New off roading toy))

[Ditch]

It's a free country Charles and John can waste his time and money in any way he wants but I think there has to be some sort of logic in a project for it to be worth starting. Like I said there are people on this forum that could get good value out of a monster off-road dumper but John freely admits that he won't do anything with it.

From a cost point of view he is devaluing a perfectly good dumper and Cat engine and when he has finished with it he might get money back on the engine provided it is still undamaged and scrap value for the rest. He won't get to test it properly, share extreme driving with anyone or compete in any competitions.

To me that seems completely pointless. Obviously I will be interested to see how it develops but I guess that the best we can expect for is a youtube video of it pulling a tree out of a river. Not exactly worth waiting for and very disappointing.

As for jealous Charles you are way off the mark. Given that amount of time and money I could think of thousands of better projects. Quite honestly I would rather see John and his family in a chopped up Disco at the forum rally or pay and play day than wasting his time and money on this but hey, it's a free country .

[paulob1]

money wasted, crikey i have spent over 20 k just maintaining my trucks, i have now bought a maintenance company to look after them, the purchase price for the gear is well into five figures but I do have a fleet of well used vehicles, they are all put to some use on site...am still not quite where i want to be vehicle wise but am sure that there is a time.

I think the dumper project is a good idea, and will pRoduce a very interesting vehicle, shame I DIDNT GET THE ENGINE THOUGH...

[Ditch]

That's totally different to John's project. You're building a potential business Paul. When you sort out the museum and quarry thousands of people will get pleasure out of them. The way I see it restoring and improving the capital value of the vehicles and preserving them makes sense.

I also think the dumper would make a great off-road vehicle, never doubted that, so why not use it for something better than bouncing round a few fields and a bit of farm work? Seems rude not to

[Abrs]

No offense meant here Ditch but FFS get a life & let me live mine will ya - Also a couple of points here as the project seems to bother you so much; firstly I think you've totally misunderstood why I wanted to undertake it in the first place - as I've already said it's mostly about the build, and no it won't just be trundling around a field when it's done, we're not exactly short of testing terrain up here in N.Wales . Secondly it's not really a total waste of money as I didn't pay much for the machine in the first place, it would break for more than I paid for it even after I've molested it, plus whatever scrap there is.

Also if you think I'm being mean by keeping it to myself then you are more than welcome to pop up and have a play when it's done, it would be nice to meet with you again face to face.

[Ditch]

Odd. I thought we were discussing a project not stopping you living your life. I was just expressing an opinion and, let's face it, we've all got one.

Anyway, enjoy the build, test it hard in Wales and share the videos. Everyone's a winner.

[acmatman]

on a much needed lighter note ,today is St.Patricks day so I have just returned from a 60mile spin in my MK1 Ferret (1953) great fun but used nearly €50 worth of petrol regards Robin

[KarlJ]

Yes, Happy St Patrick's Day Robin! I can't think of a better way to celebrate

[marcus]

Hope you enjoyed your spin out in the Ferret I personally will be tipping a few pints of the black stuff down my neck! Nearly as expensive Back to the dumper thing, these are awesome in the mud but quite top heavy Always wanted a telehandler to modify, anyone know of one with a bent stick going cheap ;) Tis a shame the dumper thing isn't coming to the meet, would of loved to put it up against my modified zil for much pi$$ taking, probably not in my favour

[Abrs]

Odd. I thought we were discussing a project not stopping you living your life.

Huhu. Don't worry Ditch, I'm just messin with you.

Tis a shame the dumper thing isn't coming to the meet, would of loved to put it up against my modified zil

Sounds interesting - What sort of mods have you done?

[marcus]

Nothing too serious as it is a fully road legal tractor Have fitted double diaphram brake chambers to one axle and plumbed up second chamber for fiddle brakes, works very well Need four more double diaphram chambers to do all wheels and sort some sort of manual traction control Also put two air bags on middle axle to push down to stop grounding out on gearbox, big problem on my zil. Moved fuel tank up onto chassis (no brainer ) Spend a few dollar on building full rollcage (bit expensive for a air horn mount) but looks the dogs gonads Also fitted a chinese tamagotchy ebay 17,000lbs winch on the rear! bit dubious about that but hey ho, it was cheap Other than that it's a standard zil Behind the dumper on your original picture is a Tatra, is it a runner? Never seen one in the flesh, are they as good as they look on various utube clips?

[Abrs]

The Zil mods sound promising - are you going as far as changing tyres or making any chassis alterations etc?

