Motleyholt

Well it's been an interesting weekend, arose bright and early on Saturday to walk the mutts and give the foden a bath before it's first social engagement at the Stotfold mill show. Started the foden and moved it to the pressure washer, cleaned it and turned it off for a quick cup of tea before leaving. Got in to leave, turn the key and click......nothing. 14 months of faultless starting, first day out and won't play. Dug the jump pack out of the van and the multi meter. Jump started and headed to the show as there was an entry window for exhibitors. Luckily its only a few miles. Lined up with it's descendant. Not far from its great great grandfather. The weather brightened up and it was a pleasant day. When I arrived I tested the voltage at the batteries to discover a meager 22 volts and no charging at all. Realised i had no battery light when the ignition was switched on. As I had to come home overnight the truck was jumped again and I hot footed it back as not to loose all the remaining juice. It does have a electrical stop on the engine so a flat battery could be a disaster. Made it back and had a go at finding the fault. Obvious first start was to check the bulb as without it most old alternators won't charge. Bulb was fine so cab went up to check the alternator and belt. Popped the plug out to check connections and whilst there checked the brushes just incase anything was stuck. I've not delt with this style of alternator before, there is no large power cable on this one just five average size wires in the multi plug. The controller is in the passenger footwell which is where I went next. The plugs were all disconnected and the continuity was tested to the dash bulb. Nothing, problem diagnosed now just have to find the missing link. By this time it was late so the Sunday run to the show was scrubbed in order to sort the fault out. Because the headlight switch can turn off all the dash lights there is a relay to switch the alternator warning power through a resistor behind the dash. The first problem was found here as it was incorrectly connected at the relay. When switched to blackout the resistor wasn't being connected. Possibly been like it since new. But still no circuit. The wiring diagram shows a diode between the controller and the relay. But where does it hide? I went to the donor cab as its all Stripped out apart from the wiring. I found that the wire goes into the dash, out to a diode pack, back to the dash and finally to the relay. Then from the relay back to the dash and the bulb. Testing at the dash multi plug. Diode pack Made a temporary part from a fuse type diode I had on the van. And a circuit was made yippee Plug everything in, turn on the ignition and hey presto still no warning lamp. Test from controller to alternator and have a high resistance. Pull the bulkhead plug and found some green corroded pins. Made a DIY pin cleaner from a bit of brake pipe with a piece of emery cloth rolled up inside. Crimped the pipe to stop the paper disappearing. Cleaned the pins, sprayed it with contact cleaner and Refitted the plug. Success at last. Charging at last. On the down side I now have the rad alarm constantly going off even though the coolant level is fine. A job for another day....

Well it's been a few weeks and epidemic of work has been reducing the fun quota. But some progress has been made. I have overhauled the leaky brake chamber. After a bit of homework it looked to be a simple job, you already know where this is going..... just build up the air, chock the wheels, release the hand brake, remove the hand brake locking bolt, fit a big washer, apply the hand brake, remove the giant circlip and withdraw the spring and piston.... ...that's as far as it goes. There is an internal circlip on the push rod that the release bolt acts on that stops it all exploding if the casing or giant clip fails. So off with the pipes and clamps for the service brake diaphragm to reveal a bolt that holds it all together. Once removed everthing can be withdrawn. Everything looked fine apart from the housing bore which showed signs of water ingress and light scoring. There wasn't much grease left, what you can see I added when the piston wouldn't come out. In a vain hope that a little lubrication might just fix it. Polished the bore with some fine wet and dry and cleaned everthing. Splash of etch primer. Some green and reassembled. Refitted the locker box doors. Which needed a little fettling as my hinge repair welds fouled and stopped the doors closing. And finally I drilled out another batch of rivits on the crew box. Although it looked horrendous the panel isn't that bad and being 3mm thick I'm going to cut the worst side off and weld a strip on. The thoery being that this will be quicker than drilling the hundreds of holes! I have drilled many more out but not enough to release anything. The doors and windows need to come out first. Next weekend is the fodens first show outing, the Stotfold mill, steam and country fair 7th/8th May. Just off the A1 junction 10. Shame it looks just the same on the outside as when it was purchased!

Pressure or vacuum? Vacumn would be fairly normal for old breathers with a valve/ball bearing in. Pressure can escape but water can't get in. Net result slight vacumn when cold.

wheel nuts as requested, 3 left and 3 right. I can have more parts if you need any. The rear brake linkage is mostly there.

Now as it happens I know where there is an axle on half a chassis!! Would you like me to recover a few if it's still there?

G clamp and a socket also very good at removing clevis pins if you have the space 👍 looking extremly good now, you must be pleased.

Mystery solved...

Gear lever looks like fun to operate. Do you have an operation to have an extra elbow planned?🤣. Ergonomics weren't on the priority list at the time I guess.

So you would move the cable end towards the pivot at the engine or away from the pivot at the pedal end. Or drill several holes and experiment. I prefer a longer pedal travel on old off roaders, otherwise as you bounce over the slightest bump you will get wild throttle movements. When I built hybrid Land Rovers with v8's it was essential but probably not such a big problem with the horse power you have🤣.

Tried the new jack out as I couldn't be bothered to fire up the compressor and drag the air line out. Had already loosened the off side wheel nuts but needed a fraction more altitude to remove the wheel. Pulled the drum and found a good pile of dust in this side. Probably the cause of my judder, will set up the origonal drum on a big rotary table and see if it's still round. The shoes have never fully bedded in. The damp is brake cleaner. Roughed up the shoes and fitted the new drum. Wheel on and that left me with a difficult decision....should I take it for a test drive on a sunny Sunday afternoon?! The cyclist I passed at the beginning of the run probably thought I should have stayed at home as he disappeared in a cloud of smog from a Rolls that's only been idling for an hour or two. Brakes are now lovely, much more pleasant to drive without having to hang on to the steering for dear life when braking hard. On the down side one of the back brake chambers has sprung an air leak from the park brake side. I think these are obsolete now but I suspect Crouch's will have some. Otherwise I'll be making a cage and jig to disassemble it on the press. The spring inside needs to be carefully released to get to the diaphragm. Might be a big o ring at the back too. Something for next weekend.

Do you need more or less pedal travel? Or just a better pedal position?

I'll start again....Two wheels, in excellent condition, tyres look good and some twisted metal 🤣

I suspect the half shafts are missing or cut as the pinion shaft is welded to the chassis and the pinion bearing is exposed and rusted!

I'll have a look tomorrow, if interested let me know and I'll see if I can aquire it, or parts. I think it'll be scrap at some point.

What would identify it as one or the other?