Poptopshed Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 I am sure the sensible way of recovering a Mk3 militant that is 225 miles away from home in the furthest corner of South Wales is to use a low loader and cruise there and back in comfort but wheres the fun in that? :-D Our chosen means was Grumpys Mk3 militant. The first leg was to Malvern to meet Militant Pete and collect Militant Grahams recovery dolly. (Cheers Fella's :-D ) At this point we switched on SimonNav, He then worked out our new route and promtly took us straight over the Malvern Hills. :-o Having given the Militants brakes a good work out and prepared us for what was to come crawling up and down the welsh valleys we made good time and finally made it to the B&B, took us about 7 hours all in all. http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d34/Poptopshed/DSC00045.jpg[/img] Simon wondering where to start on his monster breakfast! http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d34/Poptopshed/DSC00046-1.jpg[/img] Militant and Dolly outside the B&B. The dolly made light work of hooking up the truck. All set and ready to roll. http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d34/Poptopshed/DSC00048-1.jpg[/img] We wondered if we should remove the front wheels for extra room on tight turns but left them on in the end and we still had plenty of lock. http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d34/Poptopshed/DSC00047-1.jpg[/img] The people at the yard couldnt have been more helpful and gave us a escort out the village as it was narrow twisty lanes. Curtains were twitching as we rolled through. :-D http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d34/Poptopshed/DSC00050-1.jpg[/img] It was very very long trip back, about 12 hours back to the yard. The welsh hills had us down to about 5mph on some of the long steep hills. things improved once we crossed the Severn and onto the M5 where we could maintain a steady 30-35mph on the flatter bits. Simon should be starting a restoration thread some time soon once we have all recovered from the trip! :shake: :shake: :shake: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer_peter Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Good thing you made it back without incident :-) There must have been some lifted eyebrows along the way ?? "Mummy ??? Those trucks are doing the same thing dogs do!" :evil: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markheliops Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 It's great to see a wrecker doing what god intended them to to. Top pictures and top marks for effort. Rather you than me also springs to mind. :shake: Markheliops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormin Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Is there another trip required to return the borrowed dolly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 That looks so cool, what it was designed for :clap: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeEnfield Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Great Pics,................sounds like there could be an article, there. ;-) What sort of fuel consumption were you managing ?? Great to see these trucks working........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Hey why do things the easy way? :dunno: Otherwise where do you get the tall stories for the clubhouse bar? Nice job, good luck on the resto. :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Hardyferret Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 In the words of Mr Punch Thats the way to do it..... :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abn deuce Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 Truly gave the Militant a good workout with a good warm up on the way out and a Really Good work out on the return.... proves you had a healthy recovery vehicle all the way around otherwise things might have gotten a bit Hairy at somepoint ?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Daymond Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 glad to hear you got there and back safely. What sort of condition is the other militant in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Johns Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 Impresive sight, but why was the dolly used? does the crane not operate on your Milly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poptopshed Posted October 24, 2007 Author Share Posted October 24, 2007 The Militant is very original, so it should be a good one to restore. Some rust to sort on the cab roof and doors which all Militants are prone to. Its running and driving but it has a couple of problems with the air system and brakes to sort. Crane is working but the spade on the rear will lower but wont raise back up. :roll: We used the dolly to take the load off the Militant, as it would be close to its limit for lifting the nose weight of the Militant and more importantly without the dolly the weight of the truck on the rear makes the front of the towing Militant very light and can make steering interesting. :-o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.O.S. Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 The welsh hills had us down to about 5mph on some of the long steep hills. This trip is an inspiration! :-) You didn't do any worse than me with a Toyota Hilux and I.Williams trailer freighted up with large s/h earthmover tyres out of Cardiff, embarrasing thing was my long 5mph stint was somewhere between Cardiff and Bristol on the M4 :oops: would never do that again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Johns Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 weight of the truck on the rear makes the front of the towing Militant very light and can make steering interesting. :-o mmm... yes reminds me of the days of my old Military L/R 11a 109" with harvey frost crane...found its lifting capacity when tried suspend towing a crashed Chevy blazer....err ended up waiving the l/r front wheels in the air.......... :whistle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted October 24, 2007 Share Posted October 24, 2007 Excellent work! Is this the same type of dolly that was used by Antar recovery trucks? Tim (too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon stolly Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 That was some journey! First of all I would like to say a massive :tup: THANK YOU :tup: to Grumpy and Poptopshed, for all their help and sacrifice in bringing this project home. Two better mates, you could not ask for! Thanks too to their respective other halfs for letting them go! Next, I would like to thank Militant Graham and Pete for the loan of the 10/30 dolly, I think that we would of really struggled without it, especially as the brakes on the towed Militant wouldn't link though, due to a pipe leaking (read rotted!) So the brakes on the dolly really played a part. The people of Lawrenny, Pembrokeshire, could not of been more welcoming and helpful, a fantastic place. I recommend it for a holiday or short stay. The B&B was 10 out of ten and dirt cheap, find out more at www.lawrennyfarmcottages.co.uk Time and tide, wait for no man (or Militant) After lifting the Milly on the dolly we were informed by a friendly local that the tide came in 1pm, and as it was a weekend and we were at a yacht club, it was likely that we would meet some cars towing yachts, on the single track road, which would of been difficult to say the least. As it was 12 noon, we did not hang about and left minor things like beacons and number plates till later! Not only did the chap guide us through the maze of country lanes he also stopped the traffic for 7 miles! Top man! The long and winding road After a brief stop to sort lights etc out, we were off! Grumpy had elected me to sit in the cab of the suspended Milly (not legal :whistle:) to operate brakes and indicators, the eggs I had for breakie might of had some thing to do with it as well :shake: Seeing the long line of caravans in the mirror, had a poetic justice about it :naughty: All was going fine until the brakes on the towed Milly started binding. A hour later and we were off again. We went the M4 over the bridge M5 route, as it was deemed to be the flattest. Many hours, lots of tea, coffee and red bull later we made it back to the farm at 4am :yawn: Worth the effort!! Grumpy's Militant performed flawlessly and used about £350 of Diesel. So now I am the proud owner of a Mk III Militant recovery, I am a bit older and wiser, but best of all, I've got some great mates :thankyou: I will be posting updates on the progress of my Milly over the next months. My goal is to have it ready for show sometime next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 Why do it the easy way? :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeEnfield Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 That sounds like a great trip. :-) Cheers for the report. Look forward to seeing progress pic's, as and when. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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