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New to me Leyland Martian


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1 hour ago, john1950 said:

When you look at a Martian it is a complex vehicle for its day. Long Straight 8, Walking beam rear bogie. Braking system! 

Have you looked at the front end, a portal axle with bevel gear drive in line with the king pins?  The steering box drives a prop shaft that runs backwards to a right angle drive with a Pitman arm to a drag link which connects to a bell crank on the axle rather like a WW2 Jeep. Two track rods then connect the bell crank to the steering knuckles.

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8 hours ago, radiomike7 said:

Have you looked at the front end, a portal axle with bevel gear drive in line with the king pins?  The steering box drives a prop shaft that runs backwards to a right angle drive with a Pitman arm to a drag link which connects to a bell crank on the axle rather like a WW2 Jeep. Two track rods then connect the bell crank to the steering knuckles.

The steering linkage is a work of art 😁

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  • 3 weeks later...

Steering update ! I found a small amount of play in one of the ends of the left hand track rod.

Was going to adjust up but after strip down and clean found a crack in one of the ball pillars 😬

Full strip down of steering track rods and drag link ensued. 

Some are bent and a number have cracks in.

Modern ish equivalent found after vast amount of time searching. 

More to follow, cheers Chris. 

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Dear All,

The pic of the prop shaft shows why I think that it is too long and would benefit from a centre bearing.  The Martian is good for 30 MPH but any more risks ripping out the back of the transfer box as I have observed in previous posts.

Well done for spotting the crack in the ball joint.  The ball on the right of the two looks to be bent!  Is it?  What on earth has happened to the vehicle to cause that damage.

 

John

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1 hour ago, attleej said:

Dear All,

The pic of the prop shaft shows why I think that it is too long and would benefit from a centre bearing.  The Martian is good for 30 MPH but any more risks ripping out the back of the transfer box as I have observed in previous posts.

Well done for spotting the crack in the ball joint.  The ball on the right of the two looks to be bent!  Is it?  What on earth has happened to the vehicle to cause that damage.

 

John

Yes, John several are bent and several are cracked. Not very good at all. 

Im glad I decided to strip and clean them properly rather than just nip them up and fill full of grease ! 

Cheers Chris 

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7 hours ago, attleej said:

Dear All,

The pic of the prop shaft shows why I think that it is too long and would benefit from a centre bearing.  The Martian is good for 30 MPH but any more risks ripping out the back of the transfer box as I have observed in previous posts.

Well done for spotting the crack in the ball joint.  The ball on the right of the two looks to be bent!  Is it?  What on earth has happened to the vehicle to cause that damage.

 

John

The lwb cargo truck does have a centre bearing.

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Dear All,

 

Further to my last, I have now looked at the Martian Gallery thread and it was pointed out that modern balancing was much better than it used to be.  It was also claimed that because of this, prop shafts can be run at much higher RPM than before.  So I might be wrong!   It could be that all the prop shafts fitted to the Martians were slightly defective and that is why we found, from hard experience, not to exceed 30 MPH. 

However, given that damage to the transfer gear-box should be avoided at all costs I would still advocate a centre bearing. 

I think Chris is doing a great job of looking after he old girl.

 

John

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  • 1 year later...
22 hours ago, Quadman42 said:

Hi Chris, loved the photographs. Is it true you are running 16.00-20 tyres on your Martian as I have just been offered some as my old 15.00-20 are scrap

best regards

Steve

Hello Steve, yes I'm running 1600/20 tyres. They do fit on the Martian rims fine however when mounted to the rear they leave very little clearance between the tyre sidewall and the walking beam casing, IIRC about 3/16 of an inch ! This was not enough for me as a stone or other debris could wipe out a sidewall if it got lodged somewhere unhelpful. 

I looked at all manner of wheels of varying offsets and found that the rear bogie wheels from a Coles bridging crane are ideal. They are the correct "style" and when mounted with a 1600/20 tyre give the correct clearance between the sidewall and the walking beam casing. I'll get some pics up ASAP for you to show the difference.

I did price having some new ones custom made but it was getting a bit dear. The fronts are no problem with the original wheels.

Cheers Chris.

 

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Thanks Chris , I look forward to seeing the photos. I was concerned about clearances and also the aesthetics of the  distance remaining  between the two rear tyres. If you can supply any more  info on the Cole’s crane rims that would be superb as I have just started working with a major crane company . It would be very much appreciated if you have a couple of side views of the Martian with the tyres fitted

thanks again

steve

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5 minutes ago, Quadman42 said:

Wow, I see what you mean, that gap is clearly hazardous to tyre life

thanks

I should of added that the first 2 pics are the original rims and the third is the Coles rim with greater offset, I think its a little over an inch now. They came from a Coles MK5 bridging crane rear bogie, built on I think matador running gear. If you need ant more pics or measurements let me know. Bedford Tm wheels don't have enough offset.

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MAN SVRs have 16:00 x 20 tyres and with the 10 years steer tyre regulations coming in in February there could be a lot coming up for disposal as the SVRs have 2 steer axles. There may even be some of these tyres on wheels as The MAN Trucks have 3 piece wheels fitted with tubeless tyres, either Michelin or Continental and as such have a rubber sealing ring which has to be replaced when a tyre is replaced. The big problem is that you can't buy the sealing ring seperately so you have to fit a complete new wheel.

Don't forget that these tyres are radial and your Martian is probably on crossplies.

.

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