Great War truck

fantastic project. Looking forwards to seeing it completed. Tim

Thanks for that Steve. I thought you only bowed in my presence if i dropped a coin first. Anyway, I cant add much to what has already been written. I have this postcard of a line up of armoured Quads, but i have no idea where it was taken. Probably Ireland, but could be the UK. Interestingly, there was a photo in the latest Military machines International magazine (available in Smiths) which has a photo of what i believe to have been an armoured Quad with the armour having been removed. Interestingly, it claims that it was taken in Australia. it ahs the dual driving position, lowered seats, a different engine and lower radiator to allow for the armour. it is very interesting and worth a look. There is a very good picture in George Forty's "Photo history of Armoured Cars" of a British armoured Quad. By and large, pictures of the British armoured Quads are quite rare. Hope that helps. Tim

Tim (too)

This seems to happen on threads with more than one picture, where the next response goes over the top of the previous photo. Although I am sure Joris will get it sorted in just a moment. Tim

OK thanks. Thats helpful. This one is ex Norweigan. We are going to have a look at it on Sunday (snow allowing) and see what the state of play is. The insides are gutted, but i dont know about the rear step. I guess that could be reconstructed. I will let you know what i find.

I have a friend who is looking at buying a Dodge WC54. Apart from the windscreen (which has already been nicely covered) are there any other potential areas that he should look at to ensure that there are not any major problems. basically, what can go wrong with a WC54? Thanks Tim

The photos of the exhaust mostly disappeared during the forum crash a while back, so i thought it would be useful to remind you of what we have done. Sorry if you have seen some of these photos before. All we had from the original Silencer was the remains of the two cast iron end plates and front elbow casting - all well beyond redemption. But we also obtained a copy of the original silencer drawing. From the information then available, Steve made up the patterns for the two new end plates and the elbow which were then cast at our local foundry. A suitable outer steel tube was rolled up by a local metal fabricator and welded along the seam for us, and a piece of stock tube was purchased for the inner perforated silencer tube and suitably drilled with dozens of holes and blanked off in the centre. We had the two hanging brackets which came from one of the other chassis'. The tail pipe is a standard part available at any Autoparts supplier.

Got about 10 inches of snow on the ground this morning. Just watching two of my neigbours going to work. One has a Land Rover and is having no problem at all. The other an Audi which is providing much entertainment. he has travelled about 3 feet so far and has already run over his hedge. Last time it was this bad i struggled in to work. Took me 2 and 1/2 hours. When i got in the office was empty and was sent home again. Not going to bother this time. I will only get sent home again. Tim

Thanks Gordon. That explains everything. I should have looked at the Dodge forum first. Tim

With the thought of running the engine in the not too distant future, our thoughts have now also turned to the Exhaust Pipe as we never had one. Some substantial steel tube will have to be bent up and this was something else that Steve "eyed" up over Christmas. Tony made up the Silencer some time ago - the pictures were posted at the time but were "lost" when the Forum disappeared temporarily. If anyone wants to see them again, then they can be posted once more. Whilst looking at the exhaust system, Steve thought that there should be a centre support bracket but could find no trace of one. A couple of days later whilst rummaging through a box, he found this bracket, beautifully labelled by Tony as to what it was and where it went! Steve looked in the location described and found the missing holes so there was that mystery solved! Several old Dennis chassis have now passed through our hands and have nearly always been stripped of anything that would be of any use to us. When the last one arrived which was the one with the differential in it and which had come from the seaside chalet at St. Ives in Cornwall, these remains of the exhaust pipe centre bracket were still on it. They were rescued to be a "pattern" and put to one side (and forgotten!) until they were needed. Something else to make up!

Whilst pottering in the shed over Christmas, Steve came across the cylinder drain taps which had been patiently awaiting their turn for cleaning repair and refitting. The taps themselves were fine and a good clean and greasing were sufficient to bring them back. However, the rear one had been mounted on a banjo fitting in order to keep it clear of the oil pressure gauge pipe. This was a steel fitting which promptly sheared off when an attempt was made to extract it. Rather than make a new fitting, Steve just drilled it out and then silver soldered a new threaded piece into the end. That seemed to work OK so it was screwed back in but with graphited grease this time! That's one more small job completed.

Steve has now completed the shaft for the Water Pump - this has been machined in Stainless Steel instead of mild steel as was the original. We had encountered a problem with the mild steel Pump Shafts on our two Autocars because of rust - and then subsequent leakage around the gland nuts because of it - so have opted for Stainless Steel this time. The only really complicated part with this one was the machining of the spline with our limited equipment. Steve made a "dummy" spline up first of all on a piece of scrap mild steel, just to ensure that his calculations were correct and that it would fit - and after a tiny bit of easing it went nicely into the drive. So, then confident that it would be OK, he went ahead on the far more expensive piece of stainless steel, now completed and as seen in the picture - it has yet to be tried but it should be alright. Again, an element of luck came into this with the "cutter" - Tony went to an Auction a couple of years ago to buy something completely different and there was a small Hessian bag of brand new milling cutters and slitting saws on offer there which he bought for "peanuts". The cutters were then divided up between Tony and Steve - and Steve made a holder for his by adapting an old Slab Cutter which had come with his Mill and which was really of no use to him in its original form. It was the first time that this "cutter" and holder was used when milling this spline. Steve has some bits of the Universal Joint in Leicester at the moment to finish off - Tony still has the Coupling Shaft Pins to make, and then it will be full speed ahead on the Water Pump. Steve is making a fresh pattern for the Water Pump "elbow", and we have delayed taking the last lot of patterns to the Foundry for casting until the final pattern is completed so that they can all go together.

