My father was a fitter at ROF Leeds most of his working life. He started on the centurion and worked all the way through to challenger 2. Spent many hours of my school holidays watching the tanks flying around the test track at the factory. In the height of production I think one chieftain would leave the factory a week.
That brings back memories, Was a Chieftan driver in The Royal Hussars (PWO) 81-83 Falingbostel, until we got the first challengers (Mk1) My Challenger was the second ever issued to the Army and I trained on the first.
Well done to all the volunteers who got EB to the state she’s in. Bet they’re gutted to see her go… but happy to know that she’ll be up and running soon!
having driven and operated stuff like that over the last 40 years, you be amazes at what people don't see when they are not concentrating, especially when on the phone or tuning the radio in
Just past a Chieftain on a low loader on the M6 (sans tracks, on the right at least), thought it was this bad boy...but this video has just been uploaded with yours in in the barn....so another one is on the move tonight! Great effort!
Lads you have really landed a proper gem there. Now you can practice on t'other one and get this one right! And got to love the Crouch crew. But blimey that all brought back a few memories. Never mind the Chieftain I used to be a Scania Tech. and there is nothing that can pull like a 16 litre V8 Turbocompound Scania (cue irate Volvo supporters .....). They were great trucks to work on and drive. Used to own a few when I was an owner driver many moons ago. And then @ 09:29 there was a Goldstar truck. A brilliant firm with whom I worked my last years out before retiring aged 69. Good memories there as well. So many thanks from this old fart. Have a great Christmas and a safe and tank filled 2022. 👏👏
Suggestion lads, fit heavy anchor points through the concrete floor at the rear of the shed (Fitter maintenance at our local barracks fitted them), then use them as anchor points for a pulley and a diversion pulley and use the heavy forklift to pull the heavy vehicles into the shed. You can also do the same with recessed chain points at the front of the shed as well to set-up a Multi sheave block system to reduce the load on the forklift. I'm ex Sig but also an advanced rigger and was impressed with how they did it, they had to upgrade to it as service MBT changed from leopard to Abrams which weighs a hell of a lot more!
I was thinking along those same lines. Pity that they weren't cast into the slab when it was poured as they would be less of an obstruction. To retrofit now would require larger surface mounting plates to spread the loadings into the concrete slab. The other option is to cast large anchor blocks in the ground outside the shed and penetrate the walls with the fixing points for the pulleys and diversion sheaves. Mark from Melbourne Australia.
Great job but it doesn't matter how many flashing lights you have and how big the tank is - the overhang on a single carriageway at night when head on would not show at all -it was a good idea to fit the markers!
I can remember rows of these lined up at Warcop back in the 1960s. Fix these two up & with a couple more, you'll have more operational tanks than the army...
Wow I didn't even see the video was about a tank till the red and white triangles appeared. So glad they are there or I would have no idea where to look...
i was so confused until about halfway into the video when you put the white and red triangles on the tank, thats when i saw it for the first time. no wonder those are required.
Just proves when you have the reet kit anything is possible, and when you don’t, it’s comedy gold 👍 you lads might need a proper wrecker and crane soon top work 👌🏻
Great video and a great tank get the engine and started and run up and out to enjoy only one thing that was a Dodgey was to many to close to the winch rope if it snapped it can cut you in half never take chances But a great video
The only people close to the rope were the winch men themselves and their own cameraman, we stayed clear whenever it was under load and just used the camera zoom
Fitter Mat......Just recently found this channel and think it is great. To keep me from having to go back and look at all of your previous videos, how about some back story? Are you guys part of a museum, or just folks with too much money and waaaaay too much free time? And just what is a 'fitter'?😎
Just a bunch of like minded idiots willing to get our hands dirty and not scared of a challenge. Buying and selling funds the vehicles and we do tend to buy stuff other people think is too far gone. And fitter is a general term for heavy equipment mechanic
What everyone needs for Christmas Another battle tank Looking at that I bet the purchase of the tank was the cheep bit Using those two bright orange trucks I bet was not cheep But they did do it with ease 👍👍👍🎅🎅
You'd also think a 12ft high, 10 ton, dog-cock red fire truck covered in more reflectives & flashing leds than the Crouch's wagon (including the 'special' blue ones) would be visible on a clear night on an otherwise unlit road wouldn't you ? When we asked the bloke who'd just inserted his Ford Explorer under said fire appliance's chassis rails the same question he genuinely replied "But I didn't see you."
