Buzzer:
Hi Bubbleman my first artic was a mammoth minor twinsteer as in your picture with an AV 760 motor in it, it was a 1971 model and i bought it of a chap who was working for Frigoscandia, and came from Gillingham in Dorset.It was a day cab when i got it but a couple of mates who did crash repairs on cars converted it over a weekend, i also removed the second steer axle as i was doing round timber haulage and off road it was useless,like a seesaw, it was quite a long wheelbase but it rode well,cheers Buzzer.
Any pictures of it Buzzer?
Hi Diesledog sorry dont have any pics of the mamoth minor twin steer,i think the reg was SMW 608J and when we took it for notifiable alteration after we took the second steer axle out it failed as when it was put on full lock it put the brakes on as the stop bolt was fitted to the second axle ,we corrected this and the it passed but in them days they were not quite so fussy, the sleeper i put on cosisted of a sheet of mild steele and about 30 foot of inch angle and a bit of second hand ally for the roof as this had undulating grooves about 4 inches in width and it was easier to beat into shape, oh and several sticks of mastic.Sure was more comfortable than sleeping over the engine cover.
bubbleman:
Hi again,heres more from me then,Cheers Bubbs,
The Leyland Steer tractor is interesting Marc,I never ever saw one of them on my travels in the 60’s/70’s,I wonder if Leyland kicked the model into touch when the Mammouth Minor didn’t do so well ?The Steer may have been the better of the two with the 680 Power Plus engine,what do you think ? Cheers Dennis.
Am I right in thinking that this was the only one built, though?
bubbleman:
Hi again,heres more from me then,Cheers Bubbs,
The Leyland Steer tractor is interesting Marc,I never ever saw one of them on my travels in the 60’s/70’s,I wonder if Leyland kicked the model into touch when the Mammouth Minor didn’t do so well ?The Steer may have been the better of the two with the 680 Power Plus engine,what do you think ? Cheers Dennis.
Am I right in thinking that this was the only one built, though?
Were they not built for the fuel companies. I used to listen to Roger Townson talking about Leyland Steers and when the new DAF 3600 came out he still called them a Steer rather than Twinsteer
bubbleman:
Hi again,heres more from me then,Cheers Bubbs,
The Leyland Steer tractor is interesting Marc,I never ever saw one of them on my travels in the 60’s/70’s,I wonder if Leyland kicked the model into touch when the Mammouth Minor didn’t do so well ?The Steer may have been the better of the two with the 680 Power Plus engine,what do you think ? Cheers Dennis.
Hello again,Dennis an interesting question which to be honest I cant answer with any experience,I would think the Steer would have been a better drive as it was a shorter vehicle than the Mammoth Minor which I always thought they looked like an 8 wheeler with the last axle chopped off,both though had engines that were rated by both drivers and operators so who knows,anyway the 1st clipping is from an old book which gives a little more info on the Steer…interesting that the rear wheels were larger than the ones on the steering axles,Cheers Bubbs,
bubbleman:
Hi again,heres more from me then,Cheers Bubbs,
The Leyland Steer tractor is interesting Marc,I never ever saw one of them on my travels in the 60’s/70’s,I wonder if Leyland kicked the model into touch when the Mammouth Minor didn’t do so well ?The Steer may have been the better of the two with the 680 Power Plus engine,what do you think ? Cheers Dennis.
Am I right in thinking that this was the only one built, though?
IIRC the Leyland experimental gas turbine engined vehicles were Steers. Once saw one (and heard it ) in Leeds. It was pulling a flat loaded with Leyland engine castings from the Leeds foundry.
Thanks for the additional gen on the Steer Marc,interesting! The AEC MM cant have been much heavier than the Leyland and I’d bet the MM was a smoother ride ! They also quote the 680 engine as being 153 bhp,it was a 200 bhp IIRC.Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
Thanks for the additional gen on the Steer Marc,interesting! The AEC MM cant have been much heavier than the Leyland and I’d bet the MM was a smoother ride ! They also quote the 680 engine as being 153 bhp,it was a 200 bhp IIRC.Cheers Dennis.
