Great War truck

Steve "The Legend" :bow: has been busy again. This is what he has just sent me. Hopefully i can get all the pictures in the correct order :computerterror2: before the compter crashes on me. I am not worthy :bow: Tim (too) In the Dennis 'Susidy' engine, the fan is driven by a disc covered with friction material and mounted on the front of the timing case. Whilst we were dismantling the engine, this had to be removed to allow the governor to be taken off. Unfortunately for us, it was very tight and defied the combined efforts of a three-legged puller, a propane torch and a jemmy behind it until, with quite a bang, it broke off altogether. This caused much consternation as, up until that point, we had a perfectly serviceable fan drive. Now we were faced with removing it and making a replacement. First task was removal. This was achieved by using a 'Dremel' high speed abrasive disc to cut it lengthways and then by splitting it off with a cold chisel. All very brutal. Then, of course a replacement had to be made. This was done by silver soldering two bits of steel together to make a blank and then turning it to shape. The biggest challenge was the internal spline which was not something we had done before. It was felt that our home-made slotting attachment might be used to cut the grooves but the problem was that there was no way to accurately index them. To achieve that, an indexing attachment was made which screwed to the lathe headstock and picked up on the teeth of the gear wheel mounted on the main spindle behind the chuck. You can see it in the top of the picture. The challenge here was that the gear has sixty teeth which is not divisible by eight! To get over that, the detent was slotted cross-ways so that it could sit on the top of a gear tooth as well as between thus doubling the number of available indexes to 120. Problem solved! The splines were cut with great care using a vernier caliper to get the depths right and then, heart in mouth, the disc was removed from the chuch to try. It fitted first time so we are very pleased as it could not have been returned to the chuck for modification as it would never have been quite in line again. One more piece ready for reassembly.

Whats the origin of this one? What you have got looks to be good, but what are you missing? Tim (too)

Brand new tracks are now available. From examination they appear to be of the single rubber band type like the half track. Not sure on the price though. Assume that they are expensive and go up from there. Tim

Beautifully put. I have been trying to think of a suitable response to the first posting, but you have beaten me to it and i could not agree with you more. Haig will always carry the blame for the slaughter, the revisionists have seen to that. But is there anybody else who would have done better? Although we would love to do it, we can't change history and Haig will always be labelled as a bungler. No matter who could be blamed for the slaughter on the Western front it really is all too late now, except for those who want to sell a few books on the subject of course. I will still be wearing my Poppy with pride. Tim (too)

Well with the FWD it is not really any music, just an old aluminium beer barrel full of spanners going down an up escalator. As for the Jeep, well something by "Alien Sex Fiend" either "I walk the line between good and evil" or "Hurricane Fighter plane". Both are excellent driving songs. Tim (too)

Do you know to what extent will they be demilled? I know that stuff sole in Greece and Holland were cut up into chunks making restoration virtually impossible?

Thanks for that. I hope to pick up the K Seal tomorrow. If that does not work i will try your suggestion. Will keep everyone updated on my progress. Tim (too)

Thanks for that. It looks like just what i need. I will give it a go and will let you know how i get on. I was contemplating a US product called irontite but that is three times more expensive. Thanks again for your suggestion. Tim (too)

My Jeep has a cracked block on the inside and leaks water into the oil. This is a bad thing. I used rad weld on it some 15 years ago which fixed the problem very well. The problem has now come back again and a cheap solution (ie not buy a new engine) would be to use something similar. Does anybody have any suggestions or thoughts on any particular liquid crack sealant. Rad weld did the job very well last time but i am wondering if there are any other better products? Any recommendations anybody? "Sell Jeep" will not be considered. Thank you Tim (too)

Gosh, we are going to stir up another big debate here and probably on things that we have covered before. Yes executions happened on all sides and not being particularly pleasant everyone likes to gloss over it . All sides did it. Just read about the 101st taking 30 Georgian prisoners off the IV Div and shooting them all near St Mere Eglise. Also ATB had an article about US Infantry shooting a whole load of Volksturum who were trying to surrender, but unfortunately had been issued with SS Uniforms which did not go down well with the Yanks. Another thing that ATB mentioned was that some SOE took some German prisoners on a Greek Island. Just before leaving they executed one, i think that they did not have space for him. Germans were recently talking about War Crimes trial, but probably a bit late now. By our nature we are inclined to forgive those who executed our enemies. We also feel very angry about our enemies executing Allied troops. The incident at Paradise farm i find particularly disturbing, especially as it seems to have been so calculated and not a "heat of the moment" thing. And my point was what exactly? Oh, i dont know. War is hell! Tim (too)

Gosh sorry, i forgot all about this thread. Other distractions. Very good guesses indeed. But Jack has guessed it, it is a "I am sure i walked into one" WW1 Peerless truck, with another one balanced on top. Which looks a little like this one that we recovered earlier: Interesting to hear your thoughts that it might be a steam lorry, as the guy who owns these is rebuilding one (a Hinley i think it was) and needed a chassis so he acquired these two, but they really are quite different so are surplus to requirements. A bit sad but i expect that they will eventually end up as scrap. Such is life. Tim (too)

