£100k WORTH OF PROBLEMS!

Comments · 600

• NO

  @Not_mUch_To_Suck · 3 years ago · pinned

  As an Australian thank you for thinking of us but we normally just lock the screen and flip it ourselves 😂

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• RO

  @rovcanada1 · 2 years ago

  As an ex-Chieftain crewman, I can assure you that you don't need a sense of smell to know when your batteries are cooking, as your eyes start streaming, your larynx melts and your nostrils burn! BTW, if you can smell, it smell like a mix of rotten eggs and burnt cordite, with a hint of caramel ... sort of.

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• RO

  @rovcanada1 · 2 years ago

  Top tip: We NEVER tried to start our Chieftains (ARRV, in my case) without firing up the genny 1st. Unassisted battery start was a big no-no. The main reason was that your DEF (dust extraction fan) uses a huge amount of Amps to run, and you have to switch that on before you engage the starter to flush the air filter cyclones. If you don't do that, your roots blower and L60 engine will breath in about 0.5kg of dust and sand on its first breath, which isn't too good for the life of the engine.

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• AN

  @angrybill · 1 year ago

  Don't worry about your dang hair. You guys all look just fine when measured by the entertainment you supply us here across the pond.. You guys make me laugh and at 81 living all by myself I cherish that laughter. Keeps me from mumbling and stumbling just like the old man that I am. THANK YOU!!  { I'm 81. A veritable old fart. }.

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• TV

  @TVtwarn · 3 years ago

  Weirdos keep going on about ‘everything gets given to you’ but from where I’m sitting the only things you’re given are problems to mend 😅

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• LO

  @loddon82 · 2 years ago

  British military equipment designers never have to actually work with their designs in the field. If they did they might think a bit more about the position of things like batteries and filters! I worked with the US Navy Phalanx Close In Weapon System for ten years, all filters were easily accessible and a very heavy transformer rectifier was mounted on PTFE runners and held in place by two bolts, both at the front! Advice on the physical layout was received from US Navy Chief Petty officers who would have to maintain and use the system. Coolant and hydraulic hoses had self sealing quick disconnect connectors, so no mess, no fluid loss. All it takes is a bit of thought.

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• DE

  @denis9450 · 3 years ago

  Those batteries weigh 88 pounds each so somebody who hardly has an ounce of flesh on him he did really well

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• TH

  @Thrasher-1988 · 3 years ago

  I love the sound of tanks in the morning 👍🇬🇧😎

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• HU

  @hussar01 · 2 years ago

  Brings back memories of tightening the tracks, changing batteries and looking like the swamp thing from the oily swamp

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• CH

  @charliegould5865 · 2 years ago

  Watching you shift those batteries reminded me of when back in the 1990’s I used to have to change the batteries on Boeing 747-200’s (I was an aircraft engineer) they had two huge batteries the same size as those Hawker batteries, they weighed 90 pounds each, one for the APU and a main battery in the rear of the flight deck. The APU battery was fitted in a bay under the tail, this meant having to lift the battery above your head up through the hatch. Oh nearly forgot to mention the hatch for the APU battery was around 30 feet from the ground! The later 747-400 had the same sort of battery, but their positions were changed to something as awkward as the ones you were trying to fit, which meant lifting them over all sorts of structure in confined spaces.<br> I feel your pain!

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• LO

  @Lou-f · 3 years ago

  That chieftain sounds pretty evil at the end 👍

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• SI

  @simonparry7665 · 3 years ago

  That&apos;s reminded me of having to do my Armoured Engineer (Chieftain AVLB) D and M course at Bovington TWICE! We learned our &quot;trade&quot; specific skills on an engineer variant in a hangar/classroom, but to keep the hours down on the AVLB fleet the purely driving phase was carried out on a Mk 10 gun tank and/or the &apos;Chieftain GTi&apos; (or wedge - just a hull, plated over, with neither a turret nor the AVRE/AVLB kit on it). One day, after a day on the cross country driver training area, and washing down, we were back on the tank park, post use servicing. There was a lot of chitter-chatter about what pub we were going to drink at before heading to The Venue at Tower Park in Poole, and the usual banter. There was also an element of &quot;too many cooks&quot; on the rear deck. In short, we were distracting one another. As the radiators were stowed by another student, it was left to me to finish off by closing the engine deck panels. That&apos;s when I looked up at my mate, who was standing on the top of the turret, and I dropped a panel into the well, whereupon it bounced out of the well, it&apos;s progress into the stowed position having been hindered by my big toe (right foot) overhanging the corner of the well. Well, bugger me if that didn&apos;t smart a little! I hopped alongside the (stowed in the crutch) gun, up the mantlet, over the roof of the turret, and somehow got off the turret onto the track guards, and down the front hull. Turning the air blue, I continued to hop and swear my way across the tank park. Eventually I sat on the tarmac and people began to realise I was in serious pain. And that was that. I was so close to finishing the course but there was no way I was in a fit state to complete it. I was posted at the time to 23 Engr Regt in Osnabruck, and they didn&apos;t want to fly me back only to fly me to the UK again on sick leave, so I was sent home instead, and as soon as I was fit to return to duty I was loaded onto the next available course to finish what I&apos;d started. Ironic, too, that after only a short three year stint as an Armoured Farmer I was posted back to the UK as a Draughtsman and drifted away from tanks to never again drive a tracked vehicle bigger than an FV432...

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