antar

That would be Bill not Bob.

John

When I bought the Foden winch I fitted to one of my Matadors, it did not incude the propshaft. I had to make one up.

 

The winch on the Martian, and on the Albion are all the same, but according to application the length of the Propshaft would vary. I doubt wether you could take the winch of a Martian, and fit it to an Albion, (in the right place) and retain the Leyland Propshaft. Since the propshaft is dependant on the vehicle the winch goes on, I would say it isn't part of the winch. I have seen this same winch Chain driven, hence no propshaft at all.

 

And the propshaft is only any good if you have the PTO on a gearbox to drive it, so is the PTO part of the winch? If you wanted to drive a hydraulic pump, to fit a hydraulic winch on an Explorer (wouldn't a Martian recovery winch be nice!), you would need the PTO left on the vehicle... this discussion runs on and on, but the point is wheter the worm shaft is the start of the winch, or the propshaft, both lie horizontally, not "vertically," and that is the statement Radiomike had made I was questioning in this part of the thread. (although he qualifies his statement by only talking about the winch drum.) I am talking about the winch, and however you look at it, its first shaft and the drive to it lies horizontally.

 

To take this further, on a ploughing engine the drive is turned through 90 degrees by a pair of bevel gears which give close to a 1:1 ratio, on the Wild winch, the drive is turned through 90 degrees by a worm and worm wheel, that gives a much much larger reduction. I can see no comonality between a ploughing engine winch, and the Wild, Scammell winch. The Scammell winch has its gears running in gearboxes, running on rolling element bearings and in an oilbath. The steam winch uses plain exposed bearings and a total loss lubrication system...The Scammell winch has machine cut, hardened steel teeth, the ploughing engine has cast iron teeth, whose shape is only obtained from a wooden pattern, used in sand casting, with no subsequent machining....

Mike,

Mention of the Explorer gearbox PTO is interesting as I sold one a couple of weeks ago to a fairground chap from the Heathrow area as he had over winched and smashed 3 teeth of his !

John.

Should anyone require a brand new winch rope for one I do have an original one still coiled up. It has a spliced and bound eye is 7/8ths inch diameter and the correct length. It wont be cheap though, PM me if there is any interest. It was in the stowage locker on my 20 ton Constructor when I got it. It has been dry stored ever since.

John.

Anyone seriously wanting 14.00 x 20 18plys pm me as I have a friend who has just cut an M series bridging truck and he has 13 for sale they vary in condition, but they are mostly very good.

John.

Thank you Mike - have replied.

That would be the one belonging to Bill Holding of Shiffnal in Shropshire. Bill bought it of MIRA (motor industry research... i've forgotten the last bit). It had been used to test motorway crash barriers, most of the time it was ANTAR 1 crash barrier 0, but eventually a crash barrier scored and the front axle got obliterated. Bill purchased another front axle of a MK2 antar which had been cut up in John Watsons at Stone in Staffordshire. Repairs were required to te sump and then a very extensive restoration took place making a very nice truck. Bill also has the correct trailer to go behind it.

John

"Who immediately swapped it" .....not a very happy affair.

 

This Militant Gun Tractor was subsequently cut in half and exported to Bongoland for timber extraction. The body ended up on the Militant Gun Tractor that Richard Grosvenor recently sold.

Didn't know that about the Militant. Guessing that happened in Kibworth... But at least my old Explorer is safe at Duxford.

John.

John, I wonder if you might also know the present whereabouts of a 20ton ballast tractor I last saw about 7 years ago in Wrexham when it was being offered for sale. The significant feature of this lorry was that, although it was reasonably up together and original in appearance, the rear end had been modified to carry an enormous concrete block that could be raised and then suddenly dropped. The idea was to crush scrap car bodies with this block in a breakers yard. I've always wondered what happened to this Constructor. Maybe you might know. Sorry, no 'photos or chassis number. Cheers.

Sorry, dont know about that one, the only other one which was in the Wrexham area about that time was complete and original and owned by the same guy my M578 and Stormin's Ward La France came off. That went to ...... Kibworth. It has moved on a couple of times since. I will ask around and find out about the one with the concrete block.

John.

