Vintage Crane Truck Sitting for 20yrs - Will It Run?

In this video, I give this old TK Bedford Crane truck a once over to see if I can get it running after being parked up in the farm shed 20 years ago. This truck is fitted with the legendary 6354 Perkins 6 cylinder diesel engine after the original Bedford motor was replaced many years ago. I go through process finding more than dirt, grease and grime. Thanks for watching.
#barnfind #truck #diesel #mechanic

[@austingupton8829]

The thing I love about this channel is Bruce can keep talking through the video without being overly dramatic or boring and monotonous. Honestly better than almost all gearhead shows aired in the US.

[@williamriedel1686]

Warren Rogers on his Western Truck and Tractor Repair Channel is the same way. Check him out. Humble and very knowledgeable mechanic in Klamath Falls Oregon.

[@Golden-dog88]

what you mean almost? i can watch Bruce all day but cant watch those yanks for 5 minutes

[@philleggitt3005]

When you are talking to yourself its never boring...

[@AndyL940]

Couldn’t agree more

[@gutsngorrrr]

Just imagine trying to do the same thing to a vehicle produced today, it's just never going to start the way these old trucks do, because there's so little to go wrong.

[@brockmitchell3989]

It's always amazing to see one of these engines fire up and run with just minimal maintenance after sitting for so long. Great job, Bruce!!

[@ajaks7636]

The smile on your face says it all. Great Revival and Video! Thank You.

[@michaelsedway9703]

Perkins cranked right up like she ran yesterday

[@pure_awareness]

Bruce has an old school approach to mechanicing and its working, knowledge is king.

[@dieseldavetrains8988]

I have a lot of respect for the humble Bedford, remember them as a boy growing up in the 1960's. I would have taken the truck out of the shed and steam cleaned it before doing anything else. Grandpop traded our Bedford in for an ACCO C-1800 in the early 1970's, the ACCO also had a six cylinder Perkins in it. Was expecting to see a snake spinning around with the fan belt when it finally started! Thank you Bruce, I really enjoyed that 25 minutes, reminded me of my Grandfather who was good with engines.

[@gordonagent7037]

Bruce, another ripper save from the barn, well done mate. My first truck was a TK Buddy, bloody awesome vehicle. I found her in a barn, body and chassis had zero rust, the original owner drilled everywhere and filled it all with fisholene, it must have stunk like hell new. I ended up dropping a 308 Holden V8 I had built for another project that I had done the heads/ valves etc up for gas conversion. I put all the gas in her to. She had a terrific steel tray on her to and I also dropped a split diff in I had lying around. I loved the crap out of that truck and Jess she did some work and never let me down once, not even a puncture. Mate it’s so great to see an Aussie that gets out and saves old metal like this. Crack on young man

[@ianburit3705]

Hi, It's not just older Aussies that like to see old trucks brought back to life again, I`m an old Brit so this Bedford style of truck was in my earlier years' memories Once reused as recovery lorries in the trucks later years as transport for oval track stock cars and Banger racers. A Hiab was a must to load and unload the stox and bangers with, even pulling damaged cars more straight in-between races. So many thanks Bruce mate - great video.

[@martinjurovic8314]

Not even any blow by out the top, what a decent donk that is after all this time. 👍

[@littlejonnywonny6547]

Tip, always put a bit of rag under bleeder screw in case you drop it.

[@Paul-wd7mc]

Fabulous, well done. Love the Perkins trained up on them they seem to go forever.🥳

[@paduvonGhendt]

I love to see this Bedfords… running! Very good shape for what… 50+ yrs old? Here in Europe, they are all gone, rusted away… looking forward to your next video’s. Thanks for sharing. Have a good day sir!

[@quadrapoint]

The Perkins 6354 was the best engine in these old dogs I fitted one myself pull a house down. Bad truck for a tall driver give you a bad back and makes you bald coz your head rubbed on the head lining 😂

[@darrellashby2538]

Utg 1:27

[@larryelliott6321]

That's what friends are for. I enjoy your methodical approach, Bruce, patiently tackling each obstacle to reach success!

