6 X 6

Curiouser and curiouser. Antony, I can imagine how busy you are with your various restoration projects so it is very much appreciated that you found the time to visit this other trailer and post these 'photos. Thank you. Both the differences, and the similarities, between these two trailers have some significance. I mean, if they were identical that would suggest one possible answer but they're not, so that suggests another possible explanation. More head scratching. I own a very usual WW11 trailer and was not until I had a photograph of it published in a newspaper local to the area where I acquired it that it was correctly identified. I wonder if some retired gent living locally can remember these trailers being used before their farm days.

Thank you very much for posting this fabulous 'photo which is now my screen saver. When you operated this lorry did it still have it's original engine ? Also, do you know if this lorry is still around ? As for, "if anyone wants to see" crash/recovery 'photos, YES PLEASE we all want to see them....break out them pics !

Not important. The main thing is that we now have a proper period 'photo of the same sort of undercarriage as Antony's trailer. Praise the Lord.

Well done Mike ! Very interesting.

I'm always ready to see a picture of a trailer as I'm very keen on trailers. I wonder if Bob Tuck is the copyright owner as copyright usually resides with the person who originally took the photograph. I understand Bob's job entailed accompanying abnormal loads so maybe he was the photographer and therefore holds the copyright. If you would like to PM the 'photo to me I'll post it on the understanding that you use your Antar(when it's fixed) to break me out of Pucklechurch Remand Centre if Bob decides to press charges.

"Why is this beauty of interest on this forum ?" ANSWER: Because it's military. "Has any one got one ?" ANSWER: I've just PM'ed everyone on the forum and nobody has got one although Andy Fowler thinks he may have one in his attic but he's not sure. So, having answered both questions correctly maybe you could now tell us what it is.

Richard, it's American. (Post 2)

If not Henderson, might this be an Indian ?

Are those wooden wheels and would that suggest this is an american machine ?

Transposing box......yeah, well, everyone has an off day, even those creating the Watford Works of Art.

It's taken a while but I'm so pleased to see you've finally come round to our way of thinking and acknowledged what a really superb piece of design the Scammell gearbox is. I knew you would in the end. You're any Scammell enthusiast's best mate now. Good for you. It makes me feel I ought to say something nice about the Antar in return and I'm sure, when I can think of something nice to say about that big girl's blouse of a lorry, I will.

What, even while fitted with "flawed" Scammell gearbox ?

There are a few other 'photos of Militants that you may find interesting on the A.E.C. Militant MK 1 Gallery thread in the Transporters & Wreckers (All Nations) section of this forum.

Bearing in mind how many previous convictions I have for being Completely Wrong on this forum isn't it bit reckless of you to aline yourself with anything I say ? You at least have a reputation maintain whereas I managed to shred mine while still a private and in the first few days of joining up. By the way, found that ignition key yet ? I sincerely hope Antony doesn't mind all this speculation about what I still think is a very interesting trailer or that HWade minds that his "Dyson 4 wheel trailer restoration" thread has veered slightly off course.

also the Land Rover...................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That the above spring axle setup exists elsewhere doesn't in itself discredit my suggestion that this trailer has been modified to this arrangement after it left the factory. What about the other points I raised in post No.22 ? For a start, why would a trailer equipped with support jacks and only fifteen feet long also sport 16 wheels as is being suggested ? Until shown convincing evidence to the contrary, I still think this trailer started life with a van body and the axles/wheels were modified in civvy street for some specific purpose, probably to lower the bed to assist loading with ramps. In my earlier post I was careful to say this is a theory of my and that this, or that, may have been so. I don't know for certain, it's just how it seems to me. I look forward to being proved completely wrong. What, if any, theories do others have that explain all of the design anomalies ?

If you only knew how long that papier mache decoy Scammell I placed under the tarpaulin in your yard has been there. It's months and months. I'm surprised it hasn't started sagging with all this rain. I can only say you're a very sound sleeper and I was amazed you didn't hear me winching your Constructor out of the yard. PS. Any chance of you sending me the ignition key ?

Hello Will, I think you were extremely fortunate to find this very interesting lorry. As you know, very few tippers of any kind survive into preservation all the obvious reasons. It would be nice if you could keep it as a tipper but perfectly understandable if you don't. Please keep us up to date as this project progresses. I'm presently trying to acquire a polytunnel frame large enough to accommodate a lorry I'm restoring so that I can keep it undercover immediately outside my workshop. I'll post details when I've got this together. Here's a Militant tipper for you to dream about.

Sorry gritineye ! Just me up to mischief and thank you for your good natured response. While I'm posting, may I also thank you for your advice regarding Scammell front hub seals. Replacing these seals is a job I've got coming up soon so reading through the various related posts, many of them yours, has been very helpful indeed. When I pointed out to the previous owner of this lorry that oil was running out of the front hubs and onto the tyres he said, "good, that means there's still oil in there". You can imagine the mess awaiting me inside the brake drums. I do think this kind of exchange of practical advice is the forum at it's very best. It's all very well having workshop manuals etc. but hearing the experience of someone who's actually done the job, and seeing colour 'photos, that's hard to beat. Thanks.

Is it GXCR6754/88/fEd004 ?

News to me as well. Did the RAF have many and in what role were they employed ? Thanks.

Richard, I'm sure your comment regarding the support jacks is quite correct and that one usually associates these jacks being fitted to wireless/radar vans etc. However, one does not normally think of van trailers of this type being so heavy that they needed eight, or even sixteen, wheels. So far, the comments on this thread seem to me to be suggesting that we think this trailer was designed to carry quite a heavy payload, hence the large number of wheels to distribute the weight. If this was the case, why would one fit support jacks to a trailer intended to convey heavy loads ? Is that usual practise ? Talking of unusual arrangements, has anyone on here ever before seen an arrangement where the axle rides on top of the leaf spring and not, in the conventional manner, under the spring ? My current theory is that this trailer was built using the bed of a cut down van type trailer and that the very interesting undercarriage may also have been workshop built, by reducing standard track army surplus trailer axles, and that these axles were fitted above the leaf spring to lower the bed so that plant could be more easily driven up ramps onto it. It looks to me as though the farmer engineer who may have built this marvelous trailer may have used gas to cut away a section of chassis to accommodate the axle being fitted above the springs and to get a spanner on those nuts. I don't think Dyson would have done it quite like this. Does this look "right" to you ? . Antony mentions another similar trailer on a farm near him. I'd be very interested to see 'photos of that one and also to hear what evidence there is that this trailer was ever fitted with a braking system. I can see brake drums but, not from the 'photos, any sign of a braking system. Without brakes, out on the road, in the wet, this trailer would soon be round giving the radiator of the towing vehicle a french kiss.