British Vehicle New Guinea

[Lang]

Mike

I love the play on the quartermaster.

A string of people are told "No. We only have one left and if we gave it to you we would not have any in stock for someone who wanted one"

At least he got his new shoelace after proving it was actually broken and having to hand in the broken one before he got the new item. The signature is absolutely essential.

Lang

[Maurice Donckers]

Hi Lang , there is no shear pin on an AEC matador winch , at overload a rod will push the diesel injection pump to the engine stop position , the winch is capable to pull 7 tons , so with the double snatch blocks provided with the truck, it should be able to pull more than the 7 tons the truck itself weights ,

[Lang]

Thanks for that Maurice I knew there had to be some sort of safety feature.

It is amazing how difficult it is to get a vehicle seriously bogged like this out of a hole. The winch may be able to lift the truck if you had a sky-hook but dragging it horizontally is often another matter. Finding something to hook the cable on to is also a common problem - I doubt a coconut tree would hold 7 tons. The back looks as full as a Catholic School bus so probably 14 tons might be more like it?

Great info on another fail-safe system.

Lang

[Phil Waterman]

Originally Posted by Lang

Thanks for that Maurice I knew there had to be some sort of safety feature.

It is amazing how difficult it is to get a vehicle seriously bogged like this out of a hole. The winch may be able to lift the truck if you had a sky-hook but dragging it horizontally is often another matter. Finding something to hook the cable on to is also a common problem - I doubt a coconut tree would hold 7 tons. The back looks as full as a Catholic School bus so probably 14 tons might be more like it?

Great info on another fail-safe system.

Lang

Hi Lang

I'll look for a picture in a recovery manual, which shows using logs to lift a truck out a ditch with a winch. Basically it shows standing the log on end with winch cable over the top. If remember the photos/drawings correct it shows it being done the a single log straight line pull essential or two logs as trypod which makes more sense.

As to safety point on winches like found on CMPs I think the primary safety factor on over loading the winch is between the operators ears. Having used the winch on my C60L Pat 13 a lot I'm convinced the winch is quite capable of folding the truck into horseshoe, or at least bending it to the point where the winch drive shaft pops out.

Had the occasion to use the winch on my truck in with some current duty service men and they were quite impressed with the fact that the cable could be run out front or rear, but when the winch started pulling a heavy tree snag wit the engine ticking over at idle.

Cheers Phil

[Mike Cecil]

That film was a nice find, Mike, thanks for posting the link.

I liked the various views of the Sperry S/L and S/L generator set. The AWM has an excellent example of the four wheel generator set, but I was never able to locate a descent enough example of the searchlight, its external controller, and the interlinking cables.

As to winching, I managed to get a SWB Landcruiser bogged in a coastal creek in a remote part of Wilsons Prom many years ago, with the tide coming in. No big trees, so I ran the cable out and double-backed through the scrub and hooked onto the winch cable to make a loop. When it wound in, it gathered the scrub into the middle of the loop, like a wheat sheaf, till eventually there was enough strength in all those little bushes to haul the Landcruiser free. Made quite a mess! Never told my National Parks contact.

Mike

[Maurice Donckers]

In the tool boxes under the body are a load of ground anchors , which should be capable to hold more then 15tons in good ground , so a coconut tree is not always needed

[Mike Cecil]

Lang,

I just had a look at the AEC Matador manual, and the winch overload mechanism is quite interesting. It works on the strain exerted on the winch cable rollers, rather than the winch itself, and as Maurice said, a rod mechanism connects the mechanism attached to the rollers to the engine injector pump, moving it to the engine stop position when the strain gets close to the maximum winch capacity.

There were two capacity winches: early model Matadors had a 3 ton (straight pull) winch, which was soon superseded by a 7 ton (straight pull) winch.

Mike