breakdown truck

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Dick
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Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:31 pm

Re: breakdown truck

#3201 Post by Dick » Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:46 am

Oh the miss spent youth :lol:
I wasn't allowed to have a moped as my dad was convinced that it would never end well.. i had a c50 field bike and he saw me on that ...
Meanwhile
https://www.facebook.com/groups/4184771 ... 6956100973

GHT
Posts: 1523
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 3:09 pm

Re: breakdown truck

#3202 Post by GHT » Wed Aug 26, 2020 6:48 am

Dick wrote:
Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:46 am
Oh the miss spent youth :lol:
Back in 1963, I had a Vespa scooter. A crowd of us on Brighton Pier were trying to do broadside skids the way we did as children on our push bikes. When my turn came I got up to about twenty mph, put my left foot down, applied gentle rear brake. Instead of the bloody thing doing a ninety degree turn and stop, it did a one hundred and eighty degree turn and went off the pier backwards, with me still on it.

That scooter cost me fifteen quid, a local car breaker came to rescue it at low tide, retrieved it and offered me ten quid, sold. But my biggest loss was my beautiful blue suede overcoat, fifty quid's worth, salt water ruined. Scooter Mods, who wants to be a scooter mod anyway? What was that about a mis-spent youth?

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JPB
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Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 3:24 pm

Re: breakdown truck

#3203 Post by JPB » Wed Aug 26, 2020 2:15 pm

I like the idea of a blue suede overcoat. :thumbs:

And for Rich, I found an actual breakdown vehicle, apologies for taking the thread's purpose so literally :lol: , but this is too good to remain hidden among the random rubbish on t'interwebs: https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1184510

Image

Oof! :drool: :drool: :drool:

And, if you'll excuse that on-topic excursion, here's a cattle float / camper van combination that surely beats any Toyota, VW or even Citroen H van for the cool factor. I actually drooled when looking at the full size images of this, and it's even better in real life than in the photos. I have seen the truck at quite a few shows and it's simply the most beautiful thing around, with the possible exception of that steam motorcycle that appeared recently in this thread.
Here's the truck: https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1135472
Just look at the shots of that interior, clearly cattle are very well treated these days. :)

Image

Oof! :drool: :drool: :drool:

Would love it, have nowhere to put it and quite possibly might be unable to drive it, so someone please pop over there and buy this before it ends up in the hands of a Barry Boy! ;)
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

Dick
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Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:31 pm

Re: breakdown truck

#3204 Post by Dick » Wed Aug 26, 2020 5:34 pm


harvey
Posts: 286
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 4:47 pm

Re: breakdown truck

#3205 Post by harvey » Thu Aug 27, 2020 12:34 pm

Image

I did vehicle recovery and towing working for other people, and then myself, through the crane era, into the spec/transporter times, and it really lost a lot of its appeal when you didn't have to chain things up and lift them by turning a handle. That's probably the reason the first Harvey Frost tubular crane I bought is still sitting in pieces in my garage.
Currently over 35 years worth of fixing 35 boxes.
Hoping to reach 65 years worth of fixing 65 boxes.

Dick
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Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:31 pm

Re: breakdown truck

#3206 Post by Dick » Thu Aug 27, 2020 7:06 pm

Harvey do you have any pics of your trucks :drool:
Meanwhile my nephew wants to buy this...
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... 466274282/
Any advice will be appreciated...

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JPB
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Re: breakdown truck

