Noisy Chieftains

[afvnut75]

Hi heres a question for some of you that either served on cheiftains or own them privately

 

why is the cheiftains engine alot more noisy in its engine note when going though the gears as opposed to leopard, chally 1, t72, t55, Surely this would give the position away to the enemy as to the position of the vehicle as it advances . Whilst the noise of the engine is music to my ears but i just cant help wondering why it was designed to hear it coming 5 miles away and would you ever be able to quieten it down i bit . if so would i need to start collecting egg boxes .

 

cheers

[Richard Farrant]

Hi heres a question for some of you that either served on cheiftains or own them privately

 

why is the cheiftains engine alot more noisy in its engine note when going though the gears as opposed to leopard, chally 1, t72, t55, Surely this would give the position away to the enemy as to the position of the vehicle as it advances . Whilst the noise of the engine is music to my ears but i just cant help wondering why it was designed to hear it coming 5 miles away and would you ever be able to quieten it down i bit . if so would i need to start collecting egg boxes .

 

cheers

 

 

That was the idea to be noisy, its called phsicilogical warfare...........enemy things there are more tanks than there actually are . Anyway, if you made it quieter, you would still have the smoke :-)

Edited September 5, 2010 by Richard Farrant

[Adrian Barrell]

I've always thought it to be the cooling fan, it certainly makes them easy to hear long before you could see them coming!

[Diesel demon]

I used to chuckle on exercise in BAOR, the Russians would of heard us starting up in camp...failing that they could have rolled across the border on new years eve as everyone was either on leave or pissed

[steveo578]

Diesel demon

..failing that they could have rolled across the border on new years eve as everyone was either on leave or pissed

 

If Ivans masters had managed to hide the potato sauce long enough on a friday they would have found most of BAOR that mattered legless by 2200 :-D

[afvnut75]

Cheers richard for enlightning me on this matter.

 

Well chieftain has got my vote for sounding intimidating but i think that peace and quiet in east anglia will still prevail as there dont seem to be any chieftains up for sale these days,

 

One minute they are in lines at withams up for sale the next they re all gone ! For a 56 ton mbt they are damn well illusive and the one i did look at was an ex corporate vehicle and astronomical in asking price so do you know if we are headed for more sell offs of chieftians (via withams) mbts and arrvs or is that all we are going to see for the foreseeable future ?

 

regards

[steveo578]

afvnut75

so do you know if we are headed for more sell offs of chieftians (via withams) mbts and arrvs or is that all we are going to see for the foreseeable future ?

 

I would have thought most had been disposed of years ago apart from a handful hanging around disused driver training depots about 2-3years ago -but they have probably gone too by now.

 

Steve

[antar]

Cheers richard for enlightning me on this matter.

 

Well chieftain has got my vote for sounding intimidating but i think that peace and quiet in east anglia will still prevail as there dont seem to be any chieftains up for sale these days,

 

One minute they are in lines at withams up for sale the next they re all gone ! For a 56 ton mbt they are damn well illusive and the one i did look at was an ex corporate vehicle and astronomical in asking price so do you know if we are headed for more sell offs of chieftians (via withams) mbts and arrvs or is that all we are going to see for the foreseeable future ?

 

regards

 

I think that is all you will see forever, the ones recently sold from Withams were the property of Withams not the MOD. Withams purchased them in the mid 90's and all 18 of them had stood int the bottom end of the big black shed since then. As regular visitors to Withams will be aware the big shed was refurbished this year and they were all moved outside. Since then they have been gradually selling them off.

All Chieftain variants have now been sold off most for scrap.

[antar]

I've always thought it to be the cooling fan, it certainly makes them easy to hear long before you could see them coming!

 

The fact that they are 2 stroke also has some bearing on the noise, they sound like they are reving twice as fast as a normal 4 stroke diesel.

[Richard Farrant]

The fact that they are 2 stroke also has some bearing on the noise, they sound like they are reving twice as fast as a normal 4 stroke diesel.

 

I think this is the reason that the L60 engine was chosen, you get a power stroke every revolution with a two stroke, so in effect a smaller engine in capacity and outward dimensions, can be used but with a much higher power output. At the time it was designed, it was probably thought the right way to go about it.

[afvnut75]

The majority of cheiftains from what ive heard have been shipped abroard ie usa or australia.

 

But the ones ive looked at have all been used for corporate they are complete and everything works just covered in mud what would you advice be about taking on an ex corporated chieftian ?

i took on a fv432 that had been used for corporate entertainment and the vehicle wasnt that bad to be honest just needed a steam clean , The two rear wheel arms and track adjusters replacing due to no one bothering to use a grease gun on them oh and when taking the pack out needed a shovel to remove the mud in the bottom of the engine bay now shes good as new

 

what nightmares would lay in weight for me with a chieftian abused in the same way ?

[stal108]

I have two ideas

 

1, put the fear of god into people hearing the coming........