John, I wonder if you might also know the present whereabouts of a 20ton ballast tractor I last saw about 7 years ago in Wrexham when it was being offered for sale. The significant feature of this lorry was that, although it was reasonably up together and original in appearance, the rear end had been modified to carry an enormous concrete block that could be raised and then suddenly dropped. The idea was to crush scrap car bodies with this block in a breakers yard. I've always wondered what happened to this Constructor. Maybe you might know. Sorry, no 'photos or chassis number. Cheers.

Sorry, dont know about that one, the only other one which was in the Wrexham area about that time was complete and original and owned by the same guy my M578 and Stormin's Ward La France came off. That went to ...... Kibworth. It has moved on a couple of times since. I will ask around and find out about the one with the concrete block.

John.

Some interesting photos on there, Mike. The Frodsham Motors ex MOD 5th wheel tractor went to Kibworth for a short while (it was in typical seaside motor condition :shake:) - I wonder where it is now?

It is now owned by Peter Doe in Hampshire who also has an Explorer and a Handyman.

John.

Just a picture of a nice preserved Chieftain!!!

Where was that at, seem to recognise some of the vehicles in the background but cannot place the show ?

You'll have to become Antarjohn...

Or M746John...or CETJohn...or CRUSADERJohn...or M578John...or M747John...or CHAMPJohn...or REOJohn...no no its all getting a bit scary now.

Q67GDB is in the Duxford collection, chassis number 8132 from contract 7443. It used to be mine many years ago with a petrol engine in it, when the head gasket blew I decided to put a Meadows diesel in it, never got round to it, sold the whole lot to a friend of mine, he did the engine conversion ran it for a couple of years. He sold it to Bernie Jones who imediatly swapped it with Duxford for a Militant MK1 6X6 Gun Tractor. In april last year it was outside sheeted up near the play pen.

John.

Not to sure about the authenticy of the Foden FG in military colours, the dinky model was based on a protype tested by the army but not accepted i have a photo of it somewhere and will post when located. Regarding the Renault Magnum in Mikes post was it used by the british forces and if so for what purpose it must have been a one of if so

Hi Les,

look again there has been more than one antar owner on this forum ! as regards the Magnum there would apear to have been only one of them. The nice thing about it was the fact that it was a sleeper cab (obviously) with no bunks. behind the driver was another seat with a hatch in the roof and across the back of the cab were gun racks. behind the pasenger seat was a passageway into the rear body. The rear body had been emptied of all the comand equipment but there was a large hatch in the roof and a ladder up to it. Outside on the roof the bodywork protruded above the roof by about 18" so someone could be concealed whilst up there. Quite a bit of kit !!!

John thats John !!!

I found these interesting pictures whilst 'mooching' on the internet today!

 

http://www.fototruck.com/galleryDetail.asp?intCategoryID=3

Very interesting, the Renault magnum control vehicle and trailer was in Whithams a few months back for sale, whilst I was taking the pictures there was someone looking to buy it and use as a race car transporter, its not there now so it must have sold.

My name is Richard, although I'm more commonly known a Tricky. I'm down in South America re-building 85 ex US Military trucks, mostly Kaiser 2.5 and 5t trucks, but I have some Ward LaFrance M746/M747 HETS to work on.

 

Cheers,

 

Tricky

Welcome aboard Tricky, amazed to hear you are working on M747/747 outfits in Bolivia as I have one of my own ! Should you require any information do not hesitate to contact me. I have all the manuals for them and prety much know them inside out. I would like to know the serial numbers of the ones you have. There were only 125 built for the US Army and 68 built for Morroco. I asume that yours are ex-usa ones ?

I have attached a picture of mine.

Best Regards

John Riley

A number of years ago, probably 25, a small group of people took a Bedford MK all the way to Libya and "recovered" a LRDG Chevrolet ?, the vehicle finished up in the "Grange cavern military vehicle museum" in Holywell North Wales. As I recall it was left in "as found" condition and placed in a de-humidified display enclosure. The museum closed about 17 years ago and I never heard what happened to the vehicle. Does anyone recall anything about this story ?

John

I like those old Humbers.A very rare sight on the show scene these days.There is one knocking about in the classifieds for £7,000.