Getting that thing off the trailer was a classic example of Improvise, adapt and overcome. What a job! So how much did all that cost to get her back to the shed?
@@fittermat Would be cheaper to buy one here. Whats a smaller tanks worth shipper to Canada? I found a cut up brengun carrier but she was to bad to restore so I added a small block chevy and an Old truck body from the 40s. I call it tankenstein. Shes all over youtube. Its been on 6 different tv shows as well. I want a reall tank now
@@fittermat I did see that your loader came from Bruntingthorpe, got that from the C Walton Ltd before I saw the name on the boom. Part of the same purchase perhaps?
Hope you made him buy breakfast or bacon butties for getting stuck in mud. Schoolboy error 😂 Don’t forget the two inches overhang. 😭😭😭 I know you moan about the old bill but as a lorry driver myself DVSA would have given the driver a ticket. The driver of Crouch would have known the marker boards had been needed as the tracks hung over the trailer side even though they had extenders underneath. You get points on HGV licence and the traffic commissioner might also decide to take your licence away all for a warning triangle not worth the risk. 👍🏻 great video.
We do, but currently we don’t yet have a straight bar that we trust between two vehicles of that weight, also communicating with the man driving the BARV is not easy
@@fittermat Hmmmm.. As long as every third word starts with 'F' then communications tends to be much easier. People just do not appreciate the usefulness and power brought to engineering by the frequent use of swear words.
I’ve come to the conclusion Comrade Colonel Mat is a secret Russian sleeper agent quietly amassing an armoured division in South Yorkshire for the Kremlin 😂😂
The problem with the recovery tank is communication between the driver and the chaps outside and extremely limited visibility, also we don’t have a bar yet that we trust between two 50 ton vehicles
The Perca being in the United States is that if I have the right licensing I can have a tank with a cannon neck and fire and machine guns that can fire real rounds not saluting rounds but real rounds it’s so nice
The problem is with the frequency that we all injure ourselves doing this work we wouldn’t be able to afford the tanks and the medical bills in the USA 😂
Fuck me when the “That Chapter” music started playing at the start I genuinely thought a small Irishman was going to start describing how you were all murdered….
And the sound of a howling dinosaur when it passes you in your trench in the middle of some wood in Germany at night. A sound which could be heard miles away. Very likely the loudest tank in NATO.
@@fittermat lol I hear you Mat! Thanks for the reply 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 love the content! If you ever get the armament working again I’ve a few targets for you 😂😂😂😂😂
Nice bit of kit there boys !! And a nice bit of promotional work for crouches... hey maybe if you ask them nicely they could promot you guys ? Do each other a favour Would DEFINITELY like to see more of restoration work you guys put into these projects like you did the centurion BARV !!
It's a good job you put them little triangles on because that big orange lorry was barely noticeable till they went on
My father was a fitter at ROF Leeds most of his working life. He started on the centurion and worked all the way through to challenger 2. Spent many hours of my school holidays watching the tanks flying around the test track at the factory. In the height of production I think one chieftain would leave the factory a week.
The Chieftain is still an awesome looking machine. Developed over 60 years ago. Incredible.
That brings back memories, Was a Chieftan driver in The Royal Hussars (PWO) 81-83 Falingbostel, until we got the first challengers (Mk1) My Challenger was the second ever issued to the Army and I trained on the first.
Now we are talking lads something to watch with great interest after serving along side these beasts it’s great to see them in action
Hopefully we will do them justice bringing them back to life and having some fun along the way
Well done to all the volunteers who got EB to the state she’s in. Bet they’re gutted to see her go… but happy to know that she’ll be up and running soon!
Back at the barn all the shouting and waving of arms masks a slick, well rehearsed, professional operation.
What a machine you have now. All you guys have a great Christmas 🎄.
She looks 'mint'. Can't wait till you start work on her.
having driven and operated stuff like that over the last 40 years, you be amazes at what people don't see when they are not concentrating, especially when on the phone or tuning the radio in
Just past a Chieftain on a low loader on the M6 (sans tracks, on the right at least), thought it was this bad boy...but this video has just been uploaded with yours in in the barn....so another one is on the move tonight!
Great effort!
