Rb44 hvm vik

[camrhee]

At last. I am the proud owner of an RB44! However after only having the RB for eight days repairs have come calling. Not so much the RBs fault per say but the very old batteries were not venting and so exploded. Thankfully carrying a fire extinguisher put out the unsettling large flames. Big thanks to the RB44 club for supplying me with two in service photos. Still getting used to driving such a large vehicle albeit smaller than a Bedford MJ. I did panic slightly when I got in for my first drive and find that his gears are in very different positions to a car, 2.5nad or even a ford transit.

[ferrettkitt]

Nice one looks great, the gearbox takes a bit of getting used to

[camrhee]

Thanks Andy, yes I have found out that unless im crawling along it prefers to go straight from 1st to 3rd. another RB owner said they only ever start in 2nd but my RB dosnt seem to like starting in 2nd so 1st to 3rd works well for mine. I am booked into WAP with it this year, displaying with the RB44 club. I still chuckle when ever I think about driving it, the seat is so comfy, more like a well worn armchair and boughtons are so bouncy I feel like every time I hit a bump on the road that its gonna bounce me right out the drivers seat! The worst thing about the gears is when I get back in the car I keep reaching behind me for the gear stick. Brilliant trucks though.

[ferrettkitt]

Try blipping the accelerator pedal before you put it in 2nd gear, also change the oil in the gearbox. I found that I had issues with it going in gear from 2nd to 3rd and blipping the throttle made it easier. When the oil in the gearbox was changed it also helped with gear changes. Its probably a good idea to change as many fluids as you can as you don't know when they were last changed. Some RB44's had been sat for years before they moved to Withams.

[challengertwo]

106 Regiment RA(V), 28 September 2008 SPTA.

[camrhee]

Awesome! thanks challengertwo! the guys on the plain-military forum have been brilliant and its thanks to their record keeping of the plain that I have managed to get in service phots and my other two in service phots appear to have come from yourselves, so thank you very much. I do not have these two photographs and certainly I don't have the full frontal solo phot of 97KJ55 s that is the ultimate photo for me to see, thank you, and thanks ferretkitt I think then I will be phoning the garage today to get them to change oils as you say it has been sat for so long at withams and then the dealer that bought it so it would make sense. As an edit ive just phone and left a message for the workshop manager to have the fluids changed and im hoping to get a green lane in this summer on the plain, never been before so that will be a first too.

Edited May 3, 2013 by camrhee

[redneck]

Personally I would avoid pulling away in second, these trucks have a reputation for eating clutches, and my suspicion is that the 2nd gear starts are what causes the problem. Its all too easy to pull away in 2nd slipping the clutch when its not your vehicle, and after seeing the state of my clutch with so few miles on it I can only assume that this is what happened.

Changing the gear oil definitely smoothed out the gear changes a bit and I added some ZX1 which seemed to help as well but don't expect miracles, its still a tractor.

 

Check your prop shafts and grease them well as they were bone dry on the sliding joints and several of the u.j's were fubar'd, again for such low mileage I can only assume they weren't lubed properly at the factory and certainly weren't done during it's working life. Don't forget the grease nipple for the centre of the double carden joint on the front prop, not easy to spot if its covered in dirt.

If your steering feels heavy check your power steering pump belt, it seems to need to be very tight to work well especially at low revs.