Richard Farrant

Hi Wayne, That axle housing is 165.

No, he wants the nearside door, it looks undamaged :-D

David, The clues are there, a Welsh registration on the car, a Welsh accent heard. Take a look at the link here to MVT South Wales area, and scroll down to 2009 report. There is a name http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gareth.williams11/news.htm

Hi Andy, Don't remember what year it was but the REME TA guys from Ashford once did a demonstration at Beltring with two Foden recovery trucks turning a Saladin end over end. Have some photos somewhere but will have to scan them.

Chris, A bit simpler than that, I recollect there is a hole in the crank end, for a spigot bush in the car I suspect, and a shaft that fitted snugly in there with a point on. The other part was a flat plate with a vertical metal bar fixed to it, this was used to mark the height, engineers blue, pointer scribed it, turn it round and align with the box. Could also be checked in the other plane. Going back over 30 years ago when we first did this!

What you should be doing is lining the centre of gearbox shaft to centre of crankshaft, this is because the Layrub type couplings do not like running out of line and can melt if incorrectly aligned. I know first hand about the alignment as when the engine mountings and Hardy Spicer propshaft were changed with the Modification to Layrub due to cranks breaking, I was doing a lot of work on CVR(T) in REME workshops. We made a pointer that slid in the end of the crank and had a fixture which we could mark off and in turn stand it against the gearbox to check the shaft centre corresponded. I cannot recollect if this aligning tool was shown in the Mod Instruction, but it was a locally produced tool, simple and effective.

As the engine has the word STANPART cast in the block, I would feel very certain it is a Triumph built engine (Standard Triumph)

Soaking the canvas will tighten it

That will confuse the neighbours when you put it at the bottom of your road!

Hi Wayne, I can see that the axle trumpet housings have an intermediate plate where the flange bolts to the centre housing, this is because they had inboard disc brakes. Early disc brakes were dry and suffer from oil leaking in to them, so later ones were redesigned to run wet, ie in oil. You will see the brake linkage going into the axle where it meets the centre housing. The 135 had normal drum and shoe brakes behind the wheel. regards, Richard

:n00b: click on it and you will get a larger image !

384 is the workshop or contractor's number, see it follows on same line, if it was another entry it would be on line below. See this plate in my photo, that column is for the MTRS No., which I recollect was the Mechanical Transport Repair Scheme.

Hi Wayne, I have a feeling your tractor has a MF165 rear axle, to me it looks like it has inboard disc brakes, and the part number on the axle housing tallies with a 165. That being so your wheels will be a larger PCD on the studs. Industrials were often beefed up in this manner. They are not ordinary 135's with different bonnet and colour scheme! regards, Richard

Hi Trevor, Overhauled in March 1984? That sounds a bit late, even Explorers were being disposed of by then!

I see you are a MVT member, there is your answer, go to their website and check out Vehicle Verification.

Ah ha, Welbikes !

Interesting article in a Victoria newspaper from 1911, Lacres were thought of highly in Australia it seems; http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/90232497

I remember riding in a military K2 truck in Jersey many years ago. We were on a tour there with a small group of mv's in 1988 I think, they called themselves the "BBC" group. I think the K2 owner was called Nick, maybe that was you? regards, Richard

Sue, You could also contact Vauxhall Motors Ltd at Luton, as they were the manufacturer originally. They gave me a dating letter for my 1943 Bedford once.

Here is the correct one; http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20145/lot/103A/

oh damn ! I was looking at a site on the 2012 auction and thought that a better link, did not spot it was 2013. Yes the figure was between 33 and 34 thousand inc buyers premium.

http://images1.bonhams.com/original?src=Images/live/2013-08/29/S-20931-0-2.pdf go to page 54 for full details. This is the 2013 auction ........ my mistake

I nearly made a remark on that as I typed it out ........... rather a coincidence !

As the makers serial number starts "BT", then it is a fair assumption that this was made by Brockhouse Trailers.

Not sure where the upper page scan is from but it does not look like an official document and even I can see it does not show the whole picture. I understood BT designation to be Misc. Receipts, here are a few examples which are likely to be ex-RAF vehicles transferred to Army: 17BT45 Austin K9 ambulance 43BT30 Scammell Medium Recovery (Explorer) ......... I do remember one of these on BT plates, might be this one, and definitely ex-RAF and also recall inside of cab painted Eau-de-nil as was normal for their vehicles. Also some if not all of the M2 Bridge Units were on BT plates.