Vehicle transport, and belated introduction...

[GGG]

Yes, when you are buying a couple of thousand trucks you would be looking at the dollars. We were told that an F1 was worth about $10,000 in 1970 dollars quite a valuable vehicle to let 20/21 years loose in! As I said as a nasho it was not my idea to be in the army but it was a lot of fun. I did a bit of service flying too which I would never have done in civvie street. God that is a long time ago where did the years go?
Geoff O.

[Chazza]

...The fact remains that these trucks were brilliant off road. in the hands of a well trained driver

Too right they are!

I will be retiring this week after 10 years of being a forest-fire-fighter in WA; the Isuszu trucks we use are geared for road use and don't have a low enough low-range, for steep country. Hills that I know would have been no problem for the International,

Cheers Charlie

[Bluebell One-eight]

Yes, when you are buying a couple of thousand trucks you would be looking at the dollars. We were told that an F1 was worth about $10,000 in 1970 dollars quite a valuable vehicle to let 20/21 years loose in! As I said as a nasho it was not my idea to be in the army but it was a lot of fun. I did a bit of service flying too which I would never have done in civvie street. God that is a long time ago where did the years go?
Geoff O.
[/quote] All OK Geoff, I stumbled across the cost of the first contract of Mk3s a while back and dividing the number of trucks into the total gave and individual value of about 4.5K. That included the initial stocks of spares. We certainly had fun in those times. I remember we were camped in tents and the officers had a boozer of sorts nearby. It was in a WW2 style marquis tent and it was February and hot and not easy to sleep, especially with the uppercrust merry making close by. After a few nights the lads were fed up, so they applied a good dose of fire hose. Tables chairs, bottles and glasses went flying, then the perpetrators fled into the darkness and left the hose on. We expected the wrath of the almighty, but nothing happened. We later heard that the CO told the junior officers they brought it on themselves. Diggers 1 OFFRS nil!Did a lot of chopper hours as well, as for the years disappearing I'm sure the clock speeds up as we age. John.

[Kraehe]

My apologies for the late reply.

Thank you Bluebell One-eight, GGG & Chazza for all the information, perspectives and, of course, stories.

Lots to consider.  For a newbie like myself it would seem one of the 4x4s would likely be less problematic than a 6x6.  I know some of the 6x6s were equipped with Abbey type folding cranes.  I think that would be very useful.  Were any of the 4x4s so equipped?  Can you tell me what brand, model or capacity these cranes were please?

I am very conscious that these are historical vehicles, and thus important (in and of themselves). How do you ex-army guys feel about them being modified by current, civilian owners?  If there were no 4x4 crane trucks, would it be seen as wrong (an insult to the army personnel who used them or the vehicles themselves, for example) to fit a crane to one?  What sort of modifications do you consider to be acceptable, and what are not?

Thank you.

Regards,

[Chazza]

My opinion is, that it is your truck and you can do what you like with it.

If I had one and wanted to drive it regularly, I would look for one with a petrol engine, or reinstall a petrol engine, as they are so much more fun to drive than diesels.

Modifications;
Mega-jolt ignition system.
LPG fuel as well as petrol. There is heaps of room to hide a gas cylinder on the tray. Mega-jolt allows two ignition maps.

Both modifications are easy to remove if you want to sell without,

Cheers Charlie

[Kraehe]

My thanks to all for the valuable information and advice.  I now have lots more to consider than I had realised.  That is, as well as finding a suitable vehicle and somehow getting it home...

Regards,

Darren.

[Ravvin]

From what I read, the army didn't make a 4x4 with an Abbey crane. The 6x6 was used as it had the higher carrying capacity and the crane fitted neatly into the gap between the cab and tray. This gap was usually where the toolbox and jerry can racks were fitted.
If you were to try to fit one to a 4x4, you would need to cut the tray back a bit. The 6x6 also had a heavier, double walled chassis rail. Really it looks like they took the standard C channel that made the 4x4 chassis and just put another one inside it, extending out the back another couple of feet. If you dig through my thread here https://remlr.com/forum/index.php?topic=4370.0, you will see some pics of the doubled up rails and possibly a few of the crane attachment. The lifting capacities should be on a photo of one of the spec plates that I removed so copies could be made. If I'm wrong and it isn't, let me know and I will dig it out and take a pic for you.
I can't tell you the model of the crane, as I haven't found a plate on it yet, but the parts list in the RPS books linked in the thread here https://remlr.com/forum/index.php?topic=5176.0 might help you identify it.

Greg.

[Kraehe]

Hello Greg,

Thank you for the info.  I will indeed have a look at your photos.  Thanks. 

To date I have seen a picture of a very battered 4x4 with an overly large "abbey" type crane, but this was probably a post-army one-off.  I also seem to remember seeing a period picture of a 4x4 crane truck in use in Vietnam, but it too could have been a one-off, I guess, or I am just mistaken.

The information on the doubled chassis rails is very interesting. I had actually thought (or perhaps hoped) that the 4x4s had doubled rails as well.  Thank you.

I have found pictures of a 6x6 sold by Gray's in 2015.  The crane on it was an Abbey CRS 6720 made in 1975, capacity 4000 lb.  It looks identical to the others in photos I have seen.  I am suprised that it is only 4000 lb capacity, on a truck that can carry 11000 lb.  The 1986 6x6 RPS book references a manufacturer's parts numbers for various crane components starting mostly with CR65-, so this may have been another model, perhaps more widely used.  I have not yet found any further information on any Abbey crane models, or on the company itself, bar its name as "Abbey Engineering, Springvale, Vic."

How is the restoration of your truck going?

Regards,

Darren.

[mike_k]

I’ve had a bit of a look around at some photos, so far I haven’t found any showing a Mk 3 with a crane in SVN.

There are a few showing a 161 recce flight Cessna 180 being recovered by a F1, this photo shows possibly the same truck back in Australia.

None at all of the Mk 3 though, it would have been a big job to shorten the tray to fit the crane.

[Kraehe]

Hello mike-k,

Thank you for finding that photo.  I feel that my well be the period photo I am mis-remembering.  With my comparative lack of familiarity with these vehicles, and with the forward of the rear wheels obscured by the standing men, I may have thought this a 4x4.

Regards,

Darren.

[mike_k]

The same thing happened to me Darren,

I initially thought it was a Mk3 as well until I had a good look at the photo.

Here is a SVN one, unfortunately I can't credit the photographer.

Cheers,

Mike.

[john.k]

Abbeys made mainly EPVs ,there are thousands of the old Abbeys around ..I have one in my back yard .....very rusty though,and the outriggers have been robbed..........I have a short review of the Abbey cranes in an old Truck and Bus.......the catch with truck cranes is they are made of very high tensile strength steel......and various Australian producers tried to use low carbon steel by increasing the size of stressed components ....consequently they had to downrate the cranes ......The two Abbeys used by the army were copies of Hiabs .....the 4x4 crane is a copy of the 172,the 6x6 crane a copy of the 174 with a single hydraulic extension......both made about 15% larger than the Hiab....But still a very useful accessory on a truck...you can do a sorts of stuff apart from straight lifting......I recently had some machines moved ,and hired a truck with a Palfinger with claimed 26 ton metre capacity.....lifted a 6 ton Landis grinder without any effort.....The Abbeys are around 4 ton /metre.