[@dickdaley9059]

Bruce, your attention to cleanliness as you work on these old girls is just heartwarming. True, decades of oil soaked dirt and debris is inevitable. But, knowing where to prevent the sludge from ingesting into the precision devices is truly the mark of a professional. Give them a chance to live and speak again without unnecessary debris introduced is honorable. Thank you for your efforts from St Marys, Georgia USA.

[@davemiller6893]

Thank you for a great video. I admire your systematic approach to getting these old trucks fired up. You are a great bloke. Cheers from England. 🇦🇺 🇬🇧

[@k13ehr]

I was lucky enough to drive a friends TK back in the 70's, I'd never driven a truck before, interesting gearing for the steering, never driven anything with so many turns lock to lock since, I wish I had bought one when the were dirt cheap, lovely looking trucks.

[@BanjoLuke1]

What a beaut! I drove one quite like this (a 4x4 TK Hiab) doing humanitarian work in the Western Balkans in the early 90s. Not a fast machine, but there wasnt a hill it wouldn't climb or a loose or icy surface it wouldn't cross with ease. The 4x4 system meant the ride height was higher, but it qas basically like this one... 90 km/h on a good day. But... They were all good days. 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@barkingmouse8152]

I remember these running around when i was a kid.

[@johnhempsall4644]

That old beauty need restoring and putting back into daily use.😊

[@PaulHigginbothamSr]

I find this very successful Bruce. I came back and watched this again. You have the intellectual knowledge to fiddle a stradivarious note with this old 6354 Perkins.

[@NapierNimbus]

Perkins diesel from era when no nonsense motors were made. Sounds really sweet. I remember those Bedford cabs. Great video.

[@zonie1953]

G'Day Bruce . I just found your channel . I like this kind of content, especially from a bloke about my age . Cheers from Arizona 🌵

[@ACDZ123]

I reckon Bruce got 10 yrs on you

[@ambroiseriboldi4952]

Un réel plaisir pour moi, de regarder, un "ancien", de ma génération, remettre en marche ces villes machines. Arrêtées de puis tant d'années, elles reprennent vie comme jadis. Plaisir aussi de voir que toutes les précautions sont prises, avant d'essayer de démarrer. On voit tellement de vidéos de remises en route, où tout est fait sans la moindre précaution, on se demande si ce sont des "mécaniciens" qui interviennent. J'aime donc suivre vos vidéos. Je met donc le pouce et je m'abonne.

[@lyndseymarieburke1834]

You are wonderful to watch. Love the way you talk to us like we were there. Always very wonderful to see you bring the old equipment to life again 👍🏻

[@pemlars]

The first thing I would do, is to give the engine a real outside cleanup. To see how things are, and prevent from possible fire in all the dust and dirt when the engine get hot. But; It is very interesting seeing this video..Thank You. Greatings from Norway.

[@adriantowe278]

When I was 14 my dad learned me to drive in Bedford tk they run forever

[@Hitman-ds1ei]

Still remember working on the last of these that Telecom had with the Holden 308 motors from new, most didn't realise the cabs were designed to be removed very quickly and easily to work on them !

[@user-pn9sf4cz3u]

I did my apprenticeship with Repco back in the 60's when they still had engine reconditioning shops. The 6-354 Perkins was the most common diesel back then. We were constantly fitting valve seat inserts etc and replacing the dry sleeves. You had to run many welds up and down the old liners to shrink them enough to remove them. Then press the new ones in. Brings back memories 😏😊

[@SteveInQLD007]

Love it Bruce - old school is great stuff and love seeing things come back to life after sitting idle for years! Well done 👍👍

[@matrix54190]

Great job👍👍and nice video. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. Greetings from France🥖🇫🇷 Peter

[@johnharris1636]

I haven’t hear the expression, “A month of Sundays” in years! If you have room in your rig, a small petrol air compressor might be good… Seems that the cows sound the same down-under, too. 😂

[@koshtie]

Hi Bruce we had TK's here in the UK as well & the 6 cylinder one was the only one to have as the 4 pots were gutless ? The times those lift up covers came down & tuned you on the nut & make you curse, Preferred the Ford D Series over the TK though if only for the tilt cab & easy to work on, lovely to see what looks like a 3 ton Hiab on the old girl, used them a lot on dad's Fords, ATB from a Pommie Brother Wayne UK...........

