Common markings found on a Ferret and where to look
What do you do now that you have found the markings on the Ferret? If you would like the history of you're British Army Ferret then contact the Tank Museum at Bovington and for a small fee of about £15 they will send any information they have about you're vehicle www.tankmuseum.co.uk
Replacement Switchboard Letters
Click the picture and a word document will pop up in a new window with instructions on how to do it.
Electrical Problems
It's what happens if the main ignition feed from the main switch panel to the engine junction box isn't properly clipped up, or the clips corrode through.
The cable drops and rubs on the drive shaft/bevel box flange which eventually wears through the casing. This usually starts with the engine cutting out intermittently, gradually getting worse until the electrics are dead. You can hear the distribution box relay trip and re-set.
As the contact isn't direct, a standard Multimeter doesn't show the short, but 24v easily jumps, creating the short. A new cable is £90 and a pain to replace. The clips also hold the main alternator / generator cable which is a bit more substantial (£££) and will probably destroy the rectifier if it shorts.
I noticed the same problem on my Ferret when I was putting my Ferret back together my solution was to use tie wraps (cable ties) its an inexpensive solution that only the owner will know about and if it saves £200 - 300 well worth doing.
Many thanks to Dave Rose for passing the above information on.
B60 Distributor
Petrol Tank
Diagram of the Petrol Tank and Tap
Change over Tap
When I was first setting up the petrol tank on 00CC09 I found that I had a problem with the change over tap in that it would not let any petrol flow through the tap handle. To add insult to injury their was a leak in the Filter bowl itself. I had no other choice but to strip the tap down, when I stripped it down I found that the handle itself was clogged as was the body of the unit. Cleaning the tap and the body resulted in a damaged cork gasket which I then had to replace, which isn't a difficult as it sounds. The cork gasket is quite easy to make the hole pattern is just the same as five on a dice with little cork lugs to stop it rotating when the handle is turned.
Vokes Filter bowl
Clean the bowl out when a new filter is required and clean away any sediment and check for holes in the filter body. If any holes are found in the bowl it will have to be discarded.
I enlarged the hole in the filter bowl for the camera.
After my own experiences I would suggest cleaning out the bowl and replacing the filter element if the vehicle has been standing for an unknown length of time. It would also be good idea to clean the tap out as well and fit a new cork gasket. Don't forget to clean the little filter on the carburettor in feed pipe if your doing the above.
Banjo Bolt modification
I can not claim this modification as my own it was found on a petrol tank that I helped remove in Wales a past REME modification when and where who knows.
Banjo Bolt with a one inch brass extension tube / Purpose to stop sediment from the bottom off the Petrol tank being sucked into the system blocking the petrol filter / banjo bolt filter. Occasionally sediment bypasses the main Petrol filter and is only stopped by the smaller filter at the banjo bolt on the Carburettor which eventually blocks stopping the engine. This modification lifts the Banjo bolt in-feed off the bottom of the tank. It only needs to be recessed into the Banjo bolt by 1/8th of an inch and it is then soldered into place.
Picture off a duff bolt which has a crack across one side with a copper tube to illustrate the drawing.
Priming the fuel system on the Ferret
This part of the page is still under construction!! Someday I'll finish it!
Vokes Filter set up in the Ferret and a Vokes filter body
This is what I do when I prime the fuel system on a Ferret it is worked every time for me.
When writing about left and right I'm looking directly at the Fuel tank with the Vokes filter on my right.
For this to succeed safely you MUST remove the right hand battery from the vehicle and disconnect the left hand battery, sparks and petrol don't mix! Unless you like the idea of being fried alive or a rapid tan! I would also suggest that this job is a two man job. The 2nd bod is there to hand you tools, cloths, help and laugh at you while you're doing the majority of the work.
The work
Label up the battery cables + / - and then remove cables from the battery's left hand side first.
Disconnect and remove both batteries and the battery box under the inter-vehicle starting box. Remove the middle gearbox support on the side that the battery box was removed from. You can now gain access to the priming handle on the fuel pump. Reach your hand in under the fuel tank and feel for the pump, the priming handle is on the thumb side when the pump is cupped with your right hand. With the thumb press on the handle and feel if there is any resistance (not easy to quantify), if fuel is already in the system you might hear it attempting to suck/draw fuel to the pump. Pull your hand out your now going to prime the fuel system. Place a cloth under the fuel tank under the filter, loosen off but don't completely remove the T shaped handle on top of the filter body. The blue filter body (in these pictures it is blue) should now drop down by about a centimetre / 1/4 inch. The unfiltered petrol pipe coming from the top of the tap in the picture above stops the filter body from dropping to far.
Fill the filter bowl with petrol no.3 in the picture (it might run over the top) the cloth underneath is there to catch any petrol drips, retighten the T shaped handle which should bring the filter bowl up to the sealing ring.
