Registry of Ex Military Land Rovers
International Trucks => International Truck Chat => International F1, F2 & F5 => Topic started by: Tommy on September 29, 2013, 11:59:16 AM
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Thought we should have a thread specifically showing photos of the F1 with Abbey crane.
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One for sale recently.
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F1 crane truck used as a recovery vehicle, Luscombe Field, Nui Dat, SVN.
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Nice pics.
161 Recce Flight LAD initially operated two 4x4 Inters equipped with cranes, later to be replaced with the one pictured: an F1 equipped with a HIAB Model 174 with a 3 tonne lift capacity. There is an image of it lifting a Bell 47 on page 200 of 'Mud and Dust'.
Mike C
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Mike,
Do you have any further information on the 4x4 internationals with crane? If they were based on a Mk3 they must have been heavily modified and would be rarer than the elusive Mk3 tipper.
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I'll have to go hunting: it's been nearly 5 years since I wrote M&D, and I don't deal with Inters on a daily basis! I seem to remember they were specials for 161 Recce Flight, but I'll have to check.
Mike C
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Here are some more pics of the F1 which is listed in the for sale section, showing POL holders behind rear wheel and interesting speedo. the owner bought this truck from the moorebank auctions it is remarkably complete with the exception of the perkins transplant. The speedo is interesting, having 3 B workshop printed on the dial, being 100mph would indicate an early rebuild, the crane was delivered in 1975 surprising that when fitted the speedo wasn't changed to kph. I wasn't able to determine the chassis no, it was roughly stamped and covered with crud, but may have started with 3 which would indicate a replacement chassis, but doesn't explain the rough stamping.
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It is an interesting point that many of these trucks seem to have been recorded as having had chassis replacements, yet given the strength of the chassis, relative to the size and capacity of the trucks, this is almost inconceivable, perhaps save for the crane trucks, where the chassis takes a real hiding.
Expect this really means, one truck was scrapped and parts salvaged from it to repair others.
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A couple of issues, the chassis on the F2 is stronger than the chassis on the F1, it is why the F5 were retrofits from F2 and not from F1.
If you watch the trucks off road there is a significant amount of twisting of the chassis and the reason for the replacement is often that during rebuild the chassis was sent off to the chassis shop for repair. Sometimes is was replacing loose rivets, sometime replacing a whole twisted rail.
The fact that chassis get swapped may not necessarily be that the original was scrapped, but just it wasn't ready when the truck was being built back up, so they used a chassis that had been repaired. Some chassis were too badly damaged and were scrapped.
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While on the subject of chassis repair and replacement, my F2 which was used in vietnam, has been refitted into a F1, part of the refit was the extension of the chassis, it was a very professional job and installation of F1 fittings would indicate an army rebuild, however I have no proof that the chassis extension was prior to disposal.
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Certainly the tippers worked hard in Vietnam, though some here would have first hand knowledge of this, better than mine, but most chassis flex off road, save for rigid land rovers. Some chassis were also destroyed by the winch. It is a powerful unit.
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Think WW2 jeep, chassis flex assists traction.
Have used my 6x6's and 4x4 off road in rugged conditions for around 25 years, often loaded up more than the army would have done and cannot see even the slightest damage. The chassis are perfect. Infact the trucks are so over engineered, nothing goes wrong. I was warned by Chris Watson that the winches can wreck the chassis when I bought my first 6x6.
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Interestingly, the NZ Inter's spear to be fitted with Hiab cranes. 2200kg up short and 1100 at full reach.
I'll add a photo of mine as soon as I figure out how.
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There were two configurations for the crane trucks, census numbers were 6221 B/10 & 6221 B/11 I think the B/10 was the HIAB.
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Ok, mine is listed as a B10 so that would be right.
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Just found this...
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P08298.008
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None of the truck cranes used had pull out outriggers,and that combined with the height of the chassis,would have made using them quite tricky.Once the truck is tipped over the outrigger ground point,it quickly becomes unstable.Every 4x4 I have seen fitted with a crane has had some chassis damage,usually a downward bend at the fixed anchor point.As mentioned ,a winch accident can destroy a 4x4 chassis in about 10 seconds after drive off.The 6x6 chassis is double wrapped,and probably close to twice as strong.Tippers with a full(about 4cu yd) load put a lot of stress on the rear suspension ,and you can hear creaking and groaning as you drive slowly on rough ground.The 6x6 winch has an ignition cutout,so damage caused would be pretty intentional.(The 4x4 has a shear pin)