fv1609 Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Thats a great bit of advice Clive,this is where the forum works really well. Well yes, whilst I'm holding forth I suppose I could mention the lubrication of the hubs. To get around the ineptitudes of not using the proper sleeve, often owners pack the hub with grease to avoid the embarrassing loss of oil or they have been told by someone who has seen the EMER that it says use grease or they have seen the oil filler plugs replaced with grease nipples. When the hub was replaced, the 1954 EMER said it should be filled with oil. This was modified in 1956 by stating it should be packed with grease (LG-280) This has been taken by some to mean that oil is no longer needed. The fact that many pigs in NI had grease nipples fitted to the hubs reinforces this belief. If this was so then all subsequent instructions would advise how to top up with grease, not easy through a thread with the filler plug removed. In fact they don't, all subsequent User Handbooks describe how the hubs are topped up with oil. Some NI pigs had lubrication nipples fitted for ease of rapidly injecting oil into the hub. In fact the very last NI Servicing Schedule requires oil, mentioning that the oil & grease are perfectly miscible. The question of the lubrication nipples for the wheel joints themselves is another situation where if any lubrication is done, grease is erroneously used because they are interpreted as being grease nipples. Given the failure rate of axle joints generally in Humbers, it is important. There is nothing new, the 1953 provisional User Handbook for the GS Humber & all subsequent User Handbooks, explain what has to be done but it is widely ignored by owners. Yes I know none of my business what people do with their vehicles of course. Painting a vehicle in some colour scheme to the owner's fancy can always be reversed by a subsequent owner but internal automotive damage is more difficult to correct or even identify by a would-be purchaser. Surely we must do our best for these vehicles for them to still be running in 10, 20 or more years time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Elkins Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Cheers Clive. can you send me the measurements for the hub sleeve looks a very handy tool to have. is it still ok to pop down yours at some point in the near future? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Elsdon Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Might be worth having a club together to get some more of those made! Clive, what sort of cost was it to have 3 produced? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Adam. The sleeve I had made was: ID 6.6cm OD 9.1cm The improvised one was made from: ID 2 5/8 in OD 3.0 in This needs to be covered with one layer of thick gaffer tape force fitted into ID 8.0cm OD 9.0cm Around this a further layer of tape. The clamp in the picture is applied so that the sleeve can be withdrawn, what is quite useful is a Mole type welding clamp. The sleeve is about 12 in long. I'll PM you re visit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Might be worth having a club together to get some more of those made! Clive, what sort of cost was it to have 3 produced? Adam I think that was about £12 each about 12-15 years ago. I tried to encourage others to join in the group, but was met with apathy. Either because its purpose was not understood or the belief that it can be done free hand. Trouble is you don't know whether you have destroyed the effectiveness of the seals until it starts leaking & have to inspect the seals again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Adam I think that was about £12 each about 12-15 years ago. I tried to encourage others to join in the group, but was met with apathy. Either because its purpose was not understood or the belief that it can be done free hand. Trouble is you don't know whether you have destroyed the effectiveness of the seals until it starts leaking & have to inspect the seals again. I can vouch for what Clive is saying here. With one of the seals being very hard to obtain now, it is foolhardy to try and fit the hub without the sleeve. I did supply the dimensions to a few owners years ago so they could get there own made. The inner end of the sleeve had a lip turned on it to protect the inner seal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Elkins Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 (edited) will get one made up just in case. i know loads of engineers i will get a couple made up so if you want one ill let you know when ive sorted it out. Edited August 2, 2008 by Adam Elkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Elsdon Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 I'd definitely be interested in one of those, haven't had the pleasure of taking the Hub off yet, but its only time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Elsdon Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 (edited) Right, here we go, the fruits of my recent labour trawling the internet for Humber Pig pictures in service! Interesting Bridge plate on the first picture, and the only one showing it, if only the squaddies had been considerate and actually taken clear pictures of the vehicles, including the ERM and chassis plate! As it goes however, it is very difficult to find any pictures of Pigs in service, so i'll post what i can get! Edited August 3, 2008 by Adam Elsdon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Elsdon Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 (edited) And as this is the Humber Pig pictures thread.......more pictures!! All the pictures are of the Green Howards Regiment, and for your info the Green Howards Regiment were in Mons Barracks Iserlohn from June 1959 to April 1962 as part of 5 Brigade British Army on the Rhine (BAOR). Edited August 3, 2008 by Adam Elsdon History on photos found Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Nice pics Adam ! Thanks for posting ! :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