That’s our latest acquisition on its way to us, video will be up in the next few days
@@fittermat Awesome, it will be great to see (how many have you guys got? If the Army has to regenerate an armoured capability rapidly.... ;) )
Lads you have really landed a proper gem there. Now you can practice on t'other one and get this one right! And got to love the Crouch crew.
But blimey that all brought back a few memories. Never mind the Chieftain I used to be a Scania Tech. and there is nothing that can pull like a 16 litre V8 Turbocompound Scania (cue irate Volvo supporters .....). They were great trucks to work on and drive. Used to own a few when I was an owner driver many moons ago.
And then @ 09:29 there was a Goldstar truck. A brilliant firm with whom I worked my last years out before retiring aged 69. Good memories there as well.
So many thanks from this old fart.
Have a great Christmas and a safe and tank filled 2022. 👏👏
3 mins in and getting diesel creek vibes 👍
Suggestion lads, fit heavy anchor points through the concrete floor at the rear of the shed (Fitter maintenance at our local barracks fitted them), then use them as anchor points for a pulley and a diversion pulley and use the heavy forklift to pull the heavy vehicles into the shed. You can also do the same with recessed chain points at the front of the shed as well to set-up a Multi sheave block system to reduce the load on the forklift.
I'm ex Sig but also an advanced rigger and was impressed with how they did it, they had to upgrade to it as service MBT changed from leopard to Abrams which weighs a hell of a lot more!
I was thinking along those same lines. Pity that they weren't cast into the slab when it was poured as they would be less of an obstruction. To retrofit now would require larger surface mounting plates to spread the loadings into the concrete slab. The other option is to cast large anchor blocks in the ground outside the shed and penetrate the walls with the fixing points for the pulleys and diversion sheaves.
Mark from Melbourne Australia.
Sam are you Aussie?
@@markfryer9880 yes.
Great job but it doesn't matter how many flashing lights you have and how big the tank is - the overhang on a single carriageway at night when head on would not show at all -it was a good idea to fit the markers!
Frankly the flashing lights will mean you won't see the boards anyway...
That brings back some memories of my army days as a gunner in chieftain
Crouch does an awesome job did they film it for themselves.
I bet it was a few quid to get that done
Was for Trucking Hell on Channel 5
Oh my, how strong is that flat bed's winch? Amazing
strong enough to pull a rolling shell with a double line pull .. 20 tonnes maybe
Great tank, great job by those Crouch boys.
They are the best in the business
@@fittermat They have quite a collection themselves don't they? I know the guy who set the company up originally is a collector :)
Brilliant bring home.
Thank you.
Cheers!
I can remember rows of these lined up at Warcop back in the 1960s.
Fix these two up & with a couple more, you'll have more operational tanks than the army...
Them crouch drivers do a really good job.
Wow I didn't even see the video was about a tank till the red and white triangles appeared. So glad they are there or I would have no idea where to look...
They really nailed the camo job!
You are really lucky to have the life you have. Have a great Christmas and see you next year.
Neat... Very neat! Heh, heh... MBT pulls into a Shell servo... "Fill 'er up, Joe".
Great video as always Boy's.
Merry Christmas to you all.
She looks in great condition-👍👍.
that is a nice setup of the recovery boys and you will not get much change out of a million for all of it
You guys are living my dream!
I love the 4x4 steering brake in the left track! X-)
i was so confused until about halfway into the video when you put the white and red triangles on the tank, thats when i saw it for the first time. no wonder those are required.
You should do a v8 compilation film of just the crouch stuff, that 650 in the crouch next gen sounds hot as hell... like the sneaky TV crew shot too
Just proves when you have the reet kit anything is possible, and when you don’t, it’s comedy gold 👍 you lads might need a proper wrecker and crane soon top work 👌🏻
We will get there one day, for now we will make do with hope, prayer and a massive forklift
the recovery scannys a beauty aint she
Great video and a great tank get the engine and started and run up and out to enjoy only one thing that was a Dodgey was to many to close to the winch rope if it snapped it can cut you in half never take chances
But a great video
The only people close to the rope were the winch men themselves and their own cameraman, we stayed clear whenever it was under load and just used the camera zoom
Fitter Mat......Just recently found this channel and think it is great. To keep me
from having to go back and look at all of your previous videos, how about some
back story? Are you guys part of a museum, or just folks with too much money
and waaaaay too much free time? And just what is a 'fitter'?😎
Just a bunch of like minded idiots willing to get our hands dirty and not scared of a challenge. Buying and selling funds the vehicles and we do tend to buy stuff other people think is too far gone. And fitter is a general term for heavy equipment mechanic
@@fittermat Thanks very much and Merry Christmas. Looking forward
to the future videos.
idk but im kind of geeking on that tow truck. id love a big die cast model of it.
