longpod:
We ran 3 eight wheeler 401,s all with gardners in,they were good in there day,nice to drive and easy to work on,cabs did rust bad towards the end but we did run them right into the late 90,s ,we even fitted a perkins rolls tx325 into one,when the gardner gave up. There is a few photos of them on johnslorryphotos site for any any sed atki nuts.
This is a shot taken in '84 of one of a pair of SA 401s I bought.It is brand new and coupled to a new Task tri axle which had been entering the fleet in numbers since '83.the two Sed/Atks were the last British built tractor units to enter the Bewick fleet I am sad to say!
longpod:
We ran 3 eight wheeler 401,s all with gardners in,they were good in there day,nice to drive and easy to work on,cabs did rust bad towards the end but we did run them right into the late 90,s ,we even fitted a perkins rolls tx325 into one,when the gardner gave up. There is a few photos of them on johnslorryphotos site for any any sed atki nuts.
This is a shot taken in '84 of one of a pair of SA 401s I bought.It is brand new and coupled to a new Task tri axle which had been entering the fleet in numbers since '83.the two Sed/Atks were the last British built tractor units to enter the Bewick fleet I am sad to say!
longpod:
We ran 3 eight wheeler 401,s all with gardners in,they were good in there day,nice to drive and easy to work on,cabs did rust bad towards the end but we did run them right into the late 90,s ,we even fitted a perkins rolls tx325 into one,when the gardner gave up. There is a few photos of them on johnslorryphotos site for any any sed atki nuts.
This is a shot taken in '84 of one of a pair of SA 401s I bought.It is brand new and coupled to a new Task tri axle which had been entering the fleet in numbers since '83.the two Sed/Atks were the last British built tractor units to enter the Bewick fleet I am sad to say!
That’s tidy!!
This is a shot of the sister Sed/Akt in the depot at Milnthorpe when new,we left this one running at 32ton GVW.
longpod:
We ran 3 eight wheeler 401,s all with gardners in,they were good in there day,nice to drive and easy to work on,cabs did rust bad towards the end but we did run them right into the late 90,s ,we even fitted a perkins rolls tx325 into one,when the gardner gave up. There is a few photos of them on johnslorryphotos site for any any sed atki nuts.
This is a shot taken in '84 of one of a pair of SA 401s I bought.It is brand new and coupled to a new Task tri axle which had been entering the fleet in numbers since '83.the two Sed/Atks were the last British built tractor units to enter the Bewick fleet I am sad to say!
That’s tidy!!
This is a shot of the sister Sed/Akt in the depot at Milnthorpe when new,we left this one running at 32ton GVW.
Last one for the night,the 38tonner shot in the depot at Milthorpe coupled to a tri-axle loaded with 24 ton of paper.
I had 2 400’s one with a 250 ■■■■■■■■ the other with a 290e ■■■■■■■■ I loved both of them, nothing wrong with the bunks, brakes were good, but yes the steering lock was a bit on the short side, I always wanted a 401, great photos Dennis, as always.
Don’t suppose they fitted a Detroit Diesel in them , did they? tin hat at the ready.
my regular drive was a FL7 but when it was off the road , i used the seddon 400 quite a tool i must admit , 6x4, gardner 240, & David Brown gearbox.
A SA 401 grill was found to replace a damaged S 400 original , seats were from the ark, the ‘all the way around the engine’ linkage for the throttle pedal was murderous on the right leg , as at full chat the govners would keep trying to throttle off thus pushing back on yer already aching leg so iron bar was wedged under the seat for cruise control, heavy clutch did in your other leg & in the lanes on greasy mud or snow , there wasn’t anywhere it wouldn’t go , but on a short chassis ,double drive & 14t up it was usually in a straight line . corners were out of the question great drive
From wot i remember brakes were not very good on them after the 400,s they were forever wanting adjusting!
longpod
Only had one scare with the brakes coming down to Blue bank into Sleights village after pushing over the North York moors to make a deadline, they went altogether just as the last decent was approaching, no amount of cursing, praying or pulling, pushing, turning, stamping on anything near to hand and foot made any difference and my hand was straying to the ejectors handle when I tried running it along the kerb, thankfully it finally stopped and I started my heart again. I sat for ten minutes then a plod came along and asked if I had problems when I told him, he was chuffed I’d got it stopped, we don’t want anymore of these down in the village as he pulled away, ‘anymore’ ! It was more down to poor maint on the tractor and trailer than the vehicle brakes itself but I was a bit more steady with her after that. A year or so later I came into work and the boss had sent it to Auction, never even had the balls to tell me. It really was all downhill after that. Cheers Franky.
good luck with your restoration.the 400/401 though never (in my opinion) in the same league as say a volvo,an iconic truck all the same .i have this old 401 grille on the wall of my bodyshop.
That body looks too close to the back of the cab to get the ‘al fresco’ back two cylinders in between…
longpod:
Bet it would be a 200,there wasent many 240,s fitted in rigids.
oops may well have been a 200 then, it was a few years back now, real plodder unless you could use the split level on the M5 at bristol to propell youself southbound & once you got use to the G force,rattles & screaming engine shed sit quite happily at 65 mph till exeter
longpod:
From wot i remember brakes were not very good on them after the 400,s they were forever wanting adjusting!
You are right longpod.
When i worked for sheldons of bury we got 2 401s with gardner 320s in them.The engines were good when they were running but cylinder heads kept going porous so were only produced for a short time.The one i had was ok brake wise although not quite as good as the 400s.My mate had one on night trunk down to barking and had endless trouble with brake fade,i forget the no.of times it went back to gardners and had the brake drums machined and re lined.
regards dave.
Another shot of the two Bewick 401s in the depot at Milnthorpe,I can’t re-call having any brake problems on these two ladies! But if you drive steady and “gan canny” you won’t have any brake problems on modern motors.
We had 16 y reg 82? arrive all 250 ■■■■■■■ with sleeper cabs, we had no brake problems but all 16 leaked water at the top of the windscreen rubber and we never cured that, but I thought they were a comfortable cab.
.i have this old 401 grille on the wall of my bodyshop.