Great War truck

The new front shackle pins were fitted – through the front hooks as well – and all looking good. Greasers fitted too. These pictures show the rear shackle pins and hanger in position on one side of the chassis for the front spring. You can also see the “feather” and the small slot to accommodate it. This is now ready for its spring to be hung.

We mentioned in a previous posting that we found that one of the front spring brackets was very badly worn – and that we had recovered an identical one from our “spare” half chassis. The substitute has now been sand blasted and painted and the third photograph of this sequence shows the original and replacement castings so that the wear in the shackle holes can be compared! The first five holes for the nuts and bolts lined up quite nicely when the substitute bracket was offered up to the chassis – but the final three holes – which also take the Radiator Protector Supports were/are considerably out. The fourth hole in this last picture is a mystery as there is no reason for it to be there. There is a “peg” in the original spring bracket which lines up with that hole but it appears to be non standard. Could it be that those last holes were drilled in after the bracket had been bolted into the chassis rail using just the front nuts and bolts to hold it in position, and then drilling right through the chassis rail and the bracket – and also its opposite number using some kind of jig so that they correspond? The answer to this would appear to be to drill fresh holes in the “new” bracket, using the existing holes in the chassis to drill through and to line them up.

The new Shackle Pins for the front springs have now been completed. The originals were not recoverable as they were very worn and corroded and mainly had to be cut to get them out. However, there was enough information available from those remains to make sketches to work from, for us to make replacements. Two of the larger size are required for the front end of the front spring and four smaller ones are required for the back end of the front spring. They were all machined from a length of 1 1/4” diameter EN8 which was left over from the Dennis restoration. You will see from the Drawings that there were several different sequences of machining to firstly reduce to the required diameters, to take in the cutting of two threads for the retaining nuts (either 5/8” or 3/4” Whit) and for the outside end to be tapped 1/4” BSP for a Greaser. They are also drilled right through for a lubrication channel, and then cross drilled to meet that lubrication channel. They also have to be drilled for the fitting of a “feather” and for a split pin to go through for the slot retaining nut. Finally, the outside end has to be milled to leave spanner “flats”. Now we have to do this all again for the rear springs!

I understand that an ex WD McLaren traction engine is to be returned to a war time paint scheme and will run on this years London to Brighton. Possibly this one: http://www.steamscenes.org.uk/engines/mclaren/road-locomotive/1652/60/ I understand they are looking for a howitzer to tow behind it. Anybody got any suggestions? Coincidentally, our good friend Andy has just finished his 1/4 full size model of one:

Probably better off playing with the IWM Thornycroft. After the usual fight with very rusty nuts and bolts, the substitute front spring hanger was removed from the “half chassis” and very fortunately, it has proved to be quite sound and only need of sand blasting and painting before it can be switched with the very worn original one at present back in the chassis. A trial fit of one of the newly, but still only partly machined shackle pins reveals no slop.

Centaur dozer looks very appealing. How many of these survive? There was one at W&P two years ago. Did it belong to Rex Cadman? Preston had one but took the blade off and put a turret on it I think.

More photos here. Alongside the De Dion are a Berliet, Peugeot, and a Latil. A super collection. http://nicokubel.blogspot.fr/2014/02/retromobile-2014-suite.html

The truck is I believe a Straker Squire. The registration EL 927 dates from about 1910, so no it is too early.

A little more progress. The two chassis end cross members have been cleaned up and painted after the new steel was welded in. These were fitted back into the chassis today – their retaining nuts and bolts also hold the rear hooks.

The radiator (which was made by Solex) was used on a number of trucks including Schneider, De Dion and Crochet. It looks a bit like a large Mercedes symbol.

We hadn’t previously noticed that one of the two front spring brackets which are bolted to the front of the chassis frame had worn oval where the shackle pin passes through it. This only became apparent when one of the new shackle pins was trial-fitted. The opposite bracket is still in perfect condition and needs no attention. Our immediate thoughts were that this would have to come off the chassis again, be bored out and bushed. But then we remembered the original half-chassis. This still has the same brackets remaining on it and very fortunately, they are quite sound! The half-chassis is well buried at the moment and the removal of that bracket must wait until everybody is in Devon again as it will require several pairs of hands to get at it!

Very complete, but didn't sell. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Veteran-Lorry-1919-French-Schneider-/151137276519?nma=true&si=6WAhTFpGWYeNYED%252B80sa%252BecH4iM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 Interesting to see what comes out of the woodwork.

We have not posted very much these last few days but work has continued nevertheless! Steve has been making bits for the Coventry Museum Maudslay to help them out and to ensure that it will be finished in time for the London to Brighton Run in May. If you have not looked at the Maudslay thread, then do so and you will see what Steve has produced for them. Meanwhile, back in Devon, painting has continued on the chassis and on various already made and other prepared “bits” so that they will be ready for installation when they are wanted. Today, we have started to make new Shackle Pins – 12 are required of 4 different patterns and we have “kicked off” with the front ones. The two very front ones also accommodate the front hooks as well as the spring so are quite long. The method of manufacture is exactly the same as the recently made Clevis Pins – two are made back to back so that there is always plenty of material to hold on to when machining! The thread on this first one is 3/4” BSW and was mainly screw cut in the lathe and finished off with a Die. We could not resist holding it up with the Hook, even though there is still a lot of work to do to it for the Grease Passages. The other 11 will be made to this same stage and all 12 will be finished off together at the end.

