Hello to all old time truck fans,my Dad and uncle used to run two Volvo F86 tractor units along with Bedford and Bmc trucks back in the 60s up 1973 when they got out of the industry.
So at the age of 13 my link with trucks ground to a hault,but I still watched the trucks on the road,and always said to myself if a F86 comes up for sale to rebuild I would buy one.
Well last week I became the proud owner of a rather sad looking F86 tractor unit, she is a 1973 with 3 owners from new.
Its a good job I work for myself as a welder because I think I will be doing a lot of that over the next year or so on it
Hi Philip,
That’s a fair old load of handball .the f86 is an iconic truck,a real favourite of mine.good luck With your work and keep your photos coming please.
Regards Andrew.
Philip Allanby:
Hello to all old time truck fans,my Dad and uncle used to run two Volvo F86 tractor units along with Bedford and Bmc trucks back in the 60s up 1973 when they got out of the industry.
So at the age of 13 my link with trucks ground to a hault,but I still watched the trucks on the road,and always said to myself if a F86 comes up for sale to rebuild I would buy one.
Well last week I became the proud owner of a rather sad looking F86 tractor unit, she is a 1973 with 3 owners from new.
Its a good job I work for myself as a welder because I think I will be doing a lot of that over the next year or so on it
How abot the cabine? Is it rotten or the flor as always used to rust. It is a heawy load this truck had to pull. Its a 210 hpb engine?
Hi thanks for the intrest
I got it back home today and started to give it a good looking over, it was last on the road in 2007 so not been stood to long, I am going to tackle the doors first then probably remove the cab to weld it up.I would say its about 95% all there so
I will keep you all informed
Here are afew more photos
Philip Allanby:
Hi thanks for the intrest
I got it back home today and started to give it a good looking over, it was last on the road in 2007 so not been stood to long, I am going to tackle the doors first then probably remove the cab to weld it up.I would say its about 95% all there so
I will keep you all informed
Here are afew more photos
Hi Wheelnut thanks for the address I will give them a ring and ask about any history.
The cab is in a bad state but I think I can sort it out (I hope)
And yes that a good load of hand ball 22 tons of dried cocoa my uncle said that the other side of the load looked the best
it was done by the man at the mill.
I have a little bit of old cinie film that I have copied to video I will try and up load it
I remember when this was the lap of luxury.
I also remember that when the cab interior changed to a cream colour, the cabs rusted even faster.
Loved these trucks, I had an L reg one at John Formans in Hull.
Power steering, synchromesh gearbox, suspension seat, you could hear the radio( if you brought your own),
the mirrors actually contained a whole view to the rear, if you were really slim, you could sleep behind the seats,
you could tilt the cab with one hand on the handle at the back…
When we thought the F86 was a proper motor and it looks like a toy on the back of that motor
Yes Wheel Nut the F86 looks really small but back on its days i wasn’t so small. It was a ■■■■ good Lorry I think. Your in Great Britain was a much larger buyer / user of F86 than we were in Sweden. As we say in Sweden: “It is difficult be prophet in its own homeland”.
F86 was too weak and underpowered to haul timber on a gross weight of 52 ton but as a tree axle Lorry could it very well be used as a timber hauler alone. 13 ton and 210 hp would not be any problem. We use to have both two and tree axle Lorries carrying diesel/gas and to distribution of food but we use never two axle trailers and fifth wheel but instead could it be such configuration as two axle Lorry as pulled a two axle pup trailer.
We had two types of F/N-models. One had hood and were sold as both two and three axle models. It was called N86 (Normal build) and NB86 (Normal + bogie) here in Sweden and in Britain as F86/FB86. Both N and F86 had some components, beams and engines. The only difference was N-models had hood and 192 hp SMMT not SAE hp.
If the Lorry’s have fifth wheel and trailer it is in Finland or other country’s.
To a generation brought up on cold draughty day cabs with great lumps of engines in the middle the F 86 was like manna from heaven.
My first was with Dixon’s of Derby (also my first F88 there) and I thought it was the bee’s knees. I never worked directly for Oscar and Brian, always casual, and from time to time they ‘lent’ me to one of their subbies, Maurice Braddock, a really nice bloke who owned a Commer knocker with a short arsed tipper semi trailer and a 6 wheel Dodge K tipper. Both leave me now surprised that I am not more deaf than I am and I felt a real traitor when they needed me and told Maurice to give me back, and I agreed.
Later, I had one for Tony Tyler at A & H Transport of Long Eaton and fitted it up with the board ‘bunk’ at the back and curtains all round. The only problem was that the tapering of the cab towards the roof meant that the curtains needed pinning at the bottom too.
My late brother worked for Dixon’s for a time and, first time out complained that the motor ‘didn’t like going round corners’ .
They heaved a big sigh (he obviously wasn’t the first) and gently pointed out the diff lock control to him before setting about the repairs.
harry:
Hows the long distance triking going,Spardo?
The Ape, you mean?
Still going strong but relegated to the garden now. She got too expensive on the insurance (sans permis=no driving licence=insurance risk) and in 2009 they said everything here had to be registered and I couldn’t be bothered trying to get documents out of the company, they had been pretty useless on spares or even a manual.
She does all of 20 metres round trip from the back door to the log pile and back half loaded which means we only have to step out for logs without unsheeting the pile each time. Keeps the fire going for a couple of weeks between trips. Thinking of getting some west coast mirrors for it but worried they might tip it over.
.the f86 is an iconic truck,a real favourite of mine.good luck With your work and keep your photos coming please.
Keeps the fire going for a couple of weeks between trips. Thinking of getting some west coast mirrors for it but worried they might tip it over. 