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Scammell Explorer fixes and workarounds


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Hopefully a holiday and then a return to light duties!! I don't know how long Vicary's owned and used her, or whether it came straight out of service to them. Peter Seymore is still the owner, and I've met at least one person who drove her there for recovery jobs too, although I can't remember his name. I'm sure Peter could fill in his part of the history if you got in touch. He came out for a fish and chip run in PSY 974 to give his son a treat shortly after being bought from John Bird.

 

Jules

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Hi Jules and Bernard ! I spoke to Peter Seymour when I first bought Daisy and he kindly scanned these pics for me and told me that Vicarys bought her in 1979 and used her for HGV recovery til 1992 when she was sold to a chap in London ! They did show her occasionally at local shows to publicise their business ! Peter did say that she had become a little uneconomical at the time they sold her and that she may have been suffering from the dreaded head corrosion ! The person I purchased her from informed me that he had bought her as a non-runner and had replaced the heads with good second hand ones but we shall see ! :-D daisy2-1.jpgdaisy3-1.jpgdaisy3.jpg

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Ran out of paint stripper today so decided to bite the bullet and take off the N/S/R hub which had gone AWOL at some point in Daisies long life before I bought her ! It appeared that the hub oil seal had been leaking but I didn't know if this was just were the vehicle has been standing for a while ! :undecided: Whilst undoing the hub nut I was punished for my lack of dynamic risk assesment when it suddenly moved whilst I was standing on the bar and I know have a nice wound to my underarm to remind me in future !:argh: I was very pleased to see only a slight witness mark on the taper which had been tidied up also no damage to the hub ! It was apparent that the oil seal had been leaking for sometime as oil was all over the inside of the drum and on the brake shoes also ! Luckily I had another secondhand seal housing which was a tighter fit ! Hopefully it was just stretched oil seal springs ! We shall see ! Removed and cleaned the shoes and gave the backplate a clean and a coat of paint ! Hubs now back on and one more to do tomo ! :yay:The only odd thing is that the manual states that if changing the two oil seals that they should be fitted with the lips facing one another ! Mine have all been fitted facing the same way ! I am guessing that origionally the twin seals where fitted to prevent oil leakage and water ingress but that in service they leaked oil so they fitted em the same way around and didn't worry so much about water ingress !:??? Any thoughts !

daisy 054.jpg

daisy 059.jpg

daisy 062.jpg

Edited by AndyFowler
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Glad to see you're making good if painful progress Andy. I think the idea with the seals is right, as I'm sure many Explorers sat around waiting to leak oil far longer than spent going through deep water.

 

On the subject of winch cables. Only take it off if you have somewhere dry to store it. Mine sat out off the winch for years and was knackered when it came to fitting. I managed to find a new one, which was actually quite easy to fit, even with the rear floor on. Although I came very close to snapping off the feed rollers, stopping just in time to spin them upright. Someone had already broken them in the past! A job ideally for two people or more as the cable is quite heavy to tug about too!

 

Jules

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Removed the last of the timber/matchwood from the crane deck today and finally got down to the metal surface on the main winch drum after removing a good half inch of grease and leaves which had formed such a hard crust that I thought it was a tinplate cover ! Decided it would be sensible to put new bolts in the winch cable connecting plate as when first unearthed I couldn't tell if they were rivets or welds ! A quick phone call to my winch consultant (Thanks Jules) and I then knew they where bolts ! Ground off the heads and drilled out the remains and now need to purchase four 3/8 BSF bolts ! Cable end is a little knackered but not replacing it til shes back on the road ! Might just need the end moving up and cutting off , I'd touch wood if there was any left ! Back to paid work tomo but can,t wait to get back to her as I am always encouraged when I speak to you other Scammell nuts ! Heres a few pics ! P.S has anyone got the cover that protects your feet from the crane mechanism at the base of the crane as I only have the rear half and need a pattern or photo to copy ! Ta !:-D

