Great War truck

Possibly. There will be a stampede if one is found. The surplus military FWD's came back to the UK with the majority being stored at Slough prior to rebuild and disposal by a Government owned depot. The whole site was then sold off and the FWD's were rebuilt for disposal to non military customers. A bit of background on the estate here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slough_Trading_Estate

The wartime radiator has six rows of tubes, the post war version has seven. I can make out from your picture that it has seven rows.

They seem to be just about unstoppable. It looks like the owner Ron standing alongside. Just a technical difficulty I expect. I rather liked the smaller five ton Holt parked in the WW1 display. Never seen one of those in the flesh before. I had the same problem photographing things. Luckily I was there for about 8:00 on Friday morning so managed to get some good photos when no one else was around. After that it was a bit manic. I heard one guy shouting at people to get out of the way and they just ignored him.

Clive Did the Holt have any difficulty going through the mud?

Once this had been completed, the joint surface was coated with Red Hermetite and the new bayonet cap, made by Father a long time ago and kept in stock, was fitted and screwed down. This was repeated for all of the exhaust valves leaving the engine a few steps further forward. The next time we get together we will do the inlet valves and sump. Still plenty to do!

We then dropped in all of the lovely new valves, made for us by G & S in Godalming. These are a beautiful job exactly as per the originals. Unfortunately , we hadn’t quite thought out that when the valve seats were re-cut, they would be lowered so that when the valves were installed, all of the tappet clearance would be lost! Our solution to this was to remove 1/16” from the end of each valve using the Dremel and face the ends of the tappets which were showing signs of wear anyway. A quick search for the giant valve spring compressor, previously made up for the Dennis and they were soon installed all round. The next task was to install the plugs over the top of the valves. On all of our previous vehicles, these have simply screwed in with a copper washer. However, Thornycrofts, in their wisdom, made them simple plugs, ground into a seat and secured with a bolt on the top. Step one was to grind these in and the next photos show the plug covered with grinding paste, Steve grinding one in using a socket on the plug and then the finished surface.

Fuel tank shape and the body suggest US Army not British. Not the standardised B Type body though. As far as I am aware the British FWD's were sent over without the body and were fitted with a locally made one. I have some Militor pics to trade. See you at break (or PM or Email me if more convenient).

A wangle to get the gasket into the water connection and it was down. When we did the first block, we were asked why we drop the block onto the pistons rather than fit the pistons into the bores and drop the lot onto the crank. Our reasoning is that with a fixed-head engine, there is the possibility of pushing the piston too far up the cylinder and allowing the top ring to pop out locking the piston into the bore. Having done this before (and got away with it!) we didn’t want to take the risk again.

We have had a family get-together in Devon to take the lorries to Honiton Hill Rally and also visit the Great Dorset. In between times, we have found some time to put some more of the engine together. The first block was fitted in January but the other one has been sitting on the floor ever since! Steve had scraped in the big ends a while back so we were ready to fit it. Step one was to dust it all off and then oil the pistons and bores. Then, using the trusty chain block hung from the door frame, we lifted the block and gave the water connection a liberal coating of Red Hermetite which is, sadly, no longer available. Then it was simply a case of lowering it onto the pistons whilst Steve compressed the rings into the bores.

OK. That is very helpful. British Army centre rear tow hook and front army hooks so an ex WD wagon. I cant tell for sure but it looks like the post war extra wide radiator. Almost certainly war time truck rebuilt post war for colonial service. Good luck in finding an original engine. Thanks for posting these pictures.

One of the highlights for me was watching the 1918 US Army Nash Quad arriving towing a WW1 trailer. The owner had wrapped rope around the wheels which gave him plenty of traction to get through the mud. He developed a leak in the radiator though and had to stop to refill the rad six times between unloading and arriving at the WW1 display.

The machined length is then cut into two at this stage, ready for machining the other end. Each length then goes back into the lathe to be machined to correct length – drilled 3/16” through to about 2 7/8” inches length for lubrication purposes. The end is then opened up with a 29/32” drill to be tapped 1/4” BSP for a Greaser. The remaining jobs to be done on these are a “through hole” in each about half way down to join up with the long 3/16” hole to allow the passage of grease through to the bearing surfaces. Holes have to be drilled for the 3/16” “feathers” and spanner flats have to be machined on the ends. And then finally, a through cross hole in the 7/8” Whit thread to allow for a retaining split pin for the slot nut. These two shackle pins will now be put to one side at this stage to await the other four slightly smaller pins to reach the same stage and those final holes in all of them can be drilled at the same time in the same set-up required for that. Similarly, with the Spanner Flats – all can be machined at the same time.

Making the Shackle Pins is really just a repetition of the process that we followed in making the front ones some time ago. The steel used was EN8 and the pins are made from a length long enough for two so that they are machined back to back with always enough of the length available to hold it during the machining process. We already had some 1 1/4” EN8 in stock – it had to be turned down to 1 1/8” with a 7/8” Whit thread screw cut on the end for the securing nut.

