Great War truck

The TC3,TC4 and TC5 is basically the same chassis but with different springs. The WD purchased almost entirely TC4's (although some others were taken which had already arrived in the country for sale to private individuals). Aware that the Britsh Tommy would usually overload vehicles they down rated them to three tonners. Visually they are all the same (except for the TC2 which is shorter). There was a TC4 available with a longer chassis but i dont think the WD purchased any of these. Tim

Good idea. Thanks Tim

I bought some photos recently from a guy in France and he chucked this photo into the envelope as a stiffner to stop everything getting bent. I was going to throw it away but then realised it was an aerial photograph of an airfield. Any thoughts anybody? Tim

Well done. What an experience.

It is difficult to drill out studs accurately "freehand", and in case anybody is not familiar with a way of doing it accurately, then this is the what we do! We are dealing with 5/16" Whit studs here and first of all, they need to be cut back so that there is only 1/8" left protruding. We use a Dremel with a cutting disc for that purpose. We make up a jig (in this case) from an old bit of 1/2" steel bar - drill it right through initially 1/8" and then counter bore that hole to 5/16" for about half of the depth of the bar. That 5/16" section will then fit over the remaining bit of the stud - and you can then drill the stud initially with an 1/8" drill - the jig will hold it accurately in the centre! That hole can then be gradually opened to tapping size is needs be and re-tapped. With a bit of care, you will be able to pick up the original thread with the tap. That leaves the remains of the two pet cocks broken off in the top, and the two 1/4" studs just visible which retained a small bit of 1/8" steel bar designed to stop the Inlet Valve Retainers from rotating undone, to get out. And then there is the other Block! In the last photograph of this series, you will notice the cleaning paraffin still leaching out from the crack in the Block over the Exhaust port.

With the ongoing discussions and deliberations relating to the corroded cylinder, we thought it appropriate to get it cleaned up now so that if (when) it goes on for re-boring, then it will at least be clean for the machinist to handle and there will be no delay. Our usual procedure with this sort of thing is to get the oil and grease off first of all in a sort of paraffin bath - and then give it a good wire brushing. The first two pictures show the block before we worked on it - but when it became cleaner, another problem became apparent - there is a crack in the block! Whatever next? We have had this problem before with the FWD and no doubt we can deal with it again! To make life easier for the machinist when (if) it comes to re-boring, then we decided to remove the 5/16" Whit studs from the top of the cylinders to leave a flat surface. The studs were all absolutely solid and the only way to move these was by drilling them out.

Here is an interesting thing (well, to me and Steve anyway). You will remember that when we purchased the Dennis parts we got the engine from a water pump which had been installed in a factory and which looked like this: It was the correct engine and the blocks were wartime dated. A radiator and fuel tank had been removed from the frame already. We later acquired the rad although the fuel tank went elsewhere. Our belief that this pump had been assembled from bits left over at the end of the war. I just acquired this photograph: As you can see, it is exactly the same set up. Photograph was taken in a British army storage dump in 1917 on the Western Front. So, our engine possibly has a wartime and military heritage as well.

Soirry. Not made by Lucas but by CAV..... Tim

That looks to be a fantastic event. Do take lots of photos. Tim

Now that is good service. Did they make a charge? Tim

Thats great. I love the way the locals play chicken with the Peerless armoured car. I cant imagine that has a quick stopping distance.

Beautiful. How many cans of beer did that cost you then? Tim

Here is another replica plate http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260998467332?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 This time a Hunslet. It would look nice on my wall, but not for more than £30.

