Bedford MJ

Here are some pictures of my new Bedford MJ and Shop Electronic Repair Radar body. Just got her on the road and took it to it's first show, The War and Peace Show in Kent, England a few weeks ago. The truck is a 1986 and the box is 1977. The truck has 2100 miles on her and the box has 2 air con units that are also heaters and de-humidifiers, NBC filtration and various power sockets. EVERYTHING works and all I need to get now is a generator so I can power up all the equipment for demonstration at shows.

The truck was a Ptarmigan communications truck and I got the dealer to take this off and fit the box body onto it. The truck served with 48 Signals Squadron, 35 Regt Royal Signals. It was cast from service in January this year. The box is a radar repair workshop belonging to 9 Army Air Corps Royal Mechanical and Electrical Engineers (REME) Workshops and was cast from service one week before I bought it (May 2009). It spent most of it's life at Donnington Storage Depot and only had a few years with 9 AAC before being released. It only has 10hrs on the air con units. Voltage options are 0-40v DC, 28v DC and 240v AC single or three phase. I think it was used for servicing radar on Lynx, Apache and Gazelle.

I have the history for both the truck and workshop. The workshop is a "Transportable Container" and after removing 12 tie rods can be lifted off using a crane. The truck is pretty slow at 50mph MAX (I do 40mph in it) but is very good on fuel returning around 16mpg. The engine is a Bedford 330 cubic inch 6 cyl diesel producing 108 bhp. It's built for reliability over performance. I bought it direct from the Army. I am a truck driver and the civilian truck in the photo is my work truck that I drive during the week. My company let me use my truck and the low loader to ship her home from the disposal agents. Hope you guys like the look of it?

Very cool! I like it. What type of gearbox is the engine coupled to?

Thanks. Not sure on the make of gearbox, it might be a Spicer. It has 4 forward and 1 reverse gear with high and low ratios and selectable 2/4 wheel drive. No diff locks though

Tyres are 12.00x20 Good Years.

You have a jewel, very nice. Any type of shelters we can get are usually stripped clean. Don't forget going slowly gives the average person time to look and be envious. My son and I are looking to attending the War and Peace shop in 2010 and we plan on doing some shopping. We plan on buying a FV 434 REME version. I hope to be as lucky as you were to get such a nice vehicle. Maybe you can tell where to look for a FV434. Thanks and Good luck

WPNS421 said:

You have a jewel, very nice. Any type of shelters we can get are usually stripped clean. Don't forget going slowly gives the average person time to look and be envious. My son and I are looking to attending the War and Peace shop in 2010 and we plan on doing some shopping. We plan on buying a FV 434 REME version. I hope to be as lucky as you were to get such a nice vehicle. Maybe you can tell where to look for a FV434. Thanks and Good luck

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Hi there,

You will NOT regret coming over for the War and Peace show. It's open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday, but lasts two weeks in effect as there are a lot of vehicles from all over Europe that come to the show and you can enter the site up to a week before the show starts. It's funny but I would kill for a decent Deuce and a half, but the ones we have here pretty poor as they have been out so long and have had many owners.

You might struggle getting a FV 434 as they are pretty rare, but there have just been some Combat Engineer Tractors released for sale that are in very good condition. Again very expensive.

Milweb.net is a good place to start. Here is a link to the CET.

http://www.marcusglenn.com/catalog/viewphoto.php?shoph=10748&phqu=5

Thanks for the link, I left them a message. From all that I have heard and seen on the tele the War and Peace shop is a must. If you want a good deuce we can find you one, I just purchased my 6th deuce. We have the Canadian version of the M35 Detroit diesel, Allison automatic the remainder basically the same as an M35. My avatar is a Cdn M36C with a Hiab crane EME truck. They coast about 2500 Pound. Find me a FV 434 and I can find you a good Deuce. Check out our website. www.militarytrucks.ca

WPNS421 said:

Thanks for the link, I left them a message. From all that I have heard and seen on the tele the War and Peace shop is a must. If you want a good deuce we can find you one, I just purchased my 6th deuce. We have the Canadian version of the M35 Detroit diesel, Allison automatic the remainder basically the same as an M35. My avatar is a Cdn M36C with a Hiab crane EME truck. They coast about 2500 Pound. Find me a FV 434 and I can find you a good Deuce. Check out our website. www.militarytrucks.ca

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Thanks for the link to your website.

Here is a link to a good website for the 434. I will have a dig around and see what i can find out for you.

