hiya,
Dave, i had a soft spot for the “pure Seddons” actually preferred them to the Sed-Aks which i had a “go in” but never had one as a regular motor, bet i could’nt drive modern stuff would be too comfortable for me and the ridiculous present day speed limit would send me crazy and i’m afraid the tool box would be called into use to do a few adjustments, i would’nt reign for very long i’m aware of that but the new driver of the motor i’d had would find it a bit more like a proper wagon should be and a bit well-used in appearance but it would have earned money.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry,
Only drove a 13/4 a 1968 F reg,didn’t drive it regular,only when mine was off the road or the driver was on holiday,drove a Bedford KM not the best moter in the world,but it would pull and wasn’t quite as rough to ride in. Must admit the older Seddons looked a nicer lorry and not so cheap looking.
Cheers Dave.
Hi Dave
As a young lad I had one of the first new KM’s in the Swindon area and can remember being really chuffed with it, drivers wanted to look in the cab and sit in it. After a few years of TK’s which I loved the KM was a big truck.
cheers
John.
altitude:
Hi Dave
As a young lad I had one of the first new KM’s in the Swindon area and can remember being really chuffed with it, drivers wanted to look in the cab and sit in it. After a few years of TK’s which I loved the KM was a big truck.cheers
John.
Same as you John,had earlier driven a couple of TK’s as regular moters,KM was a bigger lorry and held the road much better loaded,the best four wheeler I drove was a Commer Maxiload,a good solid lorry and with the TS3 two stroke engine really pulled.
Cheers Dave.
The old Maxiload was a good un Dave big strong lorry would pull like hell and go forever, and comfortable.
cheers
John
Dave the Renegade:
altitude:
Hi Dave
As a young lad I had one of the first new KM’s in the Swindon area and can remember being really chuffed with it, drivers wanted to look in the cab and sit in it. After a few years of TK’s which I loved the KM was a big truck.cheers
John.
Same as you John,had earlier driven a couple of TK’s as regular moters,KM was a bigger lorry and held the road much better loaded,the best four wheeler I drove was a Commer Maxiload,a good solid lorry and with the TS3 two stroke engine really pulled.
Cheers Dave.
The KM also had a two stroke Detroit option before the TM came in which would have given it a lot more go than the the old Commer two stroke.But two strokes are even more awesome when they have bigger size and turbocharging.A 12 litre Detroit will easily take on a 14 litre ■■■■■■■ or a CAT.
When I was on the BRS in the 60’s you could drive an old Leyland Octo for instance that was flat out at 28 mph (low speed diffs) from say Preston Depot and the following day or night drive what was outwardly the same Motor from Bolton Depot which would go at over 40 mph (plenty of black smoke) with two 8 ton ingots on the back for the Woolwich Arsenal where they would take between 18 months to 2 years turning the ingots into gun barrels, or a MkV AEC Mandator from Hampstead Depot that would fly at 68 mph, or an old loaded Mk111 AEC 8 Wheeler which would really fly down a good steep hill in Aberdeen top when the floor of the cab would rise up and you could’nt work the pedals, do’nt know what speed you would be doing as you could not read the speedo for vibration. Oh, when the M1 first opened there was no speed limits imposed and even Waggon and Trailers with 20 mph plates on them were not limited and also you could use all three lanes, indeed I remember doing the Heinz trunk in the first week after the law changed and vehicles with an unladen weight in excess of 3 tons was banned from the third lane and just winding the AEC Mandator up to over 60 mph and getting stuck behind a car poodling along in the centre lane who would not move over, so after checking in the mirrors for plod, I started to overtake him in the third lane and as I came along side him and had him firmly in my nearside mirror I started to ease gently towards him.
Tony.
hiya,
Yes Tony our Octo’s used to do the high 30’s but had to be titivated a bit used to have an elderly trailer boy who was pretty good with tools and could make them bob on a bit but they did smoke so he did the adjustments while on the move and i used to stop him when i could’nt see the trailer.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Yes Tony our Octo’s used to do the high 30’s but had to be titivated a bit used to have an elderly trailer boy who was pretty good with tools and could make them bob on a bit but they did smoke so he did the adjustments while on the move and i used to stop him when i could’nt see the trailer.
thanks harry long retired.
Harry I had an old ERF KV UFW152 38mph flat out, a small block of wood and a bent nail dropped on the rack bar of the fuel pump
on the Gardner before the governor kicked in took her to 40mph but as you say could not see behind you. regards Big Al
Well when i went in the lorry with my dad as a boy it was 70mph up and down the m6 in scania 112/113s,(not flat out, that was the cruising speed) i remember going down the hill before beattock cafe with the weight pushing you on the speedo going off the clock and the needle sometimes catching the card on the way back on. Also if my mermory is correct scanias were faster than volvos, and dafs were about the fastest. Robin Borthwick had an early 142 with a coach diff as did Dougie Towler , these could aparantly clear 100mph!, one of my dads old stories had Dougie towler getting into a speed wobble coming down Tebay taking up 3lanes of the motorway!.
