Power Plant Electric Trailer Mounted Dual 2.5kVA

[mike_k]

I have been asked by one of our esteemed REMLR Life Members to put a bit of a post concerning my Covid project from 2020.

The story starts a few years ago in Toolern Vale Victoria, at the enormous pile of kit that was Ian Tankards collection.

Quietly rusting away in the grass between the old orchard trees was a pile of rusty metal that was the remains of a number of genset frames for the No5 trailer.

Not in very good condition, the outdoor environment had not been too kind over the years.

I remember taking a few photos and moving on to see what else was there.

[mike_k]

Fast forwarding a couple of years to 2020, I saw some of these again at a friends property.

He ended up purchasing most of them from Toolern Vale as all the gear was slowly sold off.

One of the frames was still in reasonably good condition, all of the others were rusted out. I guess the good one was on top of all the others, not touching the ground.

A quick deal later, and it was in my No5 trailer on the way home on a very wet and cold winter night. Torrential rain meant that it had a good wash, the first in a long time!

Here is a photo of the remains of the frames on the way out of Toolern Vale, and one of the good one on arrival at my shed.

[mike_k]

Also included was a number of what we initially thought were support legs. And some poles and other bits and pieces.

It turns out that these are actually canopy supports, as the 4 jerry can holders in each corner are higher than the trailer tub by a fair way.

They are fixed by the 2 long rods, and there are 2 extentsion poles for the canopy bow.

This means that the trailer canopy is considerably bigger than a standard No5 one, to clear the frame.

Eventually I worked out (with a bit of REMLR help), how the canopy frame goes together, and what all the parts are for.

This thing is seriously over engineered, in typical 1970s military style.

It is designed to fit into any No5, and is secured by the 12 captive nuts inside the tub on each wheel arch.

All of the canopy extension parts stow in the frame when not in use.

Starting to come together now,

[mike_k]

Here is a photo of the frame after a bit of a clean up in the trailer.

The canopy supports are in the stowage in this shot.

All of the clamps for the gensets were rusted solid, they all took a fair bit of persuasion (heat, hammers and wd 40) before they would move.

The next stage after unseizing every thing was to get it ready for paint.

[mike_k]

After disassembly, pretty much everything just needed to be cleaned up and was ready to reuse.

With the expert help of another REMLR member, who is absolutely the best welder and fabricator that I know, He sandblasted everything and got the paintwork done.

A couple of the Genset mounts had corroded a fair bit, so He made up some replacements.

It came up really well, hardly recognizable as the same frame.

Although it came with more than enough canopy parts, it was missing a few other crucial bits.....

[mike_k]

We were really getting there now.

I did a fair bit of research on this thing over the winter, and struggled a bit.

The museum at Bandiana had no information at all, I was hoping for a RPS or any kind of documentation really.

It looks like they were mainly used by Sigs, but I haven't even seen an in service photo yet unfortunately.

I did find out that there was another one of these in the collection of the military museum at Merriden in WA.

With their kind help, I was able to work out the dimensions and construction of the support legs that prevent the trailer from moving when it is set up.

Theirs also has the control box that selects either of the 2 Generators as required.

Once again, some expert fabrication saw 2 support legs and an Earth stake ready to go.

Of course, they all have appropriate stowage on the frame when not in use.

[mike_k]

Having now restored the frame and fabricated the missing bits, it was now time to see about fitting it to the trailer.

Simple?  Not really, it turns out that my No.5 tub was never fitted with the mounts on the wheelarch. Very unusual, all of the others that I have seen have these fitted.

No big problem, some more careful fabrication saw some mounts fitted and ready to go. The tub also got a spruce up inside, to match the standard of the frame!

Next step, see if it fits.............

[mike_k]

So after a bit of a marathon, we were finally ready to start putting everything back together.

We were both really happy with the result, definitely looks a lot better than it did!

It was really great to see it come together.

Also included in the original pile of rusty bits were the exhaust extensions for the generators. These were made of stainless steel I think, and came up well with a bit of a sandblast.

Not finished yet though, Canopy next.... And I need another good jerrycan....

[mike_k]

The Canopy was made from a NOS 14x14 tent joiner.

I previously purchased this as a vehicle cover, in a way, it still is. The good thing about it is that it is the correct type and age of canvas, and still has that new canvas smell.

Fitted to the frame, it is surprising how big the trailer looks, although I'm getting used to it now.

Another great job by another great craftsman, we were pretty happy with this bit of the project as well.

The rusty parts section also included a smallish drain box, I think for collecting the genset oil when it was changed without pulling the gensets out of the trailer.  More expert fabrication saw a new one produced in short order, ready to stow away.

[mike_k]

To come almost up to date, here are a couple of photos of the trailer behind the FFT.

As I said earlier, if anyone has any in service photos, stories or documents about these, they would be very welcome.

Like any project, the list of people who have helped is fairly long, Thankyou to everyone who has helped along the way, I think we got a great result for what looks like a fairly rare bit of kit.

Next is the gensets themselves, I already have one which I restored a few years ago, and I was able to collect another one late last year which is almost finished.

I need to get / make a long extension cord to wrap around the stowage area, and I'm missing the funnel that stows in the frame. (In fact, I have no idea what it looks like at the moment).

Once that is done, I should be able to get that kettle boiled in remote locations!

[mike_k]

To bring it right up to date, I realised that I missed a bit out. 

I discovered that the genset frame in the first photo of this post actually ended up with a collector in Adelaide.

He very kindly agreed to send me the control box from it, to complete the project.

This was a huge help, as these control boxes do not (as far as I know) exactly grow on trees.

Someone on eBay was selling the correct power sockets, and someone else was selling some ex military male power plugs, great timing.

The control box is number 62, made in 1972 at the Ordnance Factory in Maribyrnong, so there were at least 62 of these once.

After a bit of a refurb, it is now fitted into the trailer, waiting for the gensets to be installed.

I'll update this when they are in, the trailer will then be 228kg heavier........

[AGAS 5]

That looks awesome Mike. A great outcome 

Cheers

[mike_k]

Thanks Pete, it has been a great project, and I was very fortunate that a lot of the parts for the canopy frame came with it.

All the help I got from some great REMLR people meant that we were able to save what seems to be a fairly scarce bit of kit.

It will be interesting to see how it goes behind the 2A with the generators fitted!

[GGG]

"It will be interesting to see how it goes behind the 2A with the generators fitted!"
Very slowly I suspect.
Geoff O who had some experience towing loaded no.5s with a 2A

[fattima]

Fantastic project. Great to see some more obscure equipment getting saved.