Great War truck

Hi Bob. But the engine has had a complete rebuild and as this is the first time that it is being started there is no certainty as to how it will behave. We occasionally start our truck on a rope in case it kicks back which is what happened here. I am sure now that as they get the hang of the Buda that it is a great deal easier to start.

That is interesting Wally. What have you bought then? I had forgotten that you were interested in the big pile of GMC's that came back to the UK. They were bought by another forum member. I wonder how he is getting on with them? The GMC 16AA is a very handsome looking machine. I am rather fond of them.

That is interesting Wally. How many pages does it have? disappointing about the chassis number. It is possible that as a US army one the chassis number was only shown on the bulk head data plate. The 3 3/4 is the bore size. 53128N does not match up with anything that I have. Does the chassis look anything like this?

Like this

Well it des look very much like a 3/4 ton Model 16AA but GMC were making a lot of very similar trucks at that time. The chassis number should be on the "left hand front spring horn" but also on a metal plate on the dash board - but this no doubt was lost when the dash board was removed and replaced with something else. It may well be that the military GMC's did not have the number on the spring horn. Good luck in your search. It should be a 6 digit number starting with 16. The engine number should be on a tag on the left hand side of the crank case (the engine should be made by Continental) with a 22.5 HP rating. I dont have a list of the engine numbers but it might be the same as the chassis which we can date and also confirm which model. At the end of the war the US Army removed many of the GMC wooden body and burned them. I think they were made of a soft wood and had suffered in the weather. The chassis were sold to the French Army who then sold them at auction to the public. It does seem likely that the purchasers would have stuck a new body and scuttle on them then.

I think I have the chassis numbers. I will look them out for you.

Hi Nicolas It looks very much like a GMC 16AA ambulance although some were also used as workshop trucks. Here are a few photographs to keep you busy. Cheers Tim

I have just found your website https://www.areh.site/ And the blog of the Quad restoration https://www.areh.site/nash-quad?lightbox=dataItem-jdc0cctc I really enjoyed the film of the Quad starting for the first time. Wonderful https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xx2bdz It is interesting how all Budas have the same “bark”. You now have the correct ammunition body for it. It looks superb. Well done to the team. The Dodge looks great. https://www.areh.site/dodge-brothers?lightbox=dataItem-j0crx4vt Too nice to restore I think. What does the DAS badge represent? Thanks Tim

Bonjour Nicolas Très heureux d'entendre parler de vous et je suis sûr que nous serons en mesure de vous aider dans vos restaurations. La Dodge semble très complète et un candidat superbe pour la restauration. Je ne peux pas tout à fait faire sortir le GMC. Je me demande s'il s'agit d'un modèle 16AA ambulance qui a fait beaucoup de travail pour faire un camion civil utile. Quoi qu'il en soit, s'il vous plaît ajouter quelques photos dans la section pré-WW 2 et puis nous pouvons voir si nous pouvons réunir les experts pour leurs réponses. Les membres ici ont un Liberty B, FWD Model B, Nash Quad, Locomobile et GMC et je suis sûr que nous serons en mesure d'échanger des informations. Cordialement Tim Very happy to hear from you and I am sure we will be able to help you in your restorations. The Dodge looks very complete and a superb candidate for restoration. I can't quite make the GMC out. I wonder if this is a model 16AA ambulance that has done a lot of work to make a useful civilian truck. Anyway, please add some photos in the pre-WW 2 section and then we can see if we can bring the experts together for their answers. Members here have a Liberty B, FWD Model B, Nash Quad, Locomobile and GMC and I am sure we will be able to exchange information. Kind regards Tim

Decided to look for Shackles and Shackle pins today with the idea of getting them ready for when the chassis is ready for erection. We have a whole lot of spares which came with the lorry when we bought it. - some are inaccessible at the moment and the condition must be checked with the best ones then put out for re-use. The easier ones to get out have been worked on today. I was hoping that we would not find any more strange threads but all but one of them are threaded 7/8" x 16 - yet another odd ball thread - not even a recognised UNS thread. One was still in an original bracket complete with its hook. This assembly came apart after some heat treatment and we find on this one shackle pin, the thread is 5/8" Whitworth! I am guessing that the end of this one must have been turned down at some time during its life and re-threaded differently for what ever reason - perhaps the fitter at that time did not have 7/8" x 16 Tap and Die either.

