Part 2

With only 90 horsepower and a 4 spd box the early MIII Commers of Olgivies worked pretty hard, and because of all the low gear work they did, they tended to wear out or break a gearbox about once a year. A spare gear box was always ready to be dropped in.

When they went off the road, the single drive used to sink into the soft going up to 6 inches and when they took off with a load on, they would have to ‘rock’ the truck out, often initially lifting the front end off the ground, the shock loading being transferred through the gearbox.

In saying this, the 741 length chassis in artic form, was always a good pulling truck and showed surprising grip for a single axle drive, rarely getting stuck.



The TS3 also proved to be remarkably economical. After taking over the Olgivie Mk V ex-logger, Fred did one trip to Dunedin to collect some imported machinery. He got 21 and 1/2 mpg going down empty and 14 mpg on the way back loaded. The artic had 2 combine header cutter bars on the deck and he towed a Grimme Commander bulk potato harvester on the ring feeder. Fred was a little worried about the very heavy downward pressure this put on the Ringfeder so he wrapped a very heavy safety chain around the drawbar nearest the Ringfeder, attached through the jinker pole opening on the rear of the trailer - just in case the whole thing broke.





While not a heavy load in comparison to some of the loads carried, the whole conglomeration of artic with potato harvester on behind certainly looked an interesting sight as Fred left Dunedin on a Friday night in 5pm traffic. It wasn’t helped when he had a blowout on the

potato harvester shortly after he left Dunedin!











Sit and listen to Fred for any length of time and it rapidly becomes apparent that more than a little skull duggery went on at times to avoid prosecution from the local constabulary. On one trip, John and Fred went down to the old Ruatapu sawmill south of Hokitika further down the West Coast. Many of our readers will be very familiar with the New Zealand Railways 100 mile protection order that was in place at the time. This was to protect the Government run Railways and meant you couldn’t compete with them beyond 100 miles of your base with more than 5 ton without special dispensation. If caught, fines were large!







Fred wanted to bring back a load to make the trip worthwhile but it had to be no more than 5 tons because the distance was over 100 miles. He told the fork lift driver at the mill that this had to be the limit. One pack of green timber on and the tires looked all right, so they put a second one one, and it still looked okay. There was plenty of room for more. ‘Have you got a half pack?’ Fred asked the forklift driver. One was quickly found and loaded on and with the forklift driver grabbing a ride home, they headed back to Hokitika.

As soon as they started on the return trip, it became readily apparent from the truck’s behaviour that they had more than the 5 ton limit on board and if they got caught with the heavier load, there went the ‘extra’ from the backload! A plan of action was called for.


They had stopped at the TransWest weighbridge on the way down to weigh the empty rig, and now had to get their tickets showing they were under 5 ton for the trip home.

So John quietly said to Fred, making sure the forklift driver couldn’t also hear, “when we get near the weigh bridge, I’ll slow down and you hop out and ....

As they approached the weighbridge, the plan was sprung and Fred hopped out and stood in the doorway of the operator’s hut, engaging the operator in earnest conversation while John slowly drove across the weighbridge, but sneaking the front wheels just off the far end, out of sight of the operator. Fred let the operator know John was on the bridge, the machine was clicked and Fred grabbed the tickets and waved John off before the operator knew what was happening.







Of course, on the way home, a cop caught them and thought all his Christmases had come at once.

However when the three packs of green timber were measured, the weigh bridge tickets studied, the tare certificates checked in the cab, he found everything matched up, but he KNEW something was wrong, but what could he do.....

Fred and John escaped with yet another tale to tell. And some time, ask Fred about the other 6 offences the cop thought he had them on, that they managed to talk their way out of that night!


On another trip that demonstrated the pulling power of the Commer, Fred was asked to help out two Rangiora Brothers who are well known tractor and machinery collectors. The brothers had purchased a bulldozer up the Shennondoah Valley near Murchison. This is very heavy country toward the top of the South Island.

A number of problems were struck on this trip, the first being that the bull dozer, which was stuck over its tracks in the peaty mud of the area, took far longer to extract than expected. This was to have serious implications, as they only had a permit until 5pm on the Friday, and most of the day was spent getting the bull dozer out so it could be loaded, The second problem was that the bulldozer was far heavier than expected. When it was loaded onto the middle of the artic, they suddenly noticed there was over a foot of sag in the deck, and Fred was worried that, particularly if they hit a good bump, the 12” sag might become permanent.



The rear of the artic trailer was made from an old logging jinker unit and was very strong, so the dozer was moved back until it was right back over the back axle and there was only a 6” hog on the trailer! After chaining up, away they went. The trouble was that the inside of the duals on the rear of the trailer were now touching! So a call was made into the first garage they came to, to put some air into the 900x20 tyres, only to find they were already well inflated. An extra 10 pounds was squeezed into those that were a bit under, to take them up to 80 pounds and away they went, hoping for the best.

The TS3 really earned its keep getting over the Lewis Pass, (the other main route from the West Coast to Canterbury - elevation 864m), and a few other hills as well. By now, it was getting rather late, and they had only got as far as the Poplars Station when the 5pm curfew was approaching - still about 125kms to go to Rangiora.

What to do? In the end, they decided to press on, hoping for a lucky break. The three cops they passed along the way, missed their chance for promotion that night, and it was a very relieved team that pulled into Spark Bros yard in Rangiora, many hours later.

 

Ogilvie's earlier Mk III logger with a typical load. 7 ton?

The Ogilvie Mk III looking pretty clean and tidy. Note the frame over the cab for the jinker pole when returning empty with the trailer loaded on the truck.

The ex-Pettigrew's Mk IV in snowy going on the road into the Craigieburn snow field

The Mk IV logger, as purchased, and beginning the transformation from logger to flatdeck, still using the TMC jinker set up underneath.

The Mk IV on display at the Sheffield 125th Jubillee

The load at the top of the Lewis Pass. Note the snow, the 6” ‘hog’ in the deck, and Bob Spark anxiously checking the trailer tyres!