les freathy Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 To add to Adams input here are a few more, the first i believe was taken in Berlin the second is a early model with the canvas tilt and towing i think a Green Archer morter locating radar third a very early trials model still with un painted wheels and last a photo from the mid 1970s of one just demobbed and purchased by a enthusiast near Ashford in Kent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Elsdon Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 The picture of the Pig in Berlin has something mounted to the roof, and the Green Archer Pig has something mounted on the front where the recovery eyes are, maybe for shunting the trailer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Well spotted Adam !:-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 will get one made up just in case. i know loads of engineers i will get a couple made up so if you want one ill let you know when ive sorted it out. I also would be interested in an oil seal protector if you can get me one please Adam ! :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Firstly wonderful pictures, thank you. Particularly nice to see the number plates in full view. The Bridge Class of ‘8’ is clearly wrong. I wonder if someone got carried away & embellished it with the Tac Sign number which is also ‘8’? The thing on the roof of the Berlin pic looks like a conglomeration of those perforated aluminium universal carrying frames which sometimes manpack radios were attached to. The one with the unpainted wheels is RGX 493 which was the prototype for the batch of prototypes FV1609 with the demountable armoured roof FV337270. As Les quite correctly says it is a very early prototype because if you look at the roof armour in front of the hatches it slopes down. On the later FV1609 & production pigs the roof was of course flat here. VKM 252H is interesting to see in its original state. I have been watching this vehicle for 25 years. It often displays the no. 03 BK 41 which as a FV1613 makes it rare to see any pig ambulance especially a Mk 1. Unfortunately it has a winch which rules it out from having been an ambulance. The chassis plate reveals to actually be 13 BK 81 which is just a FV1611. Other clues are that there is not the double rear step that ambulances had & the rear doors only open as an APC would. On an ambulance they were modified to open wider to allow easier loading of stretchers. In addition the inside lacks the insulation padding & lining of a real ambulance. I know of 4 changes of ownership & it may be that the current owner is unaware of its assumed role. I saw it last year still marked up as an ambulance & I have to say the standard of restoration & paintwork was superb. It is now registered as KFF 962. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Elsdon Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 (edited) Well spotted Adam !:-D I'm turning into a Pig geek!!:-D The manpack radio mounted outside could make sense, i have seen another picture, i think before the crash, that had a soldier stood on the roof, next to the berlin wall at the Brandenburg gate, maybe so they could see over it into the otherside, the radio been more to hand if required. Edited August 3, 2008 by Adam Elsdon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Elsdon Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 This is what they were probably looking at on the other side of the wall! the Russian equivalent of the Humber, the BTR-40 an armoured body on an existing truck chassis with a 6 cylinder petrol engine (Sound familiar!) it had very similar performance to a Pig. More at:- http://btr40.tripod.com/id2.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 I'm turning into a Pig geek!!:-D The more the merrier:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Elkins Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 Anybody got any ideas, on how to take the 5 bar gate off the front without any lifting gear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 I think you'll need lifting gear mate ! Mine had been ripped off the radiator cowling when being unloaded from a lorry before I bought her ! Took four of us to lift just the barricade remover into the back for trip home ! Then fork lift to put the lot back together after my Dad had welded it back on to the rad cowling ! Block and tackle with a tripod should do it if its big enough ! Good luck mate ! :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Elkins Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 I was thinking of making a frame from scafolding that passes through the gate, then unbolt and reverse the pig off it with the gate still standing in the frame. then drive back up to it to refit. Think it will work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest catweazle (Banned Member) Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 I was thinking of making a frame from scafolding that passes through the gate, then unbolt and reverse the pig off it with the gate still standing in the frame. then drive back up to it to refit.Think it will work? Ruddy genius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fv1609 Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 Anybody got any ideas, on how to take the 5 bar gate off the front without any lifting gear? I have now removed two of these. The difficult thing is to determine when you have made enough cuts of sufficient depth to release the thing. The first one was rather hazardous as once cut the thing wants to fall onto you. I learnt by my mistakes. On the second one, I attached it the steel rope of a hand operate ratchet winch that was secured to a vision block lifting loop. I put some railway sleepers under each end to support the weight of it, so that it didn't tilt. I tensioned the rope & cut away with an angle grinder. I think I used a large diameter one to get the penetration. But it was difficult to cut some of the welds in the middle areas. Once cut free, I gently released it with the winch handle. Why are you taking it off? Is it going back on again? - I hope you are a confident welder, because it is a very heavy thing, a struggle for two men even. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 As long as the barricade remover can slide side to side in your frame so you can line the holes up when refiting ! If it can fall don't be underneath it though ! :-D 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.