radiomike7

You are correct about the 90%, from my chart a 10.00x20 is 38" overall diameter (10x0.9x2)+20=38" A 6.50x20 would be (6.5x0.9x2)+20=31.7" so almost spot on. A 7.50x20 would be (7.5x0.9x2)+20=33.5" Bear in mind there will be a small variation between actual and theoretical tyre size and that metric width truck tyres are 80% aspect ratio or less i.e. 295/80 R 22.5.

The steam locos from that tunnel in the west country??:whistle:

On 13/04/2008 Gritineye wrote: 'Luckily, a couple of yrs ago I had bought the complete brand new internals from a Constructor box that had laid under a bench for around 12 yrs' Sorry Bernard, you are outside of your 5 year warrantee....:cool2:

Was that an Explorer in the barn, parked next to the mk4?

No, Rolls B81 8 cylinder petrol, side valve exhaust, overhead valve inlet.

Rob, the Scammell 6 speed is a law to itself, it is almost too clever for its own good. When I bought my Explorer it had 6k miles on the clock but it was difficult to engage 3rd from 4th. When I stripped it down the needle bearings had vanished from one journal and the large mainshaft gear was floating about so much it had almost machined its way through the casing and destroyed the shaft. Noise? quiet as a mouse in all gears. The replacement unused REME re-build was just like yours, howled like a banshee in top. A friend of mine is an LGV fitter with a large outfit that owned a Highwayman which howled in 6th. They tried everything, had the 'box out 5 times, new gears, new bearings, different gears and still never fully resolved the problem. Bear in mind they are straight cut gears which are prone to whine and 6th is a serious overdrive, 0.62:1. The actual specs for the 'box call for very tight tolerances, typically the diameter of a needle bearing journal is given as 1.7313/1.7308" i.e. half a thou. although whether this was achieved in production is debateable.

Sorted mine too by 'allowing pop-ups from hmvf' - well done.

Same here, takes about 3 minutes to load the home page and a good minute to change pages. All other sites work fine. However our new super speedy computer has no problems, loads the home page in about 10 seconds.

In my case the vehicle was fine but some of the engineering such as the compressor drive and the steering linkage could only have been designed by a certain H. Robinson. The brakes were light years ahead of anything Scammell offered but even with the twin accumulators great care had to be taken not to run out of power steering. The fairies visited most nights and glued the clutch plates together but that was easily resolved by giving it some stick with the clutch pedal down. The recovery variant weighed in at 23 tons and with a 10ton class casualty on the back had to make do with a pair of bored out Champ engines nailed together. However, with mega low gearing it could pull just about anything if you had the grip and plenty of time, max net torque was 257ft/lbs for the B80 rising to 315ft/lbs for the B81. The cab is very similar to some 1950s Leyland trucks so I suspect they were built as chassis cabs not chassis cowls.

Supposedly 1380, circa 60 of the FV1103 artillery tractors and 280 FV1119 recoveries. Apparently some were stored as chassis cabs as no one could decide what bodies were required. Reliability was dismal with the entire fleet being withdrawn on two occasions with clutch, transfer box and power steering problems. As I have said before, when my one was sold through BCA at Shepshed, the auctioneer introduced it as the biggest piece of sh*te the British Army had ever been issued with. Who was I to argue, I bought it anyway for £1800 with just 1200 miles on the clock and in almost showroom condition.

60951 is an FV 1121 10 ton cargo GS, 60967 is an FV1103 artillery tractor. Other standard wheelbase derivatives were FV 1122 tractor for 8 inch Howitzer, basically a cargo with a cab roof level tilt and FV 1119 heavy recovery.

Jon, back in the 1970s I did a lot of work on Jag XJ6s, mainly Series 1/2, they all had dry liners and many had cracked blocks. The simple repair was to fit a brand new engine from Jaguar which cost just £630 fully dressed except for alternator and starter. Were the slotted blocks ever introduced for car use or were they a military special?

For those who missed it the other day, the story of Ewan McGregor and his brother Colin flying in the BBMF Lanc. Some excellent commentary by Tony Iveson, well into his 90s but could pass for 65. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01byv2g/Bomber_Boys/

I seem to remember L W Vass offering a recovery based on the Martian cargo and fitted with a Holmes 750. I think there may have been a picture of one on a Vass advert sheet that was posted on here some time ago - the one with a special offer if you bought 3 Dyson 50t trailers if someone has the time to search it out, possibly posted by Antarmike.

We did warn you about those Delphi injectors.... Looking good Adrian, hope to see it one day. Mike

Is KVN ex Sunters, I remember 447 DPY but not that one??

As Bran said earlier the 9 speed Fuller can either be a direct top or overdrive top. The RTX 11609 for instance has a torque capacity of 1160 ft lbs, 9 speeds and with an overdrive top of 0.74:1.

Speak to 'Retriever' a member on this forum, he used to own one. Mike

Hi Ben, has it survived its return to work without any major issues? I remember the day that Debbie from DCs and myself picked it up from Market Rasen in about 1990, supposedly with a seized engine but it started up first go. I really must make the effort to come and inspect the fleet one day.

That's my old one Andy, see post 573 on page 58 of this board. It has been parked outside for about 11 years which has let it deteriorate rather badly and I suspect it has done a fair few miles as all the tyres were brand new when I sold it.

Is that supposedly a demonstration of self recovery? One would assume the vehicle is up to its axles in mud yet half the available pull is from a high level which would drag it downwards. Would it not be better to route the cable round a snatch block on the front towing eye and a low level return via a snatch block on the anchor if necessary? Also I can only see a single winch fitted to the boom, would a twin not make the recovery far more useful?

The problem with fitting a diesel is that the B81 revs to 3750 and even the smaller diesels are only fuel efficient up to about 1900rpm which rather limits your top speed. The B81 is very inefficient as it is a side exhaust/overhead inlet, about 6.5:1 compression which will give about 3.5mpg on a 14 ton cargo or gun tractor, less on a 23 ton recovery.

Peter, to answer your earlier question, there was no way of locking the axle diff on either the Scammell or Leyland rear bogie. Each gear case drove the wheels at the same speed so it was prudent to use tyres with similar diameters on each side i.e. if you were fitting 2 new tyres then fit them to the same gear case. The Martian front axle is also quite unique in that it is a portal design in which the centre of the diff is above the centre of the hubs with the drive being transferred via bevel gears in line with the king pins. Again as with the Scammell there is no lockable diff. Mike

Not forgetting Tilling Stevens who were producing petrol/electric vehicles over a century ago. Several modern cruise ships also use diesel/electric propulsion.

Did the MJ not have plastic pipes? If so they may be interchangeable and available from military surplus suppliers.