Hi all
When I was pulling for Smithy in the early eighties, he bought several Ex-Ferrymasters Supercube tri-axle box trailers. They had been sitting on the dock at Fleetwood for ages if I remember rightly.
Anyway one trip I was on my way back from Barcelona, with groupage and I had
had so many blowouts on that stepframe on the way down, that I had single wheels on the front axle and both my spares had been used. I was down to four tyres on the nearside, and no more tyres to put on my middle axle when they also blew one by one. They had gone rotten sitting on the dock for so long. I happened to have a length of chain, so I chained up the middle axle and run home like that. I even got through Dover, up Jubilee way and back to the yard without getting stopped. Could you imagine getting away with that now!! Thoughts please. Another trip where the job got done…
GS
Unbeleavable. Nice story thought matey.
Andy
Thoughts please. Another trip where the job got done…
Yeah,I carried this heap for Ray Phillips to Italy & back.Every morning I had to get a ■■■■■■ to get going. Went to Rome in that. Could only run in daylight,alternator stuffed…Long story,too many defects to list here.When I got back he tried to get out of paying me… 
Happy days!!
But I guess this Morrocan bus driver could tell a better story…?
( Not to mention his passengers)
That other tyre has a nasty gouge in it too 
I know, but that tyre got me home, on a wing and a prayer though…
GS
That story reminds me of a Saturday spent doing exactly that type of repair in Barcelona TIR park. An OD called “Wor Bob” had had multiple blow-outs on a step-frame, so we all mucked in to help. We used to carry spare inner tubes and tyre irons in those days. We also had the air line for inflating the tyres from the truck’s air tanks. You had to watch out that you’d got the snap-ring correctly seated before inflating they tyre 
Tyres were the problem as GS said, you could only use what you had. After that we used chains. I’ve still got mine 
Having used it several times, I’m indebted to Townsend Thoresen for leaving it out for me
IMHO, the centreless wheels on the Italian trucks that I drove were much easier to deal with. Six nuts undone, then the wheel was off, leaving the centre still attached to the brake drum by the other six nuts. The rim was in three sections and you needed a bar that had an end shaped like a pig’s tail. Once you’d popped the first section, the others would detach easily. Change the tube, replace the first two sections, and the last would need a “tap” from a hammer. Happy days without too much effort in all that heat 
GS, that trailer has multi-leaf springs. Now that takes me back awhile… I remember changing one of those that had almost completely collapsed on a fridge. I completed the repair on my own in pouring rain, having sheltered the truck under the elevated section of Jubilee Way. As you can guess, I didn’t get paid any extra for that work, instead getting a bollocking for the late delivery.
You just couldn’t do enough for a good boss back then, could you??
reminds me of a brown rentco stepframe tilt we had for a short time in 1988, first trip it ate 6 or 7 tyres between leeds and como, and another 5 between milan and the blanc on way home (loaded with steel on bottom and plantpots over the top - 2 loads in 1 effectively but legal weight )
job came to an abrupt halt at nantua when it ignited itself, and mick allcock sat there for 4 days waiting for still more tyres - and disposing of many cubic metres of melted plantpots
I once discovered a puncture while tipping on Savona docks and, as I had
several hefty colleagues with me, invited them to jump up and down on the
extension to free the totally solid nuts.
In spite of their sterling efforts they simply would not budge so, as I was
running empty to Milan to reload, ran up the road with the flat still on. Found a
little roadside tyreman in the suburbs and asked if he would change it with my
spare as I had no tools. 
Didn’t tell him of the trouble we’d had and took
the precaution of shutting the curtains whilst he toiled. We kept peeping out at
the mirror to watch him sweating away and after about an hour, to our utter
amazement, he completed the task.
No idea how he did it and I can’t remember what he asked for in recompense,
but I know it wasn’t much and was worth every penny. 
blimey, great pics and stories!! im sure i saw a picture of an irish truck which (in the last few years) came into dover without wheels on 1 trailer axle, although he/she was stopped and fined and made to sort it, cant remember where i saw it now
euromat:
blimey, great pics and stories!! im sure i saw a picture of an irish truck which (in the last few years) came into dover without wheels on 1 trailer axle, although he/she was stopped and fined and made to sort it, cant remember where i saw it now
I used to work for PTM, one Friday afternoon in Florence got a puncture on the centre axle of the unit, phoned in and told him the score, he told me to take the wheel off and put it in the back of the trailer and run it home like it! Luckily managed to find a local tyre man and got it fixed reasonably cheaply.
Another driver had the Trailer centre axle one side go over cam, lock the wheel and it blew out, he too was told to take both centre axle wheels of, strap the axle up and get it home. Not too bad with 8 tonne going down, but with 22t of tiles back over the Blanc on 4 axles!.
These were only 3 years ago too!
Spardo:
tipping on Savona docks
Would that have been stuff for Col. Ghadaffi by any chance??
I did many a tilt strip on Savona docks. It was mostly concrete pipes from Stanton and Stavely, but sometimes it was second-hand machinery, or lighting equipment from somewhere in Romford IIRC. Do you remember the guy on the moped (Vincenzo) who quietly collected the paperwork left under a windscreen wiper so’s you’d get a lie-in??
