Rikki-UK:
Worst? Easy,
Seddon Atkinson 401/411Must agree 401 what a bag of bolts had one on Fedex
But my vote goes to the day cab Daf 2100 artic with a 4.2 high 40ft
Had one for a while the only thing worth looking forward to with that was breaking down
Rikki-UK:
Worst? Easy,
Seddon Atkinson 401/411
Same Model is this photoDecent cab for the time, bunk, night heater, decent â â â â â â â engine, Nice Eaton gearbox⌠But the ride was terrible.
Everything in the cab had to be tied down , including the driver, Hill starts were a nightmare as it tended to âkangarooâ. Hit a white line in the road and your head hit the roof, your knees the underside of the dashboard and anything that wasnt gaffa taped down hit the back of your neck.
Horrible things, It didnt help that the ones we had were short wheel based 4x2 and we spent most of the time pulling coils set well back on the trailer in the coil well.
And if anyone knows Saltburn⌠I was the idiot who took a wrong turn out of Skinnigrove steel works and ended up at the bottom of Saltburn bank, Getting up there around the hairpins in a kangarooing 401 with a loaded 50 foot flat was an experience that will probably stay with me until I die
I had one of the first 411s with the new gardner320 in it. Was a good truck when it didn,t break down. There was a big prob. with the cylinder heads they kept going porous.Two sets i had in 18mths.Rumour had it at the time that the prob. was so bad gardners lost the contract with erf. Worst engine they ever made,they ceased production shortly after.
I had an 82 401 for a while. It had a 14 litre 290 â â â â â â â with a coach diff and a round the world eaton 9 speed. If you had to hill start with that it was crawler gear and hang on tight while the front axle bounced off the ground. The mini roundabout coming from Falmouth into Truro was the best one. People always stopped and gave way when they saw you start to bounce. 
On that one it was always the liners would go porous and pinhole.
But on the flat it would fly!!
The worst one would have to be the milk float. It was a Leyland Freighter 1615 four wheeler. It never had any guts to it and I doubt the turbo ever did a days work as it wouldnât pull worth a â â â â . Or maybe it was Erfie, a day cab B series with a 250 â â â â â â â â Hard going for long distance work.
Rikki-UK:
Worst? Easy,
Seddon Atkinson 401/411
skinninggrove.
at skinningrove next to the steelworks.
got to disagree about the sed ak 400/401,we had some with rolls 265 motors in them that were double shifted and covered mega miles and were very reliable.the main problem with the rolls 265 was on a high milage one they used to boil a bit due to porous heads,but they never failed to get you home.we have got axors now and at the rate they use water there will be a hose pipe ban this summer.
rich12:
got to disagree about the sed ak 400/401,we had some with rolls 265 motors in them that were double shifted and covered mega miles and were very reliable.the main problem with the rolls 265 was on a high milage one they used to boil a bit due to porous heads,but they never failed to get you home.we have got axors now and at the rate they use water there will be a hose pipe ban this summer.
I had the 14 litre â â â â â â â with an eaton box, and agree engine wise they were as reliable as hell. and you could have good nights sleep in them(nice wide bunk), the only problem with the 401/411 is when it moved ,
1 yard forwards 2 yards up and down 
I had the misfortune to drive a Sed Atki 400 (one of the first series) and what a bag of rattling nails it was
When you went round a corner the cab used to lift up and the gearlever would jump out of the socket on the gear change unit, and whatever gear you were in that is what you had to go round in till you could park up and stop and tilt the cab to drop the ball back in and then drive off 
With a â â â â â â â and the âback to front or loop gearchangeâ they were reasonable but if you got in to the later 401 you had to remember that the g/change was a normal âHâ pattern rangechange and not the daft loop one cos you made some funny noises on the g/box if you forgot
While it seems lots of people s worst truck I absolutely loved my sed /atk gives me an excuse to post a pic (AGAIN) Limited Edition no2 of 11 Leather seats proper matress alloy wheels etc 410 â â â â â â â Eaton twin spillter. [/img] Secret was bobthedog pul away gently not to many revs then straight into nextgear before youve moved a couple of yards.(SOMETIMES)
i far as im concerned in the 80s if it wern`t a Scania dont drive it
Was there anything else other than Scania� I started going over the water in a daycab 111 wagon and drag when I was on for Smithy out of Rainham. Then I got promoted to a Dutch spec 111 4x2 tractor unit, running to Portugal.
