pv83:
By the way, the only Big-J I ever drove was on yard shunting duties with an ex-BOC unit. It had a 180 Gardner, 6-sp DB box and no power steering because apparently it was a cancelled export order! My last Rover was a P4 Btw, loved 'em! Ro
Are you sure that the Big J had the DB box and not the Thorneycroft 6 speed which was the standard fitting in the Big J & 180 LXB ? Cheers Bewick.
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No Bewick, I’m not sure! It was very early '80s, when I knew a lot less about what 'boxes went with what lorries.I recorded it in my driver’s diary as a 6-sp box. I would then have gone home and looked up what Big-Js had by way of 6-sp transmission, blissfully unaware in those days that certain engine/gearbox combinations were the norm. So I’ll bet you are right! As I never got it out on the road I can’t report on its performance but it was deffo not synchomesh. Anyone on here who drove for BOC Transhield out of the Oare depot in Faversham in the '70s should be able to testify one way or the other. It was the shunter at A&RJ Woods at Teynham when I drove it. It’s reg was TKO 467S (the late ‘S’ - long after Big-Js finished, reflects that it was a cancelled order batch). Here’s a pic I took after I had parked it. Not very clear I’m afraid.
Ro.
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Going slightly off -topic here, but is that a curtainsider with a fridge unit mounted Robert? That must have been quite something back in the day? Even nowadays it’s bit of a unusual setup? Please forgive me my sheer ignorance regarding fridge trailers…
Cheers, Patrick
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They were called Insuliners, PV, and were commonplace in the '80s but they were not efficient for constant opening and shutting of the curtains such as you get with farm collection work. IIRC they eventually fell foul of food safety regs. Someone’ll put us right! Ro