Hello Geoff, You have just reminded me of a Corrigan moment with an abnormal load going through West Germany 
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I shall try and write it down for when you get back from Italy CHOW .
Steve im not going to Italy that was just a reference to where i was going from the Nacional after I d got Ragnar running lets go back to the ME thread and leave this thread to Carbon and don t call me a pigeon Geoff.
mushroomman:
Hello Geoff, You have just reminded me of a Corrigan moment with an abnormal load going through West Germany
I shall try and write it down for when you get back from Italy CHOW
Hi Steve,the crow hasnāt gone to Italy,itās just that he doesnāt put punctuation marks in his posts!!He says his keyboard is in Spanish,but thats just an excuse for being lazy, I always thought that a full stop or a comma etc. is the same in Spanish as it is in English.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Well Carryfast this is my last comment on the subject it is after all Carbons thread. No body in his right mind is going to use a stripped down tilt as a flat unless its on apermanent basis or just a one off in which case where do you put the sidegates uprights all the side boards rof frame etc. if its a flat load use a flat you can quite easily use a tautliner for rebar they all have a central sliding post. I can think of one Co. in the Bolton area who have a considerable fleet of flats used for steel fabs and other difficult loads they have problems getting and keeping drivers because so few can rope and sheet.Im Geoff the Crow Taylor thank you for listening.BTW why this constant reference to VOSA they and other cretins are responsible for the ever increasing un neccessary regulations which are killing the transport industry i have no intention of ever driving a wagon in the UK ever again.
As Iāve said on the job which I was doing it was either used as a flat or a tilt depending on the type of job.In that case it was all relatively local work with the trailer operating on either flat work or more often just general palletised freight used in itās tilt state always returning to base between the different jobs so when it was stripped for flat work it was stripped in the yard with all the tilt gear left there and then rebuilt there for all the other jobs.Although having said that I think that even when doing some types of tramping jobs tilts were sometimes used in varying states anywhere between stripped and built depending on loads with all the stripped tilt gear stowed amongst the load 
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But,with the exception of paper reels which could be side loaded,Iām not aware of anyone using a curtainsider for the types of overhead loading work on which I used the tilt in itās stripped state.For example a central sliding post on a curtainsider isnāt much help when the roof stops 20-40 ft long bundles of reinforcing rods being loaded overhead and then unloaded overhead in the middle of London with a tower crane. 
But the important bit thatās relevant to Carbonās story is that VOSAās (correct with the exception of no longer allowing the use of rope hooks or ropes to secure a load) ideas on load security would certainly have stopped that situation in which a load tried to bust itself loose and out of the side of a tilt.
Or for that matter a curtainsider. 
Tony Taylor:
Carryfast:
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Good morrow gents i dont know why any one would use a tilt for flat work a load of unneccessary work when the answer is use a taut liner which have been about for many years unless its the only trailer availiable.The fact is thereās not much,if any,difference between using a tilt or a curtainsider on most jobs like palletised side loaded freight but the tilt has the advantage of being able to be turned into a flat for overhead loading type jobs as in the case of jobs like steel reinforcing bars for the construction industry in which case the tilt had the versatility of being able to do the job of both a flat and a curtainsider.
The other fact is carryfast,for the kind of work that you were using a tilt for,we used Euroliners with a sliding roof,or if they came out after your time,you must be pretty old by now.
Bearing in mind that weāre talking about the very lowest common denominator working at the lowest rates possible type operation in this case,and at the time and maybe even now an old tilt could be bought cheaper than just about any other type of trailer,there was a method to the guvnorās madness in that it provided the ability to do the job of both a curtainsider and a flat for minimum outlay (peanuts).Which the wage I got also seemed reflect. 
Which is why,if I was looking for a trailer with that type of flexibility,thatās probably exactly what Iād buy myself even today.
