FV 432 repairs

[Gunner]

Hello to our stalwart (pun fully intended) FV experts in the UK:

The latest work on the FV 432 involves repairing or replacing the headlight dipper switch. We attempted to remove ours, which is not working (won't move up or down and we don't know which position its stuck in) and discovered that, with incredible body contortions, the bracket and switch can be seperated from the floor after removing an endless number of small nuts and bolts, only to find that the wiring doesn't have any kind of quick disconnects... it simply runs under the floor boards and disappears into the bilges somewhere.

HELP!

By the way; does anyone know why the turn signals and brake lights do not work when the gear shift is in neutral? That one drove us near around the twist when we were doing a first parade with the engine running and the FV 432 in neutral all the lights stopped working... put it in gear and everything was OK. We found an obscure line in the operators manual explaining this odd phenonomen but no explanation of why.

Cheers! Mike

[Ian Pullen]

If I recall the most common fault found with the wiring of the 432 is that it is Lucas. Therefore negating any common sense. Good luck

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Our own Mr. Notton knows more about these things than he probably wants to admit. I've been in his at top speed in single-lane English country roads. Quite the adventure. Contact him directly, Mike. If you're nice to him, perhaps he'll start a thread on the subject.

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
Our own Mr. Notton knows more about these things than he probably wants to admit. I've been in his at top speed in single-lane English country roads. Quite the adventure. Contact him directly, Mike. If you're nice to him, perhaps he'll start a thread on the subject.

Ah, battlefield taxi. . . . . . . . . .

Not had the pleasure of fiddling with 432 electrics but we have a 432 and a 434 in the club owned by some very good friends of mine; now one is a retired ex P&O chief engineer and is away for the December Dead Band which, for us, starts about midday today and ends Jan 2.

The other is on fixed regular shifts making diesel and petrol for us at Fawley, plus several tons of JP4 a second to pipe up to Thiefrow and Gatport Airwick owing to the needs of those supercharged blowlamp powered flying machines. He's working for Crimbo.

They have all the EMERS between them so we should be able to come up with something hopefully.

R.

[rob love]

I picked up one of the FV432 a bunch of years back, and marvelled at how complicated one could make the wiring on a land based vehicle.
One of my recurring problems was the pair of generators which fed the 6 batteries installed in my carrier. One would work and the other wouldn't. So I would change that generator, then it would work and the first one wouldn't. So I would change that generator and it would work, but not the second one.
So I tore both generators out, along with that big regualtor/converter box in the front right corner of the drivers compartment, and instead installed one 60 Amp North American Military standard alternator, like that used on the M38A1s, the M151A2s, the 5/4 tons, the MLVW...
Long and short I never had another problem with it. Quite a few of the other guys have done it as well.

In the few miles I had my FV432 I replaced the:
starter
generator (see above)
oil pressure switch
distribution box (end of the manifold...very prone to filling up with water)
both fuel pumps.

When I first had it, I couldn't believe guys would go to war in something so gutless. But when I re-installed the power pack after changing the starter, I discovered the fuel linkages were no where near using their full potential. Once those were adjusted, the FV432 went like a bat out of hell. It could easily kick ass against any M113A2 I had ever driven, as long as you limited the race to 32 MPH, which was the 432s top speed.

I sold my 432 when I got tired of bouncing over the bloody ruts the thing made all through the yard. But it was certainly great entertainment at my daughters birthday parties, and the locals loved the car crush events.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally posted by Gunner
Hello to our stalwart (pun fully intended) FV experts in the UK:

By the way; does anyone know why the turn signals and brake lights do not work when the gear shift is in neutral? That one drove us near around the twist when we were doing a first parade with the engine running and the FV 432 in neutral all the lights stopped working... put it in gear and everything was OK.

hi Mike,

To answer your question on the lack of brake lights when in neutral. From distant memory, I think this is the reason. There is only one braking system on 432, so when in Neutral, the carrier should also have parking brake applied, ie both tillers pulled back and locked. If the brake lights were live in this situation they would be on all the time parking brakes were applied. Cannot answer about the turn lights, but it may be because they recieve their power from same source as brake lights.

It is some while since working on 432 for the army, we had dedicated Sparkies who delved in this sort of thing, I was involved with the mechanical side of things.

Richard

[Gunner]

Thanks to all for the info. I'm back in Canada and have a month before heading off to Africa again.

Still hoping to get some info about the actual dipper switch and how to remove it.

I'll be passing through the UK on way to and from Ghana and wonder if there are any events on around 5 February or the week following 30 March?

Cheers! Mike

[Gunner]

Hi Guys:

I'm off to Accra Ghana for two months but Ken will still be working on the 432 dipper switch. Any help would be appreciated!

Cheers! Mike

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by Gunner
Hi Guys:

I'm off to Accra Ghana for two months but Ken will still be working on the 432 dipper switch. Any help would be appreciated!

Cheers! Mike

Stay safe and come home well, mate. Keep in touch as you can.