Are there any truck enthusiasts on the forum? If so, do any of the original maintenance manuals for British 6 ton or 3 ton Lorries provide data on life expectancy in terms of no. of miles they were expected to cover before their operational life was over?
The simple answer is No. The manuals would supply the expected life in Hours or mileage of various components of engines ie plugs (Petrol), pistons, piston rings, big ends, little ends and all the other bits what moved or would wear. Like brake shoes tyres etc. These bits are replaceable. So a lorry well looked after with good maintenance etc. Will last basically forever. For example the amount of vintage cars and trucks still about. they can still preform the same job today as what they were designed for. Their operational life ended when better models appeared, and did the same job more efficiently. Again life expectancy of engine parts etc would only be listed as a recommended time or mileage as the work load varied so much. That's why a regular service schedule at workshops are set up, so these points of wear could be picked up by the fitters, if a problem had not been picked up by the driver. A lot of the old time fitters did not need all modern day electronic devices to pick up something going wrong, they could stand and listen to an engine and know what was wearing. It is reputed that Gardner engines once started, would run forever as long as it was kept supplied with fuel, oil and water. They were also known to start up running backwards which was ok, apart from it throwing all the oil out through the oil and air breather.
These pages are from REME BAOR instructions so just post-war but I believe that they continued an existing system. Vehicles rebuilt class 1 were considered as new. Otherwise, in order to be stored as Class 1 they had to be less than three years old or less than 10,000 miles plus be considered capable of at least 5000 miles further service. Class 11 did not have the age / mileage restrictions. The catch is that each make and type had a maximum allowable engine mileage. This could be as low as 2500 miles for the Austin cars, 6500 miles for most British lorries (including Ford & Bedford), 10,000 for the Canadian Chevrolet, 14,000 for Dodge and Humber, 20,000 for Mack. Adding the 5000 mile figure to these maximums ought to give an idea of how long they were expected to last between major rebuilds - 10,000 - 20,000 miles 'under normal European conditions' whatever 'normal' was in wartime !
Thank you Rich, I believe you are right. Ideally, I now just to evidence for that 6,500 miles or approximate from original WW2 documents. Any idea where REME guides like that might be found at TNA?
Here is the Bedford stuff which I understand is what you're principally interested in. I hope that it gives you something to go on. I've left them as thumbnails to save space.
That's what I'm looking for, thanks Rich. Am I right in saying then that the Bedford's engine mileage allowance was 6,500 miles, but that vehicles were expected to be able to run an additional 5,000 miles beyond this before needing reclassifying?
That's how I read it...for Class 1 or Class 11...in the most extreme case the engines could be classified Class 1 or 11 at 6499 miles with an anticipated further 5000 miles. Presumably though, if in good condition the Class 11 classification could be extended. So it's not an absolute value but I think gives an indication for budgeting future maintenance, spares and replacement vehicle requirements and of course differences between makes highlight how they were viewed at the time.
The REME Staff History has this: It does make the observation that British 3 tonners were generally underpowered for their weight. The fuel issue is done to death on another thread here, if you really are enthusiastic about lorries! Operation Market Garden (The lorry thread)
"Motor Cycles - 7,000 to 10,000 down to 2,000 - 3,000 in the dust of Normandy" Crikey. My Norton's been to Normandy twice. It's clearly on borrowed time !
Deep breath: The Second World War 1939-1945: Army: Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Volume II - Technical The War Office 1951 Compiled by Brigadier F R Bloor Pages 280-281
Crikey. My Norton's been to Normandy twice. It's clearly on borrowed time ! Oh I don't know Rich, pretty sure your Norton has not accounted the dust, mud and muck, that was kicked up in WW2. 2000 miles is a long way, 40hrs of riding at 50 MPH. Or Caen to near enough Lodz in Poland and back.
