The Bad Oil...

 

I'm sure gear box oil shouldn't be black!

 

 

 Red thing on the right? That'll be the nurse valve. Rare as stuff that is excreted by rocking horses.

After a few weeks of neglect, the on-going servicing tasks continued apace today! Predictably this involved parting with more hard-earned cash and ordering yet more oil from Morris Lubricants. The target this time was the gear box and transfer box which require AG90 rather than the EP 90 used in the differentials and steering box etc, presumably because of phospher-bronze components which don't work well with the extreme pressure (EP) additives. The main gearbox was full with new oil having been serviced last year when the clutch was changed (although it's filled with EP 90 so I will change this soon). The transfer box, however, was a different story!! The oil (EP 90) was black with an awful lot of fine sediment in. So, this was drained and bottled then replaced with new AG 90. This took ages to pour in - trying to use a straight funnel to pour two litres of thick oil into a filler hole which is vertical takes some time and patience! Anyway, another job done....

I then tried to get EP 90 into the steering box using an oil gun but this proved to be troublesome and I suspect I ended up wearing more than went into the nipple! Hey ho, a job to be completed another day!!

I then dropped the newly-acquired nurse valve into the locker. These were used when 6 inch pumping from machine to machine in the AFS days to prevent too much pressure building up in the pump. I borrowed one at Derby Fire Show but as it is useful to have one, I acquired one from a fellow owner yesterday.


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Derby Emergency Services Show

Well, after much planning a good few green goddesses and other ex-AFS vehicles assembled back in mid-June at Markeaton Park in Derby along with their more modern counterparts for the Derby Emergency Services Show.

One of the larger fire shows in the country and equally inconvenient for many RSOLES, it was the aim to get as many of the ex-AFS fleet there as possible including 326 and the new petrol carrier which had been worked on over the spring.

After much juggling, the majority of the vehicles arrived on the Friday with me arriving later in the evening in 326 after being stuck on a course in Birmingham for the day. Great day to have a course there, no traffic problems at all! Tony had already collected the petrol carrier that day.

After camp was pitched, old and new acquaintences were made and remade over a few beers before day one.

Despite the show having a leisurely start, the Saturday started with the road run for local children. So a number vehicles headed for the childrens' hospital to collect the passengers before a 3-4 mile circuit of Derby arriving back at the park.

Gathering for the start of the road run:

Then, the normal show routine began with bouts of eating, sitting and chatting accompanying the demonstrations in the ring. I helped crew the wartime demo, the AFS pumping demo coming at the end. Having never pumped with 326 using the 6" hose, it was good to have a go and whilst aspects of the demo need refining, it all basically worked. After some evening training and more beer, Sunday arrived and took on a similar pattern. The AFS demo went much more smoothely although all too soon it was time to pack up and go home. A good weekend - good company, good fun.

Tony's AFS command vehicle and wrecker:

326 and another goddess with the petrol carrier:

The first outing for the petrol carrier!:

There is another report from David Moore's NFS-AFS site here:

http://nfs-afs.org.uk/2013/07/07/derby-fire-show/

Additional pictures on Flickr can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mj_100/sets/72157634141372659/with/9063277030/