Richard Farrant

Probably so they could use smaller tyres of a common truck size. Look at the level of the mudguard against the bonnet and compare to the pic of the gun tractor.

James, The Bedford TK is also a left hooker, note the British flag emblem, they are most likely serving in BAOR.

The K5 had a new 4 litre engine, an enlarged version of the 3.5 litre used in the K2, K3 and K4. The 4 litre was also fitted to the K6 6x4, it might be possible that a different piston ( or supplier of ) was fitted in engines built for the K5. According to the K5 workshop manual (dated Feb 1946), the pistons were made of "cast iron alloy". I think this materiel might have also been used for the pistons on the 3.5 litre as well, so perhaps there was a problem with expansion rate on the 4 litre pistons and they were siezing. It would probably be in a report buried in the Public Records Office.

In the period the photos were taken, the Matchless G3L and BSA would have been the standard bikes of the time. I am sure the BSA WM20 was the most numerous of all the British made motorcycles in service during the war. Pretty sure production ceased in 1945. This machine carried on in British Army service right through to the 1960's, with the help of the large amount of spares in stock no doubt.

John, It is more a question of getting up to the correct speed to suit the next selected gear, if the gear is engaged before that speed is attained then this is where you will sense the slip in the top gear clutch.

John, That might be a bit of a low speed to change up to 5th. I never looked at speed or revs when driving, better doing it by feel and sound. The uparmoured Saracen was a bad one for slipping when going into top, it had to be going as fast as posssible in 4th, before an upchange. After reading Vince's post, now remember that I gave you the settings, so probably rule out adjustment then. One thing to bear in mind with fluid flywheels, do not let them slip, by staying in a high gear at too low a speed, this is a sure way to overheat the oil and burn a seal out.

Bystander, The motorcycle is a BSA WM20

That is what the training pamphlet for QL says (same as MW), in fact my own one has EP90 hypoid in it. No bronze parts in there..........that I know of.

John, Have you got up to enough road speed before going into 5th? Assuming the flywheel level is OK. Could be adjustment on 5th, you would have to check out the box, under the lid.

Stefano, The little hole, sometimes fitted with a jiggle pin, is to stop air locks in the head when filling the system.

Hi Rippo, I have a training booklet written by the Army MT School in 1947, for the Bedford QL. Gearbox is identical. For axles, gearbox and transfer box, they are specifying Hypoid 90, so the change from a straight 140 gear oil to hypoid 90, happened between 1945 and 1947. Hope this helps.

Hi Mike, Normally if no thermostats is in the system, the engine is overcooled, in fact it will take longer to warm up. Something you might not have so much trouble with is Aus' is chalk deposits in your water, in Britain it is very prevalant ( due to water from bore holes in chalk areas) and is the cause of a many very choked rad cores.

You kept that quiet Richard Reckon I know where that was too !

The rev counter needle seems to jump about a lot, think it might be faulty. Reminds me of a motorcycle I once had, that used to eat speedos, needle bearings would wear, then the aluminium cup inside on needle shaft would touch the rotating magnet and be dragged around. Assuming these FV instrument panels are the magnetic type. Is the cable free?

Jules, Get the radiator off to a reliable repairer, I come across a good many of these old vehicles with restricted cores. While it is off, flush the block out again, the water pump bottom hose connection will allow any muck to escape. You do not want anything left in the system that will get in the rad after having it cleaned ( or new core fitted ).

Too much time on your hands by look of it :-D

Could be right there Ted, but if it is the same head that previous owner fitted a new gasket to, then the problem could be deeper in, hence why the gasket is blowing. When the gasket was changed previously, the head may not have been checked for bow, this could be why it has failed so quick, assuming it is the gasket blown. I still go for a build up of crud in the block, reducing water capacity as the initial root of the problem, gasket can just be a result of it.

Jules, What work have you done to it, for instance, has the radiator been off, and if so was it flushed out? Have you flushed the block? Is there a thermostat fitted and have you checked it? When the previous owner changed the head gasket, it might have been because of this same problem. To save any damage being done, I would flush radiator and block right through.

These vehicles were built with Unified threads, measure in Inches to find the correct fitting spanner. 40mm is approx 1 9/16" and 45mm is approx 1 13/16", so at a guess it could be either, 1 5/8" AF or 1 3/4" AF

Ian, I used to overhaul these sets for the army, and the fuel lift pumps were often a cause of problems. Try cleaning the whole fuel system out, lines, pipes, carb strip and clean. Check the operation of the pump, the diaphragm might be suspect, modern petrol is now effecting the older type of materials.

Many bells ! Robert and I used to camp with Rog at most shows, Steve was never far away. Bumped into Bernie at Odessey last year. Not heard of Trevor for years.

He had just seen a wealthy customer come in the garage :-D

Degsy, That is possibly because those in charge nowadays, have little basic diagnosis skills or experience and are equally like fishes out of water. When I went to work at REME, my chargehand was someone I respected, he was strict, but helpful. During the war he was attached to 79th Armoured Div. on tank transporters and hauled "The Funnies" all over the UK on training and trials before going to Normandy. His experience was wide. Now I look back, he was probably about the same age as I am now. He would never let anyone struggle, always assisted to solve a problem. After all, we were all there to get a job done................much later, I became Chargehand in the same section.

That is how you learnt, Chris. Glad I did my time back then and not today. Far more interesting then, repairing components, not throwing away and we did not need a computor to trace faults. Reckon we are in the same age group :thumbsup:

You are right there.........when I was an apprentice, did a lot of engine work, valve grinding, mainly diesels, sore hands and blue finger tips ... The things you learnt......