Gosh, this is a bit odd! We seem to mostly agree with each other! Anyway, if no one got my Church of Scientology joke, take a look at this link of Sweeny interviewing a man from the Church of Scientology. It is rather interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okKYSSRQodQ Just goes to show BBC journalism at its best. Having just watched it again with the volume down, Sweenys mannerisms are not too different from that of Hitler during his early speeches. Just a wild off the cough thought there. On another point, a work collegue approached me today to ask me if I had seen the program. He then went on to say how worrying he found it. Not wanting to start an argument with him, i did not. I then asked what he proposed that the Government should do about it, ban the wearing of SS Unifroms perhaps? He thought about it then said no, but he thought that the SS reenactors should undertake history lessons on the subject which would probably make them not want to wear SS Uniforms anymore. Well there we go. It seems that the average man in the street has the answer. Look back to the past for the way to the future, it is what i have been saying all along. :whistle: Tim (too)

Excellent points raised by everyone. We seem to be of much of a like mind. However, I think that the SBG could have added an interesting slant if they had told Sweeny that they were all Christian Scientists. Tim (too)

Lots of points to discuss here :box: and as we all have different thoughts on this emotions can run high. However i think it is so morally wrong to financially benefit from the sale of something originating from such a camp. I understand that he had already sold several before he got to Beltring. I also understand that the farmer that he bought it off refused to sell him a number of the stretchers that he had acquired and had been used at the crematorium for disposing of the bodies. Maybe the farmer has some standards! I was thinking of buying the trolley and donating it to an appropriate museum, but then the seller would have financially benefitted and i would have had to borrow the money, so maybe not such a good idea. Best that he has to carry it around for the rest of his life and never sell it (preferbly tied to a bit of his anatomy) - a suitable punishment. As for Sweeny and his cameras, well he is bound to have a good story there. If not i am sure that he has made something up. Give anybody a few drinks and ask them to talk and you can get them to say something controversial without too much bother. I am aware of things occurring at Beltring and Detling that i do hope that they have not filmed, otherwise it could tar us all with the same brush. Like my previous post re the Youtube SS film, i feel that it will not take much to put us under the spotlight, turn public opinion against us and then wait for the Government to ban things that are precious to us. For Sweeny and his cronies a program about British Nazis will sell much better than any mention of donations at the gate for the Royal British Legion. Such is life. Members of the SBG should have been more aware of the risks of talking on camera, so we will now see what happens. Probably not a great deal as this has all happened before when they were infiltrated by someone from the tabloids in the 1980's. Tim (too)

Not Mack AC ( :goodidea:), but quite right about the chain drive. Well spotted. Here is a another photo which might give the game away Tim (too)

Yes, you are quite right, i had not nocticed that. And is that a young Baron Von Bomblast standing next to it? As for putting you off, well all i can say is "Buy it, buy it now". Sell everything else and throw the proceeds into rebuilding this one. You can be fairly certain that there are no other survivors in the UK, if not the world. Just by touching it and reading up about Presto on Wikipedia you will become the world expert. You will have to refabricate just about every part from scratch, but there wont be a single person at beltring who would look at it and say you have done it in the wrong colour, or your grill is incorrect. Well there you go. I hope that i put you off the idea, but if you require some more discouragement please do post again and i will see what i can do. Tim (too)

Quite agree with that. I used to have one that said "Adolph Hitler European Tour 1939 to 1945" with all the European Countries and their invasion dates. It had cancelled next to Great Britain and Russia. The last time i wore it i was out in the Autocar and had a long chat about the truck with a German who was over on holiday. He was a very nice guy and he laughed a great deal at my attempt at speaking German. I felt rather embarrased to wear it that day and threw it away when i got home. Funnily enough a similar experience happened to me when i was in Rome one day with the famous "I like the Pope....." T shirt. I mostly wear plain T shirts now. Anyway, my point is that the word "scrapped" in journalese means gotten rid off. Scrapped means in the vehicle collecting fraternity, well scrapped. I am certain that all of these vehicles (if they are all German, it looked like there was a STUG there) will be hauled out and will reappear in museums or in the collecting world. There is just too much money involved. Bob Fleming has already packed his suitcase i understand. Tim (too)

Sorry John, i have not been ignoring you, but have been out and about for the last week or so. It looks a bit Model T, but not a lot to go on there. I was wondering if it might be something a little bigger like a Dodge tourer. Any more photos? Thanks for posting Tim (too)

Look what i was introduced to in Dorset yesterday! Anybody guess what it is - or what they are as there are two of them. Tim (too)

I am really suprised that you let her climb over your truck wearing all that stuff. She could have really scratched the paint with those spiky sticking out bits. Anyway, i think she looked really rough. Not the sort of girl that my wife would like me to associate with i am sure. Tim (too)

Can you drive your GMC in the USA on a normal car licence, or do you have to take another test as it is a bigger vehicle than what a normal licence might allow? Tim (too)

Oh yes, i see that now. Whoops. Anyway, i got my comment twisted. I would think that a WW1 Triumph would be cheaper than a WW2 Harley. But a WW2 BSA would be cheaper than a Harley and a WW1 Triumph. Confused! I am. :? Tim (two)

Hi. I would diasagree that WW1 bikes are much cheaper than WW2 (unless you are buying a Ural). Not many people are interested in the WW1 stuff, but i would think that you could find something restored for about £5K to £6K which is less than a WW2 Harley Davidson it would seem. Tim (too)

I have not updated this for quite a while now, but i hope that we will soon have some more progress and interesting photos. Tony has not been idle. he has finished off painting up the cleaned cylinder blocks: Taken the inlet manifold and carb off the engine: Dismantled it and given it a good clean up Our next big step is to get the engine rebuilt and back in the frame, although there are lots of other little things that we need to do first.

By some strange quirk of fate, i now have a picture of what the Presto should look like (thanks Alan!) http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Greatwartruck/DSCN4616a.jpg[/img] Not the prettiest truck on the road, but quite interesting. Any takers yet? Tim (too)