thelongdrag:
Enjoyed thar ramble Pete. Happy New Year. Mike.
Cheers Mike, same to you as well. I did wonder if anyone had read it, I have more tales but maybe they are best left.
Pete.
windrush:
thelongdrag:
Enjoyed thar ramble Pete. Happy New Year. Mike.Cheers Mike, same to you as well. I did wonder if anyone had read it, I have more tales but maybe they are best left.
Pete.
Is it available on cd as a story 
Really enjoyed it Pete thank you . We used to look after a good few 8 wheelers and I think the Foden was as good as any . Preferred the rubber suspension on them to the underslung SA back springs ! Been some near misses sliding them under on a pit board , always at night and usually loaded ! Regards Geoff
Punchy Dan:
windrush:
thelongdrag:
Enjoyed thar ramble Pete. Happy New Year. Mike.Cheers Mike, same to you as well. I did wonder if anyone had read it, I have more tales but maybe they are best left.
Pete.
Is it available on cd as a story
Available from W.H Smiths and on line at Amazon Dan, or direct from me on DVD,CD, Talking Books or (for you out in the sticks) wax cylinder. No PayPal though, I canât afford the fees. 
I could do with some royalties from you wealthy Peak District O/Dâs like Moose and your good self so please tell all your mates. However there is a Epilogue due out very shortly when I have finalised it so donât rush off to the post box just yet! 
Pete.
dosser:
Really enjoyed it Pete thank you . We used to look after a good few 8 wheelers and I think the Foden was as good as any . Preferred the rubber suspension on them to the underslung SA back springs ! Been some near misses sliding them under on a pit board , always at night and usually loaded ! Regards Geoff
Aye Geoff, been there and done that! If you thought SA rear springs were heavy Foden dumper ones make them look like toys, however they ran until there were hardly any whole leaves remaining if possible!
Pete.
Came into work by car at Ballidon at 6.00 am-ish one day in October 1996, not early as I was only booked on ashphalt to Leek, and an O/D (Tony Williams) stopped me. âBlimey Pete, your gaffer has done you lads proud with those two new wagonsâ. Well I hadnât a clue what he was on about but went to get my lorry, however the weighbridge chap called me over and gave me some keys âyour new lorry is up at the garage, hurry upâ. So I go and find P207 AJU, my ride for the next 12 months! Rolls/Perkins 335, Fuller 13 speed box, Wilcox body. I knew the tar plant would be waiting for me but I hadnât a clue how to even get the sheet open! 
Tucked under the seat was a rope with a clip on one end but how did you operate the roller etc? Searching around I found a pole about 10 feet long with a UJ and tapered fitment on one end clipped under the body which you had to try and locate in a square hole at the rear of the sheet roller. Unclipped the ratchets, attatched the rope and wound, blooming heck it took some moving but opened eventually. No shovel, maps or anything so I had to get my old ones and then the tacho discs were different and I hadnât one that fitted. It was parked on a slope so couldnât check the oil, it had enough fuel for Leek so fired it up and weighed it off, as it was only running at 31tonne instead of 32 (gaffer wouldnât pay the extra tax) it carried 19.70 payload I think. Up to the tar plant and gritted up, then realised I couldnât swing the split taildoor up as it was too stiff. However in the cab was an âLâ bar with a socket welded on, too small for a wheelbrace but it did fit a bolt welded to the taildoor so I fitted that, swung on it and the door opened!! What a palaver! Of course I had missed my âslotâ by about half an hour so had to guess weigh the asphalt into a strange body and overdid it by half a tonne! So in the back with a shovel and chuck it onto the next truck, feet burning and by now absolutely knackered and wishing I had never seen this bl**dy lorry. Onto the check weighbridge and CLUNK, being used to a full width cab I had got too far over to the right and knocked all the fancy âchromeâ wheel nut trims off on the safety rail! I didnât like them anyway. I weighed off, borrowed a tacho disc and off to Leek!
It went very well, I romped up Swinscoe Hill out of Mayfield almost as fast as my old truck went up empty and I didnât need to use half the gears either! There was a CB fitment in the cab but of course I hadnât time to fit mine so had to rely on other drivers to let me know when I was needed on the paver as we had to park a long way from the job but I attempted to clip the mudflaps up but the number plate hinge was rusted solid so wouldnât swing up. Had some cable ties in my snap bag so used them to extend the chains, loosened the ratchet straps to let the sheet loose so it wouldnât â â â â in (another O/D told me to do that, I wouldnât have known otherwise and could have bent the roller) and tipped on the machine.
Really it annoyed me that this truck was foisted on me in this way with no warning, ideally I would have liked half a day to personalise it and get used to the differences to my old one, donât forget I had driven that for 10 1/2 years and wasnât used to having a strange vehicle but I had to make the best of it.
Unknown to me the taildoor when fully open had hit the arch on the Easysheet and taken two chunks out of it, not good and a 75/25 split door instead of 50/50 would have prevented that, why didnât Wilcox think of it? 
