48-010

[Dervish]

Hi All,

My hope is that I will be able to put all of my research relating to the Perentie I have just bought into this thread, in the hope that it can be guided and informed by the veritable treasure trove of knowledge stockpiled in the REMLR membership.

Being the 10th Perentie supplied to the ADF - and just the 4th Cargo - it is an early example. I plan to drive it around and enjoy it exactly as is, but if I change it at all it will only be to bring it back to how it was when it was first delivered to the army in 1987.

Current condition:

At some point the vehicle has been made over, with a new tub (minus the three larger canvas tie downs along the top), a bullbar that doesn't seem to belong to the rest of the vehicle and a new canvas top. Speculation was that the makeover was for the auction, although the condition of the paint (not great) indicates that isn't the case and that the vehicle wore this irregular cam pattern during at least some of it's life in service.





If anyone has any information about 48-010, please put it down in this thread. I'll be posting up as much of the vehicle history as I can find, starting with the service records. Actually, starting with the information required for the membership form!  I've scoured the images here on REMLR and (unsurprisingly) can't find any of the vehicle in service.

There was another parted out vehicle in the recent auctions with the skin from one side of the tub removed, perhaps it was parted out to repair those one, and repainted by AFM ??

Matt

The camo paint on your 010 looks fairly fresh and untouched. It also looks very neat (unlike many army Land Rover schemes) . If Dave is correct in saying the tub appears to be a replacement, the pattern may be the work of an aspiring decorator/spray painter when repainting the entire vehicle. The canopy also looks to be new so maybe the vehicle has had a makeover.

Edit: I notice that there are a few scratches on your Landy. By the looks of it, there is white paint exposed under these scratches. Is this correct?

Thank you gentlemen for your insight, I'll answer your questions/clarify when I get my hands on the truck on Monday. I should've paid more attention to the service records when I was perusing them, at the time I thought this truck would go for a price I wouldn't have paid - luckily it didn't!

[Tommy]

G'day Dervish

I am so happy that this vehicle has been bought by someone who appreciates it's heritage.

In relation to photographs, there seems to be a distinct lack of photos of the Perenties for some reason. You would think in this day of digital cameras and photos that there would be a plethora of photos on the net .

There has been the odd early style bullbar advertised on eBay over the years. Maybe a swap with an early bullbar 'owner' would be a good option as I suspect that your bullbar is a desired object.

Good luck with your research. I look forward to the posts in this thread.

[Phoenix]

As Tommy said before, you have the later style bar that was fitted to a lot of vehicles.  It's fairly rare to see many of the original style bar.

Any photos that I have in the archive are noted in the database, and while I am still working through the photos that I have and adding them to the database, there aren't as many as earlier vehicles, but they despite digital photography, they appear to have been photographed less than their predecessors, but then their predecessors have had a few decades for the photos to find the light of day.  More will show up of the perenties over time, and if you are registered, I will know who to email to say that we have a photo of your vehicle!

[Dervish]

Well, I have good news and bad news...

The good news is that the Perentie is in fantastic condition, it's great fun to chug around in with it's torquey 4BD1 and very little weight. Everything works perfectly and the canvas is in particularly good nick (it's stamped March 2013!)

The bad news? No logbook. I could've sworn I'd looked at it, but I flicked through them all so I must've been mistaken. Apparently there was no logbook supplied by the army and so none for me. Oh well.

When I went to pick it up they took a while to bring it out because the battery was flat. Somebody had turned the heater fan on on one of the inspection days and it had run flat  I know because the was still on when the Perentie switched off for the first time. Why exactly don't the fans switch off with the ignition??

The second hiccup was that 10 minutes away from the pickup site, the thing spluttered and died. Naturally, this was not a pleasant experience. Also, I've had no experience with 4BD1s before. I knew there was a fuel supply problem, but I didn't know where it was likely to be from. I also had no tools! After much... consternation shall we say, I checked the fuel filter. It looked ok - but not fantastic, so I thought that must be the problem (blocked). A call to a friend later and we had a new filter. Screw it on and go to prime...

Some peanut had left the primer slightly unscrewed so it was sucking air into the fuel lines! Argh! So I primed it up and away we went, flawlessly  Alls well that ends well I suppose.

So now it's time to start bringing it back to top condition. You'll see I've posted a wanted ad for the missing locking tab in the pintle hook, which will be my first project. All it will need is a quick coat of paint, but I'll probably pull it apart anyway because that's the kind of thing I love doing 



I'm still tossing up whether to keep the unusual Auscam or to put it back into Olive Drab. Either way the paint will need some attention; despite how it looks in photos, it really is pretty average. The outcome of that decision will influence whether I decide to chase an "old-style" brush guard or not.

To answer an earlier question, there's no white under the Auscam. There are two distinct layers, Auscam which is flaking and the OD. Also, I'm beginning to doubt that the tub has been replaced at all - it's very straight but it still has OD on it? Unfortunately without the service book I doubt I'll ever know.

I'll leave you with a photo of the Perentie at it's new home.

[FFRMAN]

Great thread, keep it coming,

If you spray lanolin onto the paint it comes up like new! You can buy it from super cheap auto etc. There is a thread about it here somewhere in the perentie section.

I hope you keep the unusual camo job, it is unique

Cheers
Scott

[aussiegregmac]

At least a year or two ago someones got a post and a how to for the locking tag that they made on their Pintle Hitch.
I can't remember where, probably mechanical or similiar but not Perentie.  Seemed like a good job and easier than trying to find one.  I don't think Pvt Bloggs would have stored them as I think it was policy for them not to be locking.
Happy looking.
Greg Mac.

