MilitantGraham

I thought fuel filler caps were yellow for diesel and red for petrol, or have I got that wrong ? Is there a regulation for colour of fuel filler caps ?

As far as I can remember, the Foden Recovery is the only vehicle I have seen with six air line couplings on the front. Red, yellow & blue, in & out.

"If it breaks away from the tow vehicle this would apply the brakes." No it wouldn't. You're thinking of the breakaway valve on trailers which uses the air stored in the trailers air tanks to apply the trailer brakes when the supply pressure in the red line drops. Disconnecting the air lines to the front of a vehicle being towed will have no immediate effect on the towed vehicles brakes. "All modern goods vehicles have couplings on the front (of the) tractor unit so the wreaker can couple up to the brake system." No they don't. Normal practice when towing a modern HGV is to connect an airline to a test point near the compressor or air drier to keep the tanks full and the spring brakes released. I've never seen an external method of applying the brakes. Devices are available that connect to the yellow line of the towing vehicle and clamp to the steering column of the towed vehicle and physically press the brake pedal in response to the towing vehicle braking. They are rarely used. Recovery drivers generally rely on their truck being heavier than the one they are towing. "On modern trucks and trailers the brakes are applied by springs when the air pressure is removed from the cylinders." Yes, but only the parking brake. The service (foot) brake is applied by air pressure. If you were towing a modern truck and the connection broke, you would still need someone in the cab to apply the brakes. I don't mean to sound picky or critical here, but if you're towing trucks it's important to understand what is happening with the brakes. When suspend towing with the Militant, I will usually connect; Red line. Supplies air to the towed vehicles tanks and releases the spring brakes on a modern truck. If it breaks the towed vehicle will gradually lose air due to natural leakage or use of the brakes. Eventually the spring brakes will come on. Long before that happens, one of the three gauges in the Militant will drop and the low air buzzer will sound. Yellow line. Provides the braking signal to the towed vehicles brake relay valves. It's the air stored in the towed vehicles tanks that actually does the braking. If it breaks the towed vehicles brakes will not be applied, however there would be a sudden loss of air from the broken pipe when applying the Militant brakes. Dropping air gauge and buzzer again. I also usually connect a safety chain. If the lifting eyes and front tow hitch are both on the front bumper, there is a possibility that if the bumper became detached that's all I would be left with. A safety chain from the Militant rear tow hook to the towed vehicles front axle will at least keep it somewhere near under control.

http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:Zt38tgnp3hQJ:www.hmvf.co.uk/smf/index.php%3Ftopic%3D8036.300+%22matador+of+the+day%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=uk I take it 3D8036 is the thread number and 300 is the number of the post at the top of that page. I tried changing the 300 to see if there were any more pages cached, but it just leads back to the same one.

I don't understand much about computers and how the internet works, but if you type "matador of the day", complete with quotation marks, in to google and click on Cached, some of that thread is still available. I tried messing with the page start number, changing the 300 to a 200, but it didn't make any difference Is it possible that whole threads might have been saved by google and be able top be retrieved by someone who knows a bit more about this thing than I do ?

I've been saying for a few years that there's not enough big British vehicles at shows in general, not just W&P. Does anyone travel to W&P as a visitor to look at 400 jeeps and 500 Land Rovers, other than to play the "Spot the jeep not in 82nd or 101st airborne markings" game ? Most steam rallies pay appearance money for steam engines and, for some bizarre reason, fairground organs. Perhaps W&P could introduce some sort of sliding scale of charges/payments based on entertainment value; JANF Jeep = £50 charge Common medium truck = no charge Big truck = £50 payment Big truck with trailer = £100+ payment

I think you're right. It does look a bit big for a 110. It would be more at home behind a RB44.

Although it's got "TUM Only" on the draw bar. :?

NPT is very close to BSP, in fact it is common practice to fit BSPT male threaded fittings in to NPT threaded ports. The very fine thread is more likely Enots as this was used widely on Matadors and still to a lesser extent on the Mk3. If the bellows is cracked I don't think there's any hope of the valve working properly. It may be possible to repair by soldering, but as the whole idea of a bellows is that it flexes, I don't know how long that would last. I'd go for the new, modern valve option and adapt the pipes to suit.

Well, with a slight change of plan, we ended up with three Militants travelling down on Tuesday. Poptopshed's just sent me some photos he took during the week. This is my favourite and sums up Militant ownership well. From left to right; Grumpy's Mk3 towing a Rubery Owen 10 ton recovery trailer. My Mk3 towing Militant Pete's Samson on a Weeks 10 ton recovery trailer Militant Pete's Mk1 towing my 10/30 ton dummy axle recovery dolly. As if that wasn't good enough, we have already started planning for next year. All very provisional at the moment, but if we can get all those who have shown an interest in a convoy to meet up on the way, we should have the same three again, plus two more Mk3 Militants, an Explorer and a Zil.

There's a diagram of a Clayton Dewandre unloader valve here. It may not be exactly the same as yours, it looks different to the one on my Mk3 and I can't think what the one on a Mk1 looks like at the moment, but the principle will be the same. As for the grease nipples, the correct oil would be OC600, a very thick and sticky oil. My Matador had "Use Oil" on the UJs and the manual specified it, but I used grease everywhere except the brake cylinders. You should be fine using grease on a Mk1.

We've gone back to the original plan, except that it is Stourport-on-Severn Steam Rally on 14 - 15/7/07. We've lost one of the Mk3 Militants, he will be going down to Beltring a week before us, that leaves two Mk3s and a Mk1. We will be at Bromyard Gala the weekend before. If anyone wants to do Bromyard, then Stourport, then travel down to Beltring with us in convoy we may be able to provide parking for the week in between if it saves you some travelling.

