Leyland600:
No Way Dennis as I have said before I worked a full week most weeks not having every third or fourth week off for another engine change. The old Foden may have been slow and cold in winter but she would climb mountains with that 12 speed box and always got there.
Cheers, Leyland 600.
Hi, Leyland 600, Im a Foden man myself & as you say they allways got there regardless, I recall going to Lanarkshire Area one sunday with a load of Lime form a farm at Skirling, When I got there the farmer threw a wobbler, He said he had informed the supplier that he on wanted 6 wheelers as the 8 wheeler F 86S couldn’t get up the hillside where he wanted the Lime tipped, So I said show me where you want the ■■■■■■■ load tipped & I will do it for you, Anyway he pointed to a very steep incline so off I went tipped the load load and came back down to get the ticket signed, He said well you can come here anytime you like with your Foden, Regards Larry.
Hi Lawrence, yes I agree the Foden would climb telegraph poles if asked to do so. Speaking of Skirling, Biggar I was at a farm a wee bit further north at Walston loading barley one morning and the farmer was overseeing the operation dressed in his everyday working gear when his wife came onto the scene playing hell with him to get back to the house and get himself changed as they were flying out of Prestwick in a very short time to Canada where he was attending a sheep breeding conference and the good lady was panicking a bit, he took a bit of dragging away from the job. Biggar hosts a very good vintage rally in August every year organised by the Biggar Albion Foundation Ltd who have a museum in the town being the home of Albion’s founder Thomas Blackwood Murray.
Cheers, Leyland 600.
strange thing about fodens . in the 70s we had the s39 8 wheelers and they would go anywhere , then the blue eyed boys were given the then new s80 . they were useless , got stuck or just sat spinning and bouncing . i reckon the difference was that we had the foden axles and the s80 had rockwell . the s39 was much nicer to drive . dave
rigsby:
strange thing about fodens . in the 70s we had the s39 8 wheelers and they would go anywhere , then the blue eyed boys were given the then new s80 . they were useless , got stuck or just sat spinning and bouncing . i reckon the difference was that we had the foden axles and the s80 had rockwell . the s39 was much nicer to drive . dave
I realise we are way ‘off topic’ but our S80’s had the same worm drive axles as the 39’s/S50’s BUT the weight distribution was far worse. A large, heavy cab compared to the 39’s, possibly a far heavier Rolls or ■■■■■■■ engine compared to the Gardner plus no heavy lump of a transmission handbrake fitted on the back end to add weight where itwas needed PLUS some had the lighter taperlight suspension which meant the the S80’s were very front end heavy and lost traction. The rubber suspension ones on the Haulmaster were worse still, they really needed a diff lock and cross locks to be good on sites.
On the subject of Fodens Rigsby I eventually bought a new S80 * wheeler after operating the S21 then an ERF 66GX . Having the worm axles I never had any traction problems except in exceptional circumstances in snow despite often accessing farms some difficult ones at that. Yes it was a big cab and not the best looking motor, the big headlights definetely were useless especially on a cold foggy November night passing through York during the evening rush hour with all those bikes, how I didn’t knock one over is a miracle. At least it was faster than the S21 with a step up from 42mph to 53mph also had better heating.
Cheers Leyland 600.