A straight bar on the stolly of the personal carrier mite hav worked
That is one hell of a good looking than have a good Christmas boys see you in the new 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Cracking job 👍🏻
that looks like a chieftain mk10 if i not wrong because of the added on armor on turret front
It's a camo battle tank mate, can't see it without those markers on
What everyone needs for Christmas
Another battle tank
Looking at that I bet the purchase of the tank was the cheep bit
Using those two bright orange trucks I bet was not cheep
But they did do it with ease 👍👍👍🎅🎅
Paying for the experts is cheaper than paying for the accident
The low loader truck with all the lights is invisible. Trust me on this, I’ve driven one :o)
You'd also think a 12ft high, 10 ton, dog-cock red fire truck covered in more reflectives & flashing leds than the Crouch's wagon (including the 'special' blue ones) would be visible on a clear night on an otherwise unlit road wouldn't you ? When we asked the bloke who'd just inserted his Ford Explorer under said fire appliance's chassis rails the same question he genuinely replied "But I didn't see you."
@@getinthevantim Oh my gosh :D I can believe it. The low loader truck we drove was canary yellow, with a sleeper top cab :o)
Oh there is a tank on the back !
Getting that thing off the trailer was a classic example of Improvise, adapt and overcome. What a job!
So how much did all that cost to get her back to the shed?
That scania tractor unit of crouch's looks the mutts nuts
It’s a credit to crouch’s and the driver
I wish we could get some thing like that up here in Canada. But I'll selttle for a Brengun carrier
We can arrange shipping
@@fittermat Would be cheaper to buy one here. Whats a smaller tanks worth shipper to Canada? I found a cut up brengun carrier but she was to bad to restore so I added a small block chevy and an Old truck body from the 40s. I call it tankenstein. Shes all over youtube. Its been on 6 different tv shows as well. I want a reall tank now
There's a few chieftains in Canada I know of two in a private collection
Have to keep an eye out for this on Trucking Hell.
It's on next Thursday 👍
Ratchet strap are like gaffer tape if they fail you just did not use enough ratchet straps
Had to giggle when I noticed the V8 TOW license plate on that lorry and his trailer
by the looks of it, they filmed the move for Crouch's 'Trucking Hell' series?
Yes
are you gonna put a Infared battle system in them like the RC tanks?
We’re not, chieftains wouldn’t be economically viable for that sort of work
Matt what you need is an ex AVSD LUDGERSHALL Reliance Mercury or Douglas Tugmaster modified aircraft tug and a set of holliebones
We do have an aircraft tug that we haven’t made a video on yet
@@fittermat I did see that your loader came from Bruntingthorpe, got that from the C Walton Ltd before I saw the name on the boom. Part of the same purchase perhaps?
No cat 3 plate on the front for the heavy lift or am I wrong ???
with the movement into the toy box why did you not use the beach recovery tank - it's designed to push tanks etc around
Very poor visibility for the driver and impossible to communicate with the guys on the outside, just asking for an accident
Where do you guys sell your vehicles once you’ve done them up?
Will you guys be on the TV show Crouchs are on?
Hope you made him buy breakfast or bacon butties for getting stuck in mud. Schoolboy error 😂
Don’t forget the two inches overhang. 😭😭😭
I know you moan about the old bill but as a lorry driver myself DVSA would have given the driver a ticket. The driver of Crouch would have known the marker boards had been needed as the tracks hung over the trailer side even though they had extenders underneath.
You get points on HGV licence and the traffic commissioner might also decide to take your licence away all for a warning triangle not worth the risk. 👍🏻 great video.
I don't think they used Crouch's last time - look on the channel and you'll see it was a different combination with a blue flatbed that time.
@@cyberprog two weeks ago was same firm same lorry set up Norfolk constabulary.
Any updates on the V8 challenge truck?
It will get its turn in the shed asap, lots of projects and not enough time currently
Where did the commanders Coppola go ?
It’s hopefully in one of the many stillages of spare parts we have
Great video guy's, with some great content,keep up the good work
I enjoyed watching you struggle with Luigi but..... Don't you have an armoured recovery vehicle designed for moving things like tanks about?
