WW1 Peerless lorry restoration

[Great War truck]

No assembly work done today but time spent searching for bits in the "Spares Dept" for the next job. We are aiming to have the front of the lorry completed as far as possible soon. The main front springs are ready for assembly but this Lorry has "Helper" or "Booster" springs on the front axle. This secondary spring is a coil spring which sits in a shoe and the shoe in turn is clamped on the centre of the front axle. This will bear on the chassis rail above if it becomes activated for any reason. But the Spares Dept sadly only yielded one spring and shoe so it rather looks as if we have to make the second. A pity

[Great War truck]

A search also made in the "Spares Dept" for Radiator Mounts. Each are a two parts casting with two springs and are mounted on the inside of the chassis rail, right behind the Headlights Bracket on the outside of the rail so that the two castings share some of the mounting bolts. We found the remains of about five but they are all in a shocking condition - we may be lucky enough to make one out of them. We also found the two parts which had previously been separated from another one which are good enough to use again - but we will want new springs for any that we can use. Pictures also there of the same mounts on the main complete chassis and if it comes to the worst, we could "borrow" these to keep the momentum going!

[radiomike7]

One problem I can foresee with the thrust bearings is that without a cage the balls will bunch up and possibly give less than smooth steering action. I presume that is how they were in service?

[Old Bill]

Yes, this is exactly how they were in service. They are 'full complement' with no more than a few thou between them so there is nowhere really for them to go .

Steve 

[Gordon_M]

Theoretically if they got enough use the ball track grooves and ball diameters could accumulate enough wear between them that the balls could space out / bunch up.  

If you have a look at the worn ones pictured I'd guess they have forty years of wear on them, and the primary damage looks to have been pitting from standing, so good luck driving one of these trucks far enough for ordinary wear to become a problem.

When they are being rebuilt now, it would make sense to rebuild them with brand new balls, possibly slightly oversize to accommodate the existing wear / rework on the ball tracks, and then forget about them for the next hundred years.

[Old Bill]

Thanks Gordon. Yes, I have ordered new balls. That was the easy bit!

Steve 

[Great War truck]

Just a little time spent today assessing the Helper Spring and the Radiator Supports. All heavily rusted and given a quick clean but the Helper Spring is in good order - but we only have one - the second one will be needed pretty soon if we want to get the front wheels on shortly. The spring shoe is a casting and in the present circumstances, we will have to fabricate it. The helper Springs and the Radiator Springs are identical spec - but obviously different lengths. The spring section is about 7/16". Lengths - see pictures.
The Centre Pin of the Radiator Mount is 3/4" diameter and is riveted over at each end to retain it in the main body of the set-up.

[IAN_B]

I've never seen a 7" rule before!

[Minesweeper]

The 7" Ruler was a  gift from a Firm whose motto was - "We like to give that little bit extra" - or something similar!

Tony

[Great War truck]

Clevis Pins shortened to length

[Great War truck]

The hex and greaser ends now silver soldered on to their respective clevis pins. Still have to drill right through the pins for a grease passage way and shorten, drill and tap the ends for standard Greasers.

[Great War truck]

Clevis Pins all but finished. Just have to put in "feathers" behind the hex heads, tidy up the hexs, put cross holes in the diameters to meet up with the longitudinal lubrication holed (they are already in) and cross holes for split tins.

[BosunAl]

That's a nice piece of art!  Will we be seeing it in a expo of modern art?

Bosun Al

[IAN_B]

What are "feathers behind the hex heads"?

[Minesweeper]

The "feather" is a small peg which is a tight push fit into the body of the pin right behind the hex head which matches a slot in the body of the clevis so that it will stop the pin revolving in its matching female hole. Tim has some pictures which I guess he will post today.

Tony

[Great War truck]

Clevis Pins now completed and I can look at something else! The Grease passage ways and split pin holes drilled and the feathers have been fitted.

