Thought you might like to see this old girl from back in the day. I used to drive her on occasion round Fife during the grain season. She was an old motor when my uncle bought her from over Edinburgh way and was only on the road for 6 months in a year. 180 Gardiner, 8 speed with overdrive, very very slow…
Using it as an eight speed it would be slow! There were a few more gears inside the box that he could have used to get it along better! 
Pete.
Great photo, Would I be correct in saying it has a Thynne body on it ■■, Regards Larry.
Larry I was looking in a old mag from the 80s and there was a pic you’d sent in .
Dan Punchard:
Larry I was looking in a old mag from the 80s and there was a pic you’d sent in .
Aye Dan that would be MET547G, My S36 Foden artic with a C/F Tipping trailer, I took the photo at Tyne Dock South Shields loading Manganese Ore for the old Eveready Battery factory at Stanley, Long gone now sadley to say, The good old days IMO, Regards Larry.
Thanks for the comments, I think this would have been circa late 80’s early 90’s. Larry, I have no idea who made the body but it was in excellent condition and was only used for this type of work. Nobody wanted to drive her but I was a young lad just happy to get a bit of experience and I loved it. I haven’t driven a lorry for 20 years but it’s in the blood and it never leaves you and when I think back this Foden and a Little DAF 2500 unit were my favourites. Windrush, the box on it was 1-4 flick it over into high range 5-8 then overdive in top four gears, is that what you would have expected it to be??
Shiney-Napper:
Thanks for the comments, I think this would have been circa late 80’s early 90’s. Larry, I have no idea who made the body but it was in excellent condition and was only used for this type of work. Nobody wanted to drive her but I was a young lad just happy to get a bit of experience and I loved it. I haven’t driven a lorry for 20 years but it’s in the blood and it never leaves you and when I think back this Foden and a Little DAF 2500 unit were my favourites. Windrush, the box on it was 1-4 flick it over into high range 5-8 then overdive in top four gears, is that what you would have expected it to be??
[/quote]Yes, that is the correct gearbox. However most folk used all the gears the same as the old 12 speed box (-1st low-2nd low to 3rd low,(miss 4th low out) flick swith to direct range and go 1st direct-flick switch to overdrive range-1st high-2nd direct-2nd high, 3rd direct-3rd high, 4th direct-4th high. Made a vast difference to performance especially on hill’s. Usually you started off in 2nd or 3rd low loaded, 1st direct empty depending on the diff ratio. Some had 5.75-1 worm and wheel diffs, 5.25-1 was an option. Artics had higher ratios as they had hub reduction gears usually.
Pete.
Right so it was kind of like a splitter in the high range rather than overdrive. The only thing I found about having the lever right over was once it was there it didn’t like coming out of it and the box made a horrific noise if you tried put it back in direct as you put it. Once it over you had to work your way back down the box or come to a stop and then flick the lever right over and start again. I dunno if that was operator error or an issue with the box or not.
Shiney-Napper:
Right so it was kind of like a splitter in the high range rather than overdrive. The only thing I found about having the lever right over was once it was there it didn’t like coming out of it and the box made a horrific noise if you tried put it back in direct as you put it. Once it over you had to work your way back down the box or come to a stop and then flick the lever right over and start again. I dunno if that was operator error or an issue with the box or not.
Yes, use it as a splitter between overdrive and direct ranges. Shouldn’t have been noisy changing ranges as those boxes had synchromesh on the range change whereas the old 12 speed didn’t, just a quick touch of the clutch pedal (to activate the change valve) and a flick of the throttle should bring it out of the high range smoothly. Possibly the synchro cone was worn, they modified them later using steel instead of bronze. Too late to worry about it now though!! 
Pete.
Did the rigids not have the ‘9’ speed? 4 + 4 and then overdrive?
4 gears in each range as there was no crawler?
The arctics were 8 speed as they had a crawler which meant that direct 1 was lower than low 4 so you had to change as suggested.
Agreed that the touch of the clutch is all that is needed, and that the synchro is needed to make noiseless changes from direct to low.
I threw my synchro away when it burst and caused some problems. The only time it is missed is a direct to low range shift. If you can keep rolling in direct it doesn’t really matter…
Yes the rigids did have the nine speed but it was still a 12 speed in all but name, albeit with slightly different ratios. Fodens reasoning was to make it simpler for the driver in having fewer gears to crash around with as a lot had problems with the old 12 speed box, however all 12 were still there inside the casing (but not listed on the window sticker) and most ‘old’ Foden men used it as a twelve. Low 4th wasn’t used then as, like you said, it was higher than direct 1st so the alternative change was from low 3rd to 1st direct and then use it as a splitter, the Foden window chart showed it as low 4th to direct 2nd and then using 3rd and 4th + overdrive on 4th but that was a much slower change.
Pete.
Yes, I drive mine as you suggest.
Great box when you get the hang of it.