We do, but currently we don’t yet have a straight bar that we trust between two vehicles of that weight, also communicating with the man driving the BARV is not easy
@@fittermat Hmmmm.. As long as every third word starts with 'F' then communications tends to be much easier. People just do not appreciate the usefulness and power brought to engineering by the frequent use of swear words.
@@mbak7801 Thats so F**king true ! ✌
I’ve come to the conclusion Comrade Colonel Mat is a secret Russian sleeper agent quietly amassing an armoured division in South Yorkshire for the Kremlin 😂😂
That’s a minter 😍😍😍
A sound clip of the big scania working hard would have been cool
It’s especially invisible at night.
Boys you have a recovery tank that would make life easyer
The problem with the recovery tank is communication between the driver and the chaps outside and extremely limited visibility, also we don’t have a bar yet that we trust between two 50 ton vehicles
I've just found your channel how the fuck I've missed it I don't know but loving it
You dont nee the side markers, it's only 2" ova!! ahaha
And the collection grows don’t see much selling 😝😂
We will get to that bit eventually 😂
Crouch's TV guy there, looks like we'll be seeing you lads on the Trucking Hell TV show soon then! 👍
On the next season!
@@fittermat Cool beans! So not just TH-cam famous but TV famous 😉👍
You're on TV next week lads 👍
It is in stealth mode don't you know !Invisible to about 40% of drivers
We're crouch filming for the tv series trucking hell?
They were, should be on the next season
The Perca being in the United States is that if I have the right licensing I can have a tank with a cannon neck and fire and machine guns that can fire real rounds not saluting rounds but real rounds it’s so nice
The problem is with the frequency that we all injure ourselves doing this work we wouldn’t be able to afford the tanks and the medical bills in the USA 😂
i bet its nice not having universal health care too.
👏👏👍
How come you never used barv to put the new chieftain into the shed???
The barv has zero visibility and no way for the driver to communicate with the guys on the ground, recipe for disaster using it for this job
Ul be on trucking hell lol
how much did you pay for that tank and engine?
More than a little but less than a lot
If you have to ask its to expensive
Was that being filmed for an episode of Trucking Hell ?
It was!
Is that ebby 03eb39
Fuck me when the “That Chapter” music started playing at the start I genuinely thought a small Irishman was going to start describing how you were all murdered….
It wouldn't be a good day out if you all got on together all the time 😂
Too be fair to the Police... The tank is camouflaged.
Big clouds of blue smoke.....the awful gear changes....fixing almost anything with DON10 commo wire....and the best damn gun in NATO for decades.
"best tank in the world, as long as it broke down in a good fire position"
And the sound of a howling dinosaur when it passes you in your trench in the middle of some wood in Germany at night. A sound which could be heard miles away. Very likely the loudest tank in NATO.
Me personally seen as you have two I wouldn't put the l60 back in one find something better
😎👍
PC Jobsworth.
bloody hell must have cost more 2 get crouch involved then buy the tank
Paying the experts is cheaper than fixing the mistakes made by the amateurs
I have seen a Scammell do this so much easier, just need the right A fame for the tank, Allellys are much better for STG moves, ,
It's the army green paint that makes it invisible😂😂
Wouldn’t the BARV have been ideal to shove it? Isn’t that what it was built for 😂😂😂
It would have been, unfortunately we don’t have a straight bar yet that we trust between two 40 ton plus vehicles
@@fittermat 5mins on ebay for Joe and his wallet should sort that!
@@fittermat lol I hear you Mat! Thanks for the reply 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 love the content! If you ever get the armament working again I’ve a few targets for you 😂😂😂😂😂
Couldn’t just drag it back with the fast track?😂
Not int the dark of you are walking with your cellphone.
someones got too much money !
No side skirts for the lady?
in some seriousness it does show that the tank overlaps the lorry right? I mean people can be thick as pig shit so better safe then..... "sorry"
Until you put those markers on the tank I couldn’t see the thing , incredibly you’ve invented the supreme weapon just like Bond’s invisible car .
World beating tank in its day.....Bloody awful engine though!
Nice bit of kit there boys !!
And a nice bit of promotional work for crouches... hey maybe if you ask them nicely they could promot you guys ?
Do each other a favour
Would DEFINITELY like to see more of restoration work you guys put into these projects like you did the centurion BARV !!