Biglorryblog's 'Good Man in Africa' Jerry Burley returns to the fay on BLB with this tale..."Just back from the Engineering Solutions yard (the MF dealer here as it happens) surveying our pre-loved 4880 thats just arrived in country after a long and painfully-pricy journey from the beholden land of Moonshine and Banjos. I know you probably put these in the same product group as buses but this will be an interesting unit once completed!"
Jerry continues: "I drove one of these as a student on summer vac at the sprawling Lockinge Estates just outside Wantage when I was doing my Ag Eng degree and I remember the farm opposite, in a bout of one-upmanship, buying a new, slightly more powerful but basically similar John Deere artic. This was in the days when we still burned straw still and One-Eyed Jethro on his Deere decided to go stubble burning with his new toy (UK£60K even in 1983!). Well, he made a face over the main Wantage to Hendred road at the 'tiny' red 48 in the field opposite.......and as always happens, the wind changed. But his face didn't stick, it twisted up in horror as up rushed the fire in the wrong direction and also up went his Deere in a puff of wheat straw smoke. Jethro and his charred chariot starred in the local rag the next day, but he went home on a bike that night rather than in his green menace. But I digress..."
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"We need an extreme recovery unit that can travel on 'roads' and other lesser surfaces which conventional machinery couldn't even begin to manage. I come from a generation that believes anything with a diseasall in it should have 26 wheels under it or be in a field (ie I like petrol engined cars). Well, this thing pictured above on the back of the low-loader is no car and has 320hp of barking V8 Cummins 903 in front, 8 large lugged tyres to block up the roads and a top speed of 20mph! So it pulls a bit then? Perfect. Oh, and with a tractive effort of nearly 100% it should easily provide 15 tonnes of pull on its own....Now click through here to find out how!
Jerry adds: "Once one of the spare 40,000lb (military rated) ex-Oshkosh Braden winches (like this one above) that we bought with the last 911 is fitted between the lower Cat 3 lift links, and the yet-to-be-fabricated ground strakes dropped into mother earth, it should be quite a handy unit for when a bit of heave-ho is needed. And they sound great under load as a free bonus! I might go home in it one night, just to please the neighbours - but this being Africa I doubt they'll care much!! Regards Jerry." Great stuff JB---only I suggest you take a look at the settings on your super digital camera--you're over-exposing yourself!
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