Antony

I have posted this picture before which was of some of the ground crew on The Seventh Squadron of The 34th Bomb Group, Mendlesham Airfield, about five hundred yards from my house.

Thanks Joris, we are hoping to take it to A&E, another addition has been the aquisition of a pair of original fuel tank brackets and straps, no fuel tank yet, but we can hope..........

Bet Adrian and Bob have seen worse........

Hours of fun with this one!

I was led to believe that just the tractor unit was a UK machine, it was used by a company local to Alan and came from a scrapyard yard nearby? Wasn't that one a 6x4? Went to Bristol area I believe.

 

I never took any pictures when I visited - I was so busy looking in three directions at once at all the eye candy!!!

Here is the tractor unit, and Roy with Allan looking at the GMC cab which is being converted for the Studebaker.

Last time I was at the late Alan Chapman's he had 9 Studes all of which he had imported from Australia. I asume they were disposed of after his death.

Some had gone, but still an impressive sight.

Here is a picture of Roy's open cab Studebaker which he restored many years ago, together with an up to date picture taken yesterday.

It's good to see a picture of the Stude in its working days, another difference apart from the front axle will be the cab. When it was transported back to Roy's Farm from the scrapyard, many years ago now, the cab was virtually non existant, and the remains were removed in case they blew away on the journey!! What was left of the cab was even beyond Roy's capabilties to save, so a GMC open cab is being converted to fit. There were just under 200,000 Studebaker US6 trucks built, many of them open cabs, which Studebaker had designed, (subsequentally taken up by GMC). Most of these trucks went for lend lease to Russia, the Russians didn't like the open cab, presumably because of the harsh climate, and requested the closed version. Roy allready has an open cabbed US6, which is thought to be extremely rare, if not the only one exsisting today unless anyone knows different.

Thanks Mark and Ken, I will pass all the information on to Roy. I went over this afternoon to catch up on the progress, N.O.S. ( Tony Goff ) was there, and they were looking at old vehicle log books, and this particular Studebaker had at one time belonged to Tony's Father and had been used for hauling lime and gravel etc. When Roy took the rear axles off the chassis it was evident that the vehicle had been grossly overloaded because the axles where both shaped like a banana! With a bit of carefull heating ( oxy acetelene ) and regular rotating, each axle was brought back into line.

After neccessary repairs to the chassis, the axles where put back on to make it easy to move around for sand blasting and painting. It was originally 6X4 but Roy wanted this one 6X6, so has fitted a driven front axle.

Hi Antony,

good luck with her, Studes are way too rare to allow to be lost. By the way, I have what I think is a US6 bellhousing, would you be interested? Can send a pic if it helps

Yes please, anything Studebaker would be of interest.

The first requirement was to dismantle it to allow a gentle tweek with the Case loader to help coax the chassis back to the correct shape, then attend to the axles.

This Studebaker chassis had spent so many years in the nettles, that Roy decided it was time to bring it back to life. He dragged it out and found room in a shed ready to start work on it.

Hello Michael,

I don't know where you can get a bush for your idler gear shaft, perhaps Jaap Rietvelt may have one, or one of the dealers in Hercules Engines in the US. Mine didn't need the bush replacing, the idler gear was very worn on the shaft, so I built it up with mig weld, and had it machined oversize and then the idler gear was bored out to a tight fit. The end play adjustment seems to get overlooked on these engines hence this problem. I do know of one which actually snapped the shaft.

Anyway, good luck,

Tony.

Make sure you check the end play on the cam and idler shafts, an engine knock at idling speeds will indicate too much end play. The adjustment is by threaded plugs in the gear cover. My 968 made a loud clunk when the engine stopped, it was the idler gear which had worn very loose on its shaft.

Thanks for the photos Anthony , looks like my barrel had quite a bend in it rather than a droop !!!! I can confirm it is now as straight as a dye and rigid !!!

I am glad it's straight, but don't be tempted to 'fyre' it, you might 'dye'!!

The tube is sleeved because the original 'deactivation' when it left the army simply consisted of cutting the tube in half. It had been rejoined when put on display but it was not quite straight! We re-did it and used a tubular sleeve to get an accurate alignment.

 

The deactivations consists of welding a plug in the chamber at least 2" thick, and welding bars across the rear opening of the breech ring. If it had a block, the bars would not be necessary but the block would need to have a cross cut into the front face and the firing pin hole welded up.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of joining Adrian Scott's 17 Pdr gun up after cutting it apart to straighten it, but here are some photographs of the same process used on another gun. The pictures are not very good, but show how it was done. The last picture shows Adrian Scott's gun behind.

Have a look at ' Sherman on the A12 heading to Ipswich' in Tracked Vehicles.

This is superb, and given the scale of the project, the fact that it may not have rubber on the road wheels is rather irrelevant, everything else looks extremely close to original, it is a phenomenal achievement.

I know a man who has aquired the remains of a Typhoon with the intention of rebuilding it to flying condition, quite a long term project I think.

Unfortunately a bit blurred, but the Ram Running at Beltring. The first time I believe that a Ram has been in running condition since the fifties. The second picture shows Stanley Brand from East Grinstead, who is one of about seven remaining Canadian Armoured Carrier Regiment Veterans in the UK. He is now 88 and was a Radio Operater in a Kangaroo, and was involved in the liberation of Holland.

I felt very honoured to meet him.

Can anyone tell me if the bulkhead from a closed cab Diamond T will fit an open cab please?

Certainly weird enough to be true, seems a bit of an extreme practical joke otherwise?

 

I wonder if the tracks are wide enough to stop it toppling on the corners!

 

 

Stone[/quote

 

I didn't drive it, but it certainly looked more stable with tracks than with the wheels]

Correct me if I'm wrong.....That looks like a little seagull there on the back :-)

Absolutely, it's the means of propulsion for its amphibious capability!

That is brilliant. Would it have been geared down to cope with the tracks I wonder/

I don't think it was geared down, but I believe I heard the owner say that he had to exchange the reliant rear axle for a different make.

No other comment neccessary!

Thanks for your kind words Chris, likewise, it is good to meet others with the same interests.