[Tom Millward]

Thought I post an update on my gearbox problem, which I’ve now managed to solve. Thank you to you all for all the advice.

The interim solution was to have a third man in the back who’s job was to pull the gear selector lever hard over to the right every time I put my hand in the air, not a long term solution but it got me through the veterans parade I was attending. I covered the gear linkage liberally with penetrating oil and slacked off the gear selector rod bolts (the rods were rusted up and wouldn’t budge). My gear linkage at the front end is adjustable, like a split collar and pinch bolt.

The Carrier drove very well, in convoy with several Morris gun tractors and guns, apart from spinning out on a corner, much to the amusement of the gun tractor behind me.

The journey back was a different matter! Firstly I ran out of fuel. Secondly, the heat from the engine and the efffect of the penetrating oil completely freed off the gear linkage and with the bolts loose I lost all the gears, the gear lever was loosely slopping about in the gate. After setting the gear position roughly correct and tightening up the pinch bolt I had all the gears working again. But now the battery had gone flat and I couldn’t start the engine...

The problem with the gear change must have been that a heavy gear change had caused the rod to become misaligned and neutral at the gear change gate didn’t align with neutral at the gearbox. It’s nearly working properly again now, just a bit of fine tuning required, and I’ve got to work out why it isn’t charging properly.