101 Ron

That's the place to check things out. Off hand I can not tell you what terminal does what. But the solenoid wire does go though that junction box. The resistor set up is for the 12/24 ignition system which works like this. Ignition on and the ignition coil gets 12volts for normal running via the two resistors shown in the picture from the 24 volt supply from the ignition switch. Press the starter button and the 24 volt power supply for the starter solenoid by passes the resistors giving 24 volt booster the ignition coil only during cranking as well as the starter. The Stalwart will drop is engine oil from the tank into the engine sump if left standing for long periods of time. If started expect some smoke and rubbish to come out of the engine until the oil system sorts its self out. Fill the engine oil tank only enough to ensure the engine will get oil as after running for a while the engine oil tank will fill back up and if too much oil has been added it will over flow out of the breather pipe into the hull big time. Ensure the engine will turn over by hand before you do anything. The crank handle is hard work due to the drag of air compressors and many Vee belts and fans etc with a under size dog drive on the crank handle not helping. You should be able to get a big long screw driver in near the clutch inspection hole somewhere and bar the engine around slowly to see if it will turn. Ron

If memory serves me correct at the bell housing end of motor near the inlet manifold is a alloy circular electrical junction which contains the resistors for the 24v--12v ignition supply to the ignition coil and the starter solenoid wire with enough access to check things out with a test light. The electrical junction with the resistors is waterproof/suppressed and you need to undo 3 to 4 7\16 head nuts to get the round cover late off.

The NM Mack should run a standard 6 volt coil. Being war time vehicle as much as possible was interchangeable with other US vehicles. 6 volt Jeep coil will work fine. That model Mack had 12 volt supplied to the coil and starter while cranking and then when the motor started running it went back to 6 volts. Two batteries used with a series / parallel switch for change over for starting. 12 volt though a 6 volt coil just while cranking the motor for a short time will not hurt it.

Why stuff around with the points ignition when the Jolley conversion kit to electronic is available. Set and forget. Makes the standard shielded ignition system work much better and you can run slightly wider plug gaps. No points or condenser.................can be fitted so it is undectable looking at the engine..........you have to split the dizzy to find it. Transforms the B series engines and makes them more reliable.

Many years ago as a young bloke I got the job of following a ferret from Sydney to Albury and back again in a series 2a Land Rover as support vehicle for the owner of the ferret. The ferret didn't miss a beat and at every hill on the Hume Hwy the ferret just left me for dead. The ferret has no problems doing lots of tarred road miles and at speed. The funniest part about it was listening to the truckies on the CB radio saying to each other they were just over taken by a tank. If I remember correctly the owner got the ferret cranked up to just under 60 miles per hour at times. Good luck with your ferret..............miles on hard roads don't seem to worry them when they are all sorted out.

Thanks for the plug I would have started that thread here, except I was not planning to do a restoration thread in the first place and it just worked out it was sort of started on a Landrover site. I have picked up much information from HMVF using the search function too. Ron

I have a restoration thread on my Stalwart with many pictures,especially with work on the wheel stations. Many pages with different pics, you will have to spend time to look though it. It may be of help. Ron http://www.aulro.com/afvb/101-forward-controls-variations/118657-ultimate-fc-74.html

Australia received a small amount of B40 GA 1967 models with special gear ratios and high level exhaust with a leather saddle bag frame on the LHS. The leather saddle bag is the same as used by Australian and most likely US WLA WW2 Harley Davidsons with a quick release pin set up between the saddle bag and its frame. Modak motor cycles of 299 Elisabeth St Melbourne Vic Australia should have NOS items and a lot of other NOS parts purchased from the ex Australian army auctions many years ago. http://modakmotorcycles.com.au/ Ron

Hi from Nowra NSW. Please post your progress with the Harley. I have my dad's old one sitting hidden away with most of the army fittings on it including the ammo box and Thompson holder on the front of it. It is slowly deteareating due to lack of use. The good thing about a WLA is they are simple and plenty of reproduction parts are available. Ron

Most people do not realise how much work these vehicles can be and how hard it is to try and do things on them by your self. I hope you find a spanner pal and the drive to go on. On my stalwart I find I never get as much done as I need to, but I just keep working away when I can and very slowly it is happening. Ron

LOOKS LIKE THIS ?