[@johnberry1107]

Excellent. Thank you. Rob took care of that truck.

[@ritchiesgarage]

My J6 sat for 25 years before we tried to start it. The old 300cui petrol cranked after a couple of turns but wouldn't kick over til we realised all the vacuum hoses were so perished it just sucked air. Goes beautifully now. Love the old Bedford's.

[@slowstang88]

When I was in the Air Force we had a Perkins powered floor scrubber for the shop and it was such a pain to bleed the fuel system after scheduled maintenance but when it started it ran so well.

[@howardsimpson489]

Here in NZ I had several old TKs; on farm tipper, house truck, 3 ton digger delivery truck, small logging/firewood truck. Worked on lots of others, the Perkins 6 engines were great but ended up as heavy oil burners (smoke). The Bedford 330 was gutless. My favourite was the digger truck, 300 cubic inch petrol engine, 2 inch ex-Jaguar SU carb, modified inlet manifold, lightened flywheel, increased clutch leverage, modified brake booster. It drove like a little sports car up to about 90km where it was revving hard. Old age resulted in selling all these.

[@GarethDavidWebb]

Love the 354, The injector pump looks like a hydraulic governed DPA, they always leak around the throttle shaft, very simple to reseal.

[@user-xx7so5eu1t]

Mr.Bruce God bless U.4. The School in this Chanel. Carlos .sr CA.

[@noorzaidi220]

Old truck still can run ...! 🎉

[@bishopkinlyside8477]

Hi Bruce, a old, saying work smarter, not harder

[@russellclement2058]

Hi Bruce , Another great engine , probably my favourite , along with the 3- 152 and 4- 248, looked after they lasted a life time . only when they cranked them out to 3000 + rpm shortened their life lots . And bugger all blow-by , brilliant .

[@shaneellasdaicastrestorati3675]

Well done, it's sounded nice no rattles nothing..

[@dukerider0319]

I did a fair bit of work on those old motors back in the day, passed my HG licence in a Bedford TK, bought back some good memories, thanks Bruce!

[@gambeerSagr-ow2lj]

Nice truck you are having sir oh wow wonderful

[@kymmarshall1116]

At my very first job they had a fleet of those old Bedford trucks. Nothing flashy but they were very reliable trucks and from memory they hardly missed a beat.

[@redbeard4518]

Great video. Very systematic and well done on getting this old girl going. Heaps of these back in the day in NZ, especially around our local area where our local large transport firm had a few in their depot in each small town. Apart from the 50 KMs officially imported with GMs, fitting a GM was a popular option for more power in the TK and there are quite a few still earning a living. There is a Nelson based entertainment company with fairground rides, etc that still uses a number of TKs and TMs all GM powered and it is amazing to hear them take off very early on Sunday morning after the Saturday show at the showgrounds with the two stroke howl in the early morning as they go up through the gears, just a few hundred metres down the road. I had a holiday job when I was a student many years ago when the clutch went on a 466 powered TK. We were working in paddocks around an hour and a half away from base. I was able to get it back home by putting it in first gear and low on the Eaton and taking off on the starter. When I had to stop, which was not often, it was a case of just timing your stop well in advance and pulling up the fuel stop. Down into first and crank away in gear again. Hard to change as it was a synchro box - much easier if it had been a crash but it was reasonably worn so that helped. Got it back to base but for some reason, a few months later the starter and box had to be rebuilt :-) Really love the content, keep up a great work!

[@mischef18]

The TK was my favourite truck as a youngster and still look good in today's world. My cousin had one with a 300 Leyland in it. Enjoyed the video too. Safe travels. Ken.