#3207 Post by JPB » Fri Aug 28, 2020 1:39 pm

Any advice? Really? OK, here goes: It's been off the road since 2009, the stated odometer reading in the ad would equate to around 53000 miles yet the last test certificate showed 70 odd thousand, but that said, I have a few speedometers for these and I've yet to sell one to somebody who wanted to maintain continuity, so maybe it's a mistake or a new speedo head has been fitted.
If the heater is that rusty, what state is the chassis in? Yes, these are galvanised but I've seen Rialtos and Robins of this era whose zince had fallen off within months and whose chassis had then rotted out prematurely. Workers from Two Gates would carry these chassis from their leaky, mud floored shed, or "factory" if you're being generous, over the lights to the other side of the main road where the galvanisers' premises were located. I recall seeing a spectacularly rotten 1993 Robin LE in Penguin, the then local Reliant dealer's workshop. The car was supplied new to its local keeper in the Autumn of '93, the chassis had all but dissolved by a year later thanks to poor pickling prior to dipping. But that's easy to check and any still on their factory chassis might be fine if they weren't processed on a bad day.
After so long off the road, the engine could well be seized, or the car may have been taken out of service prematurely as a result of overheating or gearbox detent spring failure, among other common faults.
Engines with questionable head gasket health can generally be saved. Some will give up the studs' hold on the head with no trouble, others are reluctant to shift but Reliant specialists have a tool that can force the head off and the block is rarely beyond saving, but occasionally, the cylinders, which sit in the all aluminium block on a bead of sealant and the odd washer to set the distance by which the liners protrude above the block. This is often the source of coolant finding its way into the engine oil. Oil pressure relief valves can fail as their cast iron seat was set in the block with a dob of Araldite by the factory, this glue would fail and the seat would leech oil past the valve, giving very low pressure readings, later, one-piece relief valves which came with their own cassette sealed at the block with an o ring, are easily swapped in, but they're scarce now and I'm not parting with my last two spare, n/o/s ones - just in case!

So check, in no particular sequence:

Chassis condition, including the steel tubular frame that comes through the body behind the door and is clamped to the chassis, an area that isn't galvanised so most unrestored small Reliants are blessed with bodies that aren't quite as securely attached to their chassis as they should be. No great problem if the body is either peeled apart where the inner and outer panels meet, or a hole is cut in the B pillar for access.

Engine running temperature and oil pressure.

Later Robins which have a rear wheel fitted on the front! Very occasionally, I've met with this. It can make the car pull to one side, but just be aware that mini wheels are for the rear, the front wheel has more inset. All easy enough to address, but for the rarity of wheels these days.

Body condition.GRP may not corrode as steel does, so that's a good thing, but when anything made out of the stuff has been left outside for that long, it pays to check for areas where the surface has been broken, say in a minor scrape or when hitting a wall, etc. Any compromised areas can and do absorb moisture and, when these dry out again, the matting tends to crumble. Again, easy enough to identify but can be expensive to fix, though as body repairs can be made with everything from Elastoplasts to sticky tape and will look ok for a while after a quick splash of Crown Plus Two, it's worth doing properly.

MOT test station availability! A few years ago, it was easy to find a place that would test three wheelers, now very few testing venues cater for them, so either buy a pre-1980 example and soak up the extra cost of insuring an MOT exempt car that hasn't been tested (many insurers add extra to the price of a policy for a car that's taken advantage of the exemption, the chiselling twunts). or prepare to have to shove it in the back of a van and take it for a road trip to a tricycle-friendly place. In practice, many testing stations could test these by getting themselves a bit of paperwork and gaining the right to do this, as the brake test can be performed with the Tapley decellerometer in the car rather than on the rollers and the front wheel can be supported on the jacking beam, but demand isn't exactly high.

It may well be worth considering as they are a fun thing to drive when fully working, but without wishing to talk down values; bubonic plague is rare too and that's rarely overvalued in sales ads! ;)
If its chassis and all that stuff checks out and the buyer joins a club that caters for these things, then it can be rescued and they're easy enough to work on, but at that price? Hmm..
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true.. :oops:

harvey
Posts: 286
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 4:47 pm

Re: breakdown truck

#3208 Post by harvey » Fri Aug 28, 2020 2:24 pm

Dick wrote:
Thu Aug 27, 2020 7:06 pm
Harvey do you have any pics of your trucks :drool:
None with proper cranes on unfortunately. Only have a few of one with a speclift that (I think) I can post up if you're interested.
Currently over 35 years worth of fixing 35 boxes.
Hoping to reach 65 years worth of fixing 65 boxes.

