Great War truck

I have just bought one. Well the data plate anyway.

The WW2 LST 821 has made the news. I looked it up and came across these photos of this “surviving” WW2 LST. Not sure how much longer it will last for however. Here are some photos of it Here is some information about it from Wikipedia USS Harnett County (LST-821) / (Subsequently renamed My Tho and now BRP 57 Sierra Madre) was an LST-542-class tank landing ship built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Harnett County, North Carolina and was the only U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. She served the US Navy in World War II and the Vietnam War. She was transferred to the navy of the Republic of South Vietnam, who named her RVNS My Tho (HQ-800). After the Vietnam war, the USA Government transferred Harnett County to the navy of the Republic of the Philippines, who named her BRP Sierra Madre (LT-57). In 1999 the government of the Philippines deliberately had her run aground on Ayungin Reef (Second Thomas shoal) in the Spratly Islands to serve as an outpost of the Philippine Marine Corps to assert Philippine sovereignty in the country's dispute with China over the ownership of the Spratly Islands. She still serves that function. US Service history USS LST-821 was laid down on 19 September 1944 at Evansville, Indiana by the Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Company; launched on 27 October 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Hugh Robertson, Sr.; and commissioned on 14 November 1944 with Lieutenant C. J. Rudine, USNR, in command. During World War II, LST-821 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater and participated in the assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto from April through June 1945. Following the War, she performed occupation duty in the Far East until early December 1945. LST-821 returned to the United States and was decommissioned in March 1946 and assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet. On 1 July 1955 all remaining LSTs were given names of U.S. counties; LST-821 was named USS Harnett County (LST-821). Recommissioned on 20 August 1966, Harnett County saw extensive service in the Vietnam War, participating in the following campaigns: the Vietnamese Counteroffensive – Phase II (12 January to 31 May 1967); the Vietnamese Counteroffensive – Phase III (1 June to 12 July 1967 and 17 August 1967 to 29 January 1968); the Tet Counteroffensive (30 January to 27 February 1968); the Vietnamese Counteroffensive – Phase IV (9 April to 30 June 1968); the Vietnamese Counteroffensive – Phase V (1 July to 1 November 1968); the Vietnamese Counteroffensive – Phase VI (2 to 4 November 1968 and 8 December 1968 to 22 February 1969); the Tet/69 Counteroffensive (23 February to 7 May 1969); Vietnam Summer-Fall 1969 (4 August to 31 October 1969); Vietnam Winter-Spring 1970 (1 November 1969 to 22 January 1970 and 17 February to 30 April 1970); the Sanctuary Counteroffensive (1 May to 30 June 1970); and the Vietnamese Counteroffensive – Phase VII (1 to 21 July 1970). She was redesignated a Patrol Craft Tender, USS Harnett County (AGP-821) in the spring of 1970, but then was decommissioned 12 October 1970 at Guam. LST-821 earned one battle star for World War II service. Additionally, Harnett County earned nine battle stars, two awards of the Presidential Unit Citation, and three awards of the Navy Unit Commendation for the Vietnam War. RVN and Philippine service history The US transferred Harnett County to the Republic of South Vietnam under the Security Assistance Program on 12 October 1970 and renamed RVNS My Tho (HQ-800). My Tho was one of the flotilla of thirty-five Republic of Vietnam Navy ships that sailed for Subic Bay after the fall of Saigon in April 1975. She was transferred to the Philippines on 5 April 1976, who named her BRP Sierra Madre. In 1999, the Philippine Navy ran her aground on Ayungin Reef (Second Thomas Reef). In 2013, the New York Times reported on the life of the handful of marines stationed on board the Sierra Madre at Ayungin and the vessel's role in the geopolitics of the South China Sea. One may infer from the article that Sierra Madre will never sail again.[1] The List of ships of the Philippine Navy no longer carries her as being in commission. On Tuesday, 11 March 2014, the Philippine Government protested to the Chinese charge d'affaires in Manilla that the Chinese Coast Guard had on 9 March prevented two civilian vessels hired by the Philippine Navy from exchanging personnel on and delivering supplies to the Sierra Madre.[2] This was the first time that Chinese forces had interfered with resupply. On 13 March the Philippines conducted an aerial resupply mission to the marines on Sierra Madre.[3]

The finished “Strong Backs” –the three bits of each welded together with the weld tidied up and then primed.

