Foden FH70 refurb restoration

[Motleyholt]

5 hours ago, radiomike7 said:

Absolutely correct John, I ran in to this with the S26 when it seemed like a good idea in case of failures but it is actually illegal.

I also had the same suspicion, my Land Rover series 2 with series 3 wings fitted has 4 headlights also but there is a switch to turn 2 off. It could just be because it makes it difficult to check the headlamp aim at test.  I'll just disconnect the wire. Shame as the land rover is lovely to drive with 4!

[Motleyholt]

Work has been manic recently,  the modern commercials don't last as long as the old military motors, so have only managed a couple of jobs this week.

Made some grey bits green.

And made some green bits grey

Getting deja vu (apologies I don't know how to add the accents). If the customers resist breaking things I'll get them all painted green and reassembled.

[attleej]

Nicely equipped workshop!

John

[Motleyholt]

16 hours ago, attleej said:

Nicely equipped workshop!

John

Thanks, it's taken a few years to amass and technically they belong to my company. Gets me back to my roots as I trained as a machinist many moons ago. Shortly before the company I worked for shut down after Vauxhaul's factory closed in Luton.

[robin craig]

In your post from March 30 you mention the plastic screw in the bottom of the sediment bowl and how you dared not attempt it lest it shear off.

I wholly agree with you and have had the joy of one breaking off and it is now SOP not to touch them ever if at all possible, until as you say you have a spare and the right situation to remove one.

Working at minus 30 degrees C someone enthusiastic decided to remove the one on our Hagglunds BV 206 D6 without reference to me. it snapped, predictably.

A field repair was made by whittling a piece of softwood and inserting it to keep us in service.

They are evil and should never be trusted. you were right not to touch it.

 

 

[Le Prof]

Hi, All,

having a French keyboard (one of the things I had to get used to when I came, and now have problems with QWERTY boards instead), déjà vu n'est pas un problème. (-:

With special characters in other languages, I just type into Google the version without accents, etc. and you will usually find a version with all the wibbly bits which you can copy and paste into the document.

I never realised déjà vu is only one of a list of related terms:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Déjà_vu

Jamais vu (from French, meaning "never seen") is any familiar situation which is not recognized by the observer.

Déjà vécu (from French, meaning "already lived") is an intense, but false, feeling of having already lived through the present situation.

Déjà rêvé (from French, meaning "already dreamed") is the feeling of having already dreamed something that is currently being experienced.

Déjà entendu (literally "already heard") is the experience of feeling sure about having already heard something, even though the exact details are uncertain or were perhaps imagined.

Presque vu (from French, meaning "almost seen") is the intense feeling of being on the very brink of a powerful epiphany, insight, or revelation, without actually achieving the revelation.

Being a scientist, this last is horrifyingly familiar.... (-:

Best Regards,

Adrian

 

[jpsmit]

2 hours ago, Le Prof said:

Hi, All,

having a French keyboard (one of the things I had to get used to when I came, and now have problems with QWERTY boards instead), déjà vu n'est pas un problème. (-:

With special characters in other languages, I just type into Google the version without accents, etc. and you will usually find a version with all the wibbly bits which you can copy and paste into the document.

I never realised déjà vu is only one of a list of related terms:

Presque vu (from French, meaning "almost seen") is the intense feeling of being on the very brink of a powerful epiphany, insight, or revelation, without actually achieving the revelation.

Being a scientist, this last is horrifyingly familiar.... (-:

Best Regards,

Adrian

 

Love this Adrian. Merci Beaucoup!

RE: Presque vu, my son assures me that powerful epiphanies insights and revelations come at precisely one and one half beers. Stop then and you are golden. Finish that second beer and it's too late. 😂 

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by jpsmit

[Motleyholt]

9 hours ago, jpsmit said:

Love this Adrian. Merci Beaucoup!

RE: Presque vu, my son assures me that powerful epiphanies insights and revelations come at precisely one and one half beers. Stop then and you are golden. Finish that second beer and it's too late. 😂 

 

This would explain a lot about my life! Is there something in french that describes the inability to stop mid pint? Even when you know you have had too many......

[Motleyholt]

11 hours ago, Le Prof said:

Hi, All,

having a French keyboard (one of the things I had to get used to when I came, and now have problems with QWERTY boards instead), déjà vu n'est pas un problème. (-:

With special characters in other languages, I just type into Google the version without accents, etc. and you will usually find a version with all the wibbly bits which you can copy and paste into the document.

