What could possibly go wrong?

[Howard]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

...I can think of one where an enthusiast (no names no pack drill) decided to salvage a 6X6 ACCO in the outback. He thought he had worked out the ownership which was disputed as he towed it a long distance in low range first gear using a Land-Rover...

We could fill pages with stories from this one "Annonymous" enthusiast alone, couldn't we?!

[Ganmain Tony]

Ford 5000 Tractor we were trying to jump start yesterday. Battery had been in it since Moses played fullback for Jerusalem.

Crank it and cranked it and cranked it. Bastard would not fire. Took the inadequate leads off for a moment to let them cool off. Noted funny smell coming from battery on tractor.

Shouldve known better, as the song goes...but we tried to put the leads back on the battery didnt we???

One small spark and BOOM!! Not just a small one either...a real, ringing in the ear boom.
Not to mention myself and the bloke that attempted to put the leads back on got hot acid in our faces. Washed that off very very quickly and had a look at the battery.

Half the top completely blown off!!!

Lesson learnt...wont be doing that again in a hurry...

[Mike K]

I may be shot for this but:

A enthusiast playing with a Centurion tank in NSW got into strife . On a hill top, he missed a gear . It became a 50 ton billy cart and this chap was alone . It rolled down the hill and hit a small farm bridge over a creek at high speed . The driver was knocked out . He recovered .

[warren brown]

You can never be too careful - the older I get the more paranoid I've become.
A lot of you will remember Bob King, who was the president of the Australian Military Vehicle Collectors' Society - on a particularly rainy night while trying to negotiate the road into his property, his Landcruiser became stuck on a log (from what I remember) - Bob jacked it up and the Toyota slipped and killed him. It was a serious shock for everyone - Bob, ex ARES Major, owned a whole host of MVs - Studebaker, Acco Tipper, Land Rover Fire tender, Haflinger etc. been the club president for years, always led convoys on his army motorbike (Triumph I think - maybe even a WLA) and he'd be the first person to get stuck into you about vehicle safety. He chiaked me about not having flashing indicators on my jeep - his death has always stuck with me. How bloody terrible, awful and unlucky...
I love my vehicles - but there's a lot of metal in them...

[lynx42]

My father had a rear wheel bearing on a 1954 'R' type Bentley seize up and after removing the rear axle, placed the axle in a press and proceeded to try to press the bearing off.
He had the press up to 60+ tons when the phone rang in the house. Mum answered it and called Dad to the house to talk on the phone.
As he walked back to the shed across the back yard, there was a massive bang in the shed and bits of schrapnel came flying through the steel walls.
The bearing cup had exploded into many, many bits and would have killed the old man had he have been there and not called to the phone. He was very lucky.

Regards Rick

[hrpearce]

Mine is simmilar to Ganmain Tony's, I was modifying a front end loder from a Fordson to fit a Nuffield when a spark frim the angle grinder flew straight across the top of the battery, all the caps blew out and some of them ended up in three pieces. Fortunately the bonnet caught the flying parts and Dad and I escaped injury.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

"Why 8-year olds should not drive a tank!"

http://youtu.be/i7PgpcvHvYs

[Max Hedges]

a simple test we should all do is make sure that the brakes work
many a time I have jumped in an old vechile that has sat in the shed for a while and drove off to find out the fluid has drained from the master cylinder
one I recall was when we needed to jump start a car so a mate went and got the blitz from the shed and drove down our driveway to fast (ford ya see) and then no brakes, he took the corner at speed with the front wheels hiting a bump and then he managed to bounce around the corner we rushed over to him he was white as a shet but ok

[Bob Moseley (RIP)]

Hi all - the above procedure results with hydrogen gas being emitted. If this is not vented it can easily explode from a spark from one of the battery terminals. I know it to have happened, not me but another person who is lucky to be alive.

Bob

[hrpearce]

This is a good thread for farmers.
Over the years I've had several close calls,
I had a straight grained tree slab on me while falling it for a log.
Broke all the wheel studs and lost the rear wheel on a tractor.
Spun a rock out of the ground with a tractor that left me un two wheels for a frightening moment.
Almost had a dozer vertical climbing a creek bank fortunately the weight of the blade brought it back down with a bone shaking thud.
I now have a bad back as a result of falling 16' when the hay bale I was standing on rolled off the stack, I was 12 at the time.
And I have three pieces of metal and six screws in one finger after jamming it in a wood spliter.
After all this I'm still a farmer

[warren brown]

Max, you're so right about the brakes. Recently my brother and I towed my Willys MB out of storage with my Land Rover Defender - all very gentle and proper etc - to put on a trailer. Checked the jeep for everything, air in the tyres, made sure all the red back spiders were comfy - all good until we dragged the jeep up the hill, over the crest where despite my brother's best efforts the brakes had gone on leave, stopped only by Solihull Birmingham steel. Ouch. Defender okay but the jeep needs new bumper gussets - they're now a kind of steel/origami creation.

As for the '8 year old driving the tank' clip - apart from someones MV crunched - all those people wandering around as if it was some jolly funniest home video scenario. Lucky it happened to be an MV in the path of the 8 yo driver rather than someone's family...

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by warren brown

You can never be too careful - the older I get the more paranoid I've become.
A lot of you will remember Bob King, who was the president of the Australian Military Vehicle Collectors' Society - on a particularly rainy night while trying to negotiate the road into his property, his Landcruiser became stuck on a log (from what I remember) - Bob jacked it up and the Toyota slipped and killed him. It was a serious shock for everyone - Bob, ex ARES Major, owned a whole host of MVs - Studebaker, Acco Tipper, Land Rover Fire tender, Haflinger etc. been the club president for years, always led convoys on his army motorbike (Triumph I think - maybe even a WLA) and he'd be the first person to get stuck into you about vehicle safety. He chiaked me about not having flashing indicators on my jeep - his death has always stuck with me. How bloody terrible, awful and unlucky...
I love my vehicles - but there's a lot of metal in them...

It was a Harley WLA and he used to always wear those horsy riding britches or Jodpurs . I recall him driving his M37 Dodge with a 318 Chrysler V8 in it . It was the test M37, imported for evaluation in the late 1950's. He was a character for sure . We heard that he was coming home from bush fire fighting when the incident happened .