Don't forget there is also manual traverse and elevation. also let the revs build before trying to stick just a couple of tips from an ex Chieftain driver.

When starting the L60 keep the FIP solenoid (middle switch) switched off. Turn over the engine to build oil pressure to supply the top crank then flick the switch down. Ex VMA.

You must have the Aux Genny running to power the elevation and traverse metadynes, or you must have the main engine revolutions at 1,000 rpm or greater to run the metadynes if the Aux Genny is not running. The ONLY exception to this is to use the Overide Master Control (OMC) switch which can take battery power direct to the traverse and elevation motors. Once the OMC is engaged it gives full power to everything regarding the turret services, we called it the Oh My Christ Switch and I strongly advise you not to use it and to never, and I mean NEVER to switch if from training to the battle position. It was always a last resort to get the turret services working in a dire emergency ie life or death situations to get the tank to engage the enemy. I advise always switch the Aux Genny on first to charge the batteries then start the main engine, another bonus of using the Aux Genny is it saves fuel and will warm up the main engine coolant - they both share the same cooling system. God I miss my Chieftain 01FD02, the bastards smelted it as part of an arms reduction treaty - can you believe it!!!!

It's really weird seeing it without turret baskets or the Stillbrew kit. And, as an aside, don't bounce the throttle like that when it's cold. You'll fvck it. Let the fvcker high idle after start until it's properly warmed up, a few blips to clear it, and then just mildly cane it. It's a late build (isn't it?) so it should cope best with that.

Do love the sound of the chieftain power pack two stroke diesel. And all the unreliability

Pure nostalgia for me! I was an apprentice electrician at 38 Central Workshop REME Chilwell where we overhauled Chieftains and other tracked vehicles. This video brought back so many happy memories of a great time that set me up for a successful career, all manner of daft stuff, turret shop, test track, good friends and the faces of so many great people who are long gone. Be careful driving about with the gun out of the transit bracket (gun crutch) or without the the H30 going, turret in non-stab and the metadynes running . You can break the elevation gearbox. Thanks a lot and good luck.

I've driven many, many miles in M35s. As a safety note. Never park an M35 in gear. If the fuel cut off is disengaged and the truck gets bumped hard enough, that engine will start and the truck will drive off on its own.

Unlocked Achievement: Drove a Leyland 10 ft without breaking it.

Bit of trivia, did you know the last British Army exercise with Chieftains was in 1995 on Salisbury plain, by then some regiments already had Challenger II and 1RTR still kicked about in Chieftains! just remember to be careful and to try not to hold down the break pedal to long as otherwise the brake accumulator has a tendency to over pressure and break. Then you lose the breaks - from an ex-chieftain driver who did this on a slope at the Warminster POL point which is on a slope! lol crashed right into the tank in front, my commander was not to happy! lol

Turret has 2 modes, apu running and full gun-control powered up and stab engaged. Or, battery only which does traverse only and no up/down. The rubbing strips are to prevent damage to the gun because the control limits aren't engaged on batt only. Be VERY careful to have everybody clear because it moves VERY fast. I seem to recall at the back of the turret next to the commanders seat is a batt emergency switch that needs to be operated to switch from batt to full house. GET SOME HELP BEFORE SOMEONE IS INJURED..

For an L60 that's pretty clean. Had a Leyland national bus that used to smoke the shed out on startup!

Glad to see that Joe had to go in reverse to get the Chieftain out of the shed and not through the back wall.

Its been over forty years, since I was in the Royal armoured corps on Chieftain mk2 XY, so my recollection is a bit vague. But there used to be a little switch right infront of the driver at eye level. It was the drivers turret safety switch. He could throw it before he left the drivers compartment to stop being trapped by the gun by accident.

That deuce is a thing of beauty!

Thanks for keeping these vehicles going

The Chieftain has a wicked engine sound.

What an amazing toy shed Everyone should have an old tank or two to play with 👍👍😂😂

I learned to drive in a "crappy gearbox" Ford truck. Made me the outstanding driver I am to this day. In fact, I was complimented by an NCOIC of our guard mount in Germany for my ability to change gears in the deuce and a half we used to get the guards to their posts. He said it was the smoothest gear changing he had ever experienced. And yes, I know my geography too. Old school education.

I used to climb on stuff like this as a kid on 77 tank park in Munster Lager. Loved that camp.

Judging from many comments, you have some of the gun/turret system switches in wrong modes - hence the turret switches keep tripping. And never park it in gear, use the parking brake instead.

It might just be a bad camera angle, but it looked like your ground guide had a habit of getting in between things so if a vehicle accidently popped into gear he'd get squished. Happened when I was at Ft Knox a time or two.

