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Airborne compressor trailer


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A little more progress yesterday with the removal of the Austin engine.

 

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A very simple task, but the subsequent removal of the belt drive and mounting the engine on the stand took three times a long!

 

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Engine now can be examined and cleaned ready for repaint.

 

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The heavy compressor will then be removed from the chassis in near future.

 

 

 

 

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The heavy compressor will then be removed from the chassis in near future.

 

 

 

 

 

The heavy compressor was removed this morning. The engine hoist had just enough reach although in the process the compressor tipped and deposited it's sump oil on the floor due to the side plate/air tank support being removed. Surprisingly the operation proceeded in a straightforward manner and it is now sitting in the middle of the garage floor.

I then proceeded to remove one wheel and then the wing followed by the other plus the two forward side stands and the trailer chassis is now on the drive waiting to be towed to the sandblaster.

Having got the machinery out, the question of colour remains. The Austin engine is a light grey, as is the radiator and possibly the compressor with features such as the flywheel and certain accessories painted red. Would these have been the original military colours or a repaint in later years. If a repaint then a lot of time was spent on it. Original military green can be seen behind the mudguards. Opinions would be welcomed. The photos show all of these colours.2015-07-08 15.58.58.jpg

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I see you are making good progress!

 

Is that stepped part of the A-frame original, as I see that the other trailers shown do not have it?

 

trevor

 

The chassis has been cut and bolted to pieces of channel to lower the tow hitch. Luckily it has been cut and bolted to the channels without any reduction of the chassis length and so after the chassis has been sandblasted I will get the two pieces welded back as per the original spec.

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Looking at the radiator/oil cooler there are definitely the remains of an eau-de-nil (duck egg blue) paint and as can be seen on the previous photos the engine at least is light grey with red bits. These colours appear original so any thoughts on whether these colours were just left by the military from civilian stock of engines/compressors or a complete re-build and

re-paint when demobbed? I need to make a decision soon on what to paint and how.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have now had everything back from the sandblaster and it all looks good. The chassis is almost immaculate with no pitting around the shackle bolts or brake rods. The next step is to get the front of the chassis welded back into it's proper position, hopeful in the next week or so. new tyres will be fitted next week. Now to process an expensive order of 5/16th UNF nuts and bolts from Namric.2015-08-06 18.40.18.jpg

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Now to process an expensive order of 5/16th UNF nuts and bolts from Namric.[ATTACH=CONFIG]106638[/ATTACH]

 

hi Tony,

I think you will find the threads used on your trailer are more than likely to be good old BSF. I can see from the photo, that the bolts in the chassis have BS sized hexagons. Far superior thread to UNF too!

 

Looking good too!

 

cheers Richard

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hi Tony,

I think you will find the threads used on your trailer are more than likely to be good old BSF. I can see from the photo, that the bolts in the chassis have BS sized hexagons. Far superior thread to UNF too!

 

Looking good too!

 

cheers Richard

 

Richard,

As always you are the fount of all knowledge. I checked some of the old bolts and they are BSF, not UNF. I have been playing with my old Grey Fergie tractor recently and must have UNF on the brain!!

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Richard,

As always you are the fount of all knowledge. I checked some of the old bolts and they are BSF, not UNF. I have been playing with my old Grey Fergie tractor recently and must have UNF on the brain!!

 

Hi Tony,

I did not want to contradict you! You did ask for some input when I last saw you :D

 

as for the Fergie ..... good choice, wonderful machine!

 

cheers Richard

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Hi Tony,

I did not want to contradict you! You did ask for some input when I last saw you :D

 

as for the Fergie ..... good choice, wonderful machine!

