42 chevy

Adrian; Interesting on the PM. I will send you a PM with my email address. John Gott

Alan; Jim Clarke can. They are made to order. He kept all the jigs used during Adrian's restoration. I belive he has "restored" 5-6 Diamond T cabs to date. John Gott

Adrian; If you could PM me and pass on your address, I have some "detail items" for your engine compartment for that "finishing touch". John Gott

Adrain; What can I say, WOW :wow:, alot of progress in one day. I am glad I was spot on with the rear cab mount measurments. Correct me if I am wrong, but I belive the factory originally put the cowl on first and then lowered the cab and then joined the 2 togather, however, you have shown that the whole unit can go on as a complete assembly. I was going to reassemble mine the factory way, but I might try the way you did. It is obvious the steering wheel has to be removed. You have proven that thoughtful planning and preperation pays off when it comes time for reassembly. Again, congrats on a job well done as another milestone is reached. John Gott

Guys, Just a suggestion, I am sure there is somebody near you that has a heavy wrecker (military) and is a member of this forum. I think they would jump at the chance to lift that seat assembly onto your lorry. Maybe post a message in the wrecker forum on this site. John Gott

Stormin; Hope all is well. Do you have any updates on the project. I know the young one takes up all your time. Just something to look forward to, my son, who is 12 1/2 years old, is starting to be a great help around the shop. He did most of the painting of the primer on the Diamond T bed and he is already asking me to show him what "double clutching" is, as he has laid claim to the series 2 Ward thatt was delivered in January. John Gott

Adrian; I did not get a chance to post photos as I spent the the morning and early afternoon "playing" with my truck. I got the rest of the wrecker frame assembled and then made it home in time to watch the superbowl. I wil post today when I get home from work. John G

Adrian; The pad thickness is 3/4 of an inch, 2 inch diameter and a 5/8 hole in the middle. I had new ones made. On the front pads, I had square blocks made ( 3 inch square) 3/4 inch high and 5/8 inch hole along with 2 smaller round ones to go under the front cab mount. I will post pictures later today. If you need them, let me know. Bodie Cummins (lives in KANSAS) made them. He also makes the windscreen rubber to. He currently is making molds for the headlight pads, where they mount to the fender. I do not know if the 980 has the same mounting arrangment as the 969. Jim Clarke's repair panels arrived along with the canvas for the seats. He does smashing work. John Gott

All; My information for my 969A (closed cab) Serial number 969A0878 (confirmed by chassis number on right front frame rail) date of delivery 08-27-42 Bed serial number 216611 (Garwood data plate), delivered Aug. 1942 under contract number W-398QM-11509 DWG. NO. B12463 (I do not know what this stands for) Post war, went to the Belgium Army, rebuilt in their shops in 1966 (info from data plates on tranny and front axle). Surplused and reimported to the US in the late 1990's out of Italy. Bought by Steve Krentler. Sold to me January 2008 . STATUS: under restoration Engine rebuilt in 1951, Heads stamped 1951, with .20 overbore Valve job done by Mil-Spec (NJ) 2006?) Location: Maryland- East coast of U.S. Current Owner: John Gott restoration blog on HMVF

I removed the water pump and fuel filter. The filter was completely clogged and the water pump packing was shot. Next on the agenda is to clean out the fuel system. John Gott

Today, my friend arrived with his tractor trailer and we took the truck to his shop to reinstall the bed, all in all, a very productive day. First 2 pics are of the truck on its way to Eric's shop and the last 2 are of teh bed installed. John Gott

Mike; I would use the one from the WLF. I would just polish it up. The portion that is covered when the wheels are pointed straight ahead looks good. I had a similiar issue on my Chevy truck with some small pits, and as you said, the grease will cover up the pits as long as the surface is smooth, so long as the wiper seal does not get hung up on anything, you should be fine. John Gott

When you repainted your engine what color blue didi you use. The engine color on my Ward is OD but I know it has been painted several times. John Gott

The new acquisition arrived home today. It was 28 degress outside which caused some problems with the off load. First the water pump was frozen (no anti freeze) so the coupler chain was removed, A boost was needed for the battery and then fuel delivery problems from some old nasty petrol. So we gravity fed it it into thecarb and th e truck came to life.The block and radiaitor were drained, so hopefully nothing will freeze in the block. As the weather warms, the waterpump will be removed and new packing installed, (it leaks just a bit), carb R&R and sort out the rest of the fuel problems, (remove and clean out the tanks, filter and rebuild the fuel pump.) This should leave the truck in an operational status. John G

rebuilt in 1960 at an Army Depot in Japan. (see tag in the picture) and the transmission is NOS. I have attached pics as we uncrated it. Merry Christams everyone. I ran out of dayight to take a picture of teh tranny installed, I wil lpost tommorrow John Gott