The engine needs very little done to it now before it can be dropped into the chassis – but there are a whole number of jobs that need to be done first of all before we can “plonk” it in! Essentially , we need to get the chassis underneath the Block and Tackle – but before we can do that, we need to get it on its wheels. The front springs are now hanging in position and the front axle – minus the swivelling ends is also hung temporarily in position. The front wheels are now in Bedfordshire where the old tyres will be pressed off this weekend. We have “new” good second-hand tyres to go on to the wheels – but the hubs need skimming on a big lathe before the sound replacement tyres are pressed on. This will now follow as and when those tasks can be fitted in. With the larger diameter hubs after the skimming, we shall have to get larger diameter bronze bearings. We have been tackling the rear wheels – after sand blasting, it became very apparent that the Brake Drums – or Rings will need to be skimmed but we are not sure if there is enough metal there to allow for that. We have already mentioned the choices that we have – cast new “drums” in line with the later pattern, fabricate new steel ones – or the latest suggestion is that we go for metal spraying to build up where the old metal has gone – and this latter option is now being explored. So no final decision made on that one yet. In the meantime, we need new back tyres – we do not have any. Last year, we obtained a quotation to have four new back rubber tyres made – they are “twins” on the back – and the quotation for that came out at £3,600 – more than a little frightening. On the Dennis, we opted to go for polyurethane and they came out at just £170 each – so £680 for the lot. We have always been concerned that perhaps with the Dennis, we could have made the wrong decision – but they have been fine. The initial shininess has worn off and they can be easily mistaken for rubber tyres. The quotation for the Thorny – nearly 10 years after the Dennis ones were made came out at £200 each – so really, the choice again is made for us. The polyurethane tyres are made on the steel bands of the old tyres – so those tyres must be pressed off as soon as possible and taken to the Polyurethane Tyre manufacturer who has the facility to remove the remains of the old rubber – and the new tyres will be bonded to those steel bands. One of the steel Brake Drums has already been taken off the first rear wheel with the second one still to be done. The first one proved to be very difficult to move – it rather looks as if they were attached to the wheels with fitted bolts – and after this great passage of time, they did not give in easily! We need new Shackle Pins for the Back Springs – new pins for the Front Springs were made some time ago and are fitted. The back Shackle Pins are very similar but bigger. They are in two patterns – a rather heavier one for the fixed link at the front of the rear spring and slightly smaller ones for the rear of the rear spring. Just one pin required for each of the fronts of the rear springs, but the rear of the rear spring is on a swinging link so that there are two of these pins to be made for each spring – so a total of six altogether for the rear springs in two different sizes. The new rear springs were made some time ago – they need cleaning and painting and bronze bushes pressed in one end of each.

Some great photos of the day on Facebook. Interesting to see that one person was very unhappy about the inaccuracy of the uniforms. Probably does not realise that those on the steamers will have totally ruined their uniforms by the end of the day. To copy a well known put down "well, what do you wear when you are driving your traction engine then"?

Hi Carey Didn't know that you had a Mack or the searchlight/gun trailer as well as the Liberty. What was the massive body mounted on your Liberty used for? I was wondering if the seller would let you leave it behind or did you have to bring that back from Michigan as well? Tim

And here is another clip. I see what you mean Heff. The front wheels of the McLaren are jumping off the ground If we can keep this up we can probably get the whole journey recorded.

As a steam man I am surprised that it did nothing for you. The sound and sight of heavy haulage always sets my pulse racing. It is far more exciting to see heavy haulage on the road than going up the GDSF hill of course. Yes, the set up might not be very authentic, but I don't think it is trying to be. It is just a spectacle and a bit of fun. If it was trying to be authentic they would put the Holt on a train. I have a photo of a Holt which has been recovered due to battle damage. I would say that it was un-driveable and un-towable. In that case would it not be recovered in such a manner? It looks like the onlookers enjoyed it all. There seemed to be a lot of them there. If it was for marketing purposes then good luck to Martin. Much better than stuffing leaflets through doors I feel.

Yes, fantastic job. With the wet weather it looked a very fittingly sombre day.

Here are more clips. Well, that is this mornings productivity gone then: Stopping off at Tescos. Going through Blandford Town bridge:

Another great clip of film here. It gets really exciting at about 8:00 minutes in.

Super clip of film here: A bit shaky camera work, but watch with the volume turned up high.

There was a chap in Poland advertising them on E bay a while back. I remember when they bought the Jeep. They seemed to be thrilled to get it even though they paid way too much for it.

I have just come across these photos of Rons Holt on its way down to GDSF. Quite an impressive convoy: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4527046151119&set=a.4523822630533.1073741854.1739896513&type=3&l=26f2305b07&theater Lots of photos to look at.

We stopped about mid day and retired for drinks. It was a great day out and my thanks go to the organisers and all those many unsung heroes who helped. We hope to do it all again next year.