your most welcome, i have a few photos that old drivers have given me from when they drove across Europe and a few from early post war Germany but sadly those gentlemen are gone know. have put the photo's into albums to preserve them.

no the road ranger box came later on and combined the compound gear box system into 1. so in the diamond t you have 2 separate gear boxes one in front of the other, 4 speed mounted to the engine then a 3 speed aux behind. the road ranger basically combined the 2 into one with much better gear ratio over lap. i will have to do a vid explaining the transmission set up and a bit of on the road footage.

normally do 1 at a time but some times you have no choice to do both together as the ratio gaps are big and don't have a lot of power so keeping momentum is crucial.

the auxiliary box in the Diamonds is a 3 speed so low, direct, overdrive. anything on hard ground you use just direct & overdrive as a splitter for the 4 speed main box. low in effect is a crawler for hill starts, descending long/steep hills or pulling heavy loads when off road etc. as winter is coming i will get the truck in the shed and do a few vids explaining the gear shifting style for the 980/981's and a in depth walk round in side and out.

straight pipe C6 rolls royce a very rare sound these days. going to have one of the Diamonds and south west truck fest for the 1st following weekend. should stand out a bit lol

no there both Fuller boxes, 4 & 3 driving double reduction Timkin axles.

jason has been driving that truck 22 years know towing tanks all around the uk and into france and holland. very skilled man feel very privileged to be able to learn the skills from him.

@@samuelgoddard5248 I'm sure I've seen that wagon or similar at W&P years ago. I'm an AEC fan myself, and respect anyone who knows how to drive these old lorries, the constant mesh and earlier sliding mesh gearboxes take some getting used to but are a joy to drive, they keep you alert, especially in traffic😁

@@brianosborne9446 jason did use to go to w&p with that truck and trailer in the early 2000's. there a really easy truck to drive specially jason's as it has thousands of miles on it. mine is really tight but getting better. like the matadors there a cool truck but definitely a T guy

sounds even better standing on the running board, such a shame modern trucks are so muffled. i will have to figure out the gopro/editing thing and get much better footage.

yes 2 gear boxes in line, 1 bolted direct to the engine (4 speed) then a 3 speed auxiliary, typical american practice.

@@samuelgoddard5248 the auxiliary is called a brownie

@@deborahchesser7375 i know there generally referred to as a brownie but in the original US & British army manuals they refer to it as an auxiliary. not sure if that's military practice of the time or if it's because it's a Fuller transmission?

she has the C6 RR so cruises at 30 mph on the flat happily all day long, yours must have a hercules still??

@@samuelgoddard5248 would you really call it cruising? Mine has a 6 71 detroit, all those revs and it just scrapes 30,

@@grumpystruckshop3807 is your T a 1941? sounds like you have the early fuller 3-A-86 aux box, were as my mate's truck in the vid and my 1942 980 have the later 3-A-92 box which has a slightly taller overdrive. our trucks cruise at 30 and top out at 33. just watched some of your K100 vids, loving the 3408!!

@@samuelgoddard5248 well I've, had 2 Ts, one herc. . Which I changed for a 220 cummins 40 years ago, I must admit I have never heard of higher gears, my current T is 41, could do with one of those BOXES!!!. by the way I have 2x 3408,s kta 19 cummins,and 12v71 detroit all in trucks, and more L O l.

@@grumpystruckshop3807 the 2nd gen aux box has a completely different gear set in it long with bigger bearings and up rated winch pto. do you think a 3406B would fit in a 980? i have 2 chassis, 1 i'd like to build into a 5th wheel unit with modern engine/running gear but keep all the original exterior parts.

glad you enjoyed it, sometimes if the camber of the road is wrong the truck will drift while doing the shift as there is no power steering at all.

@@samuelgoddard5248 yes and having an arm thru the wheel is the only way to do it . Often when I see vintage vehicles driven people don't double clutch as they should or take a bit more time shifting as these aren't built to be fast .

@@heartland96a these trucks are hard work to operate but the fun is in the challenge of driving them. we drove her to holland and back in 2019 with a sherman tank. hopefully wont be long before i can take some more vids.

