Zuffen Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 God to see the engine has stopped smoking. Remarkable after 30 odd years of standing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHillyard Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Looks like a fantastic project. Amazing it runs and drives so well after so many years of being stationary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon_M Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 A hundred generations of spiders homeless at a stroke. Well done to the previous owner for keeping it warm and dry-ish for many moons too, and much better loaded up than towed - good decision. Counted the new grey hairs yet? :blush: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughman Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 So after a quick wash down and polish, when are you booking it in for its MOT? Fantastic find and best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero-Five-Two Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 Is the tank full ? Be nice if it is, Andy, couple of thousand gallons of diesel would do nicely Seriously speaking, I haven't had much of a look. All the tank lids are well and truly shut and I haven't worked out quite how to release the locking mechanism, yet. Did manage to lift the dipstick on the first tank. That still has a bit of petrol in it, about 2" up the stick, whatever that is in gallons. There wasn't room under the roof of the barn to get any of the others out, so the surprise awaits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug fleet Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 that looks very good condition for the amount of time its sat for . keep the photos coming as we all wont to know how you get on with it . its a great find well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
militant-nick Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 Cracking progress 👍 🇬🇧 nice Landoll type travelling axle trailer behind that Scania too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvinthemartian Posted January 14, 2016 Share Posted January 14, 2016 Nice find Rob, a good wash off with traffic film remover and a good service, and she'll look cracking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero-Five-Two Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 I presume I'm not the only forum member who consistently fails to pick the correct lottery numbers and subsequently has to do wage earning work instead of playing with his new toy. Been the longest week ever, I felt like a kid waiting for Christmas. Anyway Saturday eventually came round and I got to get back to investigating the Tanker. Got to see it in it's new home in the daylight for a change. First job have a good look round it, check the tanks, just in case Andy Fowler is right and it is half full of something. So, there is 5 tanks altogether, presumably 500 gallon each. There is a bit in the bottom of each tank, about 10 gallons or so. Inside of tanks are very clean as you can see. Petrol in the first one, and Diesel in the next 3. But the back one is different. Haven't got the lid open yet to look in, but the stuff on the bottom of the dipstick is a bit sort of diesel/kerosene substance. Doesn't smell like diesel. The top of the dipstick tube has been modified to include a Schrader/tyre inflator valve as though the tank was meant to be pressurised for some reason. The lid is marked thus: Any body know what EPENAMEL is or was. Whatever it is it has been in this tank since 17 Mar 61. Next mission check out the lack of air build up and no brakes. Could be any number of things, all costly and in some cases impossible to get the parts to repair. Start with a visual check of the system, looking for missing parts, holes in pipes etc. Thought I'd cracked it, and couldn't believe it would be that easy Plug missing out of the bottom of this air tank! Rushed around for ten minutes and acquired a new plug, thought that was it, engine ticking over air builds up.... to about 20 psi then dropped away. Gave the motor a few revs, quite a few revs!! but nothing happened. OK start again, check system nothing else missing, no holes or split pipes. However, call it deja vu but I've been here before with the timber tractor. Unloader valve is well known for being the cause of much misery so start here. Disconnect leak off pipe to find valve is constantly leaking, must be jammed open, which is fixable, or the internal bellows is broken which is not fixable. So valve off for return home and strip down. In the meantime empty the tool bins to sort out all the tools, hoses and other bits. Cab is full of bits of junk etc so that got cleared too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiomike7 Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 EPINAMEL is an industrial coating, could it be the interior of the tank has been coated? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero-Five-Two Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 (edited) Following the return home and a bite to eat, or at the time of writing a break for more Bacardi, all the bits were laid out on the shed floor for sorting Some of it is junk and has already been excused to the dustbin, the rest of it at least needs investigating. The hoses are new unused and still have their stores labels and part numbers taped on. All came from the OSU at Old Dalby in Leicestershire. This dates them to before 1997 because that is when the Old Dalby Depot closed. Have a large number of refill packs (in the plastic bag)for the standard 2 gallon foam fire extinguishers which were fitted to the tankers. These are dated 1978 and '79. Several scoops and measuring jugs which I recognise as from Royal Engineers water purification kit plus a couple of hose end strainers used when pumping water from ponds and rivers. There are a few other bits which don't belong to a fuel tanker, but seem to be obviously Military. I haven't a clue what they are so I'm going to list them al on a separate thread and see if someone can shed light on them. Back with the unloader valve at the work bench. Have been here before, made a pigs ear of the gaskets last time and took 3 or 4 goes at getting it right :blush: Biggest problem is there is a set of tin bellows inside which are very delicate and prone to cracking, especially if mis- handled when stripping down. Anyway