Well if nothing else, you fumigated the barn, no rats or other nasties will be chewing the wiring for a while!. Love the utter respect you chaps have for each other! 🤣 but also love the 'affection' you guys have for these old workhorse bits of kit! And bringing them back so they can be seen and remembered for the contributions they made. However, there was one omission in your video, you didnt have any British Leyland workers sitting round a brazier with strike banners!.... 🤣

Start the chieftain on tickover and don't keep blipping the throttle. Just leave it to tickover until you want to move then don't over rev it

LOVE YOUR VIDEOS GUYS. AMAZING WORK, Keep it up....fnah,fnah..

Such a fantastic survivor in such complete condition, love it

Man I love seeing projects like this!

A garage with lots of toys . Brum brum we are having lots of fun . 👍

You need the gue to power the gun kit. Or throw the OMC control for emergancy turret power through the battle links.

You should ALWAYS start the GUE first then the main engine

I love following these projects Joe, great to see an old school mate doing really well.

try running the GUE (generating unit engine) it provides power to the metadines .

As an ex REME Control Eqpt Tech this is a nice bit of nostalgia. Great to see.

nothing like the howl of an L60 to stand the hairs up, those who know know

I was a Sgt Gun Fitter from 72- 85 and worked on the chieftain and Challenger 1 ( the First were delivered to the Royal Hussars/ fallingbostel ) I am now disabled but loved to work on both ‘Panzers’ 😂 I also worked on the 105 pack howitzer, the 105 L118/9 light gun, the 105 Abbot and the 40/70 AA bofers but the Chiefie was a joy to work on. Traverse G/box was a swine to remove and replace, but apart from this the recoil system was a doddle to work on. Great times on Soltau doing a barrel change after removing the NBC pack. Sadly has my chemotherapy robbed me of many fine details. Arte et Marte fellow Bluebells.

I recently found ur channel and love it

That Stolly 😍

Another great video guy's

Joe is in the gunners seat. The left hatch is for the Loader

From memory, the traverse and elevation motors are the same, but are bit of a pain to change. I say that as again, from memory, we used to get quite a few that were burnt out/locked up. The L60 had a bad start in life when the MOD said they wanted it to be truly multi-fuel capable for use anywhere. But the cylinder liners for the directly opposed pistons were devils for leaking and causing hydrostatic locking. You may want to look for a load bank to keep that donkey engine in good fettle, they’re devils for polishing the cylinders with light loads.

Did my Recovery Mechanic training on Borden Heath in a Cent Arv 1988. Remember if you were in too lower gear down hill the governor’s making the exhaust bang like gun fire 🔥

Did my tracked conversion course on one of these in 91 only to be told after my recy course I’d be using carrvs instead great days on the heath at Borden

About the only things on those that I haven't changed are the breech block and turret. Will be having nightmares tonight. LOL. P.S. Tell Santa I have been good this year and want one of them.

I reckon half the vehicles belonging to my mates in the US have broken windscreens. Had it happen to me in NM whilst in the interstate & no traffic - mate reckons it was the heat (was over 110°F at the time).

I don't know what year the last American film you watched was made in but we fill our own tanks over hear too

You don't need the loaders safety switch to live to start the gun equipment. It's purely a safety switch to stop the traverse at any time, usually because someone got their foot in the way.

I have many manuals to operate a Chieftain MK10 give me a shout if you need a copy. The L60 was a bad engine early days but came good in the eighties through many upgrades the final upgrades complated was the 13a/14a engines hopefully you have a 13a engine fitted - 14a is a rare engine. Anyways give me a shout if you need a manual happy to help you as without the manuals and operating precedures you will struggle to get all the systems working but you have the gun working thats a great start means the metatyns are working ok. Take a look at my channel see what we have done to the turret on our Chieftain.

Boys n their toys an yes I am jealous. What fun.

I think that's one of our old MVEE chieftains on special projects registration plates.

big boy's toys .. loadsa fun .

Loving the Alvis

The Leyland L60 and gearbox gets a lot of stick, but remember that the UK, at the time, was the only nation that attempted a dual fuel tank engine. All the other NATO nations ignored the ruling and stuck with diesel!!

Do not forget you can power turret motors from turret batteries. Main switch on turret run near cooking box, on my Christ switch

The Leyland engine sure sounds awesome, v6 12 pistons 😊2 banger diesel, i hear the more reliable blocks were Red in colour

L60 Engine, the worst thing ever made, bought by the British Govt to make Tankies suffer for over 20 years. The noise of the Donkey firing the Main is amazing though, especially when there are around 20 of them at Hohne, Germany and its minus 10C......Greenpeace woul not be amuzed at the fumes though...lol. Well done guys.