Un do and remove the air vent no.1 in the picture to a safe place (assistants hand no chance of dropping it) and fill the pipe with petrol all the way to the top. Re place and tighten the vent up.
Un do and remove the air vent no.2 in the picture to a safe place (assistants hand no chance of dropping it) and fill the top of the filter up with petrol, once it is full replace and tighten the vent up.
Reach your hand in under the fuel tank and feel for the pump, the priming handle is on the thumb side when the pump is cupped with your right hand. With the thumb press on the handle and start priming the pump, it could take up to twenty strokes to prime the pump. It should be possible to feel the priming handle stiffing up when fuel has reached the pump / carburettor. A quick way of testing to see if fuel has reached the float chambers in carburettor is to remove the carburettor air horn and operate the accelerator rod. Two jets of petrol should shoot into the carburettor indicating that the float chambers in the carburettor are full.
Replace batteries and operate the starter Ferret should now start.
Generator
(Dynamo or Alternator)
If it is a Dynamo it will say Generator No.2. The picture below shows the No.2 Dynamo at the top of the picture.
Identifying features for the Generator No.2. (Dynamo). Grill on the top off unit next to the braided plug (not shown) and oil pipes running to the Dynamo from the engine block. The rear end of the Dynamo is fluted with a grill and the unit has no cooling fins. The pulley has the capacity for three belts (same as the Alternator) but only two belts are fitted.
If it is an Alternator the plate on it will say Generator No.10. The picture below shows the No.10 Alternator at the bottom of the picture.
Identifying features for the Generator No.10. (Alternator). A large plug connection is fitted at the opposite end to the pulleys and has cast in cooling fins at either end of the Alternator. The pulley is designed for a narrow car type V-belt (three belts fitted).
Alternator and Dynamo engine crankshaft pulleys. Dynamo crankshaft pulley and Alternator crankshaft pulley (first picture) reversed in the next.
Generator (Dynamo) belt tensioning
Wheel Station
A damn good reason to replace twenty + year old tyres.
Tyre Pressures
| Normal Road Use | Marks 1 to 2 | Marks 3 to 4 | Mark 5 |
| Front | 30 lbf | 18 lbf | 18 lbf |
| Rear | 36 lbf | 20 lbf | 22 lbf |
| Cross Country | |||
| Front | 18 lbf | 18 lbf | 18 lbf |
| Rear | 25 lbf | 20 lbf | 22 lbf |
Brakes
Steel or Copper Brake pipe lengths inside the Ferret hull
From the Left hand side rear elbow approx 94 inches long
From the Right hand side rear elbow approx 98 inches long
Connection pipe from left side to master cylinder inches ** long
Brake Booster
Wheel Hub
I was given a wheel station (hub / bevel box) that was still mounted to a small piece of armour plate. The wheel station below had seen better days so I stripped it down to help me understand the workings of the hub and the planetary gears. Before I started stripping the wheel station down I'd always been wary about stripping down a hub, having done it I now cannot see why I was so bothered! The worse bit was removing the eight allan headed bolts on the hub face all but one was seized in place!
The the brake linings are / could be made of asbestos you have been warned!
I'll list the basics and I mean basics off stripping it down
Tools needed:
Mask consider the brake linings to be made off asbestos and treat accordingly!!!
Hammer normal and plastic faced, flat bladed screwdriver large and small, cir-clip pliers,1/2 spanner, 9/16 spanner, 7/32 allen key, Impact driver, two 1/2 inch by 1 and a half inch bolts, 2 x 19mm spanners or imperial spanners, 19mm socket or imperial equivalent, 1/2 inch & 9/16 sockets,
Capacities Imperial Metric (litres) Oil Specs Military Oil Specs Civilian Engine lubrication system (dry sump) 3 gal 13.64 OMD-110 SAE 30 straight Engine cooling system 4½ gal 20.46 Not spec. N/A Fuel Tank - total including 3 gal reserve 21 gal 95.5 N/A N/A Fluid coupling 9¾ pints 5.52 Not spec Auto Fluid Gearbox 1¼ gal 5.7 OMD-110 SAE 30 straight Transfer box 6 pints 3.41 OEP-220 90EP gear oil Inner tracta joint housings, including bevel boxes 3 pints 1.7 OEP-220 90EP gear oil Outer tracta joint housings, including road wheel hubs 1½ pints 0.85 OEP-220 90EP gear oil Brake fluid supply tank 1¼ pints 0.71 OF-20 or OF-24 Dot 3 / 4 Air cleaner 4 pints 2.28 OMD-110 SAE 30 straight Steering cross-shaft bevel box (lower) 1½ pints 0.85 OEP-220 90EP gear oil Steering bevel box (upper) 1½ pints 0.85 OEP-220 90EP gear oil
Last updated on the 31/10/2008 19:20 Copyright © 2007, 2008
