A leg out of bed

[Rusty]

Couldn't agree more, Alex.

Love those stories, very colourful, especially the fan blade one.

You could of course add any gear or bearing related stories - I've had trailer bearings turn into welders, then rapidly into disintegrators, and have also seen CMP transfer cases literally smashed apart through overloading or lack of lubricant

Was that the free trailer that I gave you Keefy, the one I told ya had been sitting in the paddock for the past 5 years without turning a wheel

[Robin Craig]

I was doing the final part of a very long day that included the opening of the Canadian War museum. That day had seen two mishaps already but at 1130 at night and within 2 kilometers of home base I had no premonition of any other failures.

We had unloaded a CVRT Spartan from the low boy trailer and were about to set of to the ferry that closed at 12 midnight. I had a young lad of about 16 in the commanders hatch. God only knows why, but with my Sgt Safety (what my youngest calls me) mindset I guess it wasn't surprising that I had briefed the lad that in the event of a "major event" and an order to dismount the vehicle he was to await the vehicle rolling to a stop and get out and off the vehicle quick sharp and not under any circumstances to attempt to come back for me. I would take a few moments longer to ratchet on the handbrake and throw the battery master.

So off we set tooling up through the gears on a summers night when all of a sudden black smoke appeared from the engine louvres on my right in massive volumes accompanied by a horrible rattling in the engine bay. Being a gasoline ( aka petrol ) powered engine I got in the i/c and told the lad that we were in trouble and to abandon the vehicle.

Rapid downshifting and brakes brought the vehicle to a halt.

In perfect fashion the young lad was out of the hatch and down the deck stepping over my head in an easy stride and onto the road as I threw the master battery switch and put the handbrake on and also alighted in jack rabbit fashion.

After waiting for flames which never appeared I ventured back to the vehicle

Opening the engine decks and peering in with a flashlight revealed a massive puddle of oil around the base of the engine. Inspection in the shop subsequent to the late night recovery showed that it had thrown a rod and smashed the oil pan.

To this day that experience has tempered my enthusiasm of driving gasoline powered armoured vehiciles when sitting beside the engine. I have a very hard time driving our CVRT Sabre as it is not easy to get out of.

Recently while investigating a fuel problem with our CVRW Fox we found that the bodger who "restored" the vehicle, whose fine handy work and attention to detail I have been combating for a while now to get it sorted, had left one thread on a fuel line nut as the only attachment to a stripped thread on a fuel selector tap. That sent a shiver down my spine and is the reason that one is coming fully apart before it turns into a Ronson recreation and kills someone.

R

[Chuck Anderson]

I was on the way home from a parade in my M20 armored car and pulling a steep hill when my #3 piston detonated. It blew shrapnal out of the bottom of the oil pan (and marking the spot for posterity). Scarey for me, but nowhere near what you guys are talking about!

[Mike Cecil]

Robin,

Your (potentially) wayward petrol stories remind me of part of an interview I did with an Armoured Corps officer, wherein he related how a fellow 2Lt had climbed into a Centurion driver's position to move the vehicle (late 1950s). It had a petrol leak, where a fair amount of the said combustible had gathered in the lower hull. He hit the starter, and the vehicle erupted in a flash of flame, the force of which lifted him bodily from the drivers seat. He impacted the edge of the hatch opening (he had the seat in the down position). Result: some burns but very severe skull damage. Scratch one promising career.

You are so right to never underestimate the power of MOGAS!

Mike C