 

cheers Richard

 

Yes it is Richard,

That particular one nearly claimed Mr Lawrence couple of years ago.....moral of that story is "dont try to start a tractor in gear by standing by it and shorting the starter motor" :blush:

Anthony - chassis looks in perfect condition, the great rebuild will start soon

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That particular one nearly claimed Mr Lawrence couple of years ago.....moral of that story is "dont try to start a tractor in gear by standing by it and shorting the starter motor" :blush:

 

Hi John,

Hope you made out a H&S report to Mr. L, pointing out the Harry F designed a safety feature in that the gear lever was used to start the engine and that shorting out can lead to accidents :D

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Hi John,

Hope you made out a H&S report to Mr. L, pointing out the Harry F designed a safety feature in that the gear lever was used to start the engine and that shorting out can lead to accidents :D

 

Didn't need to Richard,

The Fergy incident made a deep "impression" (both physically and via Mrs L) that I doubt it will happen again:angel:

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With a little TLC can you see the join?

Also I managed to get the flywheel off the compressor - it is a heavy brute and I had to use crow bars and blocks of wood as I had no suitable puller. Now it means that I should be able to inspect the bearings. Slowly, slowly, catchee monkey!2015-08-12 14.06.37.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

The compressor is being dismantled and re-assembled bit by bit. As I do not have any manual for it seems safer to do it this way rather than trying to re-assemble a pile of parts. So far all nuts and bolts are undoing with no effort which infers that it has been well maintained in the past. After removing old paint and priming I will be painting it British Army green (1944 spec) with certain parts such as the fan blade being painted red. Even though the engine and compressor show the remains of light grey/duck egg blue, underneath there are definite traces of green so that is what I will go with. All moving parts such as piston and crank appear spotless.2015-08-23 16.21.14.jpg

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Help, just as things were going well I have come upon my first problem. When I original took everything to bits I noticed that one of the pressure relief valves was loose on its union. having now taken it off, dismantled it and got it working I have found out why it was loose. The union to which it was attached is steel and the valve body is alloy and the steel union male thread has stripped the alloy female thread - not completely but it cannot be tightened.

Does anybody have any ideas how I can overcome this? Would one of these plastic metal compounds be of any use or does the ingenious collective out there have a better solution?2015-08-30 18.05.59.jpg

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Hi Tony,

I know you will not probably use the compressor for work, but to be safe when running it, I would not use any "plastic metal" repairs to that valve, in case the thread gives way under pressure. What I would do is to machine out the port to take a larger thread, not necessarily a pipe thread and plug it with a brass insert, then drill and tap out the original size thread. It will be like new again.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The re-construction commences slowly. Chassis and wheels painted green, compressor stripped down and re-painted. Mr. Corden came over and helped put the flywheel back on (it must weigh 40-50 lbs) and after a bit of WD40 the piston turns over quite easily. Compressor put back on chassis and already the "lightweight" element of the trailer has gone forever.

The next stage is putting back the various stands, rear hook and replacing the electrics before starting on the engine2015-09-20 17.06.39.jpg

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Help, just as things were going well I have come upon my first problem. When I original took everything to bits I noticed that one of the pressure relief valves was loose on its union. having now taken it off, dismantled it and got it working I have found out why it was loose. The union to which it was attached is steel and the valve body is alloy and the steel union male thread has stripped the alloy female thread - not completely but it cannot be tightened.

Does anybody have any ideas how I can overcome this? Would one of these plastic metal compounds be of any use or does the ingenious collective out there have a better solution?[ATTACH=CONFIG]107387[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]107388[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]107389[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]107390[/ATTACH]

I seem to have a problem here - the alloy body of the valve is crazing and although the valve can be repaired by putting some plastic metal into the stripped hole and threading the adaptor into it, followed by wrapping a thin metal band around the body and securing by putting a stainless metal pin through the band, body and adaptor it will obviously not be safe to put under pressure.

Does anybody know where I can obtain a replacement unit that would enable me to use the compressor under pressure/ This unit (or something similar) is needed when the unit is started. It allows the engine to turn over the compressor with little load and when the whole set up is in motion the valve is closed to allow the build up of air pressure.

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