Worked with a Leyland Octpus in the early sixties (12 wheeler) it had air lock on the prop shaft and when you took it off you were almost blown out the cab, it had a steering wheel the size of a bycycle wheel. Several years later I worked on one that had ran into a house it demolished the house, I still have the Leyland and the Octpus badge from it
I so wish I still had my leyland bison tow truck... 6 speed leyland box, 680 power plus engine, could do 70 mph with a bus on the back, Sounded glorious too!
Hello , great to hear the Leyland engine doing it,s stuff without being thrashed , no need , slow revving long stroke diesels pull the world ! Could you please tell us about the splitter you use on the smaller knob under the main gearknob ? I know I,ll get called everything for not knowing , but the old truck ( another Leyland , Boxer Turbo artic ) that I trained on had an electric 2 - speed on the back axle , a great efficiency boost , time - saver & effort saver too once you got used to it . This had a little flip - switch right under the gearknob , up for high , down for low , on every gear , & you changed it in conjunction with either the clutch ( going up )or throttle ( going down ) , it in effect split every gear either high or low . Best Regards from England mate , & I,ll watch for a reply on here .
G'day mate,it's a 13 speed fuller. It has been converted to a double overdrive box,so the shift pattern has changed. The splitter works on the top four gears,in low split they are direct dive and over drive in high split.
Hello mate , thanks for explaining this , I,ve never driven a motor with this on so I didn,t understand , I bet it,s a useful addition & worksaver , as you wouldn,t have to shift the main stick so often under load , & can keep the engine in it,s economic powerband better , she sounds great , thanks mate & Best Regards from England .
Great use of the over drive splitting the gears. But eventually you Gota go down a ratio. Good hill skills in an old monster lol. Reminds me of driving across Wales in an old FORD D Series straight 8. With a rubbery gearbox. Lol. All the Rubber Seals had gone. Finding a gear was like FISHING with a spinner. Lol and only 8 gears straight. Getting a run up to a hill. Then foot down trying to keep up to top gear but slowly surely working down down down till near the top your in 3rd at 20mph. Great fun but hard work getting the best out of the engine.
That's how it should be done. I remember as a twelve year old, going out in the lorry with my dad, a Guy invincible was in front of us and had missed a gear. He came to a standstill on the hill. I walked about a mile to stop traffic coming up the hill and my dad directed everyone to reverse.
I've just posted a video from Cyprus a couple of hours ago and in it is an octopus layed up on waste ground and in good order, just needs a bit love and get her back on the road
FANTASTIC, was that a 13 speed fuller box?, if all companies had a lorry like this(or similar)in their fleets to give all new drivers, a higher standard of lorry driving would be achieved, your typical Volvo/Scania driver need to watch this to realise they are not the drivers they thought they were despite all the show and slogans and boasting what big horse power there truck has got, if they could drive this Leyland I could take them more serious instead of seeing them as a joke, you wouldn't see the brake lights come on going down a dip with this Leyland driver.
Classic N Z weather just like Yorkshire no wonder. It’s pure English there. Lol I hope that old truck is carrying at least a few Ton over the back wheels. Because those old trucks have GRABBY brakes. And can skid lol
i had 8x4 tipper with the tl 11 and fuller box i loved as i had run a foden 180 gardner and it drove and stopped so much better than the foden as i had bought it second hand from a haulier, his wife remarked how good a truck it was and i would not be lying under that truck i believed her i soon found out that it was untrue but it drove well when it was going
Thought it sounded a bit odd for a Leyland 0.680 LOL..... still, these types of Leylands, though take a bit to get going, once running, never say die :)
The Leyland seems to do it's work at less revs than the AEC and not as noisy. I mind the snow would build up above the wipers sometimes stopping them. Thanks for posting.
Yeah the 680 is a more low revving beast with more of its torque at low revs. AECs are smoother but need to be revved higher in each gear to gather speed. That's my impression anyway.
Would love to have a drive in something as characterful as this. I'd get lost with the gears though, been driving with 6-speeders & Allison autoboxes for too long!