I had similar experiences with tyres too
Unfortunately,another subject I have only the one picture of,is topping one rig onto another to bring it home.On one ocassion in Ankara when I was on for Brit European, there was two of us with 290 Volvos,and we were tipped and parked up in the Telex Motel.It was winter and several degrees below,and on the morning we were to start home,I fired my motor up no problem.My mate fired his up and there was such a racket he had to shut it down again.We towed it into the Volvo agent and after a couple of hours,they found out all the cam followers had smashed and all the pushrods had bent.The engine was rebuilt and tested,and we parked up back at the Telex ready to leave again next morning.
Next morning,exactly the same thing,horrible crunching and no go.Same fault.
We didn’t even bother telexing home,we stripped both rigs down,topped him up and made for home.Even managed to get into Germany in those days,and not many people stared until we got into Z/brugge.Driving up the M1 was best,you never saw do much rubbernecking,and when we pulled into Carman’s yard,all the garage and office staff came out to clock this.
It was quite a common practice in those days to get disabled or smashed motors home.I did the same when I was on for Chapman and Ball,and in the following pic which I’ve posted before,my Scanny 111 dropped a valve in Saudi,and after being towed back to Incerlic in southern Turkey,we topped my motor onto Funston’s Gobstopper back to Belgrade where we are shown here unloading it at the railway station before towing it round to the National Hotel where I rebuilt the engine with spares brought out by another driver.
dieseldave:
Spardo:
tipping on Savona docksWould that have been stuff for Col. Ghadaffi by any chance??
:
It certainly was Dave, good job we (WhiteTrux) were always there in numbers
because his old tilts were not easy to strip and put back together.
Don’t remember Vicenzo or the wiper trick, but maybe it’s because we moved
from the seafront into the docks late at night and were on the job first
thing.
When you read these stories you have to say the modern driver has got
it bloody easy ! Can you imagine seeing drivers change a wheel on the
side of the motorway today ?
Ian did you train as a hgv mechanic or just pick things up over the years
like i know quite a few drivers did ! I suppose with the comradeship there
was on that job other drivers would always stop and give a hand.
DEANB:
When you read these stories you have to say the modern driver has got
it bloody easy ! Can you imagine seeing drivers change a wheel on the
side of the motorway today ?Ian did you train as a hgv mechanic or just pick things up over the years
like i know quite a few drivers did ! I suppose with the comradeship there
was on that job other drivers would always stop and give a hand.
I spent 7 years in the army becoming a driving instructor on armoured vehicles.The first few weeks of a driving course,before anyone was let near a vehicle,they were taught how everything works,engine,transmission,steering,brakes etc.
When I left the army,I got a job in a commercial garage where I soon got to be foreman mechanic.I found out that there was more money to be earned driving trucks than lying under them,so I spent 5 years UK tramping until quite by accident I got into M/E work. Because of my mechanical knowledge and the fact I always carried my tools with me,I was always kept busy by whoever I worked for,repairing or recovering trucks.
Typical jobs,(some described in more detail on other threads).
Changing a clutch on a Fiat on the Telex hotel car park in Ankara.
Making up a multi leaf trailer spring from bits bought from a breakers in Baghdad to replace a broken monoleaf spring to get home.
Repairing broken gearbox selectors on a Volvo 290 by the Dead Sea in Jordan.
After towing and topping my Scania 111 from Saudi when she dropped a valve,to Belgrade where I fitted a new cylinder head brought out by another driver,got her running and drove back to UK after picking up a back load.
The camaraderie in those days was unbelievable.You NEVER passed anyone who had a problem!
I spent 12 years on M/E,it was not a job,it was the best adventure anyone could have,bar none!
Wheel Nut:
That other tyre has a nasty gouge in it too
Tyres?You ain’t seen nothin’ yet…
Also,notice the parking brake!
I spent 7 years in the army becoming a driving instructor on armoured vehicles.The first few weeks of a driving course,before anyone was let near a vehicle,they were taught how everything works,engine,transmission,steering,brakes etc.
When I left the army,I got a job in a commercial garage where I soon got to be foreman mechanic.I found out that there was more money to be earned driving trucks than lying under them,so I spent 5 years UK tramping until quite by accident I got into M/E work. Because of my mechanical knowledge and the fact I always carried my tools with me,I was always kept busy by whoever I worked for,repairing or recovering trucks.
Typical jobs,(some described in more detail on other threads).
Changing a clutch on a Fiat on the Telex hotel car park in Ankara.
Making up a multi leaf trailer spring from bits bought from a breakers in Baghdad to replace a broken monoleaf spring to get home.
Repairing broken gearbox selectors on a Volvo 290 by the Dead Sea in Jordan.
After towing and topping my Scania 111 from Saudi when she dropped a valve,to Belgrade where I fitted a new cylinder head brought out by another driver,got her running and drove back to UK after picking up a back load.
The camaraderie in those days was unbelievable.You NEVER passed anyone who had a problem!
I spent 12 years on M/E,it was not a job,it was the best adventure anyone could have,bar none!
[/quote]
Fair play Ian it would be bad enough trying to repairs in the Uk but over
there with the heat and dust must have been bloody murder,especially
trying to keep the sand from getting into the bits you were working on!