Powered by a Mercury side valve engine with one at the back trailer axle for added power, can you imagine putting your life on the reliability of hydraulic hoses?

Onetrack is right. Don't make it anymore complicated than it needs to be. Some of you blokes are confusing driving licences with vehicle registration categories.

why post the same link?

And of course, you can drive any 'smaller' class of vehicle than the highest on your licence. A Multi-Combination means you can drive road trains, B doubles and triples, Semi trailers, body trucks, down to cars. Motorcycles are separate.

Then of course there are laws which say where and when you can drive these classes of vehicles.

Australian states have had a national system of heavy vehicle driving licences for years now. There may be very minor variations, but we are all under the same scheme essentially.

so just to add to the confusen, why repeat what's just been said ?


Vehicle registartion categories has a direct link to the licensing requirements...
otherwise why would there be any classes at all????



Re: Licences
Reply #7 - Today at 21:33:42
Heavy Combination (HC)
You may drive a prime mover or single semi trailer exceeding 9 tonne


Heavy Rigid (HR)
You may drive any rigid vehicle with three or more axles, including bus or truck

a prime mover is not a rigid, a rigid has a body fitted...

I'm with Adam, it isn't a semi trailer until the trailer is hooked up. To state the obvious, if you are driving a truck that is registered as a B double or a road train with one trailer behind it, you only require a HC license, hook the extra trailer up and you need an MC. Same as you can drive a bus with a HR license as long as you arn't carrying passengers. In Queensland, you can drive a prime mover with out a trailer with a HR license, covering up the turntable is something I've never heard of.

Heavy Combination (HC)
You may drive a prime mover or single semi trailer exceeding 9 tonne, or rigid vehicle plus trailer greater than 9 tonnes GVM. A Mass and Dimension permit may also be required. Check with VicRoads by calling 13 11 71.
To apply for this category you must have held an Australian car driver licence for at least 24 months, including Medium Rigid or Heavy Rigid licence for at least 12 months

Heavy Rigid (HR)
You may drive any rigid vehicle with three or more axles, including bus or truck, greater than 8 tonnes GVM. You may tow a single trailer (other than a semi trailer) up to 9 tonne GVM or to the manufacturer's specifications (whichever is less).
To apply for this category you must have held an Australian car driver licence for at least 24 months.

www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/Licences/Ot...icencecategories.htm

You blokes could look up the authority in your state and get the answer first hand instead of second guessin !

Its a prime mover!!!


Enjoy

This is one of the 3 trucks I used in the last days of the mail being carried by semi, Len Tuit had ordered a new bus and large trailer to incorporate both passengers and mail, so we kept these 3 going until the bus was ready, two 5 cylinder Gardners and an Inter k6 petrol motor. It was len Tuit who nicknamed me horse, though I was built more like a kangaroo dog, (the ribs part anyway!), I used to leave Alice after unloading the mail off the Ghan on Saturday afternoon, head off to Tennant Creek to catch the coach leaving for Mt Isa, didn't always make it!! Used to stop halfway on top of the Barrow Creek jumpup for a nap, just used to lie down on the ground and sleep until uncomfortable, then drive on, one night I must have rolled to the edge of the bitumen probably 'cos it's warmer. Bob Foster and Don Merz came up the hill with one of Fleetowners road trains and saw my truck and me asleep so pulled up right over the top of me, waking up looking at the sump of an 8 cylinder gardner thumping away was a trip!

Little_red - Be aware, before you proceed further, that Cat engines from the 3208 era, are set up for at least 6 basic configurations. The basic configurations are ..

1. Vehicular ..
2. Construction ..
3. Genset ..
4. Industrial ..
5. Marine ..
6. Fire pump ..

You can tell by the engine S/N or "arrangement number" what the engine was originally set up for. Many people make the mistake of trying to convert from one configuration to another.
This is a costly trap, because all Cat engines have the same basic components .. but when the engine is built to a certain configuration, all the components added, only suit that configuration.

Thus, a marine engine can have a different crank, camshaft, turbo, pistons, rings, manifolds, injectors, injection pump .. to say, a vehicle engine.
In addition, a Cat road vehicle engine will have lightweight (alloy) components such as sump, flywheel housing, and numerous other castings.

If the engine you've acquired is configured as a road vehicular engine .. well and good. It will have all the correct components for automotive use.

The 3208 is basically a good little engine, but they have weaknesses. They were redesigned in 1981 to try and address the weaknesses of the early engines.
Their worst fault is they like to throw conrods with gay abandon .. with highly destructive results.
The worst engine blow-up I have ever seen was a 3208 in a Steiger tractor. A rod let go and it took a chunk out of the block in the "V" that you could put your head through.
It broke the crankshaft, took a chunk out of the camshaft, and the conrod also knocked the fuel pump off. The engine was just scrap.

The reason the 3208's let rods go is mostly ..

1. Overloading. These engines are rated at a MAXIMUM of 70,000lbs GCM (31760 kg). Many greedy people started pulling tri-axle semis, dog trailers, and 44 tonne GCM's with them.
They won't stand this amount of overloading for very long.

2. Over-revving. They don't stand over-revving for very long. The lower HP versions do 3200 RPM, the higher HP versions are rated at 2800 RPM, and the turbo versions are rated at 2600 RPM.
You have to abide by those limits, unless you want a block ventilated.