I also seem to remember hearing that one of Bing Transports drivers had followed the other in his car somewhere and with the fuse out had clocked the 500 magnum at 100mph.
For me with modern lorrys having all got air suspension,disk brakes, and other advances in technology should be allowed to do 70mph on motorways
Hi I had a DAF 2800 and never had it flat out and some people said i was nuts(wheeli’s banger raceing parachuting was the norm)any way this truck was just to fast,One time i drove from jct 18 M6 to Bridgewater loaded 65ish all the way… could’nt use top as the engine would fade and slow down. When the truck was delivered they said they had done 90mph solo following with a granada thats wild. B250CCM was the girl.
John
hiya,
Yes Al a few ha’pennies dropped in 5lw governor did the same job but you got as black as a crow fishing them out, but we was always covered in oil and grease in those day’s were’nt we.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Yes Al a few ha’pennies dropped in 5lw governor did the same job but you got as black as a crow fishing them out, but we was always covered in oil and grease in those day’s were’nt we.
thanks harry long retired.
That’s right Harry, had to move all the blankets and great coats in a morning to lift the engine covers for the cold start. regards Big Al
Suttons Tony:
When I was on the BRS in the 60’s you could drive an old Leyland Octo for instance that was flat out at 28 mph (low speed diffs) from say Preston Depot and the following day or night drive what was outwardly the same Motor from Bolton Depot which would go at over 40 mph (plenty of black smoke) with two 8 ton ingots on the back for the Woolwich Arsenal where they would take between 18 months to 2 years turning the ingots into gun barrels, or a MkV AEC Mandator from Hampstead Depot that would fly at 68 mph, or an old loaded Mk111 AEC 8 Wheeler which would really fly down a good steep hill in Aberdeen top when the floor of the cab would rise up and you could’nt work the pedals, do’nt know what speed you would be doing as you could not read the speedo for vibration. Oh, when the M1 first opened there was no speed limits imposed and even Waggon and Trailers with 20 mph plates on them were not limited and also you could use all three lanes, indeed I remember doing the Heinz trunk in the first week after the law changed and vehicles with an unladen weight in excess of 3 tons was banned from the third lane and just winding the AEC Mandator up to over 60 mph and getting stuck behind a car poodling along in the centre lane who would not move over, so after checking in the mirrors for plod, I started to overtake him in the third lane and as I came along side him and had him firmly in my nearside mirror I started to ease gently towards him.Tony.
That’s the way to do it Tony, change the colour of their underpants 
regards Big Al
hiya,
Al did’nt you have to press a button on the pump and pull the bar back until it clicked to set the cold start on the 5lw, they sure was a gaffers engine i never managed to kill one or the davy box or kirk axle either,and you had to drive them hard to make any money with them, at one time Walsh’s of Darwen could sell all the Gardner 5s they could muster to sell to the Far East seemingly to power the waterborn junks around Hong Kong and district, drove for Walshy in the 60s and actually drove an Atki unit with a 4 pot Gardner now that was a pill.
thanks harry long retired.
On the Leyland 600 a pinhole made in the venturi pipe could help and on the LW’s a block of wood and piano wire well wrapped in insulating tape behind the trigger was good but when I was a Trailer Mate I would be told to put the jack handle in there and pull it back and that would do the job. I always felt that the AEC engines were the most rewarding engines to tiggle up as they were already the most lively engines in the 50’s.
Tony.
hiya,
Tell you what S T if you was brave enough to travel with a 5lw powered bonnet cover up you sure are a lot more game than me but if your then driver was a cruel old sod like i was you did as you was told or else.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Al did’nt you have to press a button on the pump and pull the bar back until it clicked to set the cold start on the 5lw, they sure was a gaffers engine i never managed to kill one or the davy box or kirk axle either,and you had to drive them hard to make any money with them, at one time Walsh’s of Darwen could sell all the Gardner 5s they could muster to sell to the Far East seemingly to power the waterborn junks around Hong Kong and district, drove for Walshy in the 60s and actually drove an Atki unit with a 4 pot Gardner now that was a pill.
thanks harry long retired.
That made me laugh, a mate of mine was driving a fuel bowser behind a Ford tractor on a big pipeline job near Selby, he worked out that if he leant forward far enough he could just reach the excess fuel button on the Simms pump and bend the governor rod, this bloody thing did about 40 mph with a stream of soot trailing behind:lol:
That made me laugh, a mate of mine was driving a fuel bowser behind a Ford tractor on a big pipeline job near Selby, he worked out that if he leant forward far enough he could just reach the excess fuel button on the Simms pump and bend the governor rod, this bloody thing did about 40 mph with a stream of soot trailing behind:lol:
[/quote]
Laing O’Rourke or Entrepose Wheelnut ? what’s your mates name I might know him. regards Big Al
In the 60s BRS were still running their 8 leggers which did between 28mph and 40mph the Scammell Contractors would 46mph and they tared off at 46/48 tons solo tractor and the samson would do 55mph in the early 70s which was a bit sharp for heavy haulage. When loaded you had to run at suitable speed so the tyres did not over heat.