glorious Ward!

- MG

And very refreshing the 'yellow peril' looked amongst the sea of green at Folkestone!

 

Before you do anything in haste with the old engine Mike - might it be available for a temporary 'one trip' fitment in a WLF if necessary? :whistle:

Sorry I missed you at W&P, you've been on my 'to call' list for some time. I will get round to it I promise!

- MG

So, as many people already know, I finally got round to starting this conversion 6 weeks before the War & Peace show. Having completed several of these previously I was confident that I knew all the tricks, but there were inevitably still one or two things that presented challenges. The following is a précis of the work carried out – suffice to say that as on the TV restoration programmes there is a huge amount more to plan and do than the little illustrated here.

So, acquire one ex-dustcart Cummins 6BTA 5.9l engine from Ebay:

Strip off all ancillaries and remove head. Clean and paint block, install head studs (to allow for future power upgrade work):

Strip and paint head and re-install:

Re-install ancillaries:

Fit NOS gearbox:

Remove petrol engine from truck:

Repaint scuttle and clean and re-fit air components and wiring:

Drop new engine in:

Be pleased new engine landed where it was calculated to land:

Remove old radiator and weld Unistrut channel into radiator surround to support radiator/intercooler pack:

Re-install radiator assembly:

Start playing with new toy!