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.

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.

Here are some photos of Ross's A1 when he collected it. As you can see it has been flat packed but is still missing a few bits for it. What Ross is looking for is drawings of the body, cab and cab roof. It might be the same as other 1.5 ton Subsidy trucks of that time. Thanks.

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.

Thanks Richard. That is very interesting to read. I see that Liberty trucks are offered for sale. I wouldn't have thought that they would have access to many, just the ones that were used by the AEF in the UK which could not have been a great deal.

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

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!

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.

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.

Thanks Alan. This is really interesting. Typing in the chassis numbers must have been a colossal exercise for someone.

You are probably right about them. More than just a chassis Alan.

Wow. Thanks Alan. That is fantastic. I will pass these details on. Cheers Tim

I may have asked this question before but does anybody know if the Thornycroft A1 was ever used or tested by the military. Thanks Tim

A wartime period Velie has turned up in Lithuania of all places. It looks to be in good condition but the owner thinks it is a White apparently. Many of these US built trucks were used by the French and a smaller number by the US Signal Corps. After the end of WW1 the Baltic states descended into a war with Russia and used numerous British and French trucks. I guess that this is left over from that conflict.

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.

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.

Clevis Pins shortened to length

There is a picture on the vendors website of the number on the axle only. Very tempting, but I think I need more photos before parting with any money.

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.

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!

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

King Pin Nuts now finished and screwing smoothly on to the King Pins. The worst job today was getting the remains of an old Split Pin out of one of the King Pins - but it gave in in the end!

The guy with the camera is supposed to be the US cinematographer Donald Thompson who was in Petrograd in September 1917 and then fled the country. The Thorny should not be there, but there it is. How strange,

Another well travelled Thornycroft. This time photographed in Petrograd in September 1917. Now I knew of the British supplying the Russians with various trucks but I did not know a J made it out there. They probably did in the post war intervention, but 1917 seems a bit early. Anybody know anything about this?

Started to cut the slots in the two King Pin Nuts - they are still together and not yet separated. Should finish that job tomorrow and will return then to the Clevis Bolts.