andym

Try Sammy Clarke - he also had half a box of track pins and some spare pads last time I looked. Andy

There's a video on Youtube of someone replacing track on an MBT just using rachet straps, but I wouldn't recommend it. There's enough of the proper tools around - Marcus Glen has been mentioned and I bought a complete CES set of clamps, all three drifts and leaders from Sammy Clarke for around £60 at his recent yard sale. Failing that, seek out a friendly HMVF member with the correct tools! Andy

I'm a bit confused here. What do you mean by "the track adjuster"? If you replaced the axle arm, did you just replace the arm itself or the entire assembly including the bracket that bolts to the hull? I was warned to look for twisted axle arms when buying a 432 as apparently they're quite common. Andy

Take a look at item number 300479103320 on eBay, which may help! Andy

The military advisers had problems teaching the local militia to salute properly ... Andy

There are 90 links per side if they're new, the condemnation limit is 86 so if they've stretched more than that it's time to buy new track! Andy

This is quite amusing, even if the article fails to realise it's all been done before: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11511886 I just hope those running the Strategic Defence Review aren't watching too closely! :cool2: Andy

Quite a few don't seem to at the moment. I wonder what happens to them .... Andy

I paid £50 at W&P for the more modern version, the RAK15 which has two heat settings and even a switch! Andy

I think at least that the owners of affected vehicles should approach DVLA with the question "Why is my vehicle not PLG?" There's a degree of logic behind this, because before the EU put their oar in, the only HGVs were in excess of 7.5 tonnes. Goods vehicles below that were taxed PLG and you could drive them on a car licence - some of us still can! That presumably explains the pre-2001 exemptions for PLG. Andy

It was indeed around, and I can tell you an interesting story about it. I was parked up behind Brighton Conference Centre with one of the aforementioned OB trucks (B261RND if I recall correctly) chatting to a policeman who queried the PLG tax disc. I pointed out that it wasn't a goods vehicle. He came back later after having been called away, saying "I've checked and you're right!". We chatted like mad after that, until the following morning when all of a sudden there were a lot more policemen and they were a lot less talkative. It was 12 October 1984 and we were covering the Conservative Party Conference ... Andy

Sorry, No. That's only correct for vehicles first registered after 1 March 2001. Understandably, most of the information on the DVLA website is "dumbed-down" to make it easier to understand. You need to read the document Lee included in Post 12 for the full version. So, if: The vehicle is not a goods vehicle (i.e. not constructed or modified to carry goods); AND it is privately run (i.e. not for hire or reward); AND it was first registered before 1 March 2001 then it is PLG, REGARDLESS of weight. I believe that CVR(W)s satisfy all of the above, unless someone wants to contradict me? Andy

Sorry Lee, but I disagree - the link refers to current vehicles, not ones registered before 2001. From your document in Post 12: "CLASS TYPE OF VEHICLE AND/OR USE Private/Light Goods (PLG) Vehicles registered before the 1.3.01: Private motor cars; goods vehicles not more than 3,500kg revenue weight; vehicles used for "private" (non-trade or business) purposes (including 3 wheeled vehicles over 450kg unladen). Vehicles registered after 1.3.01: vehicles that do not come into the scope of the first six tax classes, listed below." Note that there is NO weight restriction on "private" PLGs registered before 2001. I know from personal experience that is correct as I was running a pair of 7.5 tonne PLG Outside Broadcast trucks around in the mid-1980s. Andy

Agreed, but I believe its taxation class should be PLG as they must have been first registered before 2001 and can therefore fall into that class - see Post 17. Andy

All of what is in that article may well be true, but it still doesn't explain the rampant profiteering that many of us are experiencing. If an insurer can magically drop their quote when challenged, there's only one possible explanation of why it was that high in the first place! Andy

It went thataway! :-\ Andy

Surely the critical phrase here is "apply to most goods vehicles that are exempt from the EU rules". So firstly the vehicle must be such that EU rules don't apply, THEN the domestic rules apply, which are waived for private use? Andy

My insurance company tried this last year. On the advice of a friend who'd had the same problem, I used the company's website to give me an online quote, which was much less than the renewal. I then invited them to explain why and was transferred to the "retentions department" who explained that the new policies were different(!) and managed to renew at a price less than that quoted by the website. I think all insurance companies are trying this on in the hope that customers won't notice. It's a trick they've borrowed from the banks, who consistently improve terms on new accounts and don't offerthose improvements to existing account holders. Caveat Emptor! Andy

... and for those inside the M25 I think you'll find it's then congestion charge exempt, too! :shocked: Andy

That of course is the other side of the coin. Whilst some of the legislation designed to stamp out cowboy hauliers makes no sense for MVs, if an HGV crashes into a bus full of school children because the driver was asleep they aren't going to care if it was privately owned or not - the end result will be the same. Andy

No, certainly not. They're just the ones that interested me! :-D Andy

I've recently been talking to the MOD about the declassification and release of Mk2 and Mk2/1 FV430 technical manuals that are currently held by MOD in electronic (PDF) format. Some early ones are simply scans, but the later ones are truly electronic and therefore searchable - very useful for something like parts catalogues! As anyone involved with MOD knows, it's pretty easy to classify a document but much harder to declassify one. After discussions with the Combat Tracks Group at Abbey Wood, the Disposal Sales Authority and other interested parties, someone in Main Building suggested that I tried a Freedom of Information Act request. I've just had the following response: "Thank you for your email of 1 September 2010 which you sent to www.mod.uk. Your correspondence has been considered to be a request for information in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and I have been asked to reply. Your request for information received by this Department read: I would like to apply for the release of the parts catalogue for FV432 Armoured Personnel Carriers, AESP 2350-T-251-711 on the grounds that the vehicles are being disposed of by the DSA into private hands and the catalogue would be of value to the private owners. The catalogue is "owned" by the Combat Tracks Group at Abbey Wood and exists in electronic PDF format. (Please note that this is a specimen request for release of all FV430 Mk 2 and Mk 2/1 documents in the AESP 2350 series) This information is being withheld under S22 (Information intended for future publication). The Project team is intending to redact/de-classify all manuals in time for the vehicles disposal in April 2011, after which they will be published under the MOD publications scheme and will be available on the MOD website (www.mod.uk)." This is extremely good news as it means that FV430 owners will have access to the full set of manuals for the vehicles. I'm assuming that the April 2011 date refers to the out-of-service date for the pre-Bulldog FV430s. Andy

I think the alternators themselves are pretty bomb-proof, it's the gubbins around them that causes occasional problems. Check the voltage as suggested above to see what's happening. It's worth unmating and re-mating the connectors on the control boxes to the right of the driver's seat (with engine stopped and master switch off!) in case it's just grot in the connectors. Andy

That document defines Goods Vehicle as "a mechanically propelled vehicle (other than a motor bicycle or tricycle not over 450kg unladen) which is constructed or adapted for the conveyance of goods or burden of any description, including samples, and which exceeds 3,500kg revenue weight ." A DROPS may fit in this definition, but CVR(W)s and the like plainly don't. Also, if the vehicle was registered before 1 March 2001, PLG is defined as "vehicles used for "private" (non-trade or business) purposes (including 3 wheeled vehicles over 450kg unladen). " I think you've got a PLG .... Andy

The new stealth material demonstrated a worrying response to being left out in the rain .... Andy