I cant actually remember what these bits are for. They are clearly labelled side of crankcase. Steve?

The threads on the various fixings are still puzzling! We have cleaned up the original bolts, screws and studs that were holding the Sump and also the front cover to the crank case. We now expected to find that the 3/8" Bolts would be UNS but they are in fact, UNF - could they have been a replacement at some time in the past as it would not have been critical to use UNS on those? But there are also some 3/8" studs and they are UNS! It would have been strange for the manufacturers to have used UNF for this when they have used UNS elsewhere. The 1/4" bolts measure out, we think, to as near as we can get with our Thread Gauge to be 26TPI - but it is not quite right. From what I can read, 27TPI was a common thread on 1/4" UNS and I think that these bolts must be 27 TPI. We shall know shortly!

Ah, the Bridgnorth Thorny J Type. That one has been on here before. The garden was looking a little better in those days though.

On the side of the Crank Case, the Oil Gauge Cock should be fitted - there is provision there for it to be held on by four nutted studs. Two of the studs are missing and again, the two remaining ones are an unusual thread - 1/4" by 27 which we find is another UNS thread. All of the lorries that we have worked on so far have had different threads - the Autocars were UNC, the FWD was UNF, the Dennis was BSF and the Thorny was Whit. We did think that by the time that we got around to the Peerless, we would have had all the Taps and Dies in stock that we would ever need in hand from those previous completed restorations and now the Peerless is throwing up UNS at us. 1/4" x 27 UNS is again readily available through USA Amazon and is not expensive.

And if that was not enough there are four more for spares. Maybe you could make one good one out of them

Not really a find or a discovery but this 5 ton US Ordnance artillery tractor has just sold for about $15,000.

It looks great Bob. You did the right thing. There are several FWD's with a completely modern core and they just dont look right. You asked about spare U Joint grease cups. Sadly we dont have any. In fact Steve had to make a replacement as they do get lost.

Sorry, I was not responding to any implied criticism, just my frustration at Photobucket black mailing me. I have just updated page one of the Thornycroft and nearly finished the Peerless thread. There are about a further 4,650 photos for me to replace, so I better get back to it then. Interestingly, these threads still attract a great deal of interest and it would be a shame to loose it all. Very sadly, a great deal of other threads and photos will have been lost. Anyway, normal services will be resumed as soon as possible. .

Any comments please?

As I was not inclined to pay Photobucket the $1,000 a year ransom for my photos they have blurred and watermarked them all. I do have backups and will try to replace them but this will take me an awful long time to complete. I will start with the Peerless ones. A downside is that it is now impossible to get the captions to match up, but I am sure that you will all work this out. If you need to see any photo specifically please let me know and I will treat that one as a priority. Thanks

As I was not inclined to pay Photobucket the $1,000 a year ransom for my photos they have blurred and watermarked them all. I do have backups and will try to replace them but this will take me an awful long time to complete. I will start with the Peerless ones. A downside is that it is now impossible to get the captions to match up, but I am sure that you will all work this out. If you need to see any photo specifically please let me know and I will treat that one as a priority. Thanks

We are still cleaning up and preparing bits for the eventual re-assembly. This is part of the Clutch activation system and is described in the Parts Book as the "Clutch Shifter Assembly". It consists of two main bronze parts, held together by two 5/16" x 4 1/2" bolts. One of the original two bolts had been replaced by an overlength bolt of some kind during its life time, with the surplus length of the bolt padded out with washers. The one remaining original bolt is badly wasted so both of bolts will be replaced but the remaining original serves as a pattern. There are inserts in the two bronze castings which I assume are of white metal?

You are probably right. They are all a bit wheeler dealer down there.

It looked great going up the hill to GDSF. One thing the Liberty was missing and which has just been remedied is the triangular Quartermaster Corps badge on each side of the seat box.