antar

I wondered the same.

There are loads of ploughed fields and tractors so it could be quite difficult to find that out.

Yes I would agree with Antar Mike, both the prototypes finished their time in Hardwicks yard, in Ewell, South London. Their engines were cut out and sold to tractor pullers. I understand that they both came from Chertsey (trials and testing for british army). Had I been perhaps 5-10 years older than I am I would have without doubt bought and rebuilt one of them before they were cut up. I visited Hardwicks 24 years ago after they had been cut up. There are some colour pictures of them in Pat Wares "collection of pictures" Tugs of War. The guy standing on the rear wing of one is Frank Derrick an old friend of mine who is sadly no longer with us, he had visited the yard about 3 years before when they were still there less their engines. Hardwicks should have known better than to cut up such rare prototypes as they at the time had quite a collection of old lories and steamers. Their yard was eventually sold for building houses.

John.

Took me to Nesscliffe and back 1300 miles and the oil level has not changed, the smoke has gone and it's still starting on the button, so i think it's job done. If funds allow, I am going to do Overlord, 300 mile round trip.

Wish me luck.

Nice to hear it is eventually sorted,

John

Hey, I think I've got the fuel injection sorted on the Foden!!! I took the pump to R&N diesel in Wednesbury, They said they found a seal in 2 pieces and the one of the bleed screws was not sealing, they rebuilt the pump, the lift pump and checked the injectors for £120.

Glad to hear it, let us know how it goes after standing for a few days once the pump is refitted.

John.

Hope not as I have already had them sandblasted and painted, never even thought to check. looks like a trial fit is necessary today !!!will post a picture.

Trial fit went ok about 3/4" to spare.

Check the clearance of the inners on the rear springs if using an 8" rim, you may have to squeeze them over the existing 7.5" rims.

 

S26 with 4.79:1 diffs should do 70mph @ 2100rpm.:drive::shake::stop:

Hope not as I have already had them sandblasted and painted, never even thought to check. looks like a trial fit is necessary today !!!will post a picture.

Because they are too wide. When we move them we use mil police escort otherwise its a low loader. With all the grills in front of the windscreen, armoured glass etc its a nightmare to drive on UK small roads.

How wide is "too wide" My M746 is 10' wide and my old ANTAR was 10'6 have never had a problem driving them on normal roads after submitting the obligatory movement order, can't see why there is all the extra expense to the taxpayer for low loader costs ?

John.

Just a shame you wont be able to buy it fully armoured as they are not road legal in UK!

Why are they not road legal ?

And as if by magic one cab appears on ebay.. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260400887621&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

Thanks Nrman, but i don,t need another cab, just time to carry out the repairs to my own, I sold a very tidy LHD cab a couple of years ago because it was in the way.

John.

The front axles are coil sprung, the rears are hydraulic.

The chassis is box section.

Cost new, £700 000, fully armoured, £1.2 million

Another 20 years and we will have them as our toys !!!

John.

Are you thinking of getting one? It would be good with a DROPS or 6x6 Perkins 350 and some better diffs. The gearbox is much stronger than Crusader.

Was thinking of it, but decided to persevere in putting my Crusader back on the road again, I have high speed diffs for it and a set of 12.00 x 20 tyres which will put it up to 62mph @ 2100rpm. Just got masses of work to do on the cab !!

that's a swiss centurion :wow::wow:

That is correct, it was one of the ones sold to collectors by the Swiss Government a few years ago. It belongs to my friend. here is another picture.

No problem, I am sure you will soon work it out, with instructions from one of the younger generation !

What about a picture !

The old Rolls Royce badged 305 as fitted to Crusaders and about 54mph on the limiter, but if you were going any distance it cruises nicely at 42. Standard diffs are 6.39:1 but the RAF tankers with auto transmission use a 4.79:1 while civilian ones are usually 5.64:1. I am almost sure the hub reduction is the same ratio across the range.

Thanks Mike

Slowly Andy, I have spent the last few weeks collecting parts and rectifying minor issues. I have found a pair of S26 rear axles which will let it cruise at 57mph/1600rpm rather than 42mph/1600rpm which should make a vast improvement to the economy, journey times and noise levels. For some reason the RAF vehicles were fitted with 10.00 x 20 tyres rather than the usual 11.00 x 20, but I have aquired a set of 11 new 8.25 x 22.5 tubeless wheels which will take 12R 22.5 tyres and fill the front arches better.

 

Mike

Can anybody confirm what engine and roadspeed a standard RAF 6X4 TRACTOR has please ?

The second one is a Douglas-Tugmaster which was used for pulling tanks around in the tank storage depots, first saw one at Lugdgershall then Ibought the one out of ROF Leeds when it closed. I eventually sold it to Leavisley International. It actually weighed 30 tonnes.

John Riley.

CET because it is so complicated, suposedly unreliable but great fun !!!

Nice pictures Norman, I have never seen that one before, what was on at Tatton this weekend ?

John

Ex Beverley ANTAR'S and Dyson trailer have just re-emerged virtually on my doorstep, see latest copy of MMI. Will post more info when I have it.

Spent all day Friday getting the Mk 3 running, there are some electrical problems and there are no belts on the compressor so could not build up its own air.

The trips in the distribution box are both faulty, the 10A has already been wired out with an external 10A fuse, the 30A one pulls the coil in as soon as any load is put on it, so I think the main contact must not be made. This will get modified into someting more modern.

Hot wiring a positive supply to the SOL wire engaged both starters but without pulling in the contactors on the starter control panel so no rotation. Removed the cover off the starter control panel and pushed each contactor in by hand, each starter works perfectly well and the engine turned over.

All other checks carried out oil, water ect, fuel primed up and this time when the contactor pushed in the engine started after half a turn.

Next I hooked up an air line to the front emergency coupling and charged the air system up to 100 psi. With the new owner in the cab for his first ride in a MK3 ANTAR we were off around the yard. Two circuits of the yard and we were back to charge the air system with the air compressor. This time the new owner had his first drive, he soon had the hang of the gear change getting up into 5th without any problem.

There is still plenty of work to do but basically the truck is in full running order.

The Mk2 is in very nice condition from a bodywork point of view but was misfiring badly on the day I was there, the new owners nephew was busy most of the day removing all the spark plugs for checking and cleaning.

John Riley

Certainly is, a Mk 3 with Sankey 60ton trailer.

Ex Beverley ANTAR'S and Dyson trailer have just re-emerged virtually on my doorstep, see latest copy of MMI. Will post more info when I have it.

Some sources of information are accurate, others are less so,....

Can't possibly imagine who or which publication you are refering to Mike ????

John.

Maybe he has moved it inside to work on it !

Quite impressed Mike, I thought I knew a bit about Antars, but the above even taught me a few things. About time someone corrected all the errors in a certain publication a few years ago !!!

John.