1964 Alvis Stalwart
Discussion
AaronP041 said:
LewG
IIRC go tothe starter motor solenoid on the starter motor itself. Should be a 2 pin plug. Put a 24v test lamp on the plug, flip the switch to start, if the bulb lights up at full brilliance all the wiring is fine.
Most likely is the solenoid as they get excessively hot and stick easily , more so after long periods of no use.
I'm not trying to teach you how to suck eggs, just trying to help.
Would love to see the Beast but I live in Germany now.
I am trying to get hold of the course books from various sources for you.
Having seen the OP's other posts and his general demeanour as a poster, he certainly won't be thinking you are teaching him to suck eggs. IIRC go tothe starter motor solenoid on the starter motor itself. Should be a 2 pin plug. Put a 24v test lamp on the plug, flip the switch to start, if the bulb lights up at full brilliance all the wiring is fine.
Most likely is the solenoid as they get excessively hot and stick easily , more so after long periods of no use.
I'm not trying to teach you how to suck eggs, just trying to help.
Would love to see the Beast but I live in Germany now.
I am trying to get hold of the course books from various sources for you.
This is valuable information, if not to the OP then potentially to anyone who is googling such info in the future. These things are not exactly mass produced euro boxes, so there's going to be limited knowledge out there and even less people with practical experience of fixing them.
I for one would like to say Thank you for your contribution.
Thank you for the kind words.
I must of been one of the "Rare" ( twisted more like!) REME Mechanics that enjoyed working on the more challenging Vehicles.
It is true that "Stollys" broke many a Big Hard Man & left them crying for Mummy! Another Vehicle that many ran away from was the FV180 CET, better known as a Frog or Toad (Refering to the oft occurrence of being Towed!)
Also fitted with Dowty Water Jets but using a Rolls Royce 6 cylinder diesel engine.
With reference to the Gbox oil, could just be emulsified due to condensation, worst case Heat exchanger (I think it has one for engine & gbox oil) if the coolant is like Bailey's then that's the likely culprit.
Bevel boxes were splash lubrication, transfer box I can't remember if it takes lubrication from the g/box or has its own supply.
I must of been one of the "Rare" ( twisted more like!) REME Mechanics that enjoyed working on the more challenging Vehicles.
It is true that "Stollys" broke many a Big Hard Man & left them crying for Mummy! Another Vehicle that many ran away from was the FV180 CET, better known as a Frog or Toad (Refering to the oft occurrence of being Towed!)
Also fitted with Dowty Water Jets but using a Rolls Royce 6 cylinder diesel engine.
With reference to the Gbox oil, could just be emulsified due to condensation, worst case Heat exchanger (I think it has one for engine & gbox oil) if the coolant is like Bailey's then that's the likely culprit.
Bevel boxes were splash lubrication, transfer box I can't remember if it takes lubrication from the g/box or has its own supply.
This thread has as much win as the one with the chap who owns 4 merlin engines. Hmmmm, would a Merlin fit? What are spares like for this thing? I would imagine they are either rarer than hen's teeth, or you buy them by the skip load for a tenner....
Can they be driven legally on the road?
Can they be driven legally on the road?
Edited by rxe on Sunday 25th June 15:07
As you say eltax any knowledge put forward is always a bonus, the silliest question is the one not asked so it's in the same vein.
Yep this is one of the reasons it's almost 'desirable' if you could ever call it that, all of the swim gear is intact and still there, and for a start it is an early Mark 1. Most were Mk2s as they made about 900 of those as opposed to only around 140 Mk1s, as you can probably see on her history cards she is Chassis 35 of the batch.
Regarding road legality there are several road registered Stollies out there, technically I will need a Class 2 HGV licence to drive it on the road, having passed my test post 1997 I can only drive up to 3.5 tonnes unless the vehicle was manufactured pre-1960, which is what allows me to drive my Ferret on the road as that's 1954 and weighs about 3.7 tonnes. Unfortunately this isn't and there's no getting round that, people have tried in the old days registering them as agricultural vehicles etc and claiming that they only drive them between two pieces of land that they own a short distance away. There are a lot of silly rules and regs out there and they have been done to death on other military vehicle forums, the MV movement as a whole needs an ambassador (or several) to try and talk to the authorities and get us all singing from the same hymn book in order to keep everyone happy and these vehicles safe and legal on the road.
Can't see that working as front and rear are still linked via the prop shafts and centre boxes, whether the centre wheel is touching the ground or not won't really matter. I've heard varying accounts of it really, some say it's fine and they've never had an issue over thousands of miles, others say it's a real issue. The Ferret is much the same design and does get wind up to some degree, I've never really noticed it but just in case when I turn back into the farm yard after a run to a show and back I give it a really good thrash across the potholes and bumps around the paddocks. One time I jacked an entire side up to grease the suspension pins and it was rather unexpected when the wheels shot round on their own!
This explains it very basically
Yep this is one of the reasons it's almost 'desirable' if you could ever call it that, all of the swim gear is intact and still there, and for a start it is an early Mark 1. Most were Mk2s as they made about 900 of those as opposed to only around 140 Mk1s, as you can probably see on her history cards she is Chassis 35 of the batch.
