The Governor

The rain came to day, so it was indoor's work.

The light that light's up the rear disc was solid with paint, so I carefully stripped it down. The metal cover that the light shines through, was heated up until the paint had burnt off, and then carefully worked back and forth, until it was free to rotate giving the user the opportunity to change the light pattern.

However, it was a different story for the trailer socket. I heated up the cap as it was stuck fast. It had been liberally coated in diesel for the last few day's since I removed it from the lorry.But when I rotated the cap, the body crumbled and the threaded section ,broke away from the main body.

62 years old and I have damaged a piece of history...not happy.

Does anyone have one of these I could buy, preferably complete with the wires.

I will never use it for what it was intended, but I would like one in it's place to replace it.

The Governor.

Sam, nice to see the progress is steady. Who's paint do you use ?

The Governor.

Andy, I am not to sure, however, there does appear to be a good coating of red paint, it's not just undercoat, as red and green are the wrong colour build up to the final coat of green. Added to the fact that the rear has had a stronger bar fitted that supports the upper mud guards, I think a garage used it as recovery, as did many at the time this was released from military use. It makes sense for a window to be fitted there, when working with two men winching.

But it is all guess work, if only the lorry could talk,......................... now that would be a great listen.

The Governor.

I set about cleaning up the disc, and look what I found on the back. Yellow. So it would be reasonable to presume the original disc may have been damaged, and replaced with the yellow disc that would display weight information on the front below the indicator.

It was also yellow on the front between the layer's of paint.

I did expect rain this weekend, however the sun shone, so a little outside work could commence.

The remaining wooden deck was removed, as it was unsafe to walk on because it was like walking on a trap door, and the consequence of falling through does not bare thinking about.

Now before you send me to the cells for a night, and in the morning put me before a firing squad, I apologize for using the wrong wood, but right from the start, I did explain this was not a cheque book restoration, so a cheaper alternative needed to be found in place of the oak flooring.

What I have used is a short term fix, whilst I save up to make the whole area as it should be, in the future.

The Governor.

Can you not take some of the cleaning and painting with you !.....shows start at 10, and finish at 5.

The Governor.

This area is the next area to be tackled.The lorry over it's life after military use has never been given any treatment, so as difficult as it is, I will try and tidy it up without removing the rest of the lorry from the chassis so I can get to it.

The Governor.

Firstly, the progress of pup's, all are getting bigger, and Mother is doing well.

I have removed the rear socket, for trailer towing, the rear disc indicator for identifying the distance of the vehicle in front thingy, and it's light.

All have had a hard couple of years and need a lot of work to make them work as they should.

The disc looks like it has been through it's own little war, with the ground and any objects that have got in the way, and bent the support as well as the disc.

The light has rusted, or the paint has stuck the out side cover that look's like it should rotate to cut down on the amount of light it emits.

And the trailer socket would be okay if you could undo the cover, but it has "fused" together with the cover, and will take quite a lot of effort to get it to open. Watch this space.

The Governor.

Morning Doug,

I had a look at your blog last week, and said to myself what a small world it is, I will catch up with you some where in the not to distant future.

I did not realize it was your blog, what took my attention was the fact it was used in the showman,s world, I then checked to see the author, and saw your matador all marked up with your name.

I will have to make a special effort to continue my quality restorations.

Kind regards,

The Governor.

David, once again you have given us an insight, to the different units that operated these lorries, and there very different uses.

Perhaps if Wally is reading this thread, he will pm me with his call sign, and I will be able to find out more history of this lorry. Blue Belle has made a good start, I would like to know in it's green format, as it is this coulour at present I am restoring it to, what marking's it had and colours that certain parts were.

Kind regards,

The Governor.

Thanks for that. I had some timber 13 foot long 3 inches wide, I have made two out of it, so will have to look out for some more.

The Governor.

Thanks for the reply. The turn buckle is on the right in the photo.

These "gun planks", are they similar to the planks that are stored above the rear wheels beneath the deck?

The Governor.

Hi all, on either side passing through the chassis which supports the decking to stand on whilst operating the crane, there are two rods as shown in the picture, one either side. What is their job ?

The Governor.

I don't do rest, even in this heat !

Yes, it pulls our showmans living van, amoungst many other things.

The Governor.

It certainly looks like a little to much application for the size of the hitch, if there could every be to much !

The Governor.

Bowed by 1/4 of an inch.!

The Governor.

An observation,

I think this old boy has had a hard life.

The Governor.

As you can see from the following reply, it has been a busy day, however, I have managed to do some work.

The front hitch was stuck solid in the front cross member, so it had to come out and work as it was intended in the first place when put back.

I used several lengths of wood and a short length of scaffold pipe to act as a lever to work the hitch in both an anti clockwise and clock wise to start it moving.

We finally got it moving but it took 3 hours of working it back and forth until I could just turn it myself with out the aid of the trolley jack.

I removed the big nut on the back, and my wife came up with the idea that we have another lorry, so why don't you pull it out with that.

I coupled up the lorry and put the explorer in gear, brakes on and it had no affect what so ever. So I kept the tension on the strop, and belted the end up inside the cross member with the nut fitted back on and slowly it came out.

When I cleaned up the inside I noticed little grooves which I had seen before when I did the front fairlead rollers, so with a lead light I searched for the grease nipple, this I removed check it worked okay and cleaned it up before placing it back in it's position.

Once I had cleaned up the jaw I painted it and the front cross member and made up a new toggle as the front one was missing totally, put the whole lot back together and stood back to admire my day's work.

Easier than producing 8 pup's LOL.

The Governor.

Guess who is mummy 8 times over.

The Governor.

Rob, the reason we are not going to Long Melford, is the attached photo is of our German Sheppard who is full of Pup's and expecting them any moment, so we can't go to far from her let along leave her all weekend.

And father is the second photo, guarding Daddies toy's.

The Governor.

David, fantastic information, from first hand user.

I notice the front grill is yellow and the radiator cap red also. Was this standard colours for their use.? and being 94BD06 did it serve in the same part of the world as mine.

white caps on the end of the wheels, also a safety thing ??

The Governor.

PM sent.

The Governor.

Today I thought I would repair the little toggle that holds the "thingy" up to stop the rear tow hook from spinning. It was rusted in the hole originally, and minus the pivot and end piece, so how I have never lost it I don't know.

I managed to find a bolt of the right diameter, cut the head off, and threaded part, and then ground out half of the shank. Once I had done this, I then drilled the old pivot out, found another bolt that had a countersunk head and used this as a rivet for holding the two together, once I had drilled the new piece. The result was a complete toggle that will not drop out as we go along the road.

Two questions, Why do the tow hooks need to swivel through 360 degrees ?, and what colour would they have been red or Green. ??

The Governor.

Neil, do you still live in Dagenham, and travel up to Sibble to restore your Knocker ?

I am two villages up the road to Haverhill, so not far if you need a hand lifting anything heavy.

The Governor.

Zero five two, glad to be of some assistance...............A tanker, now that is Boring

Good progress today. I removed the remains of the floor to enable to get to the frame work that supports the floor. It has been generally in good shape, surface rust, but no more than that.

One area that is rusty is the top of the winch. I cannot see any drain holes as such, near the circumference, this area is the worst I have seen on the lorry. Do other owners have the same problem ?

The Governor.

It's very hard to make this thread interesting when cleaning and painting. However progress is good as the weather has been ideal to get things done.I can not get the Scammell in the work shop in one piece, but the painting table is now full of parts painted in under coat. There is still more to come in, but it will have to be in pieces.

The Governor.