bit of careful work and within a few minutes the problem is found Valve block is full of carp causing valve to stick in the open position and constantly unload. Looks, at the moment, like a good clean up and polish is all it needs. Should be a fairly easy fix. As for the bellows, you can see it on the left of the picture, filled with white spirit to check for leaks. At the time of photographing it had stood there for half an hour without so much as a damp patch, so they are still good. Tomorrow, I will be concentrating on making nice gaskets, to get it right first time. I'm toying with the idea of trying it on the Timber Tractor, first, I can do that tomorrow as that lives quite near, where as the tanker is 40 mile away. I'll let you know Edited January 16, 2016 by Zero-Five-Two Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero-Five-Two Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 EPINAMEL is an industrial coating, could it be the interior of the tank has been coated? That might explain the nice clean shiney cream colour on the inside of the tanks. Slightly different spelling? Might be the person who wrote it on the tank got it wrong. Still wonder why the Schrader valve on the dipstick tube Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulbrook Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 My troop TTF - circa 1977...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero-Five-Two Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 Thanks for posting the picture Paul, any idea what is stencilled on the side of the tank beside the F54 sign? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon_M Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 Still wonder why the Schrader valve on the dipstick tube. Commonly this would be to pressurise the tank ( modestly - a few psi only ) to purge out the last of the contents, or if it something that would degrade with air, to purge the air gap above the contents with inert Nitrogen. I'd advise leaving it alone, the stresses put into the tank from a 10 psig pressurisation can be quite alarming :wow: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtistsRifles Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 What a fantastic find!! I freely admit to loving Militants and being incredibly jealous of you. Now I look forwards to seeing how the rest of the story continues. I haven't seen a tanker version in over 35 years... My original TA unit had SWB 3-way tippers. :undecided: :undecided: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfire Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 A very nice find and a very nice project. It looks like it needs some love, but will come up very nicely. Cheers, Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 This is a very exciting and interesting find. Great stuff. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero-Five-Two Posted January 17, 2016 Author Share Posted January 17, 2016 I haven't seen a tanker version in over 35 years... Since I found it, I've spoke to loads of people who might know better than I, and they have all said much the same as yourself. Haven't seen one since.......... Last time I remember seeing them in service was at a temporary fuel depot halfway across Belgium on Ex Crusader '80 Certainly nothing since then. Makes it all the more interesting. As an ex R.E. a 3 way tipper would be the holy grail of Militants Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan94 Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Nice truck! I'm going to follow this topic. Jan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Glad to see you have the tanker home now. I fully believe the use of the big Landoll trailer was the best possible decision rather than a suspended tow. The truck is a complete unknown. Love how your knowledge is getting you right at it. Curious question, do you think that the lack of water and that coating in the tank stopped it rusting? Was there any moisture in the tank, is the tank vented or sealed at the lid? Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulbrook Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Thanks for posting the picture Paul, any idea what is stencilled on the side of the tank beside the F54 sign? Cor blimey - I should remember...Let me see if either I can find another picture. It may yet come to me - you know how these things are. The accident by the way is what happens when you recover a fully loaded TTF of an autobahn using a straight bar but no airlines - the slip road was much steeper than expected and when the front truck braked the TTF overtook it, snapped the towing eye off and proceeded to take a civvy merc with it... I would not have minded so much had the towing vehicle itself not been fully loaded with 175mm HE ammo..... We would all go to jail now I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
militant-nick Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Commonly this would be to pressurise the tank ( modestly - a few psi only ) to purge out the last of the contents, or if it something that would degrade with air, to purge the air gap above the contents with inert Nitrogen. I'd advise leaving it alone, the stresses put into the tank from a 10 psig pressurisation can be quite alarming :wow: we still use this type of system at work to drain vehicles going for sale so recognised the initial description Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeePig Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Cor blimey - I should remember...Let me see if either I can find another picture. It may yet come to me - you know how these things are. The accident by the way is what happens when you recover a fully loaded TTF of an autobahn using a straight bar but no airlines - the slip road was much steeper than expected and when the front truck braked the TTF overtook it, snapped the towing eye off and proceeded to take a civvy merc with it... I would not have minded so much had the towing vehicle itself not been fully loaded with 175mm HE ammo..... We would all go to jail now I think. The stencilling says: "Do not tow without first connecting the airlines" trevor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean N Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 ...Valve block is full of carp... Sounds a bit fishy to me... :red: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.