Richard Farrant

The Ferrets for Australia were also allocated British military numbers at around the same time. It may have been because the production run was originally intended solely for British Army, but to speed up delivery to Canada and Australia some were taken out of the run. Just for interest to you, one Aussie Ferret was numbered 37BA23 ( one of yours being 37BA21 )

Here is a photo of a Dutchman's solution to carrying the family. He has lengthened the cab of a CMP 3 tonner, and lost some body space in the running. OK it is not authentic, but it does enable a family to be together to enjoy the hobby. Perhaps it will give you an idea.

I saw three last week standing side by side under restoration. There was one last year at Beltring, it had attended several times before, under previous ownership. Back in the early Eighties, there were at least a couple seen at events.

Leyland Martian gun tractor, has a cab like a railway carriage!

When the Centurions were disposed from the Australian Army, they were bought in one lot by Tim Vibert. A few were sold as platforms for drilling rigs, I recollect seeing a photo of one and believe it was towed around by crawler tractors.

ACH, I think you may be able to use the other mounting holes in the diesel bell housing and make some mounting plates to mate up with the chassis holes. The bus and coach chassis were SB type, I don't think the engine is offset any different in a S type, from a R type.

I was sure the petrol starter would not be man enough to use on the diesel. I do have a manual at work, for the 300 diesel, which would have ben an option in the R type, it may well have a bell housing to suit, will try and remember to look tomorrow. I have contacted the chap with the RL recovery, he does not know if it is a 300 or 330 fitted, but will try and get some pics of it when he gets an opportunity. There is the ability to mix and match with parts on these engines and I have a feeling that there is a bell housing with mountings on the side, which you may have to use and then adapt to the chassis. So long as you can use the diesel flywheel and starter. It may be the one fitted to the TJ "bonneted" truck. I assume your engine is from a TK with the large mountings standing on top of the bell housing.

Do not skip gears on a downshift, it is not neccessary and will most certainly be a cause of damage within the box. Any vehicle with these gearboxes, must not be driven like a modern car, ie, on the requirement for a downshift, the vehicle should be slowed ( either by brakes or backing off the throttle early enough), to a suitable speed for the lower gear, before changing down, if not, you will feel a sudden snatch as the box is changed down too early. The shift done right is so smooth there is no snatch or sudden rise in engine revs.

Hi Rick, I have heard that rhubarb leaves are good for cleaning aluminium. The leaves are boiled in water, then immerse aluminium parts in to the hot solution. Not tried it as I do grow rhubarb anymore.

Well, that depends on whether you had done the job before or not, and if the bolts were rusty / siezed. For someone who had not done it before and all the kit was to hand, I suppose a couple of hours to remove it. A lot of this could be done beforehand then when a crane was available, lift off would be relatively quick.

Aside from the wiring and air pipes to the cab, there is the steering column flexible coupling, adjacent to the pedals, reached through the rad grill aperture. Disconnect transfer box linkage and cables, then you have four bolts, two are under the floor mat, memory fading, think the other two are under the flaps. The front two do suffer from corrosion. To lift the cab you need a beam steel or good timber through the door opening with a strop over the top. Not really a job to do in the street though.

a shoe horn, for assisting fitting of boots ?

I don't know whether it was a 300 or 330 diesel, but will see if I can find the contact details of the chap who owns it and ask him, maybe he might have some photos.

They are on there, you not signed on maybe?

I was recently talking to a chap who had bought a ex-army Bedford RL Light recovery, from Manchester area, I think, and that had a Bedford diesel in it. Not sure if I still have his contact details.

The one we used, as in the manual photo, was lifted nearer the back of the engine ( by trolley jack) and the skids barely left the ground as it was drawn out.

There is also Loctite Freeze & Release. Each situation can be different though, no standard sieze as sometimes it is not corrosion that is the problem.

Well done ! looks like the pallet truck could be on the edge of its balance though :-D Engine looks nice and clean.

Tony, The viscocity of your conconction would be higher than WD-40 and thus be slower at penetrating. Will stick to WD-40, especially as I have found it in 5 litre cans now. Going back to my apprentice days, we used Plus-Gas and that was excellent penetrant for siezed things, not seen it around for a while.

The weapon you are refering to is Green Mace, one of the prototypes is also on display at the Firepower Museum in Woolwich. It was a 5 inch automatic AA gun developed for high flying fast aircraft. I used to see it when it was outside the Rotunda and wondered if it would have ever been practical, it weighed around 30 tons and had a very high profile, as well as C of G. My guess is that the proposed towing vehicle would have been the Leyland FV1201(A) 30 ton Heavy Artillery tractor, a giant of a truck being 11 feet wide, weighing around 41 tons when laden.

Thanks Lee

No :nono:..........looking for a part for a MV.........why else would you use MVVideoAds? If anyone knows if this is a permanent thing, then I will remove the link to my advert on there.

What has happened to MV Video Ads ? I just clicked on to it and a menu comes up listing hen parties, tarot reading and other unrelated things. You can also click on "HMVF Ads" at the top of this page, and same menu appears :???

Humber Mk2 scout car...........at a guess just come in from Holland :coffee:

Graham, Agree about the picture, in past years we have had a selection of photos from the previous show.