You need to start the metadines on the panel right of the gunner

“Reckon they missed the high school and shot the screen” XD

Tanksalot for all the great content

I love that horn on that on makes me laugh every time.

The sound of that L6 Though....

The last time I saw a vehicle produce that much smoke it was on fire! :-)

That engine is actually bloody good it was the fact that people were working on them that didn’t know what they were doing and what ever you do when you change the oil filter make 100 percent sure it’s not leaking and you only have one seal on the filter or you will be pushing it out the workshop and watching the pistons relocate themselves from the engine block check all supercharger seals also

That master switch it the turret battery box is for the RADIOS!!

Great banter. You guys are hilarious. 😒

Proper gun truck there

Wife says no more toys for me.... For now anyway 😍👍👍👍👍👍

Run the GUE to power the main kit, check the turret pressure gauge to 70psi, and as mentioned by someone else, you have manual Elevation and Traverse. and the Donkey engine is a GUE Generating Unit Engine, NOT Donkey engine, and its also known as the Gun Crutch,,,

and I thought I was the only one who killed bats that way......

Never stand Between 2 Tracked Vehicals . When starting 1or the Other

Whomever drove the Ford Flatbed...As a Yank, there's a difference between Lazy and Entitled. Figure it out. ;) And anytime you're driving an old 'merican car without a electric fuel pump...ALWAYS engage the choke before starting. I learned that on my Uncle's old Dodge 400 truck. Wouldn't it be funny if THIS Chieftan never gave these guys any engine trouble through the WHOLE retrofit... Great video!

When you Brits build a working electrical system, then you can complain about our gearboxes! 🤣

I haven't seen a full service gas station in the US since the 80s

The "DONKEY" engine is the G.U.E. mate generator unit engine. I used to drive these in the chieftain A.V.L.B and A.V.R.E variants.

I wonder if the guys at Edison Motors would be interested in making a range extended electric tank...

28 minutes that can be summarised succintly as 'much fannying around'.

I put the reg into merlin online and no details for the tank. So I'm guessing it's not the original reg, or it's super duper top secret gucci kit. Either way it's a stinky chieftain 🤣🤣. I've had the pleasure and it made me so greatful to be a challenger 2 man.

Main engine generator only works at 1000rpm and above. That's why Callander had its generator gearing changed to work at idle.

You need the GUE on to run the gun kit. Omg

Nice tank...as a lazy American at least we can have michinguns and tanks with live ammo.

The drivers gun switch, the toggle switch directly in front of the drivers position below the hatch should be set ‘down’. There’re two reverse gears. The chieftain can ‘neutral’ turn, select neutral, give her plenty revs and pull either stick. NEVER 1/ manoeuvre the chieftain whilst the gun is out of the cradle with the metadynes off, it’s very hard on the turret gearing and 2/ don’t swing on her barrel, for the same reason. Always park up with gun rear, over the decks, so you can check the various levels ‘before’ starting up (first parade).

Cody’s tank 😮

You should follow the Iran version of the chieftain (that they ordered) and put the challenger 1 power pack in it - not sure how much work that be

Good old BL, first turn of the key and away she goes...

Love the content on the toys just discovered your videos! Advice on the thumbnail it looks too much like a news article 🤷‍♂️ Some of the best KZfaqr automotive mostly that have got millions of views just use a good photo with Large Bold Red Text that can be read at a phone glance. Just a tip 😃

😎👍

Only New Jersey has full service gas stations.

Great video . You guys certainly enjoy a challenge and seem willing and able to tackle the technical problems on the vehicle. What I can’t get my head around is the Chieftain’s terrible reputation for engine trouble ? Why on earth would the MoD allow an unreliable engine to be used in the first place ?

BARV tracks are way too tight

Being in "Merica" I was wondering what engine is the main power? Unless I'm looking wrong, how did you get the turret turned around?

That sounded like a Turbo Charged American Deuce and a Half. You can tell cause she whistles.

New Jersey is about the only state in the US that has full service stations that pump gasoline for you.

cracking video when the gaz66 getting fettled with?

Sounds like a Ford V5 ....😁

It's only in New Jersey and some gas stations where others pump your gas, I have never in my life had someone pump my gas for me

Does the stolly still swim?

Cleaned the floor just to roll dirty tanks tracks on it. lol

What is the big turretless vehicle at the beginning called?

Where is the most important piece of kit on a Chiegtan? The hot water boiling vessel to make a nice hot cuppa.

Ah the venerable Saracen armoured jalopy, in my opinion a saviour of many a squad in that he'll hole called northern Ireland

No mosquito was hurt during these startups

Very cool but what is this place? A private collection?