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Atodini
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Location: Mansfield Notts.
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Re: breakdown truck

#3209 Post by Atodini » Sat Aug 29, 2020 2:44 am

JPB wrote:
Fri Aug 28, 2020 1:39 pm
Any advice? Really? OK, here goes: It's been off the road since 2009, the stated odometer reading in the ad would equate to around 53000 miles yet the last test certificate showed 70 odd thousand, but that said, I have a few speedometers for these and I've yet to sell one to somebody who wanted to maintain continuity, so maybe it's a mistake or a new speedo head has been fitted.
If the heater is that rusty, what state is the chassis in? Yes, these are galvanised but I've seen Rialtos and Robins of this era whose zince had fallen off within months and whose chassis had then rotted out prematurely. Workers from Two Gates would carry these chassis from their leaky, mud floored shed, or "factory" if you're being generous, over the lights to the other side of the main road where the galvanisers' premises were located. I recall seeing a spectacularly rotten 1993 Robin LE in Penguin, the then local Reliant dealer's workshop. The car was supplied new to its local keeper in the Autumn of '93, the chassis had all but dissolved by a year later thanks to poor pickling prior to dipping. But that's easy to check and any still on their factory chassis might be fine if they weren't processed on a bad day.
After so long off the road, the engine could well be seized, or the car may have been taken out of service prematurely as a result of overheating or gearbox detent spring failure, among other common faults.
Engines with questionable head gasket health can generally be saved. Some will give up the studs' hold on the head with no trouble, others are reluctant to shift but Reliant specialists have a tool that can force the head off and the block is rarely beyond saving, but occasionally, the cylinders, which sit in the all aluminium block on a bead of sealant and the odd washer to set the distance by which the liners protrude above the block. This is often the source of coolant finding its way into the engine oil. Oil pressure relief valves can fail as their cast iron seat was set in the block with a dob of Araldite by the factory, this glue would fail and the seat would leech oil past the valve, giving very low pressure readings, later, one-piece relief valves which came with their own cassette sealed at the block with an o ring, are easily swapped in, but they're scarce now and I'm not parting with my last two spare, n/o/s ones - just in case!

So check, in no particular sequence:

Chassis condition, including the steel tubular frame that comes through the body behind the door and is clamped to the chassis, an area that isn't galvanised so most unrestored small Reliants are blessed with bodies that aren't quite as securely attached to their chassis as they should be. No great problem if the body is either peeled apart where the inner and outer panels meet, or a hole is cut in the B pillar for access.

Engine running temperature and oil pressure.

Later Robins which have a rear wheel fitted on the front! Very occasionally, I've met with this. It can make the car pull to one side, but just be aware that mini wheels are for the rear, the front wheel has more inset. All easy enough to address, but for the rarity of wheels these days.

Body condition.GRP may not corrode as steel does, so that's a good thing, but when anything made out of the stuff has been left outside for that long, it pays to check for areas where the surface has been broken, say in a minor scrape or when hitting a wall, etc. Any compromised areas can and do absorb moisture and, when these dry out again, the matting tends to crumble. Again, easy enough to identify but can be expensive to fix, though as body repairs can be made with everything from Elastoplasts to sticky tape and will look ok for a while after a quick splash of Crown Plus Two, it's worth doing properly.

MOT test station availability! A few years ago, it was easy to find a place that would test three wheelers, now very few testing venues cater for them, so either buy a pre-1980 example and soak up the extra cost of insuring an MOT exempt car that hasn't been tested (many insurers add extra to the price of a policy for a car that's taken advantage of the exemption, the chiselling twunts). or prepare to have to shove it in the back of a van and take it for a road trip to a tricycle-friendly place. In practice, many testing stations could test these by getting themselves a bit of paperwork and gaining the right to do this, as the brake test can be performed with the Tapley decellerometer in the car rather than on the rollers and the front wheel can be supported on the jacking beam, but demand isn't exactly high.