One more point. If you register a vehicle in NSW say on historic plates and then drive it in Queensland you can be fined with a unregisted vehicle and have to leave it on the side of the road. It is a grey area and another law, freedom of trade between states, etc comes into play. It has been done in the past and is easier to enforce if the vehicle has special restrictions which technically apply only to another state. We are suppose to have a National rego and road law system now, but it is still not the case. Jeeps and Dodges travelling interstate on Historic plates the coppers and scalies don't seem to worry about at all. Travel in something unusual or large and the story could be different and a vehicle with restrictions is easy meat. No Blue plates in NSW for vehicle modifications, but in Qld blue plate is needed is a good example .

On my Stalwart for historic rego I had the issues the vehicle was slightly over width and central drivers position. I found though my local army truck club the person in the rego system which handles old and odd vehicle historic regos. A lot of people with the FV600 vehicles do not declare the over width which could get them in trouble if found out in a accident. The case I placed forward was if the vehicle was transported to shows and displays it would be by low loader/semi trailer and the semi/trailer combination would be overwidth and fully legal to do so on public roads using normal marker and over width signs on the semi/ trailer combo with the unregisted stalwart. All legal and nothing to stop me from doing this. I put forward , say going around a round about the stalwart on the semi/trailer combination would have a great overthrow on the corners and tyre wear/scrub on the semi/trailer combination. I pointed out the stalwarts wheel base is only 10 foot and it is twin steer front end and therefore the overthrow is less than a medium ridged truck going around the same corner. I pointed out the 6 wheel disc brakes of dual circuit and the fact that some of the these vehicles had been running around in Australia at one time on commercial rego without incident. I pointed out the use of the vehicle would be limited due to its low speed and high running costs. I pointed out the mechanically connected recirculating ball steering( they don't like hydraulic only systems) I pointed out I was willing to do what ever it takes to comply for public road use and suggested 1/ use of amber safety light 2/drive vehicle with co driver. I found out the steering column and is off set 2 inches to the right and the vehicle is technically right hand drive. All went well and I proved the vehicle was safe to operate on public roads......and the employees in the govt could tick all the boxes and help me without sticking their necks out. What I ended up with was. Carry no more than 7 people(all the seating the vehicle allows.) Not to exceed 72 kph Use normal oversize signs , markers and lighting as required for normal over width vehicles. ( amber rotary light too) Normal restricted club plates usage...ie club runs only, maintance,not for passenger carrying or commercial use. They were going to add no towing of trailers, but it never happened. I offered more restrictions, but that's what they felt was enough. I have to carry with the vehicle at all times the restrictions permit. Remember each vehicle is special case, regardless what other vehicles are running around in the same or other states.

Condition rego is designed for tow tugs at airports, forklifts at construction sites...etc The advantage of conditional rego over no rego is if the vehicle on conditional rego and the vehicle runs over someones foot, they will get compensated by the third party personal insurance instead of sueing the owner of the vehicle for compensation . What you are paying for with conditional rego is insurance for injury............but only if you are not negligent in any way with in reason. Historic plates should be the way forward. Every vehicle is judged on its merits regardless if there are any other vehicles of the same type running around the state or others. Rego of a ferret is always a bit of a problem because of its limited vision and the wind up of the drive that is suppose to hurt hard roads. What you must do is prove and put forward a case for safety. No one in the government system is going to stick their necks out and give you permission to drive on roads unless they know their bums are covered and all boxes are crossed. On historic rego you can have extra restrictions which is written on a document and carried with the vehicle. If you fight with the departments involved or try to bypass or go over anyones head in the system, kiss your rego good by for that vehicle ever again. For a ferret I would put forward, you would be willing to have extra restrictions placed on that vehicle to ensure safety. 1/ you would never operate the vehicle without a licensed co driver/ observer in the turret.( with intercom) 2/ never operate it at night time. 3/ never tow a trailer 4/ never operate it above 80 kph ??( for extra safety) 5/ fit removable extra safety lighting/ indicators/mirrors 6/never carry anymore than 2 persons including driver 7/ never carry cargo 8/If the wind up on hard roads is mentioned, offer to disconnect the drive shafts for hard road usage. If you can see, offer a package which by passes any of the concerns about the vehicle, which covers the government bum and improves safety. If you play with the system instead of fighting it you have a good chance of getting most of what you need. Take note the first thing the people do in the rego departments do for a unusual vehicle is to Google it. They will know much about the vehicle and its specs. Ron