[Great War truck]

Returned to painting wheels today after cleaning them - they have now had two coats of primer and two coats of undercoat and are looking OK - it rather looks like they are going to need three coats of top coat.
With several bits now ready to be hung on the chassis, the arrival of the heavy gang - the men from the north is awaited! The two axles and rear springs are ready - the front springs are already on. The back axle can also go on but as mentioned previously the U Bolts which hold the front axle to the springs also holds the helper or secondary coil springs and we only have one of those so a second one will have to be made - difficult at the present time. The shoe for the spring is 3/8" thick so as a temporary measure, a piece of 3/8" plate has been cut same as the overall dimensions of the shoe that we have - and it may be that this can be used later to make the second shoe but this can wait until we have a spring for it. In the mean time, this bit of plate can be used as a stand in for the missing shoe. The pictures show the set up.

[Great War truck]

There does not seem to be a great deal to show for my efforts today but I picked up all 5 Hub Caps that were already loose in the Spares Dept. I thought initially that the ones for the Back Wheels were bigger than the ones for the fronts but in fact they are all the same size. Dug out and scraped all the loose paint and rust initially together with any grease - this is really where we miss the services of our Sand Blasting friend but he is not accessible at the present time. The Hubcaps were then washed down and left to dry. The next stage will be to select the best two and clean them up with an electric wire brush and ensure that the Pinch Bolts are working. The remaining three can wait until Sand Blasting services are available again!

[Great War truck]

First coat of "green" on the wheels - must let that harden off now before rubbing it back.

[Great War truck]

Selected the best two from the 5 Hub Caps that we had in the Spares Dept - very rusty and cleaned them up with a rotary wire brush. Washed them with cellulose thinners - cleaned up the internal thread with tooth brush size wire brush and cellulose thinners again, and they screw comfortably on to the wheel hubs. The Pinch Bolts are sound but an unusual thread again - 5/16 x 20 UNS. Gave the hub caps a coat of Bonda Primer to finish the day.

[Great War truck]

Today's job was to have a go at the Radiator Mounts - there is a small selection of them in the "Spares" Department but everyone of them is scabby and has seen better days. The first of the better two has already been worked on - many years ago by the look of it and the two springs have been taken out and are missing. The assembly consists of one main bracket to hold two springs inside it - one above and one below another casting which actually supports the Radiator - the springs are designed to absorb any minor movement in the Radiator from any shock during running. A piece of 3/4" diam steel bar runs through the assembly and is riveted over top and bottom in the main casting with the springs inside it. There are two "Top Hat" washers with a 3/4" hole in them to take the bar and the narrow part of the "Top Hat" goes inside the springs, top and bottom of each spring. Two compression springs - four "Top Hats".

The one complete assembly was very heavily rusted and took considerable effort and heat to get it apart. One spring had broken into two and the remaining whole one is beyond use again. They are 2" diam with a free length of about 1 3/4". Although these castings are heavily pitted, they will clean up and be good enough to use again.

[Doc]

Looks like an awful lot of wear in one of the suspension links!

[Great War truck]

Most of the work on the front end which was manageable by the depleted work force in the south is now done, and was put to one side until more muscle is available for the final assembly of it.
So in the meantime, we look further back along the chassis for something that can be manageable by limited manpower. We look at the Back Brake Band assembly and the Radius Rod and Chain Assembly tensioner. This a separate unit and very fortunately, we have several in the Spares Department. They must all be looked to find the best ones - remembering that the Brakes are handed. Two have already been taken apart which makes those bits manageable but others are still together and are heavy which brings in own problems in the present circumstances!
So disassembly and cleaning for assessment.

[Great War truck]

Now looking to the next step - stripping down some of the bits in the Spares Department so that they are ready for cleaning, assessment and re-use. Heat required first of all on most of them as they have been rusted together for many years - not a very exciting job! We have two Peerless Radiators - neither in very good condition and only one Filler Cap - which is broken - so this might be a good time to make up a couple of new ones - using the broken one as a pattern - and assuming that one is original - we are not too sure about that as the ones in some of the old pictures look quite different

[Great War truck]

Peerless today. Final coat on the front wheels - that now makes seven coats - two primer, two undercoat and three top coats. Carried on cleaning bits - tried to find a better Radiator support but failed - they are all badly worn.