[zb]
anorak:
Forgive my ignorance here, but: why did someone not invent a fuel tank heater? A hose teeād off the top radiator hose, returning to the bottom hose, with a pipe running through the tank (brazed in) for instance? There must have been loads of ways to do it, given that about two-thirds of the energy in the fuel ends up as heat anyway, after the crankshaft has had its share. Did any operators try something more sophisticated than relying on the driver to light a fire under the tank?
[/quotehttp://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/fly-sheet/IMG_0002-4.jpg
This had āArctic Foxā fitted to it anorak, it was like a Kettle element in the fuel tank plumbed into the trucks water system, Ritas F12 had them in to put in by His good self, kin good fabricator welder that Man was. I thought brake fluid worked Geoff, maybe I was just lucky, unlike Lindsey when He put it in that new FH oh dear Me Volvos at Preston where well pleased putting injectors in it under warranty! I seem to remember people putting a side lamp bulb in the tank cap too or was it the gange
fly sheet:
[zb]
anorak:
Forgive my ignorance here, but: why did someone not invent a fuel tank heater? A hose teeād off the top radiator hose, returning to the bottom hose, with a pipe running through the tank (brazed in) for instance? There must have been loads of ways to do it, given that about two-thirds of the energy in the fuel ends up as heat anyway, after the crankshaft has had its share. Did any operators try something more sophisticated than relying on the driver to light a fire under the tank?
[/quotehttp://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/fly-sheet/IMG_0002-4.jpg
This had āArctic Foxā fitted to it anorak, it was like a Kettle element in the fuel tank plumbed into the trucks water system, Ritas F12 had them in to put in by His good self, kin good fabricator welder that Man was. I thought brake fluid worked Geoff, maybe I was just lucky, unlike Lindsey when He put it in that new FH oh dear Me Volvos at Preston where well pleased putting injectors in it under warranty! I seem to remember people putting a side lamp bulb in the tank cap too or was it the gange
Just leave the engine idling and put some petrol in with the diesel usually worked in the coldest conditions here.
You rarely get temps lower than minus 15c in britain so no real problem the best solution other than heaters is to add paraffin not petrol but because of the excise tax situation this is not allowed in the UK ,as i said before when the filters are waxed up the motor will not run never mind tick over.Crow.
I remember Toad Hall 2 freezing up at the typewriter factory, was it in Plovdiv Geoff? I think so, frozen up solid with greek diesel mixed with petrol, filter in a pan of boiling water, then the rest of the day with a steam hose from the boiler room to the fuel tankā¦oh what happy days, it was that trip home I saw Corri at Tompa with His fire engine 
If itās any help, in Eastern Turkey where temperatures could plummet to the -50ās at night, we used 50/50 diesel and paraffin mix, kept the engine running 24/7 and diverted the exhausts onto the fuel tanks. I was lucky I never froze up but plenty doing similar things did. Fires underneath the cabs were quite common as was the occasional complete immolation of the unit!
Jazzandy:
If itās any help, in Eastern Turkey where temperatures could plummet to the -50ās at night, we used 50/50 diesel and paraffin mix, kept the engine running 24/7 and diverted the exhausts onto the fuel tanks. I was lucky I never froze up but plenty doing similar things did. Fires underneath the cabs were quite common as was the occasional complete immolation of the unit!
Yeah Iād forgotten about that Jazzandy Iāve seen some trucks from Scandinavia with exhaust pipes coming straight through a tube in a fuel tank, Iāve also seen them just pointed at the tank with a plate welded on the tank where the exhaust is aimedā¦
fly sheet:
Jazzandy:
If itās any help, in Eastern Turkey where temperatures could plummet to the -50ās at night, we used 50/50 diesel and paraffin mix, kept the engine running 24/7 and diverted the exhausts onto the fuel tanks. I was lucky I never froze up but plenty doing similar things did. Fires underneath the cabs were quite common as was the occasional complete immolation of the unit!Yeah Iād forgotten about that Jazzandy Iāve seen some trucks from Scandinavia with exhaust pipes coming straight through a tube in a fuel tank, Iāve also seen them just pointed at the tank with a plate welded on the tank where the exhaust is aimedā¦
Blimey! I never thought I would have unearthed such a mine of ingenuity! Thanks for an entertaining read everyone. Which was the most effective/reliable solution? (Donāt tell me- setting fire to the whole vehicle! ). Directing the exhaust at the tank, against a plate, sounds good. The plate would avoid the problem of corrosion eventually wrecking the tank.