When we first obtained the chassis from under the Shepherd’s Hut, the front springs were “finished” and on the near side, the fittings holding the spring to the front axle on that side had disappeared entirely. To enable us to move the chassis, a very temporary fitting was made up, just to hold everything together. The one top keeper plate remaining – or properly named in the Parts Book as a “Strong Back” was in very poor condition – but fortunately there was enough information available from it to enable us to make two replacements. Presumably, the originals were either castings or forgings, but we thought that steel fabrications would do the trick. Laser cutting seemed to be the easiest way to make these parts but the total overall thickness was too much for our local man to deal with – to cut in one piece, and then it would have been necessary to mill a slot down the middle to accommodate the rectangular plate on top of the spring being part of the assembly holding the leaves together. So instead, we opted to have three pieces cut for each so that the two smaller edge pieces could be welded to the main plate, but leaving the required slot. The three bits were held in their correct positions for welding with temporary nuts and bolts.

With those 7 spoke wheels Berliet does look to be a likely contender. Not sure which model though. Not the CBA as that was chain drive. Something much smaller. Not as early as 1906 either as I would think that the wheels would have been wooden.

Gosh Jack. You made a bit of a mess on that mattress. I hope you turned it over before you left.

Hi Tim Another one! Please add some photos for us to see your J Type..

We were curious about the condition of the bearing surfaces within the hubs of the two “new” wheels – very clearly we could see that they were rusted but the rust did not appear to be too deep and we hoped that with some cleaning up, they might be fit to be used again without too much further work on them. For this quick and preliminary inspection, we simply used a Flap Wheel on the Electric Hand Drill – though not possible to reach all the way through – they were just cleaned at each end for as far as we could reach. We were not at all disappointed when we saw the condition of the surface and thought that they could be used again as they are. We have some old front wheel bronze bearings in stock – saved from other wheels and these were tried in the hub. It proved to be fine at the outer ends but both hubs appears to have “belled out” at the inner end so that there was a great deal of slop at those ends. This is something to think about as it maybe that the only answer now is to have the hubs bored out so that we are left with a parallel bore again. Something that we will have to discuss when we are all together again. We have talked about “Greasers” during the last couple of days and we were surprised to find that one complete – though very corroded – was still in one wheel whilst the stem part of another was still in the other wheel. The Greasers were accessed through one of the big holes in the front plate of the wheel and it was interesting to see that the Tyre Size Brass Plate on both wheels was situated over the relevant access hole, indicating where to look for the Greaser. Thoughtful! The remains of the“Key” top which we spoke about earlier can be seen on the complete one – it is too far gone to be used again but both Greasers on their extended stems unscrewed easily from the hub. The stems will almost certainly clean up and be fit to fight another day!

Thanks. I have not seen anything quite like this before. There are no WD markings on it so maybe it is a scout one or similar. Anyway, thanks for your input. Tim

Anybody recognise this shape of tent? Thanks Tim

Hi Robert. It is in our shed, but not for sale. We might swap it for a Peerless engine though if you can find one of those?

Great news. I look forward to seeing a picture of it. I know of an unrestored chassis offered for sale a few years ago but didn't think that there would be any complete survivors left.