@@samuelgoddard5248 I look forward to new installments , even a cold start and walk-around are welcome. Yes you need more skill to operate this than modern one .

@@heartland96a do plan on doing a walk round and the cold start thing i don't know as these rolls royce C6 diesel's start super easy and don't smoke unless it's -5 degrees but will figure something out.

good evening Charlie the Merit and Accurate Amour kits for the DT/Rogers are very good and i don't think there is much detail lost in either that would make to much difference for the scale their in. i would happily do a walk round of my DT 980 and point out all the original factory features plus the wartime and post war field mods and upgrades etc planning to be out with 2 trucks and trailers next year moving a M4 sherman and a M18 hellcat fingers crossed.

do you know were about's he served? must have some great stories to tell

thank you very much Chris, Steve Mayle has spoken very highly of you, my father was told it was one of a few trucks fitted with a pre select box. but were talking 25+ years ago know so i'm starting again and trying to piece together the trucks history. would she have a serial number plate/ data plate some were on it to confirm chassis number and original build spec's etc etc????

@@samuelgoddard5248 You're welcome, Sam, and Steve is very kind. The factory chassis plate should be mounted on the main frame, behind the fuel tank as you look at it..... which, of course, you can't immediately because it's panelled in on your wagon. The frame should also be stamped with the chassis number above the plate. Transmissions like this weren't on the spec lists, but Atkinson prided themselves on building exactly what a customer wanted. It might have belonged to Western Express, which was the transport subsidiary of English China Clays - they did run Cummins-engined Mk.1 Atkis

@@chrisg6086 perfect thank you for the info, the transmission is the 1 thing i am scared of as i don't know how it works and i don't have any manuals for it. trying to avoid unnecessary damage is my top priority when i go to move it in the summer. thinking just remove drive shaft for know to get it moved and engine running and see if the breaks are free or not.

@@samuelgoddard5248 There'll be loads of bus preservationists who can help you with the gearbox - it was fitted in all sorts of Leyland buses and coaches. There's a preserved Borderer with the SCG box too - I've a feeling it's down in the South West somewhere now. That's a 4-speed with the electric gearshift control. Looking at the handbrake valve in your video, I think it's been left with the brakes off. Also, listening to what you said about oil consumption and the sort of work your father did with it, I wonder if it had glazed bores - the Cummins does need to be worked hard, and not driven like a Gardner. I've come across this before.

morning cloudmaker she is 1943 not sure of exact date it was built as USA records are a mine field. i do have a bit off an out of control hobby when it comes to Diamond T's (5 & counting) would like to do more vids but work/life etc. though watching FSC and russell worthing on here does help motivate a lot. specially with covid as well. regards sam

@@samuelgoddard5248 Bloody hell FIVE! Wish I had the yard space. Lucky for me having motorbikes takes up far less space. Hopefully you will be able to put up more about your collection in the near future. Just thought, when my Dad started working up here he started on ex-military American trucks as there were a lot about at that time I think Mack and REO if not others.

Smelly, ugly, noisy buzzboxes.

morning Lee yes they are 1/2" dia shank rivets and the jam back has a 4" dia piston, it is all over kill but we always work with 5/8" to 7/8" dia shank rivets so all the riveting gear we have is set up for that.

Thanks for the reply. I am involved in the restoration of a railcar where we need to install around 100 1/2 inch rivets. We have got access to a suitable rivet gun but not a backing up tool. I have seen some videos where they have backed up with a large/heavy bar. Do you think this would give reasonable result for a half inch rivet?

if you have the room you can oppose gun that works very well i don't think holding a heavy bar behind the rivet will work to well but depends on the size of your rivet gun in relation to the size and weight of the bar. some of the other riveting i have done on the diamond t chassis i couldn't use a jam back so i made a tool which is basically a T shape but hinges were the 2 pieces meet. so it works a bit like a over centre chain binder if that makes sense so as you pull on the lever it gets tighter that works perfectly even on 3/4" rivets.