75' Volvo C303 TGB 1314 6x6 Army Truck

Not at all; I understand that those involved in green-laning frequently encounter problems emanating from various quarters. Any vehicle seen as being different is likely to draw attention and comment. I can understand using this vehicle at Pay and Play Days, exhibited at shows for others to see and enjoy; using it where it may well be the catalyst for ruining things for many others, is questionable.
The idea with a Unimog died a death, after the vehicle was asset stripped; it is almost as though this a repeat all over again.
A nice vehicle, but it comes with certain constraints purely because what it is.
How many Steyr Pinzgauer 6x6's do you see out green-laning, which should be an indicator.
It will be interesting how this project progresses and its ultimate destination.

Might be big by landrover standards but compared to most modern tractors which also use a lot of green lanes it's not.

Less politics, back to the cool truck news!

What's the plans for the back of it?

Also having not seen a Pinzgauer before, I now need at least 5.... Or at least one Kamaz 8x8 of some variety. Now that would upset the green lane haters.

Inspiration?

One of my favourite vehicles, very jealous. Brilliant off roaders and not much will keep up with them. Sadly a lot have lost their axles as they are an easy fitment to Landrovers. Diffs on the same side and the same width as Defenders. If you haven't already come across them there are a number of Finnish ones that have done Ladoga both as competitors and support vehicles (4x4's for the former and 6x6's for the latter. The LR4x4 forum is a good source for information on the axles and links to some of the modified.

Size wise they are deceptive. Definitely not a big vehicle. The 4x4 version is the same width as a Defender and shorter than a 110 Defender. And a 110 is shorter than just about every estate car you can get now! The 6x6 is longer but probably only about the same as a 130 Defender. Being forward control they do look a lot bigger and more imposing than bonneted.

Good luck with the project. And you may already know that the engine can be tuned a long way and ultimately was developed in to the T5 engine.

Ed

I used to work for an engineer who was also a Steyr agent so had quite a few Pinz and Halflinger vehicles and spares. Can remember on more than one occasion smashing up brand new gearbox casings to melt and cast parts for vintage tractors.

Yes, I’d forgotten that you can currently go straight to C or even C+E at the moment. 

With the new reg on it was about time we took the truck out for its first proper test run. So we headed to Salisbruy plains military ranges in very wet conditions with my pal in his little Jimny. I don;t know about other people but driving stuff new to me I am constantly on edge until we have a successful journey as I worry about things going wrong. With the Plains just 30 mins from home and lots of mud and ruts to test in, it is a great proving ground that we can use and if things go wrong friends are only a phone call away.







The adventure was a great success and the only issues that came up were actually on road rather than off road. Anything above 45mph for a consistent amount of time the mechanical lift pump does not seem to keep up with the amount of fuel the carbs require to run the engine properly so she starts to miss fire. A small electric fuel pump in place of the mechanical one should solve this issue nicely. I also found that going through some deep puddles fast on the road caused water to get into the engine bay and create a fault with electrical components which would in turn stop the engine until it dried again. So I need to find the source of this problem but will also have an undertray made to prevent the ingress of water.

If I am honest with myself I have never been that keen on using petrol engines off road so maybe at the end of 2023 we will look at fitting a landcruiser or Unimog engine in place of the B30. Up on the plains there is one section in a big dip with about 5 routes you can take. I opted for what i thought was an easier route for the truck, but upon dipping into the rut, the whole truck basically disappeared and the water came up to the bottom of the doors.....thats quite deep then. Despite only having the rear axle lockers engaged the old girl churned her way through the deep sludge to the other side, we had submerged the engine and all of the back end of the truck in that time and I was amazed that the petrol engine didn't conk out. In my infinite wisdom I had forgotten to figure out how to use the front locker so we were just stuck getting out the last bit. Luckily we had the trusty Jimny we we chucked a strap on and used as an anchor to give us a little nudge out. We all breathed a sigh of relief whilst a took my headlights out and emptied them of water.







After that little episode and already having been out for several hours we decided it was the right time to head home and give the trucks a good old wash. I took a picture of the truck in the charge bay at the fuel station for comedy value and we headed home for some dry clothes. Driving this thing about is an absolute adventure and it gets loads of interest. So far it is exactly what I expected. I might stick some footage on Youtube in the coming weeks.

Have you thought about fitting the Landrover 300tdi engine and gearbox? There are a couple in Finland that have had it fitted. Not sure on engine mounts etc... but the transfer box layout is the same for the Volvo and Landrover. It's the main reason the axles are so popular on Landrover's - diffs have the right offset.