handy1882

I've been doing some work on the transfer shaft that fits between the two back axles. The bearings in the universal joints were not worn at all and were protected from the weather, but the outside casings were very rusty. The joints are housed in an oil tight housing with a sprung loaded cup pressing up against a cork seal, one of the springs was rotted beyond salvage. There is a felt seal held in place and compressed with a threaded collar and washer. The collar was also rusted through. I machined up a new collar... and a new spring seat. I also managed to make a replacement spring using the correct diameter piano wire bent round a former and heat treated, forgot to take photos of that though.

Hi Hair Bear, I think the previous owners may have bought the Vulcan around that time and it could have come from that area so it could be the same one. There are not many around so it sounds very likely!

Hi All, Sorry for the lack in updates for a long time, lots of other jobs have got in the way. I did a restoration on a vintage tractor which looked like a 5 minute job, famous last words! Two years later and I'm back on the Vulcan. There has been a lot of work going on, I have had some brand new front springs made to replace the rotten originals, bought some front tyres, a set of headlights and a brand new correct type speedometer from Beaulieu. I have also finished of most of the back suspension which just needs a coat of deep bronze green. My Dad has made an amazing Vulcan name badge for the radiator when we get round to making one. The restoration of the back axle is well underway, many pictures to follow......

Hi all, I just spotted these, just wondered if they would be usefull to anyone on here? The description says traction engine wheels, but they look more lorry like to me. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-STEAM-ENGINE-AXLE-AND-WHEELS-SOLID-RUBBER-TYRES-HARD-TO-FIND-THINKS-I-/261209883209?pt=UK_Collectables_Agricultural_RL&hash=item3cd1528249#ht_38wt_1170

Very true Pete! There would be a lot of vehicles still in scrap yards without the apprenticeship scheme! Tony, most of it was machined from solid, then the lugs welded on then dressed back. I'm sure Father will be here at some point to explain in more detail.

A huge, huge thank you to my dad Jim who very kindly suprised me with a brand new radiator cap which he built from scratch! Beautiful job! We just need to make the rest of the radiator to go with it now....:-D

Hi All, Apologies for not updating the thread for a while, as Robert said, having to work for a living can really get in the way. I've also had a roof leak in the workshop so have been trying to dry everything out slowly, which is not going very well! Roll on summer! I have been cracking on with a few bits and peices. This is the main rear suspension pivot, it all came apart very well and seems to have hardly any wear to the bearings. Brake linkage bearing. Both top and bottom sets of springs and nearly all the rear suspension is rebuilt and in primer. I just need to make some new spring shackle pins and it can all start going back together.

Hi All, I've just found this on the Commercial motor magazine website. They have scanned all of their back issues and put them in an online archive. Not a huge amount of military stuff, but a lot of articles from 1905 to present day. Some very interesting pre war issues. http://archive.commercialmotor.com/

There's not been a lot of progress on the Vulcan recently, mostly due to losing some of my storage space and having to work for a living. Starting to get back on to it now though. The rear top pair of springs have been rebuilt, i just need to make a couple of clamps which were a bit far gone to re use.

Hi Ron, Sorry for the late reply, i've been flat out at work at the moment, not had much of a chance to get on here. Thanks very much for the PM's and for taking the photos it's very much appreciated. I'll have a study of the pictures and get back to you as soon as i can. Thanks, Rob.

Ron and Danny, Thank you very much for that! Its great to know that there are parts out there! PM's sent.

Not sure what it is but it seems a shame to scrap it, it looks in fairly good condition. The wheels look rare, are they the originals?

Hi, I'm not sure if these are pictures of what you're looking for? It's the Zenith carb from my Vulcan, marked 30 HZ on the side.

Thanks for that Richard. I saw a 1920's Dennis a few weeks ago with that exact set up, so seems reasonable that the Vulcan would have had a soild spare too. I've not found any evidence of a spare wheel carrier yet, unexplained holes in the chassis etc.. so i assume it would have been mounted in the rear body somehow? Anyone got an old 8 stud solid spare wheel laying around that they want to get rid of?

Yes, i'll do that and give it a kick around the workshop to make it look authentic. It will look odd if i have a smooth one on one side and one with knocks and dings on the other. Probably nobody else would ever notice, but because i know it's there it would stick out like a sore thumb to me.:-)

Thank you Tony!

Just been machining a new front axle hub cap, I had one original cast aluminium one to copy. I think that the lump on the original one could have been to fit a greaser, but for some reason it was never drilled and tapped for one, probably as its in a bit of an exposed position and it should get enough lubrication from the main hub greaser anyway. at some point, i'll get a blob of weld put on my new one so that they match.