From memory, there should be straps and brackets for a pick and shovel on the left, behind the oil can bracket. The skid pans go at the the rear on either side held up by a J bolt.

When I've got the Samson on tow behind the Militant I've got around 36 tons and 204 bhp. Missing a gear change going up hill at less than 6bhp/ton is not an option. Most of the time I don't use the clutch once moving. The trick is knowing how long to pause in neutral before going for the next gear. Having a rev counter helps too. Changing up on the flat I would generally rev to about 1800rpm, short pause in neutral, then in to the next gear at about 1200rpm. Uphill, I would red line it to 2200rpm, long pause in neutral, then just about catch the power band anywhere between 900 - 1200rpm in the next gear depending on how steep the hill is and how much speed I have lost waiting for the revs to drop. Changing down up hill I need to keep it spinning. Once the revs have dropped to 1500 it's time for a down shift. Foot off the throttle, neutral, rev to 2000, then slip it in to the next gear down just as the rev counter's dropping past 1900. All done as fast as possible with no pause. I've had a few people tell me the AV 760 (12.4 litre AEC diesel) in my truck sounds good when it's working hard. I feel it's my responsibility to make sure the engine is all they hear, not the gearbox.

At a guess, because you went to a place that only deals in car tyres. Try a truck tyre fitter's. They should have some heavier weights.

Going back to the picture in the first post, you can see that it is Right Hand Drive. This identifies it as the replica built by Paul Hazell, who runs the Scammell website . There are a few fake Pink Panthers and SOV 110s about. Paul didn't want to be accused of trying to pass the vehicle off as something it was not, so he deliberately chose a RHD base vehicle, knowing the originals were all LHD. The gun is a 105mm recoilless rifle, the same type as used on the original vehicles and very rare in this country. I'll leave it to someone who knows about such things to explain the difference between a 105mm recoilless rifle, a 106mm recoilless rifle, a Wombat and a Mobat. They all look the same to me.

I don't know if this is exactly what this new board is meant for, but... I'm in Bewdley, Worcestershire. I've already got far too many unfinished jobs of my own to be taking on more commitments, but if anyone in the area is stuck for a lift, I've got a Mk3 Militant with a 5 ton crane capable of doing most lifting jobs on AFVs or other vehicles. I've also got a 10 ton tilt bed recovery trailer with a winch capable of loading dead vehicles. The truck's based at Clee Hill. Allow close to £1 per mile for fuel costs.

How does that work then ? When I was a kid, if my Scalextric car wouldn't go, the first diagnostic was to put my tongue on the track to see if it was live. :tongue: Electricity tastes funny.

Somewhere sandy with a bit of greenery. Studland Bay :dunno:

Ah, that's scuppered that plan then. I'd been looking on steam rally diaries and couldn't find any mention of Marcle. We'll be at Bromyard Gala on 7-8/7/07 so we will probably travel down on Saturday 14th now.

We may also meet up with another friend with a Scammell 30 ton Constructor and trailer near Cirencester. If it all goes to plan that's over 100 tons of vehicles and trailers. 8-) All post war british 6x6s so far, but anyone's welcome.

I can't find the dates for Much Marcle Steam Rally anywhere yet, but I'm hoping it will be on 14 -15/7/07 I normally leave on the Sunday evening, sleep in a lay by half way overnight, then continue on Monday morning. This year I will be travelling in convoy with at least one friend. I will be driving a Mk3 Militant Recovery towing a Samson on a 10 ton recovery trailer. Pete will be driving a Mk1 Militant towing a 10/30 ton recovery dolly. We've also got one more possible and one likely Mk3 militants I doubt if we will find a lay by big enough to all get in, so we will probably travel all day Monday. Top speed/cruising speed of the Mk1 is around 30mph so that will be our convoy speed. I will be a lot slower than that on some of the hills, so I may drop back then catch up again later. I can do 45mph on the flat with a long enough run up. If anyone wants to travel with us (bearing in mind we should have 4 breakdown trucks and 4 mechanics in our convoy) let me know, it doesn't have to be an AEC. Once I find out the details for Much Marcle I will post them here so if anyone wants to enter they can and we can all set off together.or we can meet up on the way. Usual route is Much Marcle - Gloucester - A419 to Swindon - M4 to Reading - cut across to the M3 - M25 - A21. However, as this is the first time we have taken the slower Mk1, we may try to avoid motorways. We could have a half way break at the REME museum on the way.

No real problerms where I park now, but it was a bit tight when we went to pick up a friends Samson. The previous owner had built a fence since he had parked it in his garage. We had to get around 5 - 7 tons of CVRT out of his garage, dog leg to the side of the house, then out on the road to load with my 110. http://www.aecmilitant.co.uk/pictures/temp/cambridge1.jpg[/img] http://www.aecmilitant.co.uk/pictures/temp/cambridge2.jpg[/img] http://www.aecmilitant.co.uk/pictures/temp/cambridge3.jpg[/img]

To add a bit more detail to that list above, I believe the permission for breakdown trucks to use an amber beacon only covers them in the immediate area of the breakdown. So that would be slowing down to attend a roadside incident, while dealing with it and while accelerating away afterwards. It does not cover the whole journey to and from the incident. I travel at about 42mph on motorways in the Militant, although some hills can get me down to about 20mph. On twisty and hilly A roads I can be down to 7mph at times. I generally use the beacons any time I think there is a risk of cars coming up fast behind me, motorways, dual carriageways and clear single carriageways. If the traffic is moving at my speed anyway, there's not much point.

No, they just told me I shouldn't be using them. They also said that if anyone drove a car in to the back of me they would come off worse and it would be their fault so I shouldn't worry about it. My Matador had two Land Rover plastic tail lights and HGV marker boards on the back.