The caption in the book is quite wrong - the following text is from the September 1966 Leyland Journal, which was published 3 weeks before the Bulwark Steer appeared at the Earls Court show:
"A new tractor featuring a 200hp diesel engine coupled to a 10-speed semi-automatic transmission and capable of operating with tandem-axle trailers at a gross train weight of 32 tons has been announced by Leyland. Named the Steer it has the ergomatic luxury cab and should b one of the most versatile heavy tractors available. It will be seen for the first time at the Earls Court Show later this month. It is a low-weight twin-steering three-axle model which weighs only about 5cwt more than the standard two-axle Beaver tractor, and yet has the same 10ft wheelbase. This means that the fifth-wheel coupling can be, at around 18in, positioned at exactly the same distance ahead of the rear axle as is usual on modern two-axle tractors. The Steer therefore interchanges perfectly with existing equipment in fleets and will provide the opportunity of running at 32 tons gross tandem-axle trailers which are normally limited to 30 tons gross when operated with two-axle tractors. The axle spacing required to qualify for 32 tons is 32ft when an articulated vehicle has five axles, whereas when it has four axles the limit is 38ft. The 32ft axle spacing normally limits a four-axle articulated vehicle to 30 tons gross. This is not the only advantage of a three-axle tractor of low weight under the present British C&U regulations. It also allows a more compact vehicle at other gross weights. At 30 tons gross, for example, the axle spacing needed to qualify becomes only 29’6" instead of 32ft when operating a four-axle artic. This gives the opportunity of using 27/28ft trailers at 30 tons gross and this is expected to appeal to operators who have to deliver to congested premises or for operators who want short trailers, such as those on tipping work. The first 10ft Leyland Steer has been built for Bulwark Transport Ltd., and has a semi-automatic transmission and a two-speed rear axle. The semi-auto transmission described elsewhere in this issue will be exhibited on this model and the machine exhibited has a power take-off. Weight has been watched at every turn of the design’s development. That little over 5cwt has been added as a result of an extra axle is indication enough of the success which has been achieved. Standard tyres on the Steer are 9.00 - 20 radial ply on the 1st & 2nd axles and 10.00 - 20 extra capacity radial ply on the drive axle. On the show model, the Ergomatic cab’s tilting gear - which has a new ‘screw-down’ locking mechanism - can be deleted. This eliminates the torsion bar and in this case the cab will be tilted by crane in the workshop. Operators can specify the tilt mechanism and the additional weight will probably be considered a cheap price to pay for the improved accessibility to the front end of the chassis. An operator can have telescopic dampers on the front suspension but they are not so necessary because of the stabilizing effect of the two sets of springs resulting from the twin-steer layour. All the springs are semi-elliptic. The leading front are 54in long, the second 48in and the rear 54in. Front springs are 3in wide and the rear 3.5in wide. The two low-weight front axles are similar to those fitted to the low-weight Badger before the tilt-cab series of Leyland trucks was introduced. Each front axle has 3in cam brakes. The rear brakes are 7in wide as on the Beaver two-axle tractor. Power-steering can be specified instead of the standard Adwest type if required. Special care has been taken with the braking proportioning to ensure an even greater degree of safety than is obtainable with a two-axle tractor. Size 16 diaphragms are fitted to the front axles and size 20 diaphragms to the back. Both the second front axle and the drive axle have their brake chambers backed-up by spring brakes. The spring brakes take the place of the handbrake and thus provide a more powerful parking brake than is normally obtained by purely mechanical connection to the rear brakes only. There is no handbrake as normally seen: instead its place is taken by a graduated hand control valve which controls the supply of air to the spring brakes in the second and drive axles. Under normal running conditions the spring brakes are held off by a pressure of 60lb/in2 minimum. Because of the lack of room on the sides of the chassis with such a short wheelbase carrying three axles, the 44 gallon fuel tank is mounted transversely across the frames just behind the cab. Each front axle is rated at 4 tons, the load rating of the vehicle being simply a question of what springs and tyres are specified."
grumpy old man:
IIRC the Leyland experimental gas turbine engined vehicles were Steers. Once saw one (and heard it ) in Leeds. It was pulling a flat loaded with Leyland engine castings from the Leeds foundry.
No, they were 6x4 units, except the little Ergo Comet version and the later Marathon
Hello again,Thanks Dave for those pics and keeping the thread going,didnt have a lot of time yesterday,heres a few from me,1st shot would be a good pic for “well boss,it was like this”,Cheers Bubbs,
Piston Broke, is the ERF Roger Carters?
Harris’ were a Sodbury regular, the shovel a Cat 950C? Looks a bit small for a 966 and the D series had a black stripe along the bonnet.
Muckaway:
Piston Broke, is the ERF Roger Carters?
Harris’ were a Sodbury regular, the shovel a Cat 950C? Looks a bit small for a 966 and the D series had a black stripe along the bonnet.
Yep the erf is Roger Carter ofChipping Sodbury as is the volvo i sold to Jamie harris all those years ago .Steve.
and can anybody tell me anything about that photo of the Wolpertinger Express Volvo.
) in Leeds. It was pulling a flat loaded with Leyland engine castings from the Leeds foundry.
,Cheers Bubbs, 
For an extra non-existent prize, name the drivers… 