 

2. More probable is if 50 set off and only 8 made it to the battlefield is would sound the same ,,,just to hide there numbers and how many brake down,

 

SOUND GREAT THOUGH!!

[schliesser92]

I have two ideas

 

1, put the fear of god into people hearing the coming........

 

2. More probable is if 50 set off and only 8 made it to the battlefield is would sound the same ,,,just to hide there numbers and how many brake down,

 

SOUND GREAT THOUGH!!

 

 

2. is more likely. I seem to remember that on every major FTX, that there used to be a pile of MBTs on the side of the road decorated with pretty little yellow flags. Not just Chieftains, I might add.

[timbo]

Dave Smales of Dinscott MV Collection did have one for sale. Yes it has been used for corporate work but I would say is tidier than most that have done this, working turret traverse for eg..

 

Also the Peter Boys one didn't go in the auction so in theory should still be for sale. As it reached £23K in auction but didnt meet reserve though it is prob quite pricey. Since this was bought from Withams for £13K less than 12 months previously this seems a bit steep but then it might have had a bit done to it.

 

Don't believe the Withams mantra of 'this is DEFINITELY the last one ever'... I suspect there are a few more to come but you might have to be patient.

[AlienFTM]

This reminds me of an exercise we did in 1981 around the village of Forst (the subject has cropped up a few times, here's another "Pull up a sandbag" moment).

 

We, the close recce squadrons had been swanning round the temporary 443 area for the first week, then at the start of the second week, we were to form up on the FUP, cross the Start Line at first light and advance to contact. Unfortunately, despite being high summer, the fog was as thick as I have ever seen fog.

 

We crept down our road, Sammy Brown the driver struggling to see the road in front of his Scorpion's final drives. The fog just got thicker and thicker as we dropped down into the valley where the village nestled.

 

Eventually he pulled up on the offside - left-hand - verge (it was a narrow B-road and at this early hour it matter a toss) while 2Lt H consulted the map, cos even though H was a bliddy good subaltern for someone straight off his troop leader's course, conditions were not conducive to good map reading.

 

We (the whole squadron) were being ridiculously slowed down and were running incredibly behind schedule.

 

I patted H on the shoulder and shouted above the engine noise, "Is it me, or is the engine running LOUD? And why is the ground shaking?" I saw his eyes widen as they looked past my shoulder. I turned to follow and inches from my face passed the mudguards and bazooka plates of a Chieftain which disappeared back into the pea soup as quickly as it had appeared. (I only ever saw a glimpse of mudguard and a hint of loader's head.)

 

Chieftains never ever got allowed off the leash except on exercise areas, whereas we the recce troops could exercise our Scorpions anywhere. Because the Chieftains had been allowed out (that's why the area was designated a temporary 443), they were rather narked at having to bimble up the road behind the recce screen and they wanted to unleash the beasts.

 

Eventually they just lost patience and floored it. Let's face it, 60 tons of steel at 30mph carries a lot more kinetic energy than 8 tons of CVR(T) at 10mph and they didn't care a toss what got in their way.

 

Lucky we'd pulled off onto the verge I reckon, seeing the mood the chav tankies were in.

[ArtistsRifles]

This reminds me of an exercise we did in 1981 around the village of Forst (the subject has cropped up a few times, here's another "Pull up a sandbag" moment).

 

We, the close recce squadrons had been swanning round the temporary 443 area for the first week, then at the start of the second week, we were to form up on the FUP, cross the Start Line at first light and advance to contact. Unfortunately, despite being high summer, the fog was as thick as I have ever seen fog.

 

We crept down our road, Sammy Brown the driver struggling to see the road in front of his Scorpion's final drives. The fog just got thicker and thicker as we dropped down into the valley where the village nestled.

 

Eventually he pulled up on the offside - left-hand - verge (it was a narrow B-road and at this early hour it matter a toss) while 2Lt H consulted the map, cos even though H was a bliddy good subaltern for someone straight off his troop leader's course, conditions were not conducive to good map reading.

 

We (the whole squadron) were being ridiculously slowed down and were running incredibly behind schedule.

 

I patted H on the shoulder and shouted above the engine noise, "Is it me, or is the engine running LOUD? And why is the ground shaking?" I saw his eyes widen as they looked past my shoulder. I turned to follow and inches from my face passed the mudguards and bazooka plates of a Chieftain which disappeared back into the pea soup as quickly as it had appeared. (I only ever saw a glimpse of mudguard and a hint of loader's head.)

 

Chieftains never ever got allowed off the leash except on exercise areas, whereas we the recce troops could exercise our Scorpions anywhere. Because the Chieftains had been allowed out (that's why the area was designated a temporary 443), they were rather narked at having to bimble up the road behind the recce screen and they wanted to unleash the beasts.

