Cliff I have been corresponding with a chap in Sydney who actually drove them in the early 50's. He vaguely remembers such a two piece ladder/ramp on the deck area in the above image. He also remembers the tried and proven method of simply turning it loose and wait until it stops bouncing. In a Unit I was in we had an old International (long nose) semi trailer and the spare was bolted to the curved front section and we used a similar method to dismount the wheel.
There is no room for a ramp under the tyres in either compartment. There is a large pivoting arm mounted at the top of both which prevents lateral movement and each has a steel chock at the bottom with sliding bolts that accept a padlock to secure and hold the wheel in the other direction.
Re your "standard" CMP, 2 piece suggestion...here again I haven't seen an example. The images so far indicate a single piece construction. Add to this is the recent comment from the chap I mentioned above that they recently traded a spare wheel assembly from North Head and it had a single piece ramp. Rod
Quote:
Originally Posted by cliff
Rod I have looked at all my photos again and it appears the spare wheel sits higher then the compartment floor so perhaps it is one of 2 things.
First it may be just a short ramp to allow the crew to get the tyre down to a safer level to lift
or
It was a telescoping ramp in two parts unlike the normal CMP one.
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