£2,500 is very cheap for a M35. My favorite is the M109A3, but I've never seen one in the UK. Second hand M35's sell for about £6,500 here and that's for vehicles that are pretty rough....Thanks again

Fv434

If you want to see a nice M109A3:

MilitaryTrucks.ca Website - M109 Military Truck RV Project the truck belongs to my son. Believe it or not the M109A3 sells for about 400 Pound at (GL)Government Liquidation US. Unfortunately being foreigners we cannot buy from GL, I would really appreciate any assistance in finding a 434. My personal e-mqil is gilles@oops.ca

Wow! I could think of 100 uses for that. Do the sides open up? I hope you really enjoy it.

cornrichard said:

Wow! I could think of 100 uses for that. Do the sides open up? I hope you really enjoy it.

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Hi there. Thanks.

No the sides do not open unfortunately. Have you seen any of these trucks in the States?

Bit of an update on the truck.

Since posting I've carpeted the box body to make more comfortable at shows and I've also made up a bed system that fits between the two work benches that run the length of the box. This makes a flat platform so a mattress can be used. I bought a couple of self inflating roll mats but they are a bit on the narrow side and you tend to slip off them so a bit more thought is needed.

I've done about 3 or 4 more shows since War and Peace in it and it runs a dream. Fuel economy is excellent at around 16mpg.

Problems encountered are ;

Leaking rear output shaft oil seal from the main gearbox. This leaks from full about 3/4's of a litre of oil before stopping. The gearbox contains 3.7 litres so it should manage with that loss until I get round to getting another seal.

The diesel tank has a hair line crack where the filler neck is welded to the body of the tank of about 1 inch long. If I fill over this the fuel weeps out of the crack, not that bad but does need to be sorted.

It did hold air pressure at 105 psi for about a week before slowly going down up until last week. I took it out last weekend to a show and noticed that the pressure drops from 105psi down to about 55 psi over night!!! When fully charged and switched off you can't hear a leak and she doesn't loose pressure when running but it's a bit odd it has just started doing this. I'm not overly concerned as all the Bedfords I drove in the Army lost pressure overnight. I will need to go out with some soapy water and see if i can find the problem though. It may just be something as simple as a loose hose nut.

The speedo drive gear in the transfer box is the wrong type for the speedo head. The speedo head is the new round type fitted. It has been fitted with a new recon transfer box and I think they have fitted a transfer box that has the drive gear for the old type horizontal speedo fitted. I will need to contact a Tachograph calibration shop to see if they can callibrate it for me, if not, i will need to get another drive gear.

Thats all the problems I've had up to date and hope it stays that way.

That's it for now. Thanks.

Very nice truck sir, I like it.

I see that you are having the normal break in and fix period, you keep finding small problems that have to be repaired. For a temporary fix for the cracked fuel tank we use an expoxy putty that adheres to metal, it is usually sold in small tubes , you mix it with your hands like putty and apply it to the crack, it will harden like metal. We always keep a tube or two in the truck for minor leaks or cracks. Very usuful item to have.
We have attended a couple of shows including an airshow to commemorate the 100 years of air flight in Canada. There were quite a few vehicles but our large lorry type vehicles stole the show, everyone except us have the small vehicles. At the moment we are getting ready for the winter, we are checking all the trucks especially the anti freeze and removing all the batteries in the trucks we will not use, and covering the trucks with tarps to prevent snow from blowing into the trucks. Too many trucks not enough garage parking.
I have not had any luck trying to find Reo parts but will continue to look.

M35A2 said:

It did hold air pressure at 105 psi for about a week before slowly going down up until last week. I took it out last weekend to a show and noticed that the pressure drops from 105psi down to about 55 psi over night!!!

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Is that not normal?
I ask because US trucks tend to bleed off pressure quite quickly after shutting down. On my M185 and 5-ton, the air buzzer comes on while starting after they have been turned off for a couple of hours. There is never a problem with them maintaining pressure while running though.

US military policy is to drain the air tanks at the end of each driving day to remove moisture from the system. I do that at shows anyway because if I am going to let people get in the cab, they can't blow the horn and the low-air buzzer scares the tar out of them if they flip the power switch on while I am not looking.

Your truck is very nice. Having grown up around those Bedfords, they were one of my favourites as a kid. It is on my list and I will get one eventually, but they are somewhat rare over here. I'll probably have to import one myself.