 

Eventually they just lost patience and floored it. Let's face it, 60 tons of steel at 30mph carries a lot more kinetic energy than 8 tons of CVR(T) at 10mph and they didn't care a toss what got in their way.

 

Lucky we'd pulled off onto the verge I reckon, seeing the mood the chav tankies were in.

 

Were you out in BAOR when one skidded on wet cobbles at night and got wedged between two houses in a sleepy German village?? They got the Burgomeister out of bed and asked him to choose which house came down...... It was either '76 or '78....

[afvnut75]

Dave Smales of Dinscott MV Collection did have one for sale. Yes it has been used for corporate work but I would say is tidier than most that have done this, working turret traverse for eg..

 

Also the Peter Boys one didn't go in the auction so in theory should still be for sale. As it reached £23K in auction but didnt meet reserve though it is prob quite pricey. Since this was bought from Withams for £13K less than 12 months previously this seems a bit steep but then it might have had a bit done to it.

 

Don't believe the Withams mantra of 'this is DEFINITELY the last one ever'... I suspect there are a few more to come but you might have to be patient.

 

Thank you timbo for this info concerning chieftian whereabouts,

Personally i wouldnt pay anymore than £18,000 for a good example unless it really was exceptional and it really was the last one avaliable . i remember withams saying there will be no more fv432s and what are they now selling on mass ?????????? but if there are only corporate ones available then i think the dinscott cheiftain would be a good vehicle to deal with fingers crossed .

[schliesser92]

Were you out in BAOR when one skidded on wet cobbles at night and got wedged between two houses in a sleepy German village?? They got the Burgomeister out of bed and asked him to choose which house came down...... It was either '76 or '78....

 

 

wasnt that SPEARPOINT 76 ? The same one when a Chieftain from the QRIH threw a track and parked itself in a pub?

 

One of those 14 days or 1 Million Marks damages FTXs. We were out for 10 days!

[berna2vm]

They are sexy though, the old Chieftain tank... I would love one!!!

[RecyMech]

I have to agree with Antar...I reckon it's the fact that it gives off 2 beats to the bar that helps create the howl. But anyway, I'm not sure that it is actually louder than a Leopard 1. The Cloggies used to role out onto the ranges with their Leopards from Hohne right past my window & the growl & low pitch rumble was enough to give a young lad a stiffy.

 

But speaking of tank accidents.....Anyone recall hearing of an exercise on Soltau in 1975 when the newly arrived (from UK) 13/18th Hussars put a Chieftain nose down in the Causeway bog late one night ?? Troop leaders tank it was.

 

I was the recy mech that pulled it & it's dead driver out. He was driving opened up with his gas kit under the seat. Poor bastard drowned in thick stinking mud. The water line in the turret was up past the radios. Young subaltern did his very best to dive down under the breach to try to get at the driver, but it was hopeless.

 

Howard. RecyMech

Edited September 6, 2010 by RecyMech

[AlienFTM]

Were you out in BAOR when one skidded on wet cobbles at night and got wedged between two houses in a sleepy German village?? They got the Burgomeister out of bed and asked him to choose which house came down...... It was either '76 or '78....

If, as Schliesser92 suggests, this was Spearpoint 76 (the first time Task Forces rolled out into the field instead of Brigades), I was in UNFICYP at the time.

 

I cannot say I have ever heard of this incident, but there were so many over the years ...

[steveo578]

afvnut75

........Personally i wouldnt pay anymore than £18,000 for a good example unless it really was exceptional

 

£18k ono is asking price in the classifieds of CMV for sale of 2 Chieftains (there is also a combi including an unrestored Cent for about £35k). So I reckon you're on the right track as classifieds tend to be on the high end as opposed to private sales.

 

Steve

[afvnut75]

£18k ono is asking price in the classifieds of CMV for sale of 2 Chieftains (there is also a combi including an unrestored Cent for about £35k). So I reckon you're on the right track as classifieds tend to be on the high end as opposed to private sales.

 

Steve

 

 

Blast havent got cmv this month ! would be interesting to see what condition the vehicles are in .

[steveo578]

Sorry haven't got a copy either I was only in W.H. Smith to get out of the rain and thought I would amuse myself by looking at what still hasn't sold, there some vehicles in the clasifieds that are so familiar I almost think they are family members.:-D

 

Of the Chieftains one was a liquided project -sort of half way through a re-build -for example the de-ac had been obtained and spares were mentioned -I can't remember what the other one said- it was a much smaller ad.

 

Sorry I can't be of more assistance

 

 

Steve

[haybaggerman]

I've seen the dinscott one a few times as I bought a saracen from there recently.

 

There are cosmetics to tidy, including tinwork here and there, but Dave has got the kit to do it and its a negotiation point if you don't have the time. However, its pretty complete, lots of interior goodies, and an awesome sight. If I were braver and had more cash I'd buy it.

 

Worth a look and a trip to Cornwall for.

 

Cheers

 

Paul