I never realised déjà vu is only one of a list of related terms:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Déjà_vu

Jamais vu (from French, meaning "never seen") is any familiar situation which is not recognized by the observer.

Déjà vécu (from French, meaning "already lived") is an intense, but false, feeling of having already lived through the present situation.

Déjà rêvé (from French, meaning "already dreamed") is the feeling of having already dreamed something that is currently being experienced.

Déjà entendu (literally "already heard") is the experience of feeling sure about having already heard something, even though the exact details are uncertain or were perhaps imagined.

Presque vu (from French, meaning "almost seen") is the intense feeling of being on the very brink of a powerful epiphany, insight, or revelation, without actually achieving the revelation.

Being a scientist, this last is horrifyingly familiar.... (-:

Best Regards,

Adrian

 

Very informative Adrian and a helpful hint for the accents. Thank you. I can empathise with the last one too 😂

[Motleyholt]

22 hours ago, robin craig said:

In your post from March 30 you mention the plastic screw in the bottom of the sediment bowl and how you dared not attempt it lest it shear off.

I wholly agree with you and have had the joy of one breaking off and it is now SOP not to touch them ever if at all possible, until as you say you have a spare and the right situation to remove one.

Working at minus 30 degrees C someone enthusiastic decided to remove the one on our Hagglunds BV 206 D6 without reference to me. it snapped, predictably.

A field repair was made by whittling a piece of softwood and inserting it to keep us in service.

They are evil and should never be trusted. you were right not to touch it.

 

 

Found some of the little blighters on the bay and purchased a couple so I can repair the spare sediment bowl which already has a snapped screw. I wonder if anything can be applied to stop them corroding? Possibly a lacquer or more extreme anodising! 

[jpsmit]

14 minutes ago, Motleyholt said:

Found some of the little blighters on the bay and purchased a couple 

Oops for a minute there I thought we were still talking about accents in French. 😂 And yes I have had two beers. 😂

[Le Prof]

10 hours ago, Motleyholt said:

This would explain a lot about my life! Is there something in french that describes the inability to stop mid pint? Even when you know you have had too many......

Creativity, there you go, a new French definition... (-:

It's close to Déjà vu...

Déjà bu (from French, meaning "almost drank") describes the inability to stop mid pint? Even when you know you have had too many.

Chin-chin,

Adrian

[Motleyholt]

Treated myself to a bit of reading matter

Has quite a large section on military Foden's from the late 1800's to the companies demise in 2006. It says 139 limbers/gun tractors were built. I know of the whereabouts of 3 ,1 original and 2 converted, and the 1 deceased that is now my parts bin. Does anyone know of any more in original condition?

[Motleyholt]

Update time, mostly paining, flatting and more painting.

 

And I've painted enough parts in the evenings to put some of it back together.

Refit foam seals

  

Reassembly was a bit fiddly partly because of the design and partly because my foam is slightly denser than the original.  The end cover needs to be fitted over the matrix pipes and then cover and matrix fitted to the heater box. But it sits at an angle inside the heater box and needs twisting against the foam to align the screw holes. Trying do do this without removing too much paint through a 4" square hole was great fun!

All fitted in the end, used some longer screws to aid alignment.

  

A little instant gasket was used, not original,  but will hopefully stop the ingress of water in the future.

Have ordered some stainless steel self tappers which will replace the old ones.

Just the motor and fan to fit.... and repeat for the second heater...which is well underway

The box has been stripped in the blaster to reveal the weak bits.

Corner cut off and new metal marked from the old part. A little extra metal left for and adjustment.

  

Weld it in, grind back with a flap wheel.

All the parts for the second heater have been painted this weekend so next week I should be able to refit them to the cab.

Had a look into the drivers door to see why the window glass is not attached to the mechanism any more.

  

Found the runner in the bottom of the door.

Rust has got under the rubber channel and weakened the steel until it lost its grip and fell off the glass. If I haven't got a good one on the donor a bit of fab work will take place to make a new channel. 

The doors will come off later for reconstruction of the lower edges which are non existent in places.

Lastly the truck needs it's standard pick and shovel. But there is a 3rd bit missing, anyone know what it should be?

Pick head

Shovel

Pick handle and other?