[zb]
anorak:fly sheet:
Jazzandy:
If itās any help, in Eastern Turkey where temperatures could plummet to the -50ās at night, we used 50/50 diesel and paraffin mix, kept the engine running 24/7 and diverted the exhausts onto the fuel tanks. I was lucky I never froze up but plenty doing similar things did. Fires underneath the cabs were quite common as was the occasional complete immolation of the unit!Yeah Iād forgotten about that Jazzandy Iāve seen some trucks from Scandinavia with exhaust pipes coming straight through a tube in a fuel tank, Iāve also seen them just pointed at the tank with a plate welded on the tank where the exhaust is aimedā¦
Blimey! I never thought I would have unearthed such a mine of ingenuity! Thanks for an entertaining read everyone. Which was the most effective/reliable solution? (Donāt tell me- setting fire to the whole vehicle!
In most cases the main common factor is donāt shut down the engine in weather conditions that can freeze up diesel,because in addition to using petrol or parrafin to help prevent waxing keeping the engine running also keeps a circuit of warm fuel running through the feed and return lines which is just as important.While any idea that relies on using exhaust or engine coolant heat to keep the tank warm will also be reliant on making sure that the engine is kept running in addition to the possibility of freezing up engine oil and dead batteries at those types of extreme temperatures in an engine which is left overnight shut down.
Keeping the engine running is not a sure fire way of doing it, if it is really cold and the stuff in the tanks is crap, it will wax up, even with a ā ā ā ā ā ā ā which returns more fuel than any other engine, as Cooper just proved with his Greek diesel 
Up here we use winter fuel that is guaranteed to go down to -50c, it is really good stuff, but the engine gets a good thirst for the stuff, you can expect to lose at least a mpg over summer fuels, but it is the only way to go, there are additives, but those are just weasel ā ā ā ā , the ones that de wax when it has all gone wonky are good, but they wonāt stop waxing in the first place
Suprisingly most lorries up here have no extra winter stuff on them, mine hasnāt even got lagged fuel lines So far Iāve been ok, but in winter I use the proper fuel and never switch the thing off, apart from a few minutes to check oil and coolant once every day or so
It really suprises Me over here NMM that theres nothing on them apart from the plug in overnight & thats only in the yard for us. Iāve done all kinds of daft things but I suppose if youāve got good quality squirt in the first place Your halfway there, buying it out of drums in Bulgy/Rumo was quite normal We must have been mental. I bought a tank full out of a mobile crane one winter in Russia, I figured as the crane drove up to sell it Me it was good stuff
The two Poles on SSL with Me used to only buy it from the railway depot in Belorusse they reckoned that was top quality fuel & I couldānt argue as Iāve never seen a train with waxed up fuel.
Came across this the other week, got talking to the bloke, he`d only had it a few months gave $57,000 for it, which it came with over $140,000 in receipts for the work carried out on it, inside & out were as brand new, think he said it was a 1987 with a 440 ā ā ā ā ā ā ā in it, this is not the original one from the tv show although that is out there somewhere fully restored, this one is a working motor.
The last pic is off the owner before he took it to a show a few weeks before 
Hereās a few I got at the Working Chrome Truckshow in winnipeg last weekend
This one is a 1971 model and has a big V8 ā ā ā ā ā ā ā under the cab
Look at this idiot 
Here he is again, trying to borrow the K Whopper to pop down the pie shop
And here he is again, acting like a little kid
I know this isnāt a cabover, but just look at itā¦stunning and it goes to work every day