DSC03259.jpg

daisy 066.jpg

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daisy 068.jpg

Edited by AndyFowler
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has anybody got any advice when it comes to re filling the front axel rear axel both walking beams and gear box transposeing box with oil as this is job is to be undertaken on mine come the weekend just wondering if there are any things to look out for ?

thanks

 

nick

Edited by younggun
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Nick, there are two drain plugs on the transposing box, the one in the rear is higher than the front one, the level may appear to go down after the first run after re-filling. This is because some gets pumped up into the rear part and stays there, (yep, got me foxed as well). So top up again, there is a small filler plug on top of the speedo drive, a small amount of oil should be put in this.

 

The small amount of oil relative to the size of the walking beams means that it is hard to drain much out, in your case because of the water immersion it has suffered it might be as well to rock the beams a bit to get any trapped water out. Perhaps a couple of changes with a good run in between, would be a good thing too.

 

As a good student of HMVF you will know not to use EP oil! :)

 

How's your clutch?

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thanks bernard

have all ready got the oil from the previous owner as i say ime going to have a crack at the oils come the weekend with weather permiting as to get him mobile again so i can start working on the cluch

Edited by younggun
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DSCF5090.jpg

 

 

However, I was always told that a propshaft with universal joints should never be fitted directly to an engine without a vibration damper between, as the torque peaks generated could create spikes many times the rated torque for the propshaft, and also the vibrations would damage the needle rollers and sliding splines. Most vibration dampers are rubber/steel composite.

I don't know weather the springs in the center of a clutch plate act as a damper (they help with a smooth take up though), but the rubber couplings do the job and it can only be assumed that is why they were fitted.

If you have the original Meadows petrol lump still fitted with the original solid center clutch plate, you should think about this before changing to this modification.

 

I have been told I worry too much, any one have any thoughts on this? I'd love an informed answer to this one please!

 

Just to update this post, Hardy Spicer also worry about this problem too!

 

http://www.hardyspicer.com.au/torsional_vibration_2006.asp

 

But Grahams' is still going strong, another season behind it.

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Just to update this post, Hardy Spicer also worry about this problem too!

 

http://www.hardyspicer.com.au/torsional_vibration_2006.asp

 

 

 

 

Hi Bernard,

 

That is an interesting link. To give an example, the CVR(T) light tracked vehicles were originally fitted with a short Hardy Spicer shaft between the flywheel and centifugal clutch on the gearbox. Due to crankshaft failures, ie. breaking, a mod was carrier out to replace with a shaft with Layrub type couplings at either end. Because alignment between engine and gearbox was now ultra important, Metalastik type engine mounts were introduced to control engine movement and shimming between the two assemblies was neccesary.

 

The Sherman, and other US tanks had a long propshaft from engine in rear, to gearbox at the front, but I cannot recollect if there were dampers, think not.

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bernard does grahams explorer vibrate in 6th gear?

my matador has a solid propshaft from engine to gearbox and this takes lots of stick and still doesnt vibrate only advantage with the mat prop is its longer

do you know who supplied the propshaft to graham?

thanks chris

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bernard does grahams explorer vibrate in 6th gear?

my matador has a solid propshaft from engine to gearbox and this takes lots of stick and still doesnt vibrate only advantage with the mat prop is its longer

do you know who supplied the propshaft to graham?

thanks chris

 

?? the Mat gearbox bolts to the back of the bell housing (in a normal arangement). There is a prop shaft between the main box and the aux box but it has uj's. (although not hardy Spicers. They are of AEC design.)

 

Are you running a mod on your Mat?

Edited by antarmike
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prop.jpg

Solid inter gearbox propshaft.

 

The drive has aleardy come through the gearbox, so I imagine the gears will have had some damping effect on the prop.