As previously mentioned, the bed has gotten repaired and painted (almost done), so I have to finish the detail work on the rear of the chassis before the bed is reinstalled. The main chassis harness has been installed. New oak wood was sourced and milled to original specifications. I painted the oak in a primer coat followed by a topcoat of "porch floor coating", a paint made to withstand the weather and lots of abuse. The sheen is shiny, but it will be sandwiched between the chassis and the bed and out of sight. The orginal wood was rotted, but was used as a pattern.. I plan on finishing up changing ou the wire loom and plan on refitting the bed after the new year. John Gott

The HERCULES RXC purrs like a kitten John G

In my haste this evening, I forgot to mention that I only repainted my aircleaner 3 times until I was finally happy with the result. Call me nutty, but some of my detail efforts will go unnoticed since they will be covered up once the sheetmetal is reinstalled, but I will know it was done right. John Gott

2 more pics of the new mounts and I finally located the picture of the fubar wrecker control link that has been replaced (refernce 2 threads ago) Johnny G

I had new engine mounts molded by BC Products in Kansas. Bodie is a very helpful man. I sent him my old mounts and he moulded new ones. The last picture is of the radiator reinstalled.

I am finishing up the detail work on the rear of the frame in anticipation of the bed being reinstalled. The chassis wiring harness (NOS) has been fitted, air line routing figured out, touch up painying etc. I have decided to replace the cloth loom that covers the airlines. This will entail using a dremel tool to cut of the compression fitting on one end on the airline(s), and remove the nut so that the new loom can slid over the line. I could have cheated, and just slit the new loom and used wire ties to hold it on, but since I have put so much effort into this project, I figured I would do it correctly. Pictures to follow shortly. I sourced the loom from a company called Restoration Specialites in Pennsylvania, they also supplied the new clips and rubber gromments that keep the wire harness from chaffing as it passes through the frame. The firewall harness arrived from Vintage Wiring of Maine this week. I had sent them an orginal one to use as a pattern. .

OOPS, I snuck an engine picture in their a liitle to ealry. The first picture should have been in the last post as it is a "before" shot of the wrecker controls. The next several pictures are of the engine reinstall and test fitment of fuel, air and cooling lines. I finally got to install the decals I had made

I forgot to mention in the previous post that the correct "D" rings were fabricated and attached for the tow hooks on the rear of the bed. The front fendes were repaired and media blasted along with the running boards. Another project that was undertaken was to repair the wrecker control rods. A scan be seen from the pictures, several "field" repairs were made in the past and I wanted to return the controls to their orginal appearance and function. 2 pieces of round stock wer acquired along with a n NOS control lever. The lever was sent off to cast so that I could have afew spares, Upon its return, some machine work was required. First , the roud stock was placed on an endmill machine and the grooves were machined for the keyways, next the new cast pieces were placed into a press that had a 3/16" broach afixed and the internal slots for the keyways were made. Upon return home from teh machist, test fitment was made.

It has been awhile since I have posted, and we have lots of pictures to share over the next several posts. Today my son (Andrew) and I went down the ER Harvey metal working in Easton Maryland and started painting all the body pieces that have been recently repaired and media blasted. The panels that are there are the lower engine side panels (they repaired the crushed louvers), hood pieces (2), cowl (several pieces of rusted metal were removed), battery box. New cross braces that support the battery box and gas tank were fabricated. A dent was removed from the front bumper. This repair involved alot of heat and a BIG press. Dents were removed from tailgate and last but not least was the wrecker bed itself. The bed was media blasted over and under, which was a 5 hour ordeal. Several repairs were made to remove rusted metal. The rear of the bed was straighted. 2 cuts were made by the tail light cut outs and the panel was pulled rearward and then rewelded. A new toolbox door was fabricated. I had primreed teh bed 2 wweeks ago and today I applied a bed liner coating. I used the RAPTOR brand which comes in a kit where you get 4 bottles of liner and one can of hardner. You just add the hardner, shake, attach the supplied shutlz nozzle and you are ready to spray. The most time consumong part of this jiob was masking off the bed. I researched several brands and I liked this one best. Alot of thought went into whether I paint the bed OD or apply bedliner. I decided on the liner, since once the spare tire, and wrecker equipment are in theh bed, you will be hard pressed to see the floor of the bed. I also lined the toolboxes with the liner. pictures attached

Any new updates on the restoration? John Gott