1978 Millard 18ft - M55687

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Hi everyone, I just bought an 18ft Millard from fleabay, I need help identifying the year if possible or if anyone knows the history of it, the chassis number is M55687 she's 18ft, aluminium frame, twin axles, cable brakes, it was originally bought from Belmont Caravans, i'm hoping the place I bought it from can supply any more relevant info, the best they can do is estimate 1977, i'll post up some pics of it soon, it does still have the yellow millard sticker front and back, it's being picked up this week and i'll get a better idea of what i'm in for, it has extensive water damage so a complete fitout will be required but all the furniture and appliances are there so it can all be used as templates. Thanks in advance for any help.
Old Guy     

[ForumMod]

G'day oldguy, and welcome to the forum!

Your chassis number would be from around 1978, but there's some things you need to check for me...

In March 1977, Millard advertisements said that the big breakthroughs for the 1977 Millard models were:

- galvanised chassis
- fire extinguisher
- electric brakes on all models 16ft and over
- front end jacks

You mention that your van has "cable brakes" and I'm wondering whether you are seeing the parking brake, and the electric brakes are there as well.

cheers,
Al.

[Deleted]

G'day and thanks for the welcome, i've added some pics and you can see a partial underside of the van and the A-frame, they are the best photo's I have but will post better ones when I get the van on Wednesday.
Old Guy

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Me again Al, question about electric brakes that may be on this van, if it does have them how do they operate, I drive a GQ Nissan Patrol with no electric brake controller, do I need to buy one or do these operate through the plug some how, no STAR TREK answers please ( reverse the polarity ) LOL.
Les

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So, I bought this old girl on fleabay and pick it up on the 13th, not bad for $860, it pretty much needs a total resto and am looking forward to being able to get grumpy doing it, here are some photo's and would appreciate some feedback on it, i'll post up pics of the ongoing work, personally I think I got what the missus wanted, it leaks water so there's the shower, holes in the floor from water damage so aircon is done, it has a bed of sorts etc. LOL, but being a typical woman she wants her fiteen bedrooms, 6 toilets, 4 bathrooms, (she's not that bad)so hi ho, hi ho it's off to work i go.
Old Guy

[ForumMod]

Les, yes you need a controller in the towcar to operate the caravan electric brakes. It means you have to get one fitted (or fit it yourself if you know how to muck around with that sort of thing).

You should also check the electric brakes wiring under the van, because you will most likely find the original wiring that was used is not really the best size for efficient operation of the brakes. My 1992 Windsor had the old style figure-8 electric lighting cable running from the tow plug to the brakes. Most "experts" you read on various caravan forums suggest that 6mm auto cable should be the minimum used (it's all to do with voltage drop over the total length of the cable. A combination of too narrow a cable, and too many metres of cable from tow plug to brakes and back to plug, can lead to a drop in the voltage that is delivered to the brake magnets. It means the magnets don't get enough 'oomph' to grip the wheels properly). I completely rewired my Windsor using 6mm auto cable, just to be sure.

6mm auto cable is just above the maximum diameter that will fit into the terminal sockets in the typical 7-pin flat plug. You can solder the ends of the brake wiring and file them down to fit into the terminals, but you are defeating the purpose of having the thicker 6mm cable in the first place. I changed my tow plug and car socket to the newer 12-pin flat type, which has a row of 5 terminals above the 7-terminal row. These extra 5 terminals are rated at 30 amps (the standard 7 terminals are rated at 15 amps), and are a larger diameter more suitable for 6mm auto cable. You can still plug a standard 7-pin flat plug into a 12-pin socket (which I do when I'm towing my box trailer).

If you click on this post you'll see the rewiring under my van. The photo showing the Anderson plug was how I wired up the electric brakes on the towcar I had at the time. Now I've got another towcar with the 12-pin socket fitted, and I changed the plug on the van to a 12-pin type to suit.

Hope that wasn't too much technical mumbo-jumbo.

cheers,
Al.

[Deleted]

Thanks again Al, understood all of that, I do all the electrical and mechanical jobs on my cars, been working on cars, bikes and everthing else since the 70's, not a master by any means and still have so much to learn, on the PatrolI recently changed over to electronic ignition from points, added a solar panel to charge the second battery, LED lighting, there's a list too long to mention here, happy to say I take pride in doing all work myself, ther might be about 5% of things I leave up to tradies to do as it's not cost efficient to pay for the equipment for one job, nice to be a member of a site where everyone is friendly and don't judge you because you don't own the latest and most expensive things you can buy, seems the older your van is you get you more points, LOL, looking forward to a long and happy relationship on here, sorry Imeant a grumpy relationship, after all I am Old Guy.
Cheers
Les

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Hi all, so I picked up "MINNI" on Wednesday and towed her home, slow going at 80kph all the way from Springvale Vic to Mildura, can't praise Paul the workshop manager at Carvan Court enough, the hitch was knackered and he just grabbed a secondhand unit "wink wink" and threw that on and even supplied a few d-shackles as the chains wern't long enough, all for nuthin, Steve found me the original key Caroline organised the temp permit in a couple of minutes, can't praise them enough, average trip consisting of a cup of boiling coffee ending up on my chest a roo that almost became a hood ornament, some bl**dy w**ker almost becoming lodged in my treads and taking a pee break and not seeing the caravan hidden in the bushes and the peoples getting a good view of the nether regions, not unusual for me on a trip, the van towed well and i'm happy with it, now begins the saga of hammered thumbs and much swearing and cursing, updates to come.
Old Guy