Hi,
I'm based in the South East of England, halfway between London and the south coast. I've wanted one of these for 25 years and I've finally taken delivery of a project 1975 R686ST.
I bought this in Holland and had it delivered here a few weeks ago. It is a partially completed project which has been mocked-up but needs to be dismantled to be completed. We are very busy with my WW2 truck and armour restoration business so I have not had much time to look at it yet. I have a few questions now and I am sure there will be a lot more to follow. These are very rare trucks in Europe and there is only a limited amount of information and expertise available locally. I hope people on here will be patient if I ask what may appear to be stupid questions, but I had never even seen one of these trucks in the flesh until this arrived! This one was delivered new to a haulage company in Switzerland who had a fleet of them. This truck was sent to Antwerp docks in Belgium to be exported to Zaire but was bought from the dockside by a collector. As far as I can tell it has not been on the road since 1992 although I am still piecing together its history.
Annoyingly it has a broken halfshaft in the rear axle. There is a spare halfshaft that came with it but I noticed that the diff covers have been loosened and I do not know why. Are these axles known for snapping half shafts, and if so, why?
The other immediate question I have is how does the tip turbine work? Am I correct in thinking it uses turbo pressure to spin the turbine to pump air through the heat exchanger?
Also, what is the best way to re-route the air intake so I can get rid of the scoop on top of the bonnet?
The truck has twin gear levers, how can I tell which type of gearbox it is?
Finally for now, what diameter pipe would be appropriate for a pair of stock-looking exhaust stacks?
Thank you in advance, Mike