Here is something that is troubling me. Does the Dodge WC54 Ambulance have flat glass in the windscreen. If not, is it possible to find replacement glass? Thanks Tim

No, i am afraid not. Father always say that if i dont know the answer i will make it up as there is no one about to prove me wrong. However I can confirm that i have never done that. In this instance the production figures are recorded in a book that John (FWD Texas) put me on to. A great book, especially for sad old gits like me. Tim

What a fabulous piece. I often wonder how WW2 weapons would cope against modern tanks. As the 17pdr could take out a Tiger i wonder how it would have got on against the likes of Chieftan, Warrior or Challenger. As the one on which the site was attached had been in the Gulf war it may well have had this opportunity. Tim

great pictures. Just got heavy frost and lots of ice here still. Not looking forwards to my first day back at work tomorrow.

Once the blocks have been taken down to their final finished overall dimensions, the following machining operations remain to be done. A curved bevel of 2 1/16" radius has to be machined on the top surface to allow for any movement when in use. The centre of the bronze has to be bored out to 7/8" diameter to take the Coupling Shaft Pins and the oil passage ways have to drilled. Steve will machine the 2 1/16" radius in Leicester - he has our Rotary Table with him up there - but I have drilled and tapped the blocks 3/8" BSF through the centre of the blocks just where the 7/8" holes will eventually go, so that he has the means through that to bolt the thing down whilst machining the radius. Boring them out to 7/8" after that operation will just take that threaded hole away. We need a piece of 7/8" diameter Silver Steel for the Coupling Shaft Pins - and uncannily, I have this in stock already. Many years ago, there was a firm called "Whistons", who have long disappeared from the scene, who dealt mainly in Surplus Stock and I think that it is as long ago as 1975 - or even before that I bought a box of "mixed Silver Steel" from them. It was mainly in small diameters of up to about 3/8" maximum - but included was one 13" length of 7/8" which I thought that I would never use......................

Four other parts of the Coupling need to be made and these are the Coupling Shaft Bronze Blocks. The Coupling Shaft Pins are located within these and they are designed to tilt slightly in use as needs be to compensate for any movement within the Coupling Tubes. The finished overall dimensions for these "bronzes" is 1 3/8" x 1 3/8" x 1". Some years ago, we saw an off-cut of a Bronze Bar for sale on an Auto Jumble stand at the Great Dorset Steam Fair - it measured 3" in diameter and was about 10" long and cost £25. We had no specific use for it at the time, but bought it as we thought that it might come in useful one day! And several years later, it has! Two slices of 1 3/8" length have been taken off it with the band saw with a small allowance for final machining. The two slices have to be split longitudinally but these were turned in the lathe to exact finished length before splitting them to save machining them in that direction when they were in halves. They were then cut again longitudinally with the band saw after that turning to final length. . The four halves then have to be roughly taken to the finished sizes but with final machining allowances included by either milling or with the band saw. Whilst the band saw was in use, a further slice was taken off the bronze bar for the nut on the Water Pump which will be required shortly.

What a great question. Had to get my calculator out for this one, but averaging 42 a day equates to one every 34 minutes. But the 15 different manufacturers had their own production rates with Gramm-Bernstein and Pierce Arrow averaging out 4.4 a day each while Kelly Springfield were doing just 1.3 a day. You are quite right as to the design technique. The Army got a group of truck manufacturers together and told them to design a truck for the Army. The Liberty is what they came up with and what a cracking truck it is.

Hi Roger I have just got back from two weeks in Springfield IL to see the family. A bit fresh this time of year. My plans to go to various museums were all scuppered by the ice and snow. Good luck with your restorations Tim

Tony has made these eight screwed rods to hold the two "tubed " sections of the Universal Coupling together - four in each. The drawing should make it clear.

Indeed. By a remarkable stroke of luck i have all the US truck production figures for the US Army in WW1. 9,452 Liberty B's were completed by 11/11/18. The total number of US trucks built is staggering. Little wonder why many of these firms went under following the wars end.

Fairly certain that it is not Rouen as that is where the British vehicles went. Almost certainly to be Le Mans.

There was an article all about it in Classic Commercial last year. What were the colour schemes of the trucks? Dark green and yellow writing? Wish i had bought the magazine now. Loads of famous stars. Interesting to see Sid James playing a thug.

Hell drivers. One of my favourite films. next Jeep i get i will mark up as the Hawletts run about.