Commer PB pick up

Hi all
Its been a bit quiet on the PB front recently, as we have moved house. At the moment the poor little thing sits outside, waiting for some new garage doors to be made up so's the old door and frame can be removed to make the hole large enough to get the truck through. Only a few weeks to go (doors not standard size so need to be bespoke made).
Anyway,while standing outside the starting issue got worse. The battery had already been replaced with a beefier model, but even so cranking over got slower, eventually for the starter to pack up altogether. Phil (Jr) to the rescue! Discovered wire between solenoid and starter was perished and eventually broke, so Phil replaced that and checked all connections (my excuse is I'm too large to fit under the truck and Phil being thinner can easily slide under it!)
Now to the interesting bit. The previous night had been quite cold, and the day was warmish but for most of it the truck had stood in the shade, so wasn't particularly warm. Having re-fitted the starter Phil climbed into truck and decided to just give the starter a very small spin over to test that it worked, before trying the thermostart. No more than a couple of seconds later, to our great surprise, she sprang into life - no thermostart, cold engine that hadn't been started for a fortnight!
Seems like we won't need to use the thermostart at least until the cold weather arrives! She now starts better than ever. So, who says Perkins are reluctant starters?
Its great owning and driving her, every time out we get people smiling and waving at us, and even drivers behind who are held up coz we can't go very fast hang well back and don't hassle (although that could have something to do with the smoke she produces!) We have been noticed by local enthusiasts and invited to take her to see the owner of a nearby collection of vintage trucks on a "you show me yours, I'll show you mine" basis.
In mid October she should have her first outing doing what she was bought for; taking my collection of vintage horticultural machinery to a working event (weather permitting, I'm allergic to rain!) If we go, I'll take some pics.

Thanks to you all for your support and advice.
Peter
 
Excellent, a nice simple fix that has hopefully transformed the truck and made life with her a little bit easier :)
 
Yes it's always good to have an easy fix, especially when all you have to do is watch it being done and it doesn't cost anything!
Meeting lots of new people locally as a result of driving her around and have even been invited to see a local private collection of vintage trucks by someone who saw me in her.
Life is good!
 
Well done for finding that. My other 4203 Perkins starts all summer without the thermostart, and the 3152 in my old MF 135 did too, but my PB one won't. Time for new rings.

We've just spent a few days in Cornwall, and couldn't stop anywhere without talking Commertrash to someone. :)
 
All credit and praise go to Phil, Colin. I'm just a happy bystander!
You're right, seems people just love them. Even this morning when I took some old concrete bits (well, they were once a water feature but regrettably broken in the recent house move!) down to the local tip, the chaps there got carried away with reminiscences of old Commers. Ill wind and all that, in the course of talking they put most of the heavy lumps into the bin while I watched!)
Embarrassingly first start this morning wasn't so good, it seems that to get it to start from cold without thermostart its better to have the throttle at idle. Presumably foot down on the throttle means more fuel injected which then needs more compression heat to fire than a smaller amount of fuel.
 
Long time no post.
The PB now starts fine thanks to a new solenoid fitted courtesy of Phil. He has also fixed an intermittent electrical fault (like no lights!), easy fix,poor connections in what passes for a fusebox on these.
He also bought her a Christmas present, so thanks to Phil, I bring you the Mexican blanket! Now quite a bit quiter to drive!

IMG_0395.JPG
 
Russ
The truck looks a lot better in the photos than the flesh er metal.
I'm in mid Norfolk. Quite a long way from you!
 
Sorry no. Don't do shows as such, she was bought to transport my vintage rotovators to working events, but don't plan on going much further than 50 miles from base.
 
No, sorry. They're pretty rare, and I've never seen another builder's dropside like mine. Maybe someone else on the forum knows of one. Steve maybe?
 
Well, unbelievably its the year round since I became the current custodian of the truck. She's been absolutely no trouble (even seems to have cured the starting, seems its nearly always better not to use cold start and just crank over with no throttle, usually fires within 4/5revs), earlier this year we took her from Norfolk to Northampton to pick up another old rotavator and she didn't miss a beat. She sailed through the new MOT and what's more, insurance on classic policy this year is £50 cheaper than last!
I love her!
And I can only reiterate that if you are thinking of buying anything from Steve, on my experience you won't go wrong!
 
Found another drop side had a photoshoot about 2 weeks
EWTntx5.jpg
 
That looks very smart Russ,makes me think my decision not to restore mine might have to be reviewed!
This, I think, is the standard pick up, not the builder's version?
 
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