garry taylor

i took my MK across west and central Africa last year.....perfect truck for the job, it may be slow....but it will get you there...and enven in remote non comonwelth french speaking countrys you could still eventuraly find bedford parts ( even if the mechanic has to go to the neighbouring country for the part) just one idea for you...i dont know the exact law....but it may be wiser for you to get export plates ( xe plates) so that you dont need to mess around with getting a MOT, its worth looking into at least...maybe you can even keep your origanal plates if you are taking out for export, as you dont need a MOT for driving the truck out of the UK for export enjoy africa....are you going east or west...if u go east you may get lucky and the new road could be open on the sudan/eygypt bourder....but dont hold your breath for that....but im not sure how you would get to eygpt in the first place unless the boats started to sail again

its got, bed, stove, sink, ect

it got its mot just a couple of months ago.....and as far as i can tell its got all the stuff to make it legal for a camper in it....just the side comes down aswell...but yes its a bit scetchy.....but this little beauty is heading to Africa eventualy and when she is out the uk i dont expect her to come back to the Uk any time soon

p.s. not me in the photo

Hi My New Bedford MK is registerd as a mobile home....but it does have a sound stage on the back...the whole of the side of the truck ( not back put side) folds out and becomes a stage for a sound system......wouldent this class as exibition (especaly if it was excibitioning and education via the stage)

Ive seen a good few green goddess in Iceland and they are all on regular bar grip.... the bar grip were good for africa, but not so great for high speeds, but as its a mk...there is not a lot of high speeds...i did meet one guy up here who had on of the small army MAN 4x4 and his tyres were not bar grip, but he seaid they were no good in the snow eather...i thing studs are the way to go.....as you could not use chains as there normaly is not enthoue snow for them...especaly over long distances

In the end i put screw in studs in the tyres

dont think it was eather of them

Hi welcome to the forum, i was in RSA 3 weeks ago with my Bedford mk, i sore a place on the road from joburg to pretoria that was selling millitry vehicles, it was near the st George hotel, i was intrested to see if they had a website but could never find it, the name of the company was something like truck and plant p.s. i gess you have been there but the millitry museum in joburg is real great

Hi i just spent the last 6 months driving from Iceland to SouthAfrica , via the west coast and central of Africa I was in a Bedford MK 1977 (like the MJ but no turbo) it was a very hard road but i knew the ex army truck could make it.....everything that broke on the truck in the 6 months of hard hard roads was able to be fixed on the road by African bush mechanics...and we only ever needed 1 part in all the time, we managed to get that in sierra leone...there were Bedfords in around half of all countrys we went to...not many but a few...probley Nigeria had the most then Morocco ive used this site often when i was prepering the truck for the trip, so i thought i would write a report of all the mechanical issues and fixes that i had along the way,it may be of help to others in the future 1. Problem- Window wipers stoped working, Fix- Turned off, left wiper motor to cool down, then when ever we needed to use again we just turned it on for a few seconds each time ( also used turtal wax window spray) 2. Problem- Engine leaked oil on the floor Fix- we had a Morroccan guy re-seal the engine, which only worked for a day, then we put some fake blue devil sealent in the engine, which worked perfect for a few months, it did start to leak again after, but we were in to remote areas to find any more blue devil 3. Problem- flat tyre, we had only 2 in 6 months, Fix- easy change of wheels, only problem was not realy having good tools, 4. Problem- Tyre getting low ( slow punchtre) , Fix- could not be bothered to get it properly fixed as it was near the end of the trip, so sprayed in tempory fixer ( emptyed out and re aired a few times) 5. Problem- Stuck in low gear ( transfer box broke), Fix- we had to wait 5 nights in a local truckers motel/brothel in Gueina while a mechanic went looking for a spare part in seara leone, this was our only major problem in the 6 months and was fixed as soon as we got the part 6. Problem- Engine stalled when idal, Fix-The idal control had lost a screw or something, we had it fixed by a local taxi driver and his mate ( his mate turned out to be the local imigration officer who 20 mins latter stamped our passports out of Congo) 7. Problem- Diff leaking oil, Fix- re seal and re oil 8. Problem- UJ joint worn out, Fix- went to the scrap yard in liberville, found one that almost fit and welded it on 9. Problem- Bald tyres, Fix- it was the end of the trip, so we just kept them,we could drive faster with the raceing tyres in Namibia..bar grip was so shaky before 10. Problem- Cab leaking in rain from observation hole in roof, Fix- put plastic bags ontop of all electonics and waited until we were in a place with a dry season 11. Problem- Dash board electronics not working, circit board shacken to peaces, Fix- rewired it 12. Problem- Fuel guage not working, the controler in the tank was screwed, Fix- used a stick to check the fuel level for the next 3 months, worked perfect 13. Problem- Fuel tank to small for Africa, Fix- straped a barrel to the side and sucked and spat the fuel with a peace of tubing 14. Problem- Sound from the axel at high speed, Fix- stick some more oil in the axel and sell the truck 15. Problem- Hand brake not working, Fix- adjust a bolt ( with brake OFF) on the bottom of the back axel 16. Problem- Found some bits of a broaken touth inside the gearbox and silver oil, Fix-replaced the gear oil 3 times and took it gental on changing to 4th gear 17. Problem- Air break pressure kept going all the way up, too high Fix- took the air control box apart, oiled it and resealed it hope this helps for others in the future, the Bedfords are good trucks, but getting less comon in Africa now ( althought there are still some from the 50s and 60s around still being working trucks), possabley if i was doing it in a big truck again i would use the leyland dafs as there are tons of dafs around in africa always remember if its a old British truck....if its not leaking oil....then you have no oil in the truck

