The Brakes - Front Right

Richard Lehr  23 April 2014 18:58:00

The problem with the brakes - Act Four

It was not possible to get off the drum on the front axle's right side. Got a nice endoscope from a M151 driver in Hanover and had a first look.

What you see is the housing at the bottom right and the bracke backing plate at the upper left. And there is something in between which shouldn't be there ...


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The Brakes - Front Left

Richard Lehr  19 April 2014 16:16:00

The problem with the brakes - Act Three

Drum on the first axle on the right side:

A nightmare. Looked like somebody has forgotten to close the holes in the drum - RTFM.

What I found inside was brickearth and a broken return spring.





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The Brakes - Rear Left

Richard Lehr  19 April 2014 15:55:00

The problem with the brakes - Act Two

Drum on the third axle on the left side:

Just a little bit of oil.


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The Brakes - Left Middle

Richard Lehr  19 April 2014 15:03:00

The problem with the brakes - Act One

Half way on my way home from the freight forwarder's yard I lost brake pressure. Wow, what a nice situation having no brakes on a 3.5 ton truck. As I wrote before the Goat's brake drums are filled with overpressure and the air is coming from ... the engine. The engineers have forgotten to put an oil separator in the vent line coming from the engine and going to the wheels. Known issue ...

First I opened the drum of the second axle on the left side:

It looked like an oil pan after draining.the oil. Excellent rust-proofing.





Looked like new ...


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First review

Richard Lehr  18 April 2014 14:53:58

What is Original ?

The Gama Goat was private owned in first hand since 1996. Nevertheless there are some parts which are not even original. Looking for a replacement ...

The rear mirrors are Made in England.
Also the wipers and blades.
The top and doors of the tractor are (well made) after market. Same for the carrier.
The front bumber and the shackles are not original, too.

Last but not least a riddle. Was the exhaust system modified? See the unused bracket and empty hole on top of the picture which is used for the exhaust tail pipe. Here the exhaust points to the wheel and shock right now. There were no A1 or A2 series ever for the Gama Goat, but the M561 has differences like
- the exhaust system (funny that the bracket and the whole already exists (see picture below)
- the engine hood (either steel or aluminium)
- the lights on the front fender, either the newer M-series style or the older version


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Picking up the Goat from the freight forwarder’s yard

Richard Lehr  15 April 2014 11:00:00

Welcome to Germany

We picked-up the Gama Goat at the freight forwarder's yard. Many thanks to Spedition Toebbe in Stuhr for their excellent services bringing the vehicle from England to Germany.

On the way home I had some brake issues. First thing to check will be the brake system. While it is a semi-amphibious vehicle there are air lines from the engine to the brake drums to prevent them from dust, dirt and water. And here the problem normally starts, oil from the engine is coming thru the air lines to the brake drums. Why did the engineers pass on an oil separator?





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Winch Delivery

Richard Lehr  14 April 2014 18:36:00

I found a complete NOS winch for my Goat, including the snatch block.

If you see the label on the crate, the winch had a long journey, from the USA (Michigan - New Jersey) to Germany (Bremerhaven - Germersheim), back to the USA and finally back to Germany.








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