3. Trying to run them too long before overhaul. These are a 5000 hr motor. Cat actually measure the life of a 3208 by the amount of fuel used.
15,000-20,000 U.S. gallons (57,000-76,000 litres) used by the engine, is the life of the bottom end of a 3208, before it needs a bearing roll.
25,000-30,000 U.S. gallons (95,000-114,000 litres) used is the recommended limit before total rebuild. Abide by these overhaul limits, and you won't have any problems.

The important parts of 3208 overhaul are ..

1. Check liners for electrolysis. 3208's are the engine most prone to electrolysis in the Cat engine range.
2. Abide by all wear limits strictly on overhaul. This means measuring EVERY component to see if it meets re-useability specs.
3. Conrods MUST be reconditioned, crack-tested, tested for twist, bends, stretch, and checked for weight. The mating faces of the conrods and caps must be ground, and the bearing bores checked for concentricity.
4. Use GENUINE Cat gudgeon (wrist pin) bushings. The genuine Cat gudgeon bushings are the only way to avoid blow-ups.
Numerous aftermarket bushings are known to not have the same quality as genuine Cat wrist pin bushings, and any "slop" developing in these bushings will commence rapid engine destruction.
5. Serious bore wear outside specs means the block has to be sleeved. This is a highly satisfactory repair, as long as it's done properly.
Cat use block re-sleeving on their 3208 remanufacturing production line in Bettendorf, Iowa, for remanufactured 3208's, and they guaranteed these engines.

Ensure that you acquire the correct parts book for the engine, that matches the S/N. This way, you will know exactly what the correct part numbers are, when parts are required.
There are hundreds of variations in most components on the 3208.

Cutting Edges are a highly satisfactory source of 3208 parts. Select good quality, U.S. aftermarket brands for the engine kit. Make sure you get the injection pump checked out, and reconditioned if need be .. and ensure that you fit new injectors, new valve guides, new valves, and crack test and machine the heads and block, so mating surfaces are spot on. It will also pay to check the bearing tunnel alignment in the block.

Remember, the life you get from an engine depends on just how much care is taken in measuring, checking, and in assembly. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Cheers - Ron.

Mammoth,

I am not sure about that - I think the LD 55 was a new development taking off where the Majestic left. It was intended to be used primarily as a tipper and the first ones had single rear tyres. The also tried to market them as (African) bush semi-trailer tractors. By that time AEC was a part of the rotting Leyland empire and the LD55 was another model not properly developed or marketed. Who knows what might have been if AEC remained independent and the V8 was sorted from the start... Picture one of them with reliable 350hp and a sleeper in 1970 - a tractor unit to compete with the US offerings?

Cheers,

T

I seriously doubt whether you would be able to find any new vacuum braking equipment. Vacuum braking stuff went out of fashion in the 1970's. Vacuum trailer brakes are slow acting, and not particularly good at stopping.

At one time .. say mid-1960's .. PBR built a massive range of hand controls, vacuum and air braking boosters, tanks, valves, and God knows what else. They now only make a 1/4 of what they built, back then.

I have the 1965 PBR catalogue "Power Brake Equipment for buses, trucks & semi-trailers" (PB3 catalogue). This catalogue runs to nearly 65 pages. There are even trailer boosters with both air and vacuum booster operation.

Virtually none of this vacuum stuff would be available now, it would have nearly all been phased out 30 years ago. You will have to source old vacuum equipment from wrecks and recondition it.

You will need ..

1. A model PV100A combination hand & foot control valve ..
2. A model PV86 oil bath air cleaner with integral check valve (for vacuum supply line) ..
3. A truck-mounted hydro power unit ..
4. A VH5B reaction valve (connects to truck vacuum tank, hydropower unit, and control valve) ..
5. A PV48A combination relay, tank and brake valve. This valve relays the vacuum to the trailer and applies the brakes if the truck and trailer separate.
6. One VH54 vacuum/hydraulic master cylinder for each trailer axle ..
7. A vacuum tank for the trailer (for emergency braking and quicker brake response) ..

You blokes on the right coast, must have some kind of special pull to get that page to come up .. because nothing I can do, will bring it up .. :'(
Then again .. most left-coasters would agree with me .. that a lot of the right coasters, are some of the biggest pullers around ..

You're right there, Cam .. I reckon that brakeman would have made Indiana Jones look tame, when it came to baling out of a moving train ..

Thast's the one Swishy.

BiG C
GuddayM8

Must apoligize for the unlearned joker on the left

may B he can't find these

http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=50340&stc=1&d=1232092354

LOL

HereWeGo



WotSayU

LOL

Cya

[ch9787]

Cam - I can't find that story in that preview. Google tells me the story is on page 124 .. but page 124 is not part of that preview ..

Ron, did you read the bit on the Don River railways in that extract? the brakeman must have been taking big steps.

Another interesting book is the book entitled .. "Comeng: A History of Commonwealth Engineering, 1921-1955" .. By John C. Dunn.

There is a preview of this book available on Google (link below) .. and it shows a heap of articulated buses built during WW2.
These buses were mostly built by Comeng to haul miners, as increased mining of coal and metals was crucial to Australia's war effort.
Probably not surprisingly .. the Whites and Fords fitted as prime movers to these rigs, were deemed seriously underpowered .. so a number of AEC Matadors were hooked to the bus trailers.


Comeng: A History of Commonwealth Engineering, 1921-1955 By John C. Dunn .. books.google.com.au/books?id=yJXEiRvswoI...ted%20bus%22&f=false