Grasshopper

Steve, I would offer to buy it back at what you paid me for it, but I think you'd tell me where to go...

Our Spartan issue came to a head following loading onto a transporter truck. The steering was fine when I loaded up, then she got rained on and when I unloaded (I think there was a period of storage between these events), the steering was gone! I assume the water level in the gearbox compartment caused the steering brakes to become contaminated due to the angles the vehicle achieved on the loading ramps. That and being the oil/water being thrown around by the rotating cooling fan and brake disks. Anyway that led to the eventual discovery of the final drive being the issue.

Could be the seal in the final drive output (quill) shaft. I've had that on a Sultan we once had and we removed the final drive to renew the seal. Although heavy, it's not too bad a job to do. We walked the final drive out on to some timber packing, pulled the shaft, old seal off, then refitted it all. Including breaking the track, about 3 hours work. We also had a leak on our Spartan final drive, and this turned out to be the ring of bolts around the outside (which should have been lock wired) were all loose! I'd suggest a good clean up and then try and identify where the leaks are originating from.

I can't say I know of any CVRT owner who turns there engines over by hand. Regular start ups help obviously. I do know of one CVRW Fox that possibly has a stuck valve but that's after about 10 years of inactivity, the outcome would be the same for most old vehicles though! There is certainly nothing about that in the CVRT manuals.

It makes sense, as J60s in storage to sometimes suffer stuck valves (I used to turn our spare engines but didn't for a period and now they have stuck). It is possible to turn the engine over in situe using the fan, trouble is by turning the engine over you can still damage a valve if it is stuck. I can honestly say that having been involved with 1x CVRT for almost 10 years, and during that period she has sat in damp environments for very long periods unused, we have not had any issues with sticking valves in the installed engine. The spare engines are in a container and have stuck. Perhaps having the exhaust system and vehicle intake system have helped on the vehicle engine, where the stored ones don't have these so do? Vince

Like some others here, I am not a welder but when I was on the tools I seemed to have a knack for brazing to the point where I could produce neater brazed joints than some of my welder colleagues. Couldn't gas weld though! Its all about the molten pool and dabbing the rod in it. I repaired many a vintage exhaust system with braze.

Good work Phil. I've only carried out this process on a seized Striker commanders cupola, so am aware how tricky it can be. The bearing rollers were so bad that I ended up placing them in a bucket with an oil/derv mix and spinning them around for a good while with an electric paint mixer to try and get the rust off! Vince

Sorry, but you're going to have to pass the relevant tests to drive big armour on the road. If you don't, your insurance will be invalid as you won't be holding the relevant licence.

We had a CVRT that came with a pair of the smallest possible civilian batteries on it, and they were fine for our use including re-commissioning the vehicle (multiple starts) and electrical fault finding (powered up but not running). They were still on the vehicle when we sold it a couple of years later. I think one of the reasons for the large military batteries is due to them being required for powering radios and also standardisation. You'll find the same batteries on most 24V ex-MOD vehicles from Land Rovers to lorries and AFVs, so they need the capacity to be able to power the largest. Personally i'd fit the largest you can fit or afford. Just ensure they are properly secured and that the terminals are the same type. I've seen vehicles with round post cable clamps on flat post batteries!

Not uncommon in the UK for councils (in ye olde days) to own ex-military vehicles for use as breakdown trucks, gritters and all sorts of modified uses. I believe that John used to drive Odd Job for the council, and drove Mk3s in his military days.

Old, slow (compared to anything modern), heavy steering (compared to anything modern), difficult to manoeuvre, poor/non-existent parts support, expensive mostly unavailable tyres...what's not to like?! You can put a decent camping/living set up in the back though. Regards, Former AEC Matador (x3) owner!

I've found some fuel pumps on old petrol vehicles like to have the valves wet before they'll work properly. I get very bored of the taste of petrol...

Our sender unit un-seized after a god soaking and some careful cleaning and moving about (they're quite delicate). Not that it made much difference to the accuracy of the gauge.... There is aright up on the banjo bolt modification here, about 3/4 of the way down the page - http://www.ferret-fv701.co.uk/useful_info.htm Vince

You could still smell the tar from our tank some weeks after we drained it, and that was outdoors! Glad i wore gloves and managed not to get too much on my overalls, which also stank for weeks despite various soakings and washings...

Here's a couple of pictures of what the inside of our fuel tank looked like.

Steady on Will, that could almost be counted as progress! Vince

I had to remove the fuel tank on a Ferret we had - wasn't too bad to do in the end, certainly helps to have someone outside the vehicle to pass you tools! Ours was such a state it had to be cut open and shot blasted. I then coated it with POR15 (which comes with a cleaning solution) to prevent future issues. Unfortunately there is no easy way to clean the tank out. What you can do is remove and clean up the banjo bolts in the bottom of the tank sides, which can be accessed through the belly plates. They are known to accumulate crud, and can be modified to pick up fuel at a slightly higher level by the addition of a short length of pipe. This helps prevent some of the tank crud being sucked into the fuel lines.

Having played with CVRTs for a few years people said to me "you would be alright in the event of an emergency with that", but in actual fact I can't think of anything worse than an old armoured vehicle! As soon as something breaks, or you run out of fuel or have to leave the vehicle, you're stuffed! My vehicle of choice for an emergency situation would be something common and easy to find parts for, but just my opinion... The Ferret will still have the bevel boxes which like to run out of oil, regardless of what you do with engine, transmission and brakes. Also be minded that while disc brakes may be possible to retrofit, you'll need some form of hand brake on the vehicle. Good luck with your project though, Ferrets are great fun.

It's not so much the fuel that you need to worry about, as previously said it's the condensation and water content of the fuel that is the issue. I know with my MUTT tank the tank the decision was made to line it as it had been repaired and was a bit thin in places. Our CVRT has an old (unlined) Bedford lorry tank installed, and that is forever putting rust into the fuel filter.

If lining a tank, I can recommend POR15. It was used to line my M151A2 tank in 2007/8, and is still performing as per manufacturers intention (the filler neck is large enough and the tank small enough to see a good deal of the interior).

Already ot tat problem here at work (on the railways), and its being overcome. Lots of OEM bespoke control gear being replaced with off-the-shelf items and proprietary software. A quick search on ebay and you can get computers to read most vehicle ECUs. I've also seen some firms advertising reverse-engineered ECUs for some vehicles. As time and technology move on, the skill set adapts. I think in future it will be more difficult getting a mechanical in-line fuel pump caliberated than an ECU rebuilt.

Is there sufficient battery voltage? The pinion will engage but the motor not turn if the voltage is low. Also check that the engine turns by hand (before you start pulling things to pieces) as it may have hydraulicly or mechanically locked.

AN option for the electric pump could be to use a pressure reducing valve. I know of a few Ferrets and other vehicles that have these installed.

If you're on bar grip tyres, they are pretty awful. I once got stuck on long wet grass/nettles in a Land Rover 101 shod with bar grips. All wheels spinning, no traction, had to be towed off....

We've got a long bin in stock, possibly one of the others too. Located near Gatwick. PM me if interested.