I have been asked by Dominique Bleunven if any WW1 vehicle owners would be interested in taking their vehicle from Nieuwpoort in Belgium to Albert in France for a nine day commemorative trip in 2014. You may remember Dominique drove his De Dion on an epic trip last year to Switzerland and back.Learning from his experinces he is proposing a rest and mainenace day every other day. He currently has about 20 vehicles lined up (all from France) and is looking for some British ones. It is all early days at the moment but if anybody is interested then please let me know and we will find out more information. Thanks Tim

Steve paid a flying visit to Devon this last weekend for reasons other than playing with Lorries - but took the opportunity whilst he was there to have an initial inspection of the cylinder bores with Tony, knowing that there was work to be done on them. You will recall that the four cylinders are cast in pairs and it was one of the two cylinders in one block that we knew was going to cause us a problem. These following three pictures relate to this block - two are of the one cylinder that we knew had been open to the elements with the other picture of its mate which had been protected. The two cylinders in the other block are in a similar state to the cleaner of the two in this first block and we would assess that there would be no problem in cleaning the three up as they are for re-use. An initial clean of the rusty cylinder does not reveal a pretty sight - remaining corrosion in it is still proud of the original cylinder bore but it has also revealed that it is deeply pitted. This cleaning was done with a wooden spatula, a wire brush and some emery paper. It was not treated too harshly. It appears that there will be no alternative other than to re-bore this cylinder. Now depending on how much has to be taken off and that there is enough metal there to play with for re-boring, it will then require a new piston. Can we get away without re-boring the other three cylinders? The cylinders are of 4 1/2" in diameter but as this is a slow turning engine, will it be significantly out of balance if one of the pistons is marginally bigger than the other three? This is something that we have not been confronted with before and would appreciate some advice and comments on this one, please!

Looks good. I would love to go to this, but well i would like to go to a lot of things. The "H&S" rules are quite straight forward. I liked this one in particular: "In the case of finding out, that you threatened the life of other participants or audience, you can be punished". I think they should introduce that rule at W&P, but perhaps add "by being shot - severely" at the end. Tim

thats a piece of luck. You should get that for £200 i would think, unless of course that DAAG chassis sale has skewed the market. There was supposed to be a WW1 Saurer in that auction but I cant find it in the catlogue. There is a "Berlieut" (sic) at tank fest this year. Anybody know anything about it? Not the same vehicle misidentified and mis-spelt is it? Tim

yet another one has just sold. £194 this time. Same engine number as well. I really regret not buying that one i saw at Beaulieu now for £60. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260998307124?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 Buyer beware! Tim

I saw Ian Litchfield driving his Jeep around the Oxford ring road at about 8:00 this morning. Then this afternoon an aeroplane went by very fast making a sonic boom. Very loud it was too. Sounded like a bomb going off. Tim

In the previous note, we reported that we had completed some preliminary work on the Cam Followers. The first two pictures here show the Cam Followers that were in the complete engine and you will notice that they do not look in quite the best condition! Fortunately, the Cam Followers were still in the half-engine and they are in a significantly better condition - although the caps on those are badly corroded. We plan to use those in the reassembly of a complete engine but the caps will have to be replaced. But the caps on those from the complete engine have been taken off and may well be substituted for the corroded ones as they are not too bad. The other two pictures in this sequence show the better caps but you will notice that they have been quite dented through "hammer blow". There is still plenty of metal there and we must make up our minds as to using them - or replacing them! We do like to use original parts where we can. http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Greatwartruck/Thornycroft J Type lorry/DSCN6149.jpg These are the corroded caps that have to be replaced. In the second picture, you will notice that the fourth one from the left has been replaced in the past by a "temporary" arrangement!

That sounds great. First time was more exciting though. Tim

What my home!!!!! Oh you mean Raatingen. Yes, that would be the best bet. I hope the new buyer has a complete truck/bus already but with a rotten chassis. Anybody else is going to have a hard time of it.

The DAAG chassis just sold on E bay for £1,605. For that price it is not going to go for scrap. I wonder who the new owner is. Tim

Thats great news. Unusual to find a museum where they are genuinely interested and have time to assist. Tim

Thanks. The forum is a marvellous tool which allows us to record exactly what we are doing, get feedback and advice from some of the very knowledgable people here and hopefully encourage others to have a go at the early stuff. I think it is working, as there are several WW1 projects on the go. Interested to hear about the early stuff near you. I am convinced that for every one we know about over here there are two more in private collections that never see the light of day. i am sure it is the same the world over. Are there any good reference books about WW1 Austro Hungarian vehicles? Tim