 

However the Mk1, 2 and 3 antars all have a variation of prop driving from the engine. In the Mk 1 / 11 there is a short shaft from the flywheel to a remote clutch. On the Mk3 there is a prop from the back of the clutch (in a bell housing) to a unit construction Main gearbox/ Auxiliary gearbox.

 

The AEC type of UJ is not comparable with a Hardy Spicer. There are no needle bearings. The spider pins run in plain bushes in the trunnions. I would imagine them to be more tolerant to (variable) peak loading than A Hardy Spicer type.

Edited by antarmike
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bernard does grahams explorer vibrate in 6th gear?

do you know who supplied the propshaft to graham?

thanks chris

 

Grahams' only had one Layrub coupling on it. The gearbox stripped a couple of input flanges (no splines at all left inside, complete lack of drive!) which is why I don't think slightly worn splines contribute much to the vibration as he drove his to a standstill!! It is now rebuilt with new flanges and the shafts machined to suit I believe. It must have had a bit of vibration because he drove mine before I rebuilt it and thought it was not too bad! He fitted the prop after the rebuild.

 

He got the shaft made at a local propshaft shop, don't know which one though. You should be able to work out what you need from from the H/Spicer website.

 

Hi Bernard,

That is an interesting link. To give an example, the CVR(T) light tracked vehicles were originally fitted with a short Hardy Spicer shaft between the flywheel and centifugal clutch on the gearbox. Due to crankshaft failures, ie. breaking, a mod was carrier out to replace with a shaft with Layrub type couplings at either end. Because alignment between engine and gearbox was now ultra important, Metalastik type engine mounts were introduced to control engine movement and shimming between the two assemblies was neccesary.

 

Richard, sounds like they should have got Oliver North in on the design team in the first place. The pioneer had all this in the 30s!

 

The drive has aleardy come through the gearbox, so I imagine the gears will have had some damping effect on the prop.

 

Quite so Mike, it says on the H/Spicer page above that a gearbox and some types of clutch are considered to be a vibration damper, the question is weather a sprung clutch center plate acts as a damper.

 

Maybe if anyone is thinking of doing the mod email them and ask?

 

The H/Spicer site also confirms that Explorer rear propshaft angles are well within tollerances, methinks modern road speeds and poor lube are the main problem here. :nono:

Edited by gritineye
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it needed to be heavy, as it was heated and distroyed 2 pullers already i went for the tough option

:argh:

as you can see 1 mount very good 1 very bad

mounts are getting sorted today will post pic of them as soon as they return gearbox rubber mounts to be made next and then maybe mass production as im sure every explorer needs new ones :nono:

thanks chris

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it needed to be heavy, as it was heated and distroyed 2 pullers already i went for the tough option

:argh:

as you can see 1 mount very good 1 very bad

mounts are getting sorted today will post pic of them as soon as they return gearbox rubber mounts to be made next and then maybe mass production as im sure every explorer needs new ones :nono:

thanks chris

 

All good stuff Chris, a source of gearbox rubbers will be welcomed I'm sure, what amount are you getting made? I think Jules bought some engine mountings locally off the shelf.

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I bought the engine mounts off the shelf from a local truck repair shop, and I'm sure they must still be manufactured by someone. After a quick search I found a company in Suffolk, called Robush Ltd, who supply "Metalastic" rubber mounts.

 

Robush Ltd

 

for Metalastic rubber mounts

 

Tony Grover, General Manager

Robush Ltd, Bridge Farm, Ash Road, Wickham Market, Suffolk, IP13 0AA

 

Tel 01728 748336 - Fax 01728 748332

 

I would hope they might be able to help?

 

Jules

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just to keep you guys infromed of explorer progress there hasent been much :argh: spent all day refiting the starter motor after it has been welded only to then find that one of the mounting studs was dammaged when the starter was removed ( not by me may i add )

so tomorow will be spent removing starter again then to see if i can remove the offending stud without much hassell :sweat:

 

wish me luck

Edited by younggun
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