Thank you Runflat, that all makes a lot of sense!

Thanks N.O.S, that sounds pretty good to me! The axles are off a 3ton truck, so even fully loaded there would be 1 1/2 ton on each set of springs so 3/4ton taken by each spring? I guess full spring with a solid main leaf probably would be a bit over the top?

Thanks NOS, Lateral loading is a possibility, as the whole rear bogie is designed to be as flexible as possible and is quite a complicated setup, not sure i understand quite how it all works yet. There are no tie rods to keep them in place just bumpstops and check straps to stop them going up or down too far. the diffs are kept in the correct arc by some swinging arms which bolt onto the top of the chassis between the axles and mounted to each diff. The axles themselves are mounted in the assembley by 4" dia bronze balls which fit in the clamps shown in the first picture in the first post. The assembley is mounted to the chassis via a central main pivot. That probably wasn't a very good explanation so i'll let some pictures do the talking! Two pictures showing the swinging arms bolted to the top of the chassis and diffs This is one of the chassis mounts onto the central pivot, the swinging arm centre section bolts on the top flat. There is also a combined bumpstop/checkstrap still round the axle. Chassis mount removed showing how the springs are mounted to the central pivot. This shows the axle mounts and spring pins. One of the bronze axle mounting balls. All of that is so the truck can do this sort of thing! This shows some tracks around the rear wheels, so the axles need to pivot and move all around but keep the same wheel centres so the tracks stay on. clever bit of design really!

Hi Everyone, This might have been better in the 'i may be stupid, but..' section, but I was just wondering if anyone has seen leaf springs like this before? Seems quite unusual, is there a name for this type? I thought the main leaf was quite badly broken, but then noticed that the "breaks" were all 3" apart. When i took it all to bits, it was made up of jigsaw type pieces which seem to act as packers with the cast spring eyes slotted on the end. I thought it might be for ease of maintenance if you needed to change the spring bushes by just throwing away the ends and putting new ones in, but i can really see any advantage to this as you would still need to take most of the spring to bits. All four rear springs are the same. Could it be for down rating the capacity of the truck for taxation purposes? Or is this original? Any thoughts out there?

I brought the top springs home today and started to strip one. (Note the chimp proof labeling for reassembley!) I thought it had quite a badly broken main leaf, looks like a break by the clamp.. ....and two more here.... .....then we noticed there were more 'breaks' at 3" intervals, looks like they are supposed to be there! It's surprising what comes undone on this truck, there were hardly any nuts left. I've got nothing but admiration for Mr Whitworth and his thread system! This is the 'broken' main leaf.... ....all made out of 3" long jigsaw peices! Has anyone come across this type of spring before? Its not something i've ever seen. Is there a reason why its made like this? All the other springs on the rear bogie are the same. I thought it might be for ease of changing the spring bushes, but i cant see that it would make maintenance any easier. Any ideas out there?

I've been meaning to pick up the back axles for the Vulcan for ages, but due to there being a lack of sunshine and having to be at work i've not been able to do much till now. Luckily the previous owner was kind enough to let me keep them where they were till i could get them. Originally i had planned to move the whole bogie assembley in one piece, but this would have meant moving a lot of stuff out of the way, so we broke it all down in to smaller bits. Whats under here.... They look handy.... The easiest way to take it apart in to manageable peices was to take both top springs off and split the ball joint mountings. Both top springs and top half of the ball joints off, so its now in three main parts, the two axles and the two bottom springs main pivot.

Not much been happening recently due to having to earn a living and other non truck related stuff, but i have been making a few bits and pieces, a front towing shackle, rear axle check strap shoulder bolts and front spring shackle pins. The shoulder bolts and shackle pins were all 5/8" diameter and were made from M16 high tensile bolts, as these were slightly under 16mm and spot on size for 5/8". I already had one original shackle but needed a matching one for the other chassis rail. To make it a bit of 5/8 bar was heated to cherry red and bent round a handy bit of pipe which was the right size for the inside diameter of the shackle and a couple of pieces were machined to be welded on. All welded up and a grinder ran round it then sandblasted. Probably not going to be strong enough for towing, but will look the part till another original one turns up. This was the only original shoulder bolt i had, the thread was a bit mangled! Full set of 8 new ones. The only original front spring shackle pin i have, the thread was a bit beaten up and the hexagon head was cracked where the grease nipple screws in 2 nice new ones

It could be Ian, looks very similar to yours.