Regarding road legality there are several road registered Stollies out there, technically I will need a Class 2 HGV licence to drive it on the road, having passed my test post 1997 I can only drive up to 3.5 tonnes unless the vehicle was manufactured pre-1960, which is what allows me to drive my Ferret on the road as that's 1954 and weighs about 3.7 tonnes. Unfortunately this isn't and there's no getting round that, people have tried in the old days registering them as agricultural vehicles etc and claiming that they only drive them between two pieces of land that they own a short distance away. There are a lot of silly rules and regs out there and they have been done to death on other military vehicle forums, the MV movement as a whole needs an ambassador (or several) to try and talk to the authorities and get us all singing from the same hymn book in order to keep everyone happy and these vehicles safe and legal on the road.
Can't see that working as front and rear are still linked via the prop shafts and centre boxes, whether the centre wheel is touching the ground or not won't really matter. I've heard varying accounts of it really, some say it's fine and they've never had an issue over thousands of miles, others say it's a real issue. The Ferret is much the same design and does get wind up to some degree, I've never really noticed it but just in case when I turn back into the farm yard after a run to a show and back I give it a really good thrash across the potholes and bumps around the paddocks. One time I jacked an entire side up to grease the suspension pins and it was rather unexpected when the wheels shot round on their own!
This explains it very basically
Edited by LewG on Sunday 2nd July 09:59
Regarding spares it's not like a let's go on eBay and find what we need, sometimes things pop up that are a bit unexpected on there but for most specific bits it's go to the specialists or make/mend. There is a chap called Richard Bannister who is superb for parts on these vehicles and in particular the Rolls Royce B-series engine parts like what this has. Another guy we know of who seems to keep himself to himself has entire sheds and hangars absolute chocked to the ceiling full of bits on an old Dorset ex Naval base, it's a bloody amazing and eerie place to walk round but what a gold mine!
FiF said:
Something that puzzles me, considering the overall complexity of the thing, why not have slippy diffs on the individual axles and locking diffs along the 'propshaft'. Maybe the wrong terms but it's not as if that would have been a rocket science solution.
The reason was that the Vehicle was never designed to be used for prolonged periods of road use.It was primarily designed to follow Armoured Battle Groups across the North German Plain, shuttling Combat Supplies forward from Brigade Supply Areas.
Much malinged (albeit falsely) for unreliability. The biggest problem the Stolly had was "Officers" deciding that as it had wheels it could cover "Road-Move" distances. This, coupled with a thirst for juice that would have made Ollie Reed blush sealed its reputation.
To put the fuel consumption into perspective a Chieftain MBT achieved 1mpg xcountry if you were lucky, a Challemger is a bit better 1.5-2 mpg, 3-4mpg on tarmac!
Was privileged to have a personal tour of the Stalwart and a leg up in to the cab to watch the sunset tonight. What an awesome piece of engineering and such a beautiful machine.
Glad I was warned to wear trousers. It's not the most ladylike vehicle to climb in and out of. Few practices and I got the hang of it. Thanks LewG. It's the little things.
Glad I was warned to wear trousers. It's not the most ladylike vehicle to climb in and out of. Few practices and I got the hang of it. Thanks LewG. It's the little things.
They're a great old bus Shaker, I had the pleasure of driving an MJ round a seriously harsh off road course for the day and it was absolutely unstoppable. Just keep thumbs clear of the steering wheel as when hitting ruts it will snap them off! As you might have been able to see in the photos my mate Matt has the older brother parked next to the Stolly, an RL
Edited by LewG on Sunday 2nd July 10:00
Last night's progress was fairly minimal, I filled the gearbox with some red diesel which I'm going to leave to soak for a few weeks. Had a look through the filler and it all looks relatively clean in there which is a pleasant surprise considering what came out.
|https://thumbsnap.com/bP1nQkid[/url]
Then I tried dropping the rear tow hook, it's hinged with a plug behind it. When removed the plug allows access to the crankshaft pulley meaning I can try turning the engine over by hand. Was very stuck and even with heat and a big old steel bar it was putting up a real fight so I just left it soaking in Plus Gas for the night
|https://thumbsnap.com/bP1nQkid[/url]Then I tried dropping the rear tow hook, it's hinged with a plug behind it. When removed the plug allows access to the crankshaft pulley meaning I can try turning the engine over by hand. Was very stuck and even with heat and a big old steel bar it was putting up a real fight so I just left it soaking in Plus Gas for the night
Edited by LewG on Sunday 2nd July 10:02
LewG said:
They're a great old bus Shaker, I had the pleasure of driving an MJ round a seriously harsh off road course for the day and it was absolutely unstoppable. Just keep thumbs clear of the steering wheel as when hitting ruts it will snap them off! As you might have been able to see in the photos my mate Matt has the older brother parked next to the Stolly, an RL
I think I can drive an RL even on my regular post-97 licence as they were manufactured pre-1960
However, again, space and funds would not currently permit me to do so! But they would be cool. For now I'll stick with their little brother, the Rascal :lol:
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