Cheers

WPNS421 said:

I see that you are having the normal break in and fix period, you keep finding small problems that have to be repaired. For a temporary fix for the cracked fuel tank we use an expoxy putty that adheres to metal, it is usually sold in small tubes , you mix it with your hands like putty and apply it to the crack, it will harden like metal. We always keep a tube or two in the truck for minor leaks or cracks. Very usuful item to have.
We have attended a couple of shows including an airshow to commemorate the 100 years of air flight in Canada. There were quite a few vehicles but our large lorry type vehicles stole the show, everyone except us have the small vehicles. At the moment we are getting ready for the winter, we are checking all the trucks especially the anti freeze and removing all the batteries in the trucks we will not use, and covering the trucks with tarps to prevent snow from blowing into the trucks. Too many trucks not enough garage parking.
I have not had any luck trying to find Reo parts but will continue to look.

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Yeah, the usual tinkering with a new vehicle. On my way down to Beltring I noticed the No 1 fuel injector was weeping where the fuel line enters the injector. 1/16th of a turn and that problem was sorted.

I'm surprised you can't get any parts in Canada for your Reo??

M813rc said:

Is that not normal?
I ask because US trucks tend to bleed off pressure quite quickly after shutting down. On my M185 and 5-ton, the air buzzer comes on while starting after they have been turned off for a couple of hours. There is never a problem with them maintaining pressure while running though.

US military policy is to drain the air tanks at the end of each driving day to remove moisture from the system. I do that at shows anyway because if I am going to let people get in the cab, they can't blow the horn and the low-air buzzer scares the tar out of them if they flip the power switch on while I am not looking.

Your truck is very nice. Having grown up around those Bedfords, they were one of my favourites as a kid. It is on my list and I will get one eventually, but they are somewhat rare over here. I'll probably have to import one myself.

Cheers

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Hi M813rc,


Thanks for your positive comments. I suppose it's like any vehicle. US trucks are my favourite, but hard to get a nice one in the UK. I suppose it's the same for UK vehicles in the US.

The reason I mentioned the air pressure drop is because when I got it, it held pressure above 75psi for about 2 weeks. Then all of a sudden it started to drop suddenly overnight. One reason I can think of is the fact I filled the brake anti freeze tank up with Methanol (the correct brake anti freeze for this truck). This was nearly empty when I got it and maybe the fresh Methanol has lubricated the seals and has made it easier for the air to escape?? Yes these trucks loose air just like yours, and are more or less empty the next day. All the Bedfords I drove in the Army had empty air tanks the following day. I thought it was pretty impressive that mine held 75psi+ for over two weeks when I got it.

We also are supposed to drain air tanks daily. This is very rarely done though in the British Army. I do drain mine after use though. There is no problem holding pressure when running, or indeed over a period of several hours. Maybe it's me just being anal.

Out of interest, what sort of price would you have to pay in the US for a good condition Bedford? Have a look at this link, this is where I got mine from. Anything take your fancy? Maybe I could look into shipping some trucks over to the States? If their was a market for it I might look into it.

http://www.mod-sales.com/direct/

Cheers

Andy

looks like a really nice truck, very cool.

Mam o man that is nice. I don't know how many hours you spent restoring , it or what shape it was in but the end result is superb. Good show thanks for the pictures.

Hi M35A2. I grew up in Bedford QL's. Nice truck you have there. I made it to the Beltring in 2006 as a guest of the Essex armour (hell of a good bunch). Also had a cold one at the stalls with Marcus Glenn himself. I still drink tea from the mug he gave me at the show.
I have enjoyed the many youtube vids of the M35 convoys. Never seen so many at one place in civilian hands. wish I could get mine over there to join you! Anyway, you have a fantastic rig with all the gear. How much of the stuff did you have to find? Cheers, Bob

M35A2 said:

Hi M813rc,
Out of interest, what sort of price would you have to pay in the US for a good condition Bedford? Have a look at this link, this is where I got mine from. Anything take your fancy? Maybe I could look into shipping some trucks over to the States? If their was a market for it I might look into it.

Welcome to MOD Sales Online - Military Vehicles for Sale - Direct Sales

Cheers

Andy

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I have only seen two for sale on this side of the Atlantic, both were in Canada, and both were expensive The last one had a starting bid of $14k with reserve not met and really wasn't particularly nice. It was LHD though. Didn't sell on that auction, no bids.
But from the link you sent, a nice LHD for 2500 quid plus shipping would still be considerably cheaper, and probably the best bet.

I will have to wait a bit before I can do it though, the V100 restoration has rather tapped my resources for the moment!

Cheers