The Roote's TS3 was a brilliant engine as long as you kept it revving:D
I had one in the 70's a Commer Maxiload 16 tonner drove it for about 18 months. It was secondhand from Borden Chemicals down Hampshire way (Borden). I can even nearly remember the reg;:o YCR 821J?
At the time the small general haulage co; I worked for ran about 10 rigids (Dennis's) and a couple of artic's (Foden S80's) one day this Commer ran into the yard with our livery on it and I just went into the office and asked if I could have it. Nobody else wanted it but I loved it :D Gotta say the first time it 'de-coked' itself I crapped myself :o I was carrying cable drum's form BICC at Leigh down to London and as I was on the unlit stretch of the M6 North of Hilton Park Service's I saw sparks flying everywhere behind me and I thought the chains holding the 2 x 5ton cable drums had broken & hit the tarmac. By the time I'd crept onto the HS and checked everything was OK I remembered what somebody had said to me about this 'de-coking' thing.
It was a great motor and with a double passenger seat it was easy to kip in and I really loved it and it sounded like a lorry :D.
If I had beeen looking to be an OD I'm sure that would have been a great start up motor :D never had any trouble with it apart from a broken drivers seat.

A TS3 engined Commer killed a man from Holyhead/Anglesey years ago going up Rhuallt Hill. I understand the engine went in to reverse, the lorry was never returned to it's operator as it was not wanted.

Andrew.

Oh what memories ear pluggs ,speed.Yes drove one for a couple of years , until the govnor stuck, frightening,it got faster and faster at 80mph the piston came out through the block and we ground to a halt rapidly.It wasn't an experance i want to repeat in a hurry.
james

Commer TS3 engines
 

Around 1960 I was a Field Engineer with CAV in Acton, doing field trials of experimental diesel injection equipment. I heard then of a TS3 engine which broke a fuel pipe which passes across the top of the engine. Diesel got sucked into the manifold in huge quantities, despite what the governor would have been trying to do. I'd love to know what revs it reached, and exactly what blew up first!

My Dads Commer III 1957 ?
 

Hi,

Just say hi and enclosing a couple of nice pics of my late dads Commer back in the day. AER Inskip haulage firm in Bedford.
He used to repair these wonderful old lorries back then, discovered these old pics and thought i would share them. hope you like them ?

Any info on these great lorries be wonderful to find some more info...any about still ?

cheers :)

Derrick

Tidy looking truck zola1

Cheers, dad loved his trucks always cleaning and fixing them :)....can you help at at all as i'm trying to get hold a model of one of these any ideas where ?

Derrick

Search through the contributions on here - there is quite a lot about the Commer TS3 to be found . . .

Cheers will do :)

Great to see some pics of the old commers,haven't seen any for years in that format still some Maxiloads about ,mostly preserved though.
There used to be a company in Dorset call Fernalls ran a lot of these late 50s early 60s i think.:)