[@selectiveengineeringco.ltd5421]

I love KM

[@alestout5632]

It lives! Great video the TK was ahead of its time when it came out drove them on the council some with that old stile dash & hand break even had 1 with a dustcart body none with snakes in engine compartment though

[@matthewpayne42]

Perkins engines were built in Peterborough UK 🇬🇧

[@HighDefBNG]

I like your videos Bruce, no nonsense, just get on with it and get it running. Cheers.

[@ossimartikainen6633]

Hienoa että tämä herrasmies vaalii näitä hienoja kulkupelejä meidänkin teillä näitä kulki ja pikkupoikaset ihaili kiitos kanavasta ja rauhallista joulua täältä pohjolasta

[@robertorr5222]

Just found this video fantastic well done👏👏👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@rosewhite---]

I drove a TK back in 1967, nice truck

[@rajibgope95]

Legendary Bedford. ❤❤

[@Solfonn]

Thanks heaps for sharing your knowledge on "local" content Bruce. So invaluable. Would love to get one of these old bedfords.

[@Conrod56]

Did my apprenticeship on these in the early seventies. We had 330 bedford diesel. Bit of a back breaker to work on sometimes.

[@bloodreighn]

Didnt know that Ausy got the TK bedford, Good to know, Id like to get one of these when i have the space

[@davestark2015]

Ok I've watched a few of your videos, i have enjoyed them , so now I'm a new subscriber. Cheers from British Columbia Canada

[@tommysmith7701]

GREAT MATE THANK YOU BEST REGARDS

[@damonkennard6154]

G'Day Bruce! Great content to be watching from a cold and dark UK. Love watching you coax these old machines back into life. The wonders of the internet. Keep up the good work.

[@cwmbc]

Great to see a TK again. I grew up with these as an apprentice auto electrician.. our local breweries used them on fleet. Over here in the UK.

[@harryhanly1609]

Yes it will run them bedfords are old but they drive like cars you would still see them on the roads in the uk in the 90s they made great removal trucks

[@jdsmort]

Interesting to see this, bringing back memories of old.. mid-seventies I drove a TK with a 466 Bedford motor.. 8ton flatdeck also towing 12ton trailers.. not in Aus, across the ditch in Christchurch NZ....

[@ralphturner3798]

I don't speak cow language, but I still like to hear the cows mooing in the background.

[@putonewhiskey]

Smart bloke, he has the knowledge and skills... We need to keep training young blokes to help keep these old beautiful machines running. Thanks for the video 😊

[@wayneandrus240]

MY favorite heavy equipment guru!

[@sarahhinderjacobboyd4413]

Thanks for another great video. In Wellington NZ, there was a TK with a Detroit 2 stroke and Allison Trans conversion. It was hilarious and looked like such fun to drive.

[@GavincredibleAU2]

Entertaining and imformative (as usual) 😀

[@simonwootton-davies1179]

brilliant!! proper old school

[@davidbarnsley8486]

When you said look what I found down here I thought it was my ten mm socket I so a few years back 😂😂😂

[@spikefawkes5152]

I used to have a TK. Great old truck. Very reliable.

[@phillipmonroy]

Good job Bruce! It pays to take your time and check everything over till you start trying to start it. The engine sounds good and those Perkins Engines are a very good engine. Thank you!

[@johnmorrow7080]

Back in the late 70's I worked at a Vauxhall dealers (UK) we had a Bedford van & truck dealers theirs stores brought a TK front panel in it looked like someone had walked across it they had sold it so wanted it repaired , I had worked on plenty of HA vans and CF's but never any trucks they wanted no filler , took a while but I can say honed my skills on file ups on it , hi from north east UK .

[@scottbennier1335]

We still have one of these with a petrol engine on the family farm, it still runs but very rarely ever used these days. I can remember driving it as a teenager with a grain bin on it, during harvest over 40 years ago. Manual all-crash gearbox with a twin-speed differential, vacuum brakes…..

[@rolandnewbold5339]

Great video man love the bedford

[@rodneymiddleton9624]

Heck of a job!!!!

