Iain Crosbie

I usually drive with the window down to keep cool, so I wouldn't worry too much about your lack of heater!

No gun mounts on mine, and no sign of them ever having been fitted either, however I am more interested in it as a truck than it being a military vehicle, so am not too worried. I take it to a couple of rallies each year, being general vintage vehicle rallies with a military section, both being about 100 miles from home and I hope to go on a commercial vehicle run this year. Perhaps you could post a pic or two of your machine when you get time. Is yours ready to go, or have you some work to do?

I'm just south of Glasgow, so almost as far away as you can get from sunny Hampshire! Mine is straight olive drab, no camo. That's how I bought it, although it has been various other colours in the past. The cab interior is cream above the waistline, light grey bonnet, remainder matt black. I will attempt to attach a picture or two.

Slave cylinder AEC part No is 710552. NATO No 2530-99-809-4016. Dimensions are 1 1/4" bore, 7 25/32" long. You could perhaps try through the AEC society as it may be this was a part common to other vehicles.

I have the same problem engaging gear, but this gets worse as the thing heats up. When cold it is no problem, but after a long run it takes a lot of crunching to engage gear from rest. Various experts tell me this may be normal, and nothing to worry about! My air/hydraulic unit is kaput, so I never use it, and I'm told it was a troublesome unit and is disconnected on most vehicles. This has been done on mine by removing the operating rod. Obviously yours must still work, which is probably a good thing as the winch overload system activates the clutch withdrawal through this part.

I think the original cab interior was the standard dark green as there are traces of this under my existing paintwork in various places, however I am sure there will be someone out there who remembers them from Army days and could confirm.

Mine has already been modified by a previous owner and now has a marine twin lever control box fitted on the floor behind the driver's seat. One lever engages the reactor pump, the other is for the winch pto, both cable operated. The crane pump control is located on top of the engine bonnet, and the hand throttle is below the low air pressure buzzer, although it would originally have been at the rear of the cab behind the driver's seat, where the other winch controls are. The driver's seat back hinges over so you can sit in the seat facing the rear for operating the winch.

Not the Queen Mary, the stern is wrong for that. The picture could be taken in the Clyde with Holy Loch in the background.

I'd be interested to see a picture or two of the extra winch controls.

Hope the attached 3 pages from the User Handbook might help.

Lots of interesting articles available on this site, such as this test of the Scammell Explorer:

http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/13th-june-1952/42/-mud-water-dust-aters-ii-2-by-laurence-j-cotton-mi

Many thanks for that

 

The issue is that for my sins I am the MVT Verification Officer and am trying to date a vehicle for a member and am trying to build up some background info in case anyone else needs verification of date

 

I will suggest that the owner goes to the RLC museum but it DVLA need a verification cert from a recognised club

There is probably someone at the AEC Society who could help, if you need verification from a Club as opposed to the Army.

I have 87ET89, chassis number 0870.219.

I got the record card for it from the Royal Logistic Corps Museum at Deepcut (Tel: 01252 833371); you could do the same for yours for the usual fee.

According to that card my vehicle arrived new at CVD Ashchurch on 3rd December 1970, so I suspect yours would be about the same time.

Well, that was easy! Thanks.

I have recently sent a couple of private messages, but these do not appear in the 'messages sent' window, and I have received no reply. The lack of reply could of course be because nobody wants to talk to me:embarrassed:, but it may be that there is something else wrong.

Received messages in the past have appeared in the 'received' window, but not messages sent.

Can you shed any light on this?

Use an outboard motor fuel tank. They come with a rubber bulb primer pump, and will then syphon OK once the fuel flows. You'll need to remove the connector at the outboard engine end though, as these have a spring loaded valve to stop fuel flow when not connected to the engine fitting.

Haven't heard about the Howitzer I'm afraid.

Picture taken two days ago, but not by me, so I haven't seen it myself.

It's on a private island, but recovering it might be an interesting exercise, however I'd need to speak to the owners first. Before I do it would be good to know exactly what it is, hence my query.

This contraption is on a Scottish island, near to a lighthouse. Opinion so far considers it may have been used as a fog gun, i.e. to signal to ships in foggy conditions. It may, of course, not be a gun at all, although it certainly looks like one. Can anyone shed any light on it? (Photo by Jamie Shorthouse)

just found this link...

http://www.tommysandham.name/avon.htm

There used to be a YouTube video of this until recently. Anyone know why it has been deleted?

I keep my Militant at the Transport Preservation Trust in Beith. It's very reasonable, under cover, quite secure and only 20 mins from the Airport. Contact Michael on 0845 120 8091, I think there should be space OK.

Just a thought... I suppose it's the correct bulb, and the bulb holder has good connections?

Where exactly is "BA Stores"?

Possibly just a means of insulating the hotter inner part to avoid accidental burns. Gardner's had a similar specification for dry marine exhausts where the space between the skins was used to draw air out of the engine room, and help to cool the whole assembly, so the idea may have come from them.

Thanks Smudge. It is definitely quoted in the Mk 3 Recovery Truck Servicing Schedule, but there are plenty of mistakes in some of the Mk3 literature I have seen, so it may indeed actually refer to another vehicle.

Smudge, can you shed any light on these items listed in the Servicing Schedule?

Operation number 116: Check and if necessary top up the crane overload warning test pump reservoir,

and Operation number 137, Check the operation of the crane overload warning test pump.

Do you know if these things are items of additional equipment, or how they are supposed to be used?

hi ian.

 

Email me your details where you are, and a contact number. We do a lot of work for dana world wide so i'll

make a call and try and find you a local machine to you.

 

 

Regards

 

clive

ok, done

Very interesting Clive, I didn't know anything like this existed.

I'll make some enquiries and see if anyone up here has such a thing. I haven't had the drums off yet so I should be able to see from the linings that are fitted how much is in contact with the drum.

I think all drum air operated commercial brakes are Single leading shoe design or at least i cant think of any that arnt. This design was prodominant untill recently when discs started taking over. so given the drum/ shoes sizes are about the same it cant be such a bad design and must be able to work. Vehicles with Twin leading Shoes (normally cars) only used them on axles that were not used for parking brakes as they were not very effective in reverse. You are of to a good start air pressure wise make sure its getting to air chambers. next thing i would start looking at is any cross shafts semi seized or excessive wear in bush nearest drum next unfortunatlly will be drums off. I am posting this and show my ignorance do militants have S cam brakes??

I was basing my comments on the brakes on Land-Rovers, where the LWBs had twin leading shoes, however I take your point about the difficulties of fitting this design to an air operated system. I'm new to this HGV stuff as you have probably deduced! I'll certainly be looking at the cross-shafts over the winter- I have already identified that the rear axle adjusters are very stiff, so these will need dismantling although I do not think that at the moment this is affecting the operation of the brake shoes, only the adjustment is difficult to achieve easily.

There are S cams on the rear brakes, but the cams on the front are of a flat design. According to the book, when the shoes wear down beyond the adjustment that is available on the quadrant on the operating arm, a packing piece can be fitted to the cam, however as I don't think I am likely to be able to find any of these it will presumably be new shoes when that time comes. I'll try to post a picture of the relevant drawings on here.