Yep, fairly tidy for 26 years old. It's got a few little issues I need to address but now I have it and the bulk of the work was done to get through MOT I can chip away at doing what I can and leave what I can't to experts. I think it will be a labour of love to keep it going and might not be the cheapest project I have undertaken but shame to see it scrapped.
Battery tray was next on the agenda after the jet wash fest under the chequer plate. Took a huge effort to get the batteries out but the big rattler did the trick eventually. Back in the day when I first joined the Army my daily work was mostly maintaining my Ptarmigan communications wagon (early 90s comms system) that was based on the old Bedford MJ/MK chassis. Battery boxes and side bins were painted with old school red lead paint but I figured I'd not get any of that these days so primer had to do. Aside from the different smell the whole procedure took me back a few years and was oddly satisfying. Even the "T" key to open the panel takes me back.
I think you would be surprised. I was part of the client side team dealing with the exit of the Royal Navy and the occupation of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich by the universities. Major works were required to adapt and bring the four Sir Christopher Wren buildings up to scratch such as removal of the atomic reactor the Navy had installed in the King William building without telling the borough of Greenwich who all those years had been proclaiming the borough as Nuclear Free. I digress, the whole site is a scheduled ancient monument and everything done must be agreed with English Heritage. The Queen Mary building needed to be redecorated externally but a colour and specification for the paint had to be agreed. They didn’t have Dulux brilliant white in the 17th century so a not so white was agreed upon and then EH stipulated that it had to be lead based paint to match the original paint. OK so far, you can get this stuff but it is strictly controlled. Even more so when a tin goes missing. I’ll order another one you say. Not on your life EH says, until you are able to prove what happened to the one that went AWOL.
Hey Hugo, it's under the 7.5 as just a unit. I think 6900kg but if you are of a certain age you can drive it on a car licence if the 5th wheel is physically removed. I have all my licences so I can drive it anyway. I will get it on the weigh bridge at some point and get an accurate figure just for my own knowledge.
The “wheel” on the bed of the tractor unit the trailer attaches to. Without one the truck cannot pull a trailer hence why you can drive on a car licence.
Don't know to be honest, all I know is that when I got it there was grease all over it and it should be dry. Like fox shit to get it all off! Will do a bit of research now into it.
Yep, too cold for my old bones to be riding around so just went to turn a few spanners and watch. Only got the stocker back from engine refresh the day before anyway and it needs prepping ready to run this year.
Not the case unless you have a dry aftermarket greaseless liner fitted, otherwise the rubbing plate should be kept well greased. Unfortunately the grease gets rubbed off when coupling and uncoupling trailers and ends up everywhere except where it should be. Good luck with the refurb.
Thanks for the info, I've not insured it to pull anything anyway so will leave it dry. Good to know though. Might even buy a cover for it eventually but that's lower down the list.
Collection day and MOT went as expected(Not Cheap) I knew it needed a complete new exhaust less the silencer and I also knew it was going to need four new tyres. The steerer wheels had plenty of tread and no cracking but unfortunately due to the new law that came in early 2021 they were too old so had to come off. The two rear left drive tyres were heavily worn and I knew they would fail. I was also doubtful over the drag link but that passed with an advisory. All of the other stuff was unsighted to me but I took it to Egertons Fleet Services in Milton Keynes as I know them, they maintain the other trucks for the race team. They do a pre-MOT inspection and prep which was very much needed. The DAF had never been there though. It turned out it needed new rear linings on the brakes as well as new hub seals. There were a few other minor issues such as marker lights not working and a cracked kerb mirror but it all got sorted eventually and I collected it in January. It had to have a section of exhaust fabricated as the part is obsolete and I am fully expecting to have to go through a similar process as time goes on to source/make other parts when they fail. All good fun though and the owner of Egertons has an old 1993 Volvo so he was a keen as me to keep the old 95 going. I can see the two wagons parked next to each other at truckfest in future.
Myself and the kids think so. It certainly got some attention today at the bike park, used it to with the boy to go ride a few trails. Reckon we can do a week in it no problem and bounce around the country in the summer now I've got it set up. Needs a few modifications so I don't have to put dirty front wheels in the cab after a days riding and a way of securing the rear wheels down so I don't have to use straps. Getting there though.
I think this thread has almost run its course for now. I have updated it with everything I have done to the unit so far plus a few bits about how I have initially been using it. Time will tell now how living with it goes. The final few pics I will put up are from sorting out the audio in the cab. Back in the early to mid-nineties I used to tweak the OEM set up in my cars. I started out with a Rover 216 Vitesse that I added a decent head unit and speakers to. The sub-woofer in the boot was very impractical, but hey I was young. My Renault 19 16V Chamade went much the same way. Eventually I grew out of it and just stuck to what my cars came with out of the showroom. The unit came with a shitty Grundig cassette player and a mis-matched pair of what looked like 70s speakers. I knew what needed to be done. It has two slots above the driver seat for head units so I bought a new CD player for one slot and I found a tidy JVC cassette player on eBay to replace the Grundig for nostalgia sake. Local record shop always has a good selection of cassettes for a few quid each. New speakers replaced the old but I made sure they fitted under the OEM grills so as not to spoil the aesthetic of the cab. Finally I added an active 8in Rockford Fosgate sub under the bottom bunk. Certainly an improvement and makes driving it even more entertaining. Perhaps further upgrades in the future but it will all be well hidden if I do.