I found this very entertaining. http://www.flixxy.com/the-dutch-army-bicycle-band.htm

While Steve was playing with the engine, Father Started to fit the repaired rear cross-member. The rear corners had rusted away so Father had some pieces bent up and these were cut into the ends of the cross-member and welded in by a friend. The Cross-member was knocked into position the remaining original holes were used to bolt it in place. The diagonal cross brace was also fitted and the whole lot clamped up ready to drill the bolts holes in the new metal before cleaning and painting.

Regular readers may remember that when Steve started to reassemble the engine over Christmas, he broke two of the spring clips which retain the gudgeon pins. This prevented the second block from being fitted. Fortunately, he was able to rescue the clips from the second set of pistons and has recently shortened them for the smaller bore, closed them up a bit and hardened and tempered them again. This morning, he fitted the two remaining pistons to the rods and then fitted the rings to the pistons. This was not without incident as one groove was about 0.0005” too tight and the ring kept hanging up. Steve took the ring out and carefully dressed the groove with a needle file. It was not too difficult a process but quite time consuming Then he fitted the rod to the crank and did up the nuts. All was well until he tried to get the split pins in. This meant tightening further until the holes came in line by which time, the bearing had tightened up as well. Our normal approach to tightening nuts like this is FT (Feels Tight...) followed by more until the split pins go through. In this case, it didn’t work and an afternoon of bluing and scraping ensued. Eventually, an acceptable fit was achieved and the pins were secured. Finally, the last rod was fitted and this was fine. Unfortunately, they had run out of time so the block must wait for another day.

Anybody able to give a best guess as to its date: Thanks Tim

What a great piece of work and what a discovery. Garry Anstee has a WW1 Austrian one of those?

The only photo. Photographed on RAF Fersfield about 30 years ago.

Ah well, I didn't want to spoil the planned sequel "British mechanical transport of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service". Well maybe one day. We will see. Anyway, I am pleased I got the date right on the Leyland. That is good news and I am really pleased that you are enjoying it. No second hand ones have appeared on E bay yet so that is a good sign.

When the first side had been done, they were then turned around and held in a 5/8” collett in the lathe so that the other side could be similarly machined and threaded. Although we only need seven, we decided to machine up the last one, number eight as the set up was in place for it – so we have a spare! Then just a case of putting the four “doubles” in the Band Saw and split them into eight pins. The eight were then put back in the lathe so that the heads could be taken back to the finished thickness of 1/4”, the edges chamfered and the Grease Holes drilled through the centre. Final jobs – drill the grease holes in the pins to meet the long holes drilled through the heads, drill holes in the end shoulders for split pins and drill and fit the “feathers”. “The feathers” are just bits of 1/8” silver steel, pressed into holes drilled just under the heads of the clevis pins.

With the clevis’ on the Brake Linkage out of the way, we thought that we would finish off that job by making new Clevis Pins. The original ones were beyond redemption, not only showing heavy wear, but the nutted ends had rusted away. There was sufficient of them left and together with the picture in the Parts Book, we could see what they should be like. They have a 1 1/8” diameter head, 1/4” thick, the shank is 5/8” diameter with the end part threaded 5/8” BSF for a standard nut. We would have expected to have seen a Slot Nut used on the end, but the Parts Book and the picture of the clevis on the original Carlton Colville Thorny confirm that an ordinary nut was used with a split pin place through the end of the clevis to stop the nut working loose and coming off. There is a hole through the centre of the head into the shank for lubrication purposes, about 9/8” long. About one inch in, a hole is drilled in the shank to meet the hole in the centre of the pin through which grease can go. There is a “feather” under the head of the pin to mate with the slot in the clevis, to prevent the pin from rotating when the nut is tightened. The new pins are made of EN8 – fortunately, we had a piece of 1 1/4” diameter in stock. We need seven pins but for ease of machining in our set up, four pieces were cut off the bar, each sufficient to make two pins when machined back to back. This means that we always have one to get hold of in the lathe when working on its mate. The 5/8” BSF thread was mainly screw cut in the lathe but finished off with a die, supported by the tail stock to ensure accuracy.

Because of the shape of this cross member, the bolting face to the chassis rail is at about 45 degrees to the main part of the cross member. Each piece of steel needed to be about 7” long. For our convenience, the sheet metal firm were asked to provide one piece about 14” long with a right angle pressed in at 1” from each end. We then had to adjust this right angle to about 45 degrees to suit the the cross member. This was done by getting it red hot and bending it back in the vice until we were satisfied that the angle was right. The whole thing was then cut into two halves – one for each end of the cross member. The two ends to be joined were chamfered up, ready for welding.

The original steel was 1/4” thick and the replacements are 6mm. They were cut and folded by a local Sheet Metal Worker for us, but left slightly oversize for us to fit.. The edges are bevelled ready for welding. The other corroded cross member is situated just inside the rear one and consists of flat strip, bent in a “V” shape to meet another cross member of similar shape, where the two points of the “V” meet and are bolted together, thus making an “X” shape. Only one of these “V’s”is in need of some work. It is only the two ends that require attention and they were cut out.