The Tatra runs.....occasionally , if I'm honest it spends most of its time just sitting around in the corner of yards until the odd time when it is called on to perform a winching operation(stuck machines/tress etc), which it carries out effortlessly on most occasions

Performance wise it is quite impressive for a 15 tonne truck, although it can get bogged down fairly easily on softer ground, it's just a tad too heavy sometimes, on hard ground though it's unstoppable - and it can climb some quite impressive grades, though I am careful about taking it on side slopes at the moment as it has no roll cage and a big heavy hiab type crane on the back which makes it a bit top heavy.

[KarlJ]

The Tatra would make a nice transporter for your new toy! At least it gets used occasionally, better than not at all or sitting in a museum or scrap yard.

[marcus]

Chassis mods are minimal, just moved the rear cross member forward and removed any chassis stuck out behind the tyres. Looked at putting a rear prop in instead of the middle one and moving axle bogie forward to shorten whole thing 13 inches (i think) but flanges on rear axles are different to each other so lost interest in that one for the time being Also looked at spreading rear axles to fit 14,s on but again was too much work at the mo.

[Ditch]

Are you going to put some ballast on the back Marcus? Always looked a bit light to me.

[marcus]

Once the spare wheel is mounted, probably on the rear of the cage I will see how much room I have left. Would like to put one of those IBC? containers on the rear so I could road it empty and fill it on site, also drive a pump off the PTO for filling it and washing down sort of Or just sling some tractor weights in the chassis and pay the fuel bill Hi Ditch, somewhere on the forum is how to put photos up but I can't find it Would be nice if I could put some pictures on here of my dumper trumper

[Ditch]

http://www.russianmilitarytrucks.com/ph ... =40&t=1827
You can do it with an attachment but the photos are much better with photobucket.

Filling the tank at Wagtails would have to be done from the bowser or the pond as the dribble from the hose by the toilets would take the entire weekend to fill. PTO pump sounds great. I must have brought home about half a ton of Wagtails mud stuck to the Gaz the first rally we were there.

[Abrs]

Chassis mods are minimal, just moved the rear cross member forward and removed any chassis stuck out behind the tyres. Looked at putting a rear prop in instead of the middle one and moving axle bogie forward to shorten whole thing 13 inches (i think) but flanges on rear axles are different to each other so lost interest in that one for the time being Also looked at spreading rear axles to fit 14,s on but again was too much work at the mo.

Huhu I didn't know that about the flanges - Agree though about the length of the Zil as an off roader, you wouldn't miss a foot or so out of the middle!

Also agree about tyres, personally I would probably go for wider tyres as opposed to taller, especially on the front as the Zil is a little nose heavy and tends to sink on softer ground. However I think ballast is also a good idea for the rear, although I would avoid using a liquid unless you ensure you fill the tank completely and it's a nice low tank to keep the centre of gravity lower, Solid weights are probably the most practical in this respect.

[paulob1]

taller tyres arent possible so i was thinking of fitting soomething like a super single but is from where do you get them...I was having thoughts of fitting two wheels as you know with tracks but that has its issues too, marcus mods are superb, I especially like the air bag on the chassis to stop it from bottoming out although there must be a case for lifting the chassis a tad at the rear by mounting the suspension lower down, this would tilt the chassis forward then fit bigger front tyres and bang you have more frontal clearance...was my plan anyway.,..shorter chassis, higher suspension mounts along with bigger front tyres and with the locked diffs it would be pretty good I would have thought...and with the front winch mounted almost unstoppable...

I collect the toy on wednesday and will be working on her every weekend from now on to get her ready for the meet, doubt she will be ready but I WILL TRY...

[Abrs]

Cmon then Paul spill the beans, what new toy?

[marcus]

Know what you mean about the full tank, a few hundred kilos of water sloshing about would probably tip the old girl over Also an IBC tank is 1m x1m x1m so not really gonna help with the center of gravity The single air bag is gonna have another one mounted along side it as one only just takes the pressure off the tyres, also might make an identical frame for the rear axle to do the same but need some sort of lock out to prevent me snapping the rear springs by blowing all 4 bags up at once As for putting a zil on 14,s I looked again today, need to extend all the rods( lot of work) and gonna need longer springs, would look awesome but is probably too much work, maybe this winters project The diff flanges are different but are the splines they're on the same? Anyone had the rear axles apart and noticed? Shortening the wheelbase is definatly on the agenda and if I can use standard props all the better Might try putting some photos up later but need Guinness now