It may well be worth considering as they are a fun thing to drive when fully working, but without wishing to talk down values; bubonic plague is rare too and that's rarely overvalued in sales ads! ;)
If its chassis and all that stuff checks out and the buyer joins a club that caters for these things, then it can be rescued and they're easy enough to work on, but at that price? Hmm..
A very good appraisal John, just a couple of points to add/correct.....

Cartridge oil pressure cassettes are now available again, I guess Pratsworld must have sourced some more.

The B pillar hoop on the three-wheelers was not clamped to the chassis, being simply bonded into the bodywork. Only the Kittens and Foxes were carried through and they very much suffer from this, boy do they. I only ever recall seeing one with an intact original hoop in the last 40 years. My own were gone when I first got the car and it was only 4 years old!!! It was never intended as a roll bar, being simply to support the upper front seat belt mounting.

On mine I didn't need to cut the pillar. I just sourced some suitable solid galvanised square steel stock (from an old section of fencing) and forced it up into the box section of the hoop, drilling, tapping and bolting it from behind the door seal. Been fine since 1980 or so!

I was told by one of my "pet" ex-Reliant employees that the galvanisers refused to dip many of the Rialto/Fox/Robin chassis sent to them because they had corroded too badly in storage, unless they were acid dipped first, something the accountants refused to stump up for.... These were simply sent elsewhere for "hot zinc" spraying (they call it "galvannealing" these days and many modern cars are now so treated). This, of course, meant that there was zero protection inside the box sections. One suspects that most of these have, by now, been scrapped though of course the chassis needs to be carefully looked at on a "barn find" (HATE that term).....

Worst area on the three-wheelers is the front chassis member that supports the front suspension "A" frame. On the Foxes it's the whole front suspension area - seen several where the wishbones have simply fallen off!

Accountants again! Late 1970's Reliant started buying their steel from Italy (rather than British Steel). This stuff (that the Italians had sourced from Russia) was (is) ultra high carbon and readily corrodes - the same stuff that effectively bankrupted Lancia and very nearly did for Fiat as well. It's also a pig to weld once it's "age hardened" being all but impossible to weld with arc or MIG, without cracking on cooling. Gas or TIG seems to work OK though. I learned this about 25 years ago rebuilding a rotten (late) Kitten chassis for one of our Register "bunnies". I used a borrowed gas set-up. Must have done OK as the car is still on the road AND he didn't have it galvanised, just powder coated.

I learned a lot about galvanising when I had my Kitten done back in 2012. There's various grades, I went for the "street furniture" grade that they use for railings, fire escapes and such. I was told on collection that these have a 100 year warranty on the coating!!! I also had it acid dipped before sending it in... I did have a really good look over it after 5 years, trying out the endoscope I now have. All was pretty much as it was when it came back from the galvanisers, even inside the box sections..

'Twas a nightmare building up the chassis after though, due to the properties of the galv. One evening I spent ages drilling out the excess zinc from inside the spring hanger tubes, only to find the next evening that the galv had crept back in so had to drill them out again. Plus every chassis fixing needed to be heavily slathered with copper grease or the bolts will never come out! I doubt, at well-nigh threescore and ten, that I'll, personally, ever need to disturb any of this again though.

The post 1995 Robins & Rialtos came with 12" rear wheels from the factory. originally they kept a 10" front wheel because, as you say, the offset of the 12" wheels was wrong, but from 1997/8 on a dedicated 12" wheel was fitted, along with Mini front brakes. These 12" front wheels are all but unavailable now. All these 12" wheel cars also had the wider (Fox) rear axles and Mini rear brake shoes and cylinders. Earlier three wheelers used Standard 10/Herald brake shoes and cylinders.

Brake drums were always Reliant specific but are still available.

(older) John
"I thought I was wrong once - But I was wrong"...

Dick
Posts: 1280
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2019 7:31 pm

Re: breakdown truck

#3210 Post by Dick » Sat Aug 29, 2020 8:08 am

Thanks for the info chaps! Ill have to pass it on to the boy.. his father is going mad..although I pointed out that the lad already rides a moped so a reliant would be a good move..
Harvey, im always interested in vehicle's of all shapes and sizes.. so yes please

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