I suppose the body was built by Wilcox to a standard design and Dawbarn added the sheet later? Another similar vehicle actually knocked the arch clean off, bad design in my opinion and the effort required to open the sheet with that stupid unweildy pole instead of a handwheel at the front like most other sheets had was another daft system. If somebody parked behind you no way could you use that pole. As the lorry aged the roller sagged and it really hurt my shoulder getting that moving. Also the taildoor fitted up under a lip on the body and if tarmac became stuck on the top of the door it wouldnât close so the body had to be tipped right up so that I could scrape the tar off, no good if you had a part load left on to return to the quarry (that happened to me later on and luckily somebody held the door up with a shovel while I stood below it scraping!) and another poor idea in my opinion. OK for a dry stone lorry I suppose but not ideal for coated use.
Anyway part two (final part ) about the Foden itself later!
Part two, final instalment!
Apart from the body the Foden part was rather nice. I was wary of the narrow 3000 series cab as we had a couple of the older models on L reg with 325 â â â â â â â engines and I found the pedal layout awkward, however this one had a different brake pedal giving more space and that was an improvement. The steering column was adjustable for rake and height (years later an O/D who had owned a 3000 series for a few years told me the steering wheel was too high, I showed him the lever to lower it and he didnât know it was there! ) and it had an air seat which Idid find a trifle narrow. Heated mirrors and an electric passenger window were great as well, quite a comfy cab for a tipper.
The first problem occoured when the CB was used, after a while a âscreachingâ noise would come through the speaker (not the Dummie Brummies ) and I had to put the heated mirrors on which cured it for a while and then it would start again, turn the mirrors off and all was well for a while and then it all started again! The radio was fine though. I mentioned this to the boss, apparently there was a batch of faulty voltage droppers and mine and its sister truck had them. Charnwood Trucks, who supplied them, were sending replacements but they never arrived. Nothing ever got done about it though, it didnât stop the vehicle working I suppose?
When the first frosts came the air seat decided to leak air out through the outlet and wouldnât raise! Solution was to stand up in the cab and lift the seat manually while trying to lock it in the raised position, not easy when you are 6â 4" tall. After a few miles and the cab warmed it would be OK and could be released, until the next cold morning. Otherwise it was nice to drive, it went very well but didnât pull at low rpm like the Rolls 265Li, emission stuff throttling it I suppose? One job at Darley Dale involved reversing up a steep road to the paver and it just wouldnât go up it! No matter how much clutch slipping etc it just died a death. The paver had to come to me and take part of the load off, I could get back to it then. I wasnât popular and told not to come back!
After 11 months, and with the missus health getting worse, I had the chance of a different job based closer to home but still working mostly from Ballidon. It was a sixwheeler Foden and paid on earnings instead of hours and load bonus so âjob and knockâ which meant I would probably be on less money but COULD in theory finish earlier haha! Tarmac work on eight wheelers had almost dried up, the gangs only wanted fours and sixes so we were left âchasing our tailsâ all day on dry stone and I didnât take all the rushing around! I asked the boss to buy a six wheeler and put me on earnings with it but he said Tilcon wouldnât let him, but he wasnât happy about running poorly rated stone around either. So I took my truck to A.M Bells depot near Macclesfield fot its first test and handed my notice in on my return, he understood my reasons and we parted company after 22 years. Alan Alcock had the truck after me, when the company folded suddenly I believe it was sold to a Tarmac O/D near Bristol?
Pete.
You have a good memory Pete .
Punchy Dan:
You have a good memory Pete .
Can still remember my first day at school Dan, 1955! Yes I can remember truck related things, the first task I did in July 1966 as an apprentice etc and most of the vehicles I worked on, registration numbers and loads I delivered. Mother is the same, my Mrs forgets everything apart from when I make a mistake!
Pete.
coomsey:
DEANB:
Nice old Foden âcoomseyâ0
For sure Dean although this one looks like sheâs been round the block a few times. I never got a go in one but I know chaps who rated them
That Foden coomsey must have been a rigid to begin with looking at the wheel base. They must have took
the body off and fitted the fifth wheel â â
DEANB:
coomsey:
DEANB:
Nice old Foden âcoomseyâ0
For sure Dean although this one looks like sheâs been round the block a few times. I never got a go in one but I know chaps who rated them
That Foden coomsey must have been a rigid to begin with looking at the wheel base. They must have took
the body off and fitted the fifth wheel â â
Yes Dean looks a bit long for a 6whlr. I bet she werenât keen on taking corners specially with that lump of wood on the back end. On that note do firms still buga about with motors adding /losing axles? Expect not but seemed all the fashion back when
It looks to me like an 8 wheeler with the 2nd steer removed , it would get plenty of traction on bad ground . You canât beat a bit of gas axe engineering . Our lot were forever stretching units and adding axles in the 80s when the new weights came in or putting another axle under trailers . Dave
Iâm on my last days holiday in Malta and 1 of the first lorries i saw when i arrived was a 4500 6x4 Foden unit ive also seen a S80 Foden and a hell of alot of ERFs all E series
foden & Erfs
Thankâs for the S83 item Dean. I found them a nice truck to drive, they steered and rode better that the S80 models so the improvements made worked on that score. I preferred the driving/seating position to the later Haulmaster range, I didnât like the cab door and window position of the Haulmaster although they were an easier cab to access for the driver. Ours didnât have the stop solenoid mentioned though, manual stop cables were used instead. Some earlier Foden S50 and S39 models of ours had the solenoids but they proved unreliable so cables (or, on the S39 cabs, a straight length of welding wire!) were retrofitted instead!
Pete.