madrat Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 Some further images of her, including a few of the crane which has been added! Does anyone know any of her history? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gritineye Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Suggested re-routing of your exhaust system in order that the passengers can fully enjoy any future backfires, this is considered to be preferred position, or maybe a foot shorter....:-D Having travelled some 30 miles or so in the (backless!) passenger seat of this fine vehicle I can personally recommend this arrangement for a B81 engine, however with a big cam Cummins fitted it was a different matter :shake: .........pardon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrat Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 however with a big cam Cummins fitted it was a different matter :shake: .........pardon? A bit noisy was it??! What a silly place to put an exhaust.... I shall fabricate one immediately!! :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiomike7 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 The crane looks like a home made copy of the TFL T20. Are you going to restore it as a gun tractor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrat Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 The crane looks like a home made copy of the TFL T20. Are you going to restore it as a gun tractor? Its certainly home brew, totally over-engineered in some places and hopeless flawed in others, I'd say it is verging on the dangerous! I'm not sure if restore it the right word but I'll certainly be putting it back to gun tractor by reinstating the rear hoops and eventually getting a canvas made. Its in quite reasonable condition and having taken my Pioneer to bits and run out of time/interest I wont be doing the same to this. It will need various jobs doing before it hits the road but the intention is just to start using it off the road for now, doing bits and bobs to it to get it back into good mechanical order. interesting crane ,is it for vehicle recovery or does it have another purpose ? There are actually two cranes on the back, the main one I guess has been used for recovery and is non-original. There is a little hoist for the spare wheel which will definitely be staying!! A great idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiomike7 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 There are actually two cranes on the back, the main one I guess has been used for recovery and is non-original. There is a little hoist for the spare wheel which will definitely be staying!! A great idea! Oh yes, those wheels are seriously heavy, from memory does the gun tractor not carry 2 spares? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrat Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 Oh yes, those wheels are seriously heavy, from memory does the gun tractor not carry 2 spares? I remember how heavy the pioneer 14x20's were and these are bigger I think? Its got 2 drop down flaps so I guess at one time it would have had the two! Any idea if the rims are a standard item from the period, or something special? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiomike7 Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I think the rims are unique to Martian unless they are used on some artillery piece. They are 10x20 with a 15.00x20 tyre but totally different to Scammell and AEC split rims. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinthemartian Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Rims are unique to the Martian, they would have carried one wheel for the truck and one wheel for the 5.5" howitzer. When used for towing the Bofors L40/70, they would probably still have carried one wheel for the truck, and there was a modification instruction for the RH side to enable a spare gun barrel to be carried. The spare wheel jib on its own is quite heavy, not really sure how it would have been slid into position, reckon it could be a 2 man job. It is part of the vehicle CES, and stored somewhere on the vehicle, as its not originally carried in that position. After writing this and looking at the pics, it would probably be stored in the same brackets but upside down and slid in from the front. Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrat Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 I like the idea of putting 16r20's on it as fitted to the Militant mk3 (And others) these do seem to come up from time to time at good prices. I think the tyres that are on it are past their best but its not going to be a priority just now! Simon, do you have any images in the back of yours? Would be good to see what its supposed to look like under the (Non existent!) canvas, I presume they all have the little "back door"? This was the main selling point for the truck..... Oh and are there any images around of the rear part of the cab? Its obviously three up front but is the rest of the crew just piled up in the back?! Cheers, D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacr2man Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Going back to when I had mine , the seating was in three rows , (which i removed the middle and rear row) IIRC the rear row was two benchs . The driver hand book had quite a few illustrations re kit stowage etc if you can get your hands on one. The fuel consumption is approx 3.5 mpg when working light out heavy back . The rear metal in the cab over winch is some sort of amoured steel, as it kills drill bits . I found when fitting power pack (morris minor engine and gearbox to drive hydraulics and genset) . IIRC it was a 13 seater cab . IN the rear body was racking for quick response shells for the towed gun . Its a 3 speed ransfer box with an interlock that you have to engage 6wd before you can get into low. The way they are geared tho is High is normal road , med is low(heavy on road) , then you miss the next step down and go into 6wheel and are able to select low (pull a house down) IIRC 1st low low is 259 to 1 reduction drive . They are nice to drive as power steering is very light , the main gearbox is full synchro , even got cruise control (hand throttle):rotfl:. You have to watch their speed tho , as they will over rev quite quickly down hill and start to bounce on the tyres like a tractor . Max revs I think are 3750 (rev limiting dizzy arm IIRC) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinthemartian Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 15.00's come up every so often, roughly £100 a pop. I presume you mean that little door on the left hand side rear, not standard fitment, can only presume that the chap who added the crane put it there to save umpteen clambers up and down the truck. Seating is 3 up front, driver and 2 passenger seats, 4 in the centre above where the auxiliary gearbox is, and at the rear where the floor is raised to accomodate the winch, another 5, there are 3 seats assemblies, 2 2 seat and a single seat in the centre. I will have a shufty through my pics, and I'm pretty sure there will be something somewhere. I will get them scanned as I find them. Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinthemartian Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 A shot of mine from the rear when I had the body off, showing original rear panel and winch. It was due to some noob dragging he winch rope completely through the rear rollers and pulleys, knackering them, and right up to the middle rollers, which then started to bend the crossmember it is bolted to. the only way to get the pulley fittings off is up, and the clearance between them and the bottom of the body is very slim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrat Posted February 26, 2012 Author Share Posted February 26, 2012 Thanks very much for those excellent posts guys!! Seating is 3 up front, driver and 2 passenger seats, 4 in the centre above where the auxiliary gearbox is, and at the rear where the floor is raised to accomodate the winch, another 5, there are 3 seats assemblies, 2 2 seat and a single seat in the centre Hmm, I guess I'm missing the middle seats then, will get some pics posted once its up the road! The driver hand book had quite a few illustrations re kit stowage etc if you can get your hands on one. Any idea's where to get one? It came with a photocopied manual, maybe wait until one comes onto ebay? Its a 3 speed ransfer box with an interlock that you have to engage 6wd before you can get into low. Not that's VERY interesting, the boys couldn't get it into low when we viewed it, I'd just assumed it might be knackered or blocked off to prevent transfer box problems. That could be very good news! They are nice to drive as power steering is very light , the main gearbox is full synchro , even got cruise control (hand throttle):rotfl:. haha, I did spot the cruise control!! Looking forward to having a drive, my old pioneer had no power steering and the heaviest clutch in the world (I think it might have been out of adjustment though!) I never fixed it in case mrs madrat decided she wanted to drive it more often! Cheers lads, keep the advice/tips/warnings coming!! If/When our paths cross the beers are on me... :beer: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiomike7 Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Just looked up the Martian performance data from the '60s trials, max gradient solo 1 in 2, max gradient solo and restart 1 in 3, max gradient with 8" howitzer and restart (FV1122) 1 in 4, quite impressive for 2 Champ engines.:-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrat Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 Just looked up the Martian performance data from the '60s trials, max gradient solo 1 in 2, max gradient solo and restart 1 in 3, max gradient with 8" howitzer and restart (FV1122) 1 in 4, quite impressive for 2 Champ engines.:-D Wow, that's quite impressive! I guess it shows the power of low gearing! On another subject it would be great to get hold of this "Tropical testing" video: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/100035352 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrat Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 Now I don't get out very much so I found the following quite exciting!! Firstly assuming I read the chassis plate correctly I have found reference to my Martian, can anyone tell me more about this information? Then I found an excerpt from the "1956 British Military Vehicles Exhibition in Chertsey" catalogue: And finally a few pictures of the artillery tractor in service, showing the spare wheel crane as discussed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinthemartian Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Have been busy with the scanner and such, and have come up with quite a few pictures of the original layout. Firstly is the only shot I took of the rear of the cab before I started pulling it to pieces. The spare seat is the one which hooks onto the spare wheel woodwork in the body. Secondly is a drawing from the ISP showing the cab interior layout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrat Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 That's outstanding!! makes much more sense from the pictures! Just out of interest what is your military reg number? I may have found some images of interest to you... Cheers, Duncan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinthemartian Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 For the rear body, I have a good few shots, from my own truck, one view taken from the User handbook, and another diagram from the ISP. First up the back of mine This one from the handbook along with identfication of bits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinthemartian Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Finally the ISP diagram. As for manuals, the only ones that seem to come upon ebay are for the recovery truck, I have managed to get two from there, only because there were a few things that were common to the whole series, or 1103 related amongst them. Vintage mv manuals do list a number of martian manuals, I have emailed them to enquire as to pricing for copies. I aquired most of my manuals from a chap called John Firth, who used to live near Norwich, now lives up in Caithness. He had a good collection of vehicles including an early martian complete with 5.5" howitzer. He sold this and others before he moved. Another couple came from Chris Evans books,bought back in 1990 something when at the Duxford MV show, god knows if he is still around now. I suppose it's just a case of keep ones eyes open, you never know what comes up. There are still a couple that I am looking for to complete the set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrat Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 Excellent stuff mate thanks, been working hard all evening getting a bunch of pictures from a website of the FV1103's in service, so far 54 images! Just need to double check permissions then I will post them up, given the rarity of these trucks I would hope you can find the pictures of interest... Cheers, Duncan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinthemartian Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 No problems. Would you be referring to Miliblog? There are a lot of pictures on there of many, many vehicles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madrat Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 No problems. Would you be referring to Miliblog? There are a lot of pictures on there of many, many vehicles. No, I wasn't even aware of that site, it seems to be down just now but will have a look later on. I found this list of various martian fv1103's: This lead me to two web sites of images: http://community.webshots.com/user/jimmcdougall http://www.42regt.com/gallery.html Trawling through several thousand images I found more than 50 of the FV1103's in service! Some of them are quite low resolution but worth having none the less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinthemartian Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Mine is army number 44BM75, chassis number 538276. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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