looks like we will be putting screw in studs in the tyres....the tyres are old but should hold hopfully and we are on the way to africa so im not worryed about the MOT....the studs are a like a quater of the price of chains

Hi Im in Iceland with my bedford MK, on the 5th of January i will be driving it to africa, the problem is, i have to drive around Iceland first, it will only be 2 or 3 days driving, but there is still a good chance that there will be snow/ice on the road....and i dont mean a little...more like the road is packed snow....everyone here uses studs.....should i put some in....or try to find chains...and were can i get some chains...without breaking the bank...i will be in the uk in a few weeks time, so i could get them in the uk im driving on the old bar grip type tyres which are ment to be real slippy in the snow...and i got a couple of hills to go over ....bothing real real bad, but still it is Iceland any suggestions

hi looks like this guy has totaly disapeared...so i gess he is not intrested in selling the manuals anymore...i think the 600 pages of the parts catalog put him off...if you want you can send me you email address and i will send u the manuals that i have on my computer...not compleat i think...but a good start....o i just sor your email addres above...i will send now

Hi Welcome, althow its a bit late, you have been on a while,i got a mate who used to go to the museum often, i think he was somekind of yearly member or something,Dave Watson, i took me along once...and i always remember when i took the bus to work to cookietime that we passed the plane on the side of the road

wheni bought my MK the old owner said it was good for a 50 50 mix oil diesel in summer and 20 80 in winter,the veg oil gets thinker with the cold and is not good for the pump...i remember in seeing in Aldi veg oil 10p cheaper than diesel but we were onto the ferry to holland the next day so just waited to fill up there, there used to be lots of people filling up with cheap veg a few years ago( there are other forums online about it) from loss leader supermarkets but most now sell it at the same price or more expensive than diesel....but used veg oil is a totaly diffrent story, you have to filter and filter and filter again, and make sure you get all the water out aswell as your chips

dont most modern blank fire guns, have nothing coming out the end at all....i know mine does not, no flash from the barral, ( totaly blocked) everything out the side or the top vents...a lot less chance of blinding somone with these than, real firearms that are firing blanks ( eg in the Army)

Thanks for the manuals protruck, you are a real star, i will use it well

Hi so i found the breather...its a extended one for water, so it was like a rubber tube going up to the chasiss , i gave it a bit of a blow out but it does not seem to be blocked, just a bit dusty, i will try and give it a go with the silicon on the weekend, but lets see if my GF will let me have any more time with the truck, ive been having a play with the brocken speedo aswell, i will take it totaly off and paly with it inside ( more space) its got the end of the cable brocken off and stuck in it...so i need to get to work with the tweazzers ..no big problem thanks so much for all the help guys, especialy for the manual....this will make it a lot easyer

im going to go back to the truck tomorrow and have a look for this breather, ive been told that the trucks been winterised and i think waterproffed so it my look a bit diffrent ( i dont know) ..i realy dont remember anything on the top of the axle...but i will look im not to worryed about the tempritures out here afecting the sealant..it does not get that cold here...max in the winter is minus 5c in the night and normaly its more like between 5 and 10c...it just always windy ( makes working on the truck less fun) and often rainy, atleast we are getting lots of daylight now...last week i could not get to sleep so i went to work on the truck at 3am in the daylight i belive this is the only MK or MJ in Iceland,there are a few greengoddesses and ive seen a tk, so i realy appreciate everyones advice..

when i cleaned it up, the oil was maybe coming from the right side slightly higher, ( ive put a blue arrow ) as there was fresh oil there 20 mins after cleaning,im thinking of putting some kind of sealent on the outside.. the breathers i dont know much about ( or were they are,as i still dont have any manual)

The red arrow shows were the matterial is coming out, i cleaned it up a bit and watched for oil ,and it actualy looked like it was coming out further up ,but i could be wrong,

im going to give it a proper wipe down and see were the oil leak starts from, and put some photos up, shame it takes me 30 mins to get to were the truck is parked...whish it was nearer...gess im getting lasy