The worst truck must have been the F Troop ROMAN DEISEL, they used to be broken down everywhere between Dover and Baghdad didnt they. Thats why they used to run in pairs, so that the other one could tow the broken down one.
Do you remember them all parked up in the town car park at Furth!!
GS
GS OVERLAND:
The worst truck must have been the F Troop ROMAN DEISEL, they used to be broken down everywhere between Dover and Baghdad didnt they.
GS
These 2 must have been âluckyâ 'cause theyâre not broken downâŚ(at this point) 
We had one of them Romanian built Mans when I was at Collinson Bros Chopwell.
Diff went so it was replaced with one out of an Volvo 86 .Matched with that
ZF 12 speed it would go off the clock , but it wouldnt pull the skin off a rice pud.Overall the engine wasnt much of a problem & the cab was good for the time but everything else Dodgy.Seem to remember spilter switch forever being replaced & radiators having probs
All its problems aside it was quite a nice drive
Worst drive for me was 1619 or 21 cant remember exactly what it was but whatever Rubbish
One thing,you never got overtaken by a Romtrans,they only ever went as fast as 45mph!
Remember there were always dozens of em parked up at Felixstowe docks,so many that the dock police moved them all out of Townsend Thoresens parking round to the back of the Freightliner area.
One of Tolemans driverâs took half a dozen home for xmas dinner one year 'cos he felt sorry for them.
I should point out that he didnât take them home to eat them,but to share his turkey with 'em.
A 290 C series ERF with 8 speed box and the worlds noisest blower nailed onto the side. We were still running this kind of stuff up until about 6 years ago, when it was loaded up to 40 tonnes with an old steel sprung powder tanker on the back it was just nasty.
rabbitboy wrote : A 290 C series ERF with 8 speed box and the worlds noisest blower nailed onto the side.
Hello Mate i had one of the C Series on demo, didnât seem a bad lorry to drive, mind you was a long time ago and being brand new probably helped eh.
This was it sorry bout the crap photo
Bob
I think a Sudden Accident 301 was my worst truck. I had to drive it for a few months while my DAF was dying a slow death.
I used to run up to ICI Dumfries everyday and load groupage for Panalpina
Sudden accident, like it
I remember my first Class 1 job. I was on for Chilton out of Bromley by Bow. I was given a Sed Acc and it had a 240 Gardner in it and a 13 speed fuller .The gear stick was like a big cake mixing paddle,with that big round range change and you used to whirl it round, get the revs right and somehow get it in gear, not always the right gear but in gear nevertheless.
First trip, reels of paper from Convoys to Aylsbury.
It had a good lock one way and a not so good lock the other way !!!
I used to have to stand up to steer the bloody thing because the steering was so heavy.
I didnât know any different.
GS
GS, youve pinged my memory, i got caught out dozens of times trying to make tight left turns into farms back then, turning right the thing would go sideways.
Luckily i got a new 401 in '84, and IMO one of the best trucks on the road.
So to all you seddon detractorsâŚnurrh.
Since most on here think American trucks are doggy doo this might be redundant. Regardless my least favorite truck is the Mack RD model. For those that know ,like an R model but with a different bonnet.
The dash board rotted out of mine before the floor boards (only just) . The electrics were as gutless as the engine. The steering wheel was immense,the power steering suicidal. The windows leaked.The low air alarm sounded like it couldnât care less. The âcamel backâ suspension was less compliant than the air ride seat and the roof was less compliant than my skull.
275hp,7 spd dog box,45 tons of cement. Made me a proper truck driver,and I have the scars to prove it.
Everything that came after that truck was easy.