If you look carefully in the back ground in theses pictures, the grey jib is the rear of the same truck. Ron

The truck in question I was looking at carefully the other day and I know the owner well. For its crane roll a strengthening frame of greater size than the original chassis is laid on top of the chassis. The front axle, chassis and cabin is original, I don't know about the steering box etc. The drive train and gearbox is not original and the differential is most like not original too. It is still useful as a yard crane. heavy plate and steel blocks are fitted to the extreme front of the vehicle to act as a counterweight for the crane. The whole thing reminds me of the many crane conversions done here in Australia to WW2 Blitz CMP trucks in there civie life usually done by locally by the owners . Two large winches are fitted to the sub frame on top of the standard chassis and the crane jib can be extended out a very long way. The conversion was very well done and built very strongly. The truck was found in a Sydney Australia outer suburb ,most likely still sort of working when found.

I do know the Saracen transfer box is a very different shape externally and will not have the correct PTO for a Stalwart,but that will not matter for a road only Stalwart. I have wondered about this myself. I suspect the preselected box of a Saracen has a different arrangement for lubrication for the transfer box. The manual gearbox of the Stalwart has the transfer box lubrication pump drive coming out of the rear end of too.

The tracta joint forks and shafts are interchangeable , as is the bearings and seals, but on the front of the stalwart I suspect the inner front tracta joint fork for the bevel boxes is different as it needs to be longer for the stalwarts parking brake drums which are inside the hull. Yes its a case of some stuff fits the stalwart and some does not. Here in Australia there are no stalwart parts advailable, only Saracen parts.

I know stalwart bevel boxes are different from Saracen. The size of the splined in put shafts are smaller on the stalwart. The difference in the hub reductions is the disc on the stalwart being part of the outer hub. Suspension pins and washers are slightly different with the stalwart having improved design of O rings to help keep water out. Also note there is a early small shock/rebound pin design and a later larger shock rebound design on the Saracens and only the larger bigger pin design fits the stalwart. The four drive shafts in side the hull of the Stalwart must be different and smaller too that a Saracen to fit the bevel boxes as is the muff couplings..............it was because they used a rubber boot over the muff couplings and had less room in the stalwart in that area.

I had to bend some marine ply to make curved seat backs for a vehicle. I learn things the hard way by trial and error until I got it correct. I boiled the plywood in a very large pot.....a stew pot from sold army cooker for a hour or so. That made the plywood flexible enough to do what I wanted with less effort and without breaking. The real problem was fully supporting the ply in the correct shape for a day or two under a fair bit of pressure until it set. To do this correctly you need a mold set the plywood to the correct shape. The plywood can not just be supported just here or there, it must be supported all over.

Chassis number is a welded plate out side the cabin on the left hand side just forward of the brass tyre pressure plate.

I am thinking rolls Royce griffon......looking at pictures. Lefthand side of the engine on a accessory drive. The plugs cover air cooling holes. The generator must have a cooling fan inside. The Australian navy used the fairy firefly.....did it use the griffon ????? The Albatross historic flight did have a flying firefly many years ago. I wonder if they want it back. I will ring them tomorrow and give it to them. Ron.

I think Albatross Naval air station was playing with allsorts of stuff in the 1950s from sycamore and dragon fly helicopters to Gannet carrier aircraft ,DC3s to fairy fireflys to small training aircraft.....tiger moth ?????? The bolt up to a flat surface with 4 bolts I keep thinking a timing case of a diesel motor.

Because of where it came from it is most likely to be .....Aircraft or Naval vessel or aircrash/fire fighting vehicles????????