Great War truck Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 We would have expected to have to make 3/8” bronze bolts but a few years ago, a friend gave us a handful of 3/8” diam - what looks like phos bronze – Whit bolts and they were then just put to one side with the thought that they might come in useful one day! Steve remembered that we had them and they were dug out. That day had arrived! They were somewhat over length and with a hex head – presumably, they were originally intended for some kind of electrical work. Anyhow, the threads on them were extended further down the length of the bolt, the hex heads were turned down to 1/8” thick and 9/16” in diameter to suit our purpose. The 3/8” holes in the linings then had to be counter drilled to the depth 3/16” and 9/16” in diameter to take the round heads of the bolts. And a trial fit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 You may remember that the Brake Drum was bevelled for another purpose after the original Thorny that it was fitted to was put aside and that there was insufficient metal left on the Drum for the remains of the bevel to be machined out. We have to live with that but that bevel is quite visible in this first photograph but presumably after a period of use, the lining will bed down on it. The second two pictures show the brake linings with the bronze bolts fitted but before they were reduced to correct length. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 The bolts all now cut back to length and fitted with spring washers under them. The “Activating Lever” for the brakes which is fitted to the top of the right shoe also accommodates the “Tension Rod” joining the two shoes – this Rod appears to be a little short for the job in this picture but its length was carefully measured from the Portsmouth Thorny some years ago. The Activating Lever, yet to be made is actually crescent shape and the top of the crescent will be quite a bit to the left of the pivot pin in the Brake Shoe so we fully expect that the length of the Tension Rod will prove to be correct! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charawacky Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 Thornycroft half way through this film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted December 5, 2015 Author Share Posted December 5, 2015 That is very interesting Tom. All kicks off just after 6 minutes and is a very interesting clip showing the setting up of the 13pdr AA gun and firing with drill rounds. I expect that will gravitate its way across to the Great War Forum in no time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 I hope you all had a nice and wonderful Christmas. So I guess you will be having a work party soon. Looking forward to updates on this project. fingers crossed!!! John G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian L Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 I hope you all had a nice and wonderful Christmas. So I guess you will be having a work party soon. Looking forward to updates on this project. fingers crossed!!!John G Well the silence is deafening from the Gosling camp, Tim told me just before he went down to Devon that they were hoping to get the engine / gearbox in & running over Christmas, & more :wow: Were waiting for updates mate :drive: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 Well, you are quite right. Christmas is the time we get on and do things and today has been no exception. However, I am getting an absolute flat refusal from the computer to upload any pictures. I can say that this Christmas, we have been planning to fit the brake drum dust covers followed by the back axle to the chassis and then the rear wheels. Today we have fitted the covers and hung the axle from the chassis. Tomorrow, we will tighten up the bolts and pin the nuts. Then it is onto the brake gear before fitting the wheels. Once the wheels are on, we can roll the chassis under the chain block and fit the gearbox and engine so it is getting very exciting. However, this computer is driving me nuts! I'll post the pictures if ever it comes back to life. Happy Christmas! Steve :computerrage::banghead: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 (edited) I knew it would come to life just as soon as I posted something! Anyway, todays task was to attach the brake drum covers. This started by clearing all the stuff from around the chassis and then pulling out the axle on its trolley. The engine crane was then used to lift it off before rolling it over. It was then blocked up on timbers and Tim fitted the dust cover securing it with the brake anchor pin and then two screws. I then drilled a cross hole through the end of the pin for a split pin. Back on the trolley and carefully rolled beneath the chassis. Careful use of a bent copper pipe to blow the muck out of the spring alignment hole. The head of the spring centre bolt goes in here and locates the spring, preventing the axle from working along in service. Then the axle was positioned with the pin directly over the hole in the spring seat. Edited December 26, 2015 by Old Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 (edited) Using the jack to slowly lower the chassis and springs onto the spring seats on the axle. Taking care to make sure that the centre bolt is properly aligned. Some temporary bolts were fitted to hold it steady. The bolts were then cross-drilled and cut to length before fitting. Getting hold of such bolts proved quite a problem for us. In the end, Father purchased 3/4" UNC bolts in the USA and had them sent to Tim's Father-in-law for Tim to pick up when he next visited. I am sure that the airport security men love to see Tim coming! The other side took some serious wangling to get the bolts through the holes be we succeeded eventually and the springs are now secure until tomorrow when we will tighten the nuts right up and pin them. Brakes tomorrow! Steve. Edited December 26, 2015 by Old Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Back to it! The axle is now safely bolted in and the first task was to tighten the nuts down and fit the split pins. Then we spent a surprising amount of time fitting keys to the ends of the brake actuatorshafts. Once they had been made, the shafts could be fitted. And a pinch bolt to secure them. Next came the brake shoes which Father had previously re-lined and painted. We selected the best surviving return springs, hooked the shoes together and then fitted them. This was most definitely a two-man job as the springs made the shoes quite a handful! We have acquired a number of wheel bearings from the various chassis we have dismantled and were fortunate to be able to find two good enough for further use. Father had previously identified the need for felt oil seals on the back of the wheels so he had obtained these ready for now. They were simply slotted into their grooves on the backs of the wheels. Finally, suitable thrust washers were chosen to limit the end float to 0.060" - 0.125". Now we are ready to fit the wheels tomorrow! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citroman Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Looks nice but is the brake lever no to much corroded? It looks very thin to me or is that just the picture? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Yes, the brake levers are a bit wasted. We think they will be OK but if not, we will have to do something about them. The proof of the pudding will be when we fit the brake handle! Today's project was to fit the rear wheels. As always, they were more difficult than expected although we have succeeded. Step one was to get the engine crane out and lift the first wheel. Then the Heavy Gang came in to assist in wangling it on to the bearing sleeve. Rather unfortunately, the brake drum fouled my nice new dust covers so off came the wheel again. After much pondering, we decided to try to bend the edge of the cover forwards using a rubber mallet with a block of wood behind. The wheel was re-fitted but would not go right home. We decided that the oil seal felt was fouling so it was removed and the wheel fitted again, this time successfully although the dust cover still requires some further adjustment. The securing collar and nut was then fitted and we had one wheel mounted. The second wheel was tricky to fit as there was no access for the engine crane. Big Mark had thoughtfully brought along a small wooden trolley on castors which could be used to feed the wheel in sideways. All I had to do was operate the jack under the chassis to get the height just right. This time, however, the brake drum would not go cleanly over the re-lined shoes. After much further head scratching, one end of the shoe was bored slightly deeper and the other end was dressed back with a file. A couple of rounds of this treatment and success was achieved. Even the dust cover was clear on this side so the securing nut and collar were fitted and we now have a wheel at each corner. Gearbox and engine tomorrow! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrev Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Good progress, disappointing for you about the dust cover. You don't mention what you did about the oil seal that was fouling, did you leave it out and will fix later (don't forget) or solve the problem at the time? Regards Doug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Herbert Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Am I right that the dust covers are not supposed to fit inside the brake drums, but to overlap the edge of the drum to 'cover' the opening. Thus the flange of the dust cover should deflect any splash from the other side of the vehicle from trying to get into the brake. The down side of this would be that if the thrust washer wears, that sets the end float of the wheel bearing, the edge of the brake drum will wear away the edge of the dust cover and its flange will fall off ! Well done for getting this far though, and good luck tomorrow. You will have a lot more room in the garage with these big bits on the truck, to say nothing of the boost of having it mobile again. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Good progress, disappointing for you about the dust cover. You don't mention what you did about the oil seal that wasfouling, did you leave it out and will fix later (don't forget) or solve the problem at the time? Regards Doug Hi Doug. In the end, we left both felts off. They were not fitted when we took it all to bits so I don't think the omission is serious. The worst that can happen is that the grease can work its way out but this will be a more cosmetic than functional fault. The tin covers are dished in at the centre to catch any lubricant and deflect it away from the linings. In the Carlton Colville lorry, the covers align with the corners of the brake drums, neither going inside or overlapping. Until I had to make them, I had in mind that the flanges went the other way over the outside of the drums but that is not how they are on this vehicle or in the parts book. A slightly odd arrangement, I think. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 I have found the Carlton Colville brake drum cover photo. As you can see, it is not arranged as you might reasonably expect! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QL Driver Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 On the subject of brake gear - don't underestimate how hard you can lean on the brake when you need to! We have the now rather bent original brake pedal from the Garrett hanging on the wall of the garage, which got that way after coming across some surprise stationary traffic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minesweeper Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Looks nice but is the brake lever no to much corroded? It looks very thin to me or is that just the picture? In fact, we do have another pair of these that came fitted to the Back Axle that came over from Mike in NZ - these are completely sound with no sign of wasting at all and we shall almost certainly fit these in due course in substitution! That will take away any doubt. Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Back to it! We started the day by lowering the chassis to the ground and then set up the crane ready to lift the gearbox. This was simply slung and went into the chassis without a hitch. Even the bolts lined up! Now there is this big empty space which needs an engine. It had originally been planned that we would fit the clutch once the engine had been installed. However, I had a re-think and realised that there wouldn't be room to fit it in! I therefore had to finish it off and fit it properly. First task was to clean off the light surface rust followed by fitting of the nice new bearings which have been beside my bed for a year. Goodness knows why they were there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Compressing the rather unusual leaf type clutch springs was a challenge but we did this with a pair of sash clamps. Then we took the engine out into the sun for a photo call. It really does look pretty but I was still very concerned about smashing it up by dropping it. I have not been looking forward to this exercise at all! I made up a new lifting strop from 22mm polypropylene rope just to be certain and away we went. We couldn't push the chassis back far enough to give the engine a straight lift so Big Mark hung onto the water pump to keep it all swung out of the way. Then with the hook as high as it could go, we rolled the chassis out underneath it. The moment of truth! It's down! Phew! Much relief all round. Next task is to position the engine correctly in front of the gearbox and mark out the bolt holes. Then we will have to lift it again, remove the engine mounts and bore them through. A task for Thursday. Christmas guests tomorrow! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abn deuce Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 That's a fantastic amount of progress in a short few days! I realize many of the parts were finished , some a long time ago but for they to slip into place when your plans came together must make you all very happy. You probable are also getting use to having every so slightly more space to move about the garage and all now that these pieces are being installed and not scattered about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Absolutely fantastic!! A great sense of pride and relief amongst your crew that it is going along smoothly, well at least I think it is. Getting over the sensory overload with all the pictures. Thanks for the update. John G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOM MODEL T Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Excellent progress! Congratulations! On my old vehicles, I soak the oil seal felt in vegetable oil before fitting. It then compresses nicely and mineral based lubricants does not wash the vegetable oil off. Looking forward to the next post! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Thanks Chaps. It is a relief to have the bits together as it is looking like a vehicle at last! No progress today as we have had guests. However, I want to get the engine bolted down before returning home so that will be tomorrow's project. One thing has been concerning me and that is the appropriate end-float in the wheel bearings and I should like to ask for some advice please. These bearings are 3 1/2" bore, fully floating, plain bronze bushes with bronze thrust washers at the ends. The right hand rear wheel has a little less than 1/16" float which feels about right. However, the LH wheel has something like 1/8" float and it feels a bit much. Can anyone offer any guidance as to how much there should be? I have not found anything in the manuals and the American lorries all have rolling bearings so they are quite different. I should appreciate your views! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.