 

[radiomike7]

On 5/16/2021 at 9:36 PM, Motleyholt said:

Treated myself to a bit of reading matter

Has quite a large section on military Foden's from the late 1800's to the companies demise in 2006. It says 139 limbers/gun tractors were built. I know of the whereabouts of 3 ,1 original and 2 converted, and the 1 deceased that is now my parts bin. Does anyone know of any more in original condition?

Does the book mention the trials Foden Recoveries which were based on a similar chassis cab to yours? IIRC there were five of them but they didn't have the crane as fitted to production vehicles.

[Motleyholt]

36 minutes ago, radiomike7 said:

Does the book mention the trials Foden Recoveries which were based on a similar chassis cab to yours? IIRC there were five of them but they didn't have the crane as fitted to production vehicles.

Yes there is a paragraph on them. The book quotes 7 were ordered with EKA D2030 recovery gear and sleeper cab versions of the s90 cab as fitted to the fh70 Foden. I have noticed a couple of errors in the book so wouldn't take the number ordered as gospel. There were also were 4 100t ballast tractors built with fuller 9 speeds and 50000lbs winches, also with the s90 cab. I would be interested to know if any of these still exist?

[Motleyholt]

Time for an update, heater No. 2 now fully reassembled.

  

An extra foam seal was fitted to the motors to keep the water out.

  

Two complete heaters, the light guards and wing mountings all ready to go back on.

 But before they can go on the cab needed a clean up and paint. So out with the wire wheels, wire brush and die grinder to clean it all up. Then on with some rust stabiliser. Followed by some primer.

  

Just the green to go. Also started changing the axle, hub and transfer box oils. Oep 220 in everything according to the manual. So 80w90 was purchased in bulk.

And on the hottest day the plugs were pulled.

Front axle had 2 magnetic plugs, 2nd axle 2 plain drain plugs and axle 3 the correct No. of each. So at least I know it's had one oil change! So after a swap around the first two drums were slowly pumped in. Transfer and hubs still to go.

A bit of nylon arrived to make 2 new cab mount guide rollers.

As you can see the original had biodegraded. 

Have also started the ball rolling to get it Mot'd. A vtg1 form was filled in online and submitted to the DVSA so that a TAS file can be generated which gives the information to the Mot tester for brakes, emissions, tyre ratings etc. The vtg1 is fairly straight forward as long as you have a manual or handbook. All the dimensions were taken from these and axle weights were taken from the chassis plate.

Once this is completed and I have finished the remaining jobs I can book it in for a test. If it passes I can apply for a registration plate and tax. Then it will be released into the world and maybe get to some shows.

[john1950]

On 5/31/2021 at 10:14 PM, Motleyholt said:

Yes there is a paragraph on them. The book quotes 7 were ordered with EKA D2030 recovery gear and sleeper cab versions of the s90 cab as fitted to the fh70 Foden. I have noticed a couple of errors in the book so wouldn't take the number ordered as gospel. There were also were 4 100t ballast tractors built with fuller 9 speeds and 50000lbs winches, also with the s90 cab. I would be interested to know if any of these still exist?

I think one of the 8 legger recoveries now lives near the A1 in Northumberland.  

[Motleyholt]

This week's update time has come again, I knocked up a couple of cab mount guide rollers on the lathe. Nothing too exciting just face it off, run  a 15mm drill through the middle, part it off and chamfer the corners.

Forgot to take a pic of them installed!

Drained and refilled the transfer gearbox, another 20 litres of oil gone. Just the hubs to go now.

Put some green on the cab front corners. There are some holes if you look close enough and these will be delt with later.my current mission it to halt the progress of the rust devils and get an MOT passed. Speaking of which it's now on the DVSA system so it can be booked in as soon as it's ready. 

  

Heaters can now go back on and be plumbed back in. I wasn't too worried about over spraying all the other components as some kind military types had already done that with nato green!!

The front quarter panels, or wings?, were next on the agenda. Whilst off they got some de-rusting and repainting on the insides.

  

The O/S has a bit of unauthorised adjustment in the past so needed a bit of readjustment with the sheet metal spanners.

It's going to take a bit more work this side as the damage had cracked the paint off and the rust has got in the the seams.

My Sunday morning was spent replacing all the steering ball joint gaiters. This needed the No. 1 jack and the No. 2 stands.

