TooTallMike

I've got them in my folder of WLF stuff that lives on the truck - I'll do some photocopies for you. What's the copyright status? - I'm sure folks here would be interested to see 'em.

That's correct. It was used by the island highways dept. for many years and is sadly in poor condition. However it's stored indoors in the steam museum and the owner says he hopes to restore it one day. While out there I was given some good period photos of the 3 WLFs working on the islands including a series of shots of them towing the huge German artillery pieces up to the cliffs and letting them roll off the edge into the sea. When we were there we took my truck up onto the tops of the same cliffs and looked down to where the barrels are still lying on the rocks below! Most interestingly in most of the period photos the crews are German POWs. If I remember correctly one of the other trucks is still on a farm somewhere on the island. I think the other was returned to the mainland.

Ciao tutti! For those of you who don't already know, I'm working in Venice 'til Christmas time and my internet access is sporadic as the hotel WiFi is flaky at best, so apologies for not posting much recently but there hasn't been a lot going on in my MV life. Anyway, I've left Grasshopper and the gang with a long list of jobs to do and I'm pleased to say that they've actually started some of them :-D One of my plans for this winter is to remove and recondition the WLF rear bogie as it's leaking copious amounts of oil from the diff gaskets and seals. They are the type that drop into the top of the axle so the only way to change the gaskets is to pull out the rear bogie and lift them out. At the same time I’m going to get the rear springs re-done, replace the brake chamber diaphragms and air lines, re-wire the rear end, and jet-wash and paint everything. I was back last weekend and made a start on the job. The bolts which held the bogie on were extremely tight and rather inaccessible so Grasshopper flame-cut them off. We discovered that the bolts were partially wasted due to corrosion and movement where they passed through the chassis and bracket so it’s a good thing they’re going to be replaced. After taking off the propshaft and brake lines, we removed all the rear wheels and dropped the drums down onto planks of wood. Then we just pulled the bogie out backwards with a tractor. More to follow some time...

Mark, I've got several 12V gauges FS but frankly I wouldn't bother except as dash ornaments. WW2 era truck fuel gauges were/are cr@p (in my experience). The stick will be much more reliable :-D

Or you could drive over them :whistle:

Just to clarify - this wasn't the Halftrack that had the broken crank and the snapped track, this is our one which now has a White engine in an International chassis (yes, they do fit without much modding) and the rear end rebuilt by myself including an rebuilt and upgraded braking system using a Bedford brake servo, new tracks and rebuilt bogies from Belgium, and other practical mods such as electric fuel pump etc. We were a bit nervous as the furthest it's ever gone without breaking down prior to this run was about 5 miles, usually down to vapour locking - hence the electric fuel pump. I was right behind it in the convoy in case there was a problem, but in the end apart from a series of exhausted drivers (myself included), nothing went wrong :-D

Someone seems to have erased all my Jeep photos :whistle: so here are some of the big toys...

Well we had a great weekend. We took the Halftrack on the trailer behind the WLF. Both vehicles behaved impeccably with the HT doing over 150 miles and the WLF around 400. The whole rig grossed 25 tonnes on the Dover weighbridge and still achieved 8mpg and 40mph. Not bad for a 63 year-old truck! The weather wasn't too bad so we managed to have our now traditional water fights. There were a few HMVF crew there and it was good to meet John Wheatley and Bertha in 'person'. Some photos to follow:

Hi Tim, Thank you very much for that. We can't lift any of the road wheels up but we've heard that if it's an angled break they'll still touch at the fracture surfaces and resist even though they'll be greatly weakened. We're going to have to pull the torsion bars and see what's there. We'll post some pics here when we know. - Mike

Rick, MVT/IMPS verification is the easy bit, but that won't get you the age related plate. To get that you need to have it inspected by the DVLA, and they won't do that until it has been MoT'd on the chassis no. Therefore you have to do the whole rebuild/restoration, get an MoT, THEN wait X weeks for an inspection appointment at your local VRO. On the bright side, the regsitration comes through a couple of days later. The reason it has to be MoT'd is that they will issue your 1st VED disc at the same time. They therefore require insurance & MoT doc's. On an even brighter side you can legally drive the vehicle to the VRO for inspection without plates :-D I went through all this with the MUTT about 4 months ago and it requires patience... :roll: Also, be VERY careful how you fill in the DVLA forms. There's a very important pitfall to avoid regarding 'country of origin'. PM me if you want more info. - Mike

Looks like another road run for the UKWLFOC then!

Tony, I'm marked up as REME. Let me know the details - may be interested as long as there's tea/dancing girls...

Steering box is set up nicely (no apparent play), steering wheel is good but needs polishing. I couldn't see any obvious cracks.

Sent to Jack a while ago :whistle:

Hi fanclub! Grasshopper and I went to the site on Friday to drop off the GW trucks and partake in the barbie before coming back. He was working on Sat. and I wanted to do my annual pre-Bethune maintenance & inspection. Along with some other fun bits of steel-butchery. We went down there again on Sun. night (mmm... beer tent...) and were there all day today (Monday), me with a slight hangover (see above). Met up with Lightweight, LW junior & Mrs LW, Karl Joynes, Sean with the Irish registered 101, Clive Stevens... who else? Had a lovely day wandering around chatting and actually looking at the other displays instead of spending the whole time working on our vehicles (apart from changing a flat 11:00 x 20 on the M55 and trying to make the brake lights work) Vince also got stung by a wasp so it wasn't a complete waste of a trip :whistle: - Mike ps. the netting ISN'T MINE (or shorty's); we just keep the vehicles running. I'm NOT a re-enactor hence could not face 3 days down there. Some of them are wierd. Good wenches though :naughty:

Anyone else going to Bethune next weekend apart from us and Nick Hobbs?

Chain drive suggests Mack AC but the hubs don't look quite right :dunno:

:pfrt: :pfrt: :pfrt: (mature response...)

Have a look at this thread Tony: http://www.hmvf.co.uk/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=38&topic=5338.0 That's the donor vehicle arriving. Normal service of mechanical gore should recommence shortly :-D :-D :-D

I didn't think it was quite as official as for them to publicise it in the paper, but yes, it probably won't be at that site again. We are currently looking at other possible sites in the area. Any suggestions welcome... Were you there this year then?

Quite: the last pargraph of the article implies they are going to be sold to collectors. They certainly won't fetch that sort of money in scrap.

Photos of our impromptu meeting of the UKWLFOC:

abn: 150litres = 40 US Gall. = £150 = $300 (and that's only a third of the fuel tank capacity), however it does 8 - 10mpg with the diesel engine I installed. You're correct about the petrol engine though, quoted fuel consumption is 3 - 4mpg. The French army quote them as 1litre per kilometre.

Eh? What?

Over 10mins after I started :roll:. At least it was diesel; interested to note that the machine still hadn't automatically switched off even after 150 litres...