With the work going on at the front end of the lorry, we now naturally thinks of the front wheels and axle as the next step. The pair of front wheels that came with the full chassis, part of the Shepherd’s Hut, are heavily rusted with one of the two wheels being much worse than the other. Some unlike metals in close proximity will corrode when water is present. There was a brass label on each of the wheels originally which showed the tyre size for the wheel – but the two unlike metals of the brass label and the steel of the wheel have corroded so that where the label was on one wheel, there is now a big hole where the steel has actually been corroded totally away. The other wheel is not so bad in the similar position but we guess that the brass label could have been lost, knocked off or removed many years ago so that there could be no heavy corrosion on that one in the equivalent position. The steel dish of the wheel – the front – must have been 3/16” or 1/4” thick originally and in many places, it has come down to “paper thin” through corrosion. We have been considering cutting out the worst sections and welding in new steel – but not an attractive and easy proposition! These three pictures will give some indication of the amount of the corrosion! We were discussing our progress with our friend Mike J in North Wales and our concern over the wheels was mentioned to him – Mike has an encyclopaedic memory relating to sources of bits and pieces relating to our hobby and remembered somebody in County Durham advertising a pair of Thorny front wheels for sale more than 25 years ago! He thought it worth a phone call to see if he still had them – and from his own records was able to come up with the name and phone number of the owner! So we phoned Graeme T in County Durham who confirmed that he had not sold the wheels and that he still had them! Apparently Graeme was involved with the purchase of a Saw Bench some 35 years ago and the two Thorny Wheels were part of the Saw Bench set-up! They were not wanted after the purchase of the Saw Bench and were put to one side – and then offered for sale some 10 years after that but never sold! Graeme very kindly sent some photos from which we could see that they appeared to be in excellent condition and very kindly agreed to sell them to us. The deal was done and these two photos show the condition of both. The brass tyre label was still on one with no sign of the corrosion that we might have anticipated. The tyres are of no use but we do have a good pair of second hand ones ready to go on the wheels in due course! The wheels have now safely arrived in Axminster and you can see from these photos that the thickness of the steel is still very good and will cause us no problems. They were loaded into the back of Tony’s car by three persons but he was left to unload them by himself – a “Three Wheatabix for Breakfast” man if ever there was! Over the years and with various things falling into our laps, we have said could this be a “Meant to be” and is this another example?

The American Expeditionary Force acquired a number of Austin twin shafts in 1917. I wonder if these were left over from the Russian order?

I think you are right. It probably is a Durkopp. Here is a link to the stilltime photo. http://www.stilltimecollection.co.uk/detail/11711-tpt-transport-truck-lorry-wagon-military-soldier-war-ex_german-army-aldershot-sale-durkopp.html

Yes you do.

I would say that was the remains of a Benz heavy artillery tractor. Where was it photographed? One came back to the UK for testing after WW1.

I understand that this Latil is now in the UK.

The first front spring was then hung. No problem – apart from the weight for just one man working on his own! The first spring was then joined by the second one! We can set our sights on the rear ones now!

We have been working on the front end, and whilst there, we decided to get on and hang the front springs as the chassis and new shackle pins were all ready for them. We had a new full set of all four springs made some years ago and these have been gathering dust in the workshop until this day! It was not really our intention to have the springs made so early on but the offer came up from another Thornycroft owner who could have them made by a contact of his – and more importantly, he would provide his own set of springs to be copied. The springs that came with our chassis were beyond redemption. These two pictures show the springs cleaned, wire brushed and primed. The eyes in the Dennis springs were all bronze-bushed but as far as we can make out, the Thorny springs did not have bushes – the remains of the old springs that we took off the chassis were certainly not bushed and it seems that the original Thorny springs from which ours were copied were not bushed either. It does seem a bit strange that the shackle pins should just be inserted into the eyes of the springs – steel running in steel. Nevertheless, there seems to be plenty of room in the rear eyes of all four springs so we have decided to put bronze bushes in the rear ones only. The bronze was bored out to 11/16” for the front springs and turned to a comfortable push fit into the eye. Naturally and not unexpectedly, the 11/16” hole closed up when the bush was pressed into the eye and it was reamed through after insertion to open it up again for a comfortable fit for the shackle pin.

We have been working on the front spring brackets and some of the fixings for those are also shared with the Radiator Guard mounts. So it seemed an ideal time to do a trial fitting of the Radiator Guard – looks alright!

I understand that there will be two WD Mclarens towing on a period trailer the MK IV replica from Bovington to the show. Should make an amazing photo opportunity. The GDSF will be putting together a line up of ex WD traction engines, rollers and steam wagons, although most will be in their civilian livery. In the large marquee near the heavy haulage arena there will be room for any WW1 military vehicles that may wish to attend. I understand that the WD Roads Foden will be there and Rowleys Nash Quad.

Cake looks nice, but I think you need another 63 candles.

Would it be possible to get the army registration - 38 YH 40?

I went out today to see forum member Charlie Wolfs new Jeep. Ex British army rebuild and disposed of in 1972. It was very nice and super fast. It would leave mine standing in any race. What pattern tread are these tyres? On the drivers side wing there are holes for a bracket to carry a first aid pack. The bracket looks to be original. Which Jeeps were fitted with these? On the inside the bodywork has had lots of extra holes drilled and which have been filled with bolts. Does anybody recognise this configuration. I was thinking radio but I really don’t know. Anybody have any thoughts?