[@davidjohnston8639]

We had an old flat bed Bedford truck with the mechanical levered hand shaped turn signals for indicating our turning intentions

[@quintincairncross1088]

That thing sounds sweet!

[@fabian-barrington-hirst1974]

Hi from the u k.looking forward to seeing more.them perkins diesels are bulletproof,maybe sometimes in the cold we used "easy start" to get this engine in dodge commando's going but can respect the bedford for just keep going.had the volume right up when you got here going,brings back such childhood memories.cheers again

[@steveworkman4289]

Great stuff Bruce had a TK once, first proper lorry over transit size, think it was a tuppence halfpenny Perkins diesel ,engine fab lorry looking back

[@jackhammer4996]

i've got one of these ole bedfords on the farm, except it's a petrol motor in it , still in use, and still can haul 8 tonnes of grain in the tipper bin..

[@markcandrl6039]

She sounds sweet 👌🏼👌🏼 Well done mate 👍🏻🤝🤝

[@geraldingram9351]

Wow no blow by ,an amazing motor I had a six hundred horse ford in my old launch ,never missed a beat,thankyou

[@geraldingram9351]

A 6cyl 100 horse diesel, my english not good.

[@johnjordan4647]

Got my truck license on a TK diesel way back in 1972 👍Well done Mate

[@NasirKhan-bh1gq]

Great job.

[@davidjones8680]

A very enjoyable watch, and ive just subscribed. I run a 52 year old TK, still with it's original 330 diesel. I also have an International CO 1800 to restore, it also has its original Perkins 6354 in it which I have not started up yet, so watching this has been very useful. Many thanks. David in the UK.

[@WeeShoeyDugless]

Another fine job Bruce👍 Had one of these TKs at the yard for years with the 6354 Perky in her, the original engine was an extremely high mileage yolk and eventually blew a piston. Managed to pick up an engine from an old fire engine which had a fully documented 25,000 miles on her. That engine seen the old truck off. Fabulous engines, a worthy sucessor to the P6. Thats another story though. Would love to see you find an old Fordson High Major with a P6 in her that's been sitting for a number of years👍👍 Great video as usual Bruce. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇧

[@user-sc8dh4vn4v]

I still run 6354s in our workboats turbo and nomall asp dam fine engine top work Bruce 👍👍👍

[@michaelsimpson9779]

Nice work

[@williamriedel1686]

Always enjoy your videos here in Goldendale Washington.

[@deanmarskell1518]

Hiya Bruce greetings from England great video what an amazing tk you just gotta love the sound of that Perkins I'm a New sub and looking forward to seeing your next video 👍

[@barkingmouse8152]

It'd make a great full restoration project.

[@hh-qc7rp]

Love your channel

[@vernonmatthews181]

Thanks Bruce for the TK Bedford review, one of my late paternal uncles drove a TK Bedford across the Tasman 50 years ago ( probably nearer 55 years ago )😂 for Alltrans ( freight ) in Auckland. So successful were the Perkins ( 6354 ) that the Chinese copied them. One can never be too careful with snakes 🐍 in Australia. One needs to ask oneself, why did someone stopped driving the old girl. Low engine oil is some insight 😮 Thanks for the review. BTW greetings from Hamilton, NI, NZ.

[@hightower6546]

Nice one! Greetings from Germany!

[@AdmiralDG]

Wish I could find an old girl like this to put back to work! Im a little far to get his one, bit of ocean between us haha

[@VYXtreme]

Perkins, was always going to go again, runs well too

[@user-bn7ws2gi2j]

Need arms like Popeye to steer them but yeah I do like them as driver of new vehicles

[@marcgarth3118]

First truck I ever drove ..I’ was 12 yr old dad in passenger seat (Sharps cordial )

[@marcgarth3118]

perkins trucks and Lister on water pumps great motors

[@user-df9hs3hp5f]

SNAKES you’re a braver man than Bruce I’m near as I dare go here n the UK

[@johnfrench9608]

Looking at the old Bedfords still going in India this thing has at least another 20 years in it.