It always amazes me that the people who design things never leave the extra 5mm needed to make a job simple. I had to take the spring eye grease nipple out to remove the drag link as my ball joint breaker was too big to be able to pop the rear joint first without twisting the drag link up in the air. 

The split soggy remains were removed and some replacements fitted.

  

  

All done

Whilst it was on stands I checked the front brakes and found the N/S brake was binding. The cam appears to be sticking slightly on its bushes. I slacked off the adjuster, added some more grease and worked the brakes and now it seems to be free. Another job will be to strip and fully service the brakes. I'm not expecting much wear from its 4000 miles of use but probably lot of sticking parts with dried up 40 year old grease.

Last job was to swap the best two tyres to the front. For my peace of mind mostly and to keep the MOT testers as happy as possible.

Luckily the farm has purchased a tyre changing trolley, for the tractors, that allows you to lift, rotate and move big wheels with ease. This was really appreciated after I pulled the first one off the old fashioned way.

They need some green paint as well. 

That's all folks

[Motleyholt]

Accidentally posted the last one twice, how do you delete a post??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Motleyholt
Pressed the post button too many times!

[Motleyholt]

Bits and bobs week, swapped the wheels on the nearside and torqued all the nuts.

Continuing the process of prepping for MOT some legalities need addressing. Rear marker boards need fitting and additional reflectors along the sides. 

Salvaged a couple of reflector brackets from the donor parts. Sand blasted, painted them and bolted them on to the mud wings. Reflectors to follow.

Modified a Land Rover washer bottle cap to replace the rotted out bit on the truck. Just had to make the hole bigger in the centre. G clamped a couple of washers either side as not to deform the thin tin when I drilled it. Then once assembled gave it a coat of paint for good measure.

Used about 500 cable ties resecuring all the pipes and cables where the original ties had degraded and turned to a bakalite brittleness. 

Untangled a few pipes that seemed to have been platted together. Maybe a bored Foden employee?? Hopefully will reduce the risk of a failure in the future.

Also have some keys coming for the door locks, fingers crossed they fit. And should have the front back together soon too. Shame that work gets in the way of having fun!

[Motleyholt]

This week's headlines.....

Locks.

Batteries.

Windows.

Whilst stripping the door to fix the drivers window I took the door lock out to see if I could replace them. As we used to make these locks where I worked in the 90's I stripped the lock down to find the key number which is stamped on the inner part of the lock. As it happens there is a seller on Ebay selling new old stock keys and had the correct key. Two were ordered and now I have two working door locks.

The rod that connects the inner door handle to the catch, to lock and unlock, was also missing. The donor cab had one but it was badly bent. Easily straighten and fitted though.

It's the inner top rod. 

The donor cab was deprived of a window runner, which was duly fitted to my cab. Now I can open the window which is rather useful. But then I found out why the door lock rod was missing and the donor bent. The window regulator catches the rod! So a high tech solution was devised as seen below.....

The cable tie nicely guides the window regulator past and pulls the rod away. Win win.

I finally purchased a pair of correct 6TN batteries at great expense.

I had the battery tray but was missing the clamp. The parts drawing is a little vague so I've made my own interpretation until I see the correct one so I can copy it. The stepped ends allowed for the clamp springs and washers to be fitted.

Replaced a poorly fitted battery terminal whilst I was at it.

Rear marker boards have arrived which will complete it's civilian transformation.

Have been doing some more rust removal and painting on the front of the cab ready for heater and wing refitting. Once this is done the trade plates are going on and we will be off for a pre MOT brake test and head light set.

 

[radiomike7]

That looks very much like a Jaguar XJ6/12 interior handle.

[David Herbert]

I have a spare battery clamp free if you want it. I will be coming down in Leighton Buzzard on the 21 August and leaving on the 23rd. PM me if you want it.

David

[Motleyholt]

21 hours ago, radiomike7 said:

That looks very much like a Jaguar XJ6/12 interior handle.

More than likely. I worked for G W Kings, which was part of the Camford engineering group, and as well as making big assemblies such as axles they made a multitude of small fittings and assemblies. I'm 99% certain the window regulators and probably the handles were made there. The window regulators were used in everything from cars, Range Rovers and trucks. The fittings varied but all the same design. They also made many door locks, barrels, handles etc. A batch of say a 1000 locks would be made all with the same key! Most of the locks were put together by hand. Not a job for my big fingers.