I am a friend of the owner of the £7k one which was recently for sale and it has sold at very near asking price !!!

There were several in a scrap yard over there, I think they went over as deck cargo on ships in the 60s.

Yes, They were in Sam Wieners, Akron, Ohio. I have visited the yard on a number of occasions in the past, but can confirm that there were no useable parts. Sam gave me a guided tour and told me he bought 50 from a british dealer (he could not remember who) and had them shipped out via Rotterdam as deck / hold cargo.

John.

Just fired my Crusader up and turned it round in my yard ready to start some serious restoration work on it in the new year. It has not been on the road for about 5 years now, I have just used it as a static crane for shifting all the other junk around in the yard. It has an EFFER 9ton/metre crane fitted where the big stowage box used to be, it is powered by a Hatz donkey engine fitted where one of the battery boxes was.

It was a bit difficult to start as it was about -1 here all day, but eventually it went.

So that's how you talked her into letting you have the OT90!

"Honestly love when you stand in the turret commanding you'll be surrounded by metal armour, nowhere to go, far safer than the old beast." :rofl:

Norman,

When I see you at the next club meeting remind me to tell you about Stalwart alarming experiences !

John

You don't suppose it's because the original engines don't give the aeroplane enough grunt at altitude and is in fact a necessary mod to keep it fit for purpose?

 

I remember a few decades ago, the Peruvian national railway replaced its ageing fleet of steam engines with brand spanking new diesels only to discover that they had no grunt at high altitude and were simply not fit for purpose, so they put the steam engines back on the line. I suspect the terminus in question was Antofagasta.

 

Our only realistic mode of travel between our village in the Andes and Medellin and Bogata was either a DH Beaver Aerotaxi or the twin-engined luxury company Aero-Commander, which was about as big as could land at Otu. They never flew particularly high over the mountains. I always felt we were just a few feet above them and the turbulence did nothing for my sensitive youthful stomach.

 

Even in the DC4s and Constellations that flew between Medellin and Bogata, I never really felt we were that high above the mountains.

I think the important fact that you forgot to point out is that when you are in Bogota you are already at 8000 feet above sea level !

a clip of a Scammell earning its keep getting another truck back on the road , a slow steady pull does it all , not even a need for an anchor as the lads have already lightened the load greatly.

That is something of a hybrid which Jacksons of Morpeth put together themselves. Crusader running gear with Martian recovery gear on the back, a very capable vehicle, as you can see it retains the Martian earth spade under the rear end.

as does the ex Beverley mark3..

Yes i had noticed that too, where is it currently located since the Museum of Army Transport was cleared ? John

Yes that's the one I believe is with the Lawtons...

Both the Boscombe down Big Ben and the Chris Miller Antar MK3A are with the Lawtons. The Miller Antar actually has the fibreglass cab. John.

Yes, indeed, I did know that you once owned this lorry and it was you I was addressing when I said I maybe close to tracking down the person you bought it from. When I read, in a previous post of yours, that you had acquired this lorry from a bloke who owned "a garage somewhere in Somerset" but that you couldn't remember where, I set the hounds to work and I may have a result, and hopefully, a few 'photos soon. Or maybe not.

 

John, thank you for the info regarding the blue Constructor now owned by your friend, Sean Reed. I think I'm right in saying that, like many other Scammells, this one past through Geoff Rhodes hands. I believe Geoff brought it from someone who would take it to shows and challenge all comers to a tug of war hence the ballast compartment on the back. Geoff sold it to the bloke who ran

an approved school near Stoke as mentioned in a previous post. For a number of years a vintage and steam rally was held in the grounds of the school and the Constructor was employed towing a water bowser round to service the steam traction engines at the show. At few years ago I saw this Scammell advertised for sale. Maybe that was when Sean Reed bought it.

Just to keep things in order, I actually bought the Constructor of a chap called Alan Robins in Kidderminster who had owned it for a number of years after buying it from the garage operator in Sommerset. All I can remember is that he was called Mike and that he latterly had a Militant Recovery.

Regarding the "Blue one" Sean did buy it from Ken Williams who was the Headmaster at Buglawton School for naughty boys and did run the Buglawton vintage show within the grounds of the School in early July each year. Ken is now retired from the school but does still run the show.