[Dervish]

Great thread, keep it coming,

If you spray lanolin onto the paint it comes up like new! You can buy it from super cheap auto etc. There is a thread about it here somewhere in the perentie section.

I hope you keep the unusual camo job, it is unique

Cheers
Scott

Thanks Scott, I do think that the Auscam scheme it has is particularly striking (not the best outcome for camouflage, mind you  ). It's good to know where you stand on the Auscam vs. OD issue, I have to admit I'm leaning that way myself. Good tip about the lanolin, but many of the panels have cracks in the paint either through to the Olive Drab or to the aluminium. No amount of lanolin will fix that.

At least a year or two ago someones got a post and a how to for the locking tag that they made on their Pintle Hitch.
I can't remember where, probably mechanical or similiar but not Perentie.  Seemed like a good job and easier than trying to find one.  I don't think Pvt Bloggs would have stored them as I think it was policy for them not to be locking.
Happy looking.
Greg Mac.

I'll have a look for that thread - thanks for the tip. I've got an offer for one, so we'll see how that goes. Working with that grade of steel is definitely beyond my capabilities but I have a friend who may be able to make one up for me. It will come down to a cost/hassle analysis, as usual.

Today I periodically snuck away from festivities to paint the pintle hook after disassembling and cleaning it last night. It's a completely straight-forward job. I noted with interest that the unit was once camouflage green.



So even my pintle hook was unusual colours. I sprayed it up with Wattyl Kill Rust epoxy paint as it is supposed to be hard wearing, and packed it with a ton of grease. Here's the result.



Not too shabby, if I do say so myself 

Next up on the to-do list, the fold out lifting points on the rear crossmember. It might be a while before I get time for that though.

A question for the knowledgeable, what do the numbers sprayed on my TAC plate holders (same front and rear) mean? LR on one, 4218 on the other.



And I'll leave you with another photo of the Perentie.

[303Gunner]

A question for the knowledgeable, what do the numbers sprayed on my TAC plate holders (same front and rear) mean? LR on one, 4218 on the other.

The L/R means the vehicle was from the Loan Register, not "Owned" by a particular unit, and the 4218 is the 4 digit "Christmas tree" number that identifies the unit using the vehicle. Still a mystery which units many of these numbers actually represent.

[pvp89]

You might be able to get some of the mechanical details without a logbook if you have a mate who can search the ARN via the appropriate channels   

[Dervish]

You might be able to get some of the mechanical details without a logbook if you have a mate who can search the ARN via the appropriate channels   

Well that begs the question, do I have a mate willing to search this vehicle's particulars for me? There's a six pack in it for anyone who can!

[Dervish]

Quick post today.

This morning I decided to do something about my locker key, which was looking a little worse for wear. Upon close inspection, it bore the initials DNSDC; that is, the Defence National Storage Distribution Centre at Moorebank. So either my Perentie spent a large period of time wasting away beside the M5, or they threw any old locker key in with the truck. It does seem that the bits in each vehicle at the auctions belong to the vehicle though. Here's my start point:



Thankfully I still had my ultra-sophisticated-sounding-but-really-just-tupperware zinc electroplating apparatus at hand. After a bit of scrubbing with some steel wool a few 30 minute cycles of plating, I got this:



Should stop the rust coming back in the foreseeable future. I wish I had more to put up, but life has gotten in the way the last few weeks 

[FFRMAN]

HI,

Mine was at DNSDC for the last 20 years of it's life, it has LR on one TAC plate holder and 4218 on the other - same as yours. I've got the GM120/service book.

Mine also has DNSDC printed on the canopy

Regards
Scott

[Dervish]

HI,

Mine was at DNSDC for the last 20 years of it's life, it has LR on one TAC plate holder and 4218 on the other - same as yours. I've got the GM120/service book.

Mine also has DNSDC printed on the canopy

Regards
Scott

Hi Scott,

Thanks for that info, looks like our Perenties knew each other in their past lives. I'm glad such a tiny clue lead to all that information! I went looking for pictures of your FFR after you said it had the same unit markings. Well, I can't seem to find any. It would be nice to see it - have I missed them or are there none up yet?

[FFRMAN]

HI,

Mine was at DNSDC for the last 20 years of it's life, it has LR on one TAC plate holder and 4218 on the other - same as yours. I've got the GM120/service book.

Mine also has DNSDC printed on the canopy

Regards
Scott

Hi Scott,

Thanks for that info, looks like our Perenties knew each other in their past lives. I'm glad such a tiny clue lead to all that information! I went looking for pictures of your FFR after you said it had the same unit markings. Well, I can't seem to find any. It would be nice to see it - have I missed them or are there none up yet?

Hi, I'll post some up for you soon. Also in the MElb auction coming up there is one with DNSDC on the canopy and 4218 on the TAC

cheers

[Dervish]

I got to spend a bit of time with the Perentie today, which is a welcome change because normally SWMBO is driving it. She loves the thing to bits, except when she has to park it!

Anyway, had to move a fridge – so the back section of the canvas had to come off.





While the canvas was off I took the opportunity to replace the rivets holding the rear canvas tie down points on as they were quite loose.



After today’s experience I think a canvas ‘truck cab’ type arrangement might be on the cards – that way it can be used as a ute and the original canvas can be stored somewhere out of the weather. I’ll have to look around for someone up to the task.

I enjoy driving this thing so much – wish I got more of an opportunity to use it. I guess I need another Perentie…