Gordon_M

Oh, you're welcome to fly in one of those, not my idea of fun really. The one at 5:20 wasn't really 'rolling' at all - looked to me that he was just moving to the left of the flight line as soon as he was off the deck as the following unit was already moving towards his tail. You would expect units in this sort of situation to be numbered and to move alternately left and right as soon as they were up for extra room - sensible in the circumstances.

Just throwing another log on the fire here. It is my understanding that is you took a Dodge and stuck it on the road EXACTLY as it left the factory it would be legal, and that includes the blackout light system which lets you switch off the service brake light, no indicators, etc, etc. However ... if you modify your vehicle from the original configuration by fitting extra / different lights, and you get involved in a minor traffic ding with some jobsworth, you leave yourself open to the accusation that the modified or additional lights are neither in compliance with the original spec nor modern standards ( do modern motorcycle indicators have smaller lenses with smaller surface areas than those required by a modern car, for example? I suspect they do ) You can always go to court and plead that you did the best you could and provided extra equipment to inform other road users, but you might want to have a think about what you fit and how you fit it. I have always modified my Dodges and jeeps to have two service stop lamps, with the tops of the rear lights turned into indicators (original clear lenses plus yellow bulbs) and extra small blackout lights on the front with yellow bulbs for front indicators - visible from front and side with 21w bulbs. I think the fact that I'm using 1939-45 lights gives me a pretty good defence if I ever need it, but you can argue it either way. I even modified the little aluminium can Lucas flaster unit from 12v to 6v to get the right flash speed (no sniggering up the back there) as it legally has to be between 60 and 120 cycles per minute.

Welcome, I don't see a location on your signature, and of course where you are will affect prices. Jeeps? Well a lot of what you will be offered will be in poor condition, or have loads of Hotchkiss or reproduction parts - some people will try to sell you a Hotchkiss as a jeep, and jeep theft isn't that uncommon, so if you are going to look at a jeep you need someone with you that knows them thoroughly. I would expect any original WW2 jeep that can drive under its own power and is reasonably complete to be closing in on the £10,000 mark these days - sad but true. Other people may haggle but I've not seen a decent original sell for much less than that, certainly recently. Might be worth buying one in the US and importing it - less chance of Hotchkiss content. (by the way - nothing at all wrong with the Hotchkiss - great option, as long as you know that is what it is. Don't expect a good Hotchkiss to be that much cheaper than a WW2 original) Dodge WC ? well, varies with body type and condition. A 3/4 ton weapon carrier with no winch will be cheapest of the bunch - don't expect anything that will drive to be under £5000. Command Car, Radio or Carryall will be moving closer to twice that. Add an original winch to any variant and put £500 to £1500 on the price (Tony won't like that but it's true... :angel:) A good original Command or Carryall (my favourites, have had both) should now be at least £15,000, even in these economic circumstances. Buying hints for Dodges? Don't buy one that isn't complete. You can buy a non-runner and fix it (most small mecahnical parts are available) but you will pay loads of money for large separate parts, especially things like Weapon Carrier rear bodies, Command Car hood frames, rear seats, tailgates, Carryall rear doors - stuff like that. You can get it all, you just won't like the price. As an example if you bought a Carryall for £6000 in good order but missing seats, liftgate, tailgate, battery box, and all the rear latches you could spend another £6000 on those bits. Expect to have more trouble finding the slightly rarer stuff for half ton WC trucks, compared with 3/4 ton. Things to seek out actively? oddball stuff. If you get offered a nice Canadian Dodge, or a WC telephone truck, something like that, and the price is right - grab it. Pick of MILWEB today? http://www.milweb.net/webverts/49290/ half ton weapon carrier, wrong wheels (3/4 ton) wrong front bumper, but would fix and otherwise complete (ish) (no connection with seller - just an illustration)

Ouch, he could be right - that might be why you can see one pin in the drawing and just the dotted line in the other end? Drawing should have specified though, and thinking about it you would see a dotted hole, rather than two dotted lines, if the other end was indexed 90o

Definitely looking more like a recognisable truck, thank you ... What's the plan for the cargo body then? I'm assuming it will be a relatively straightforward, though not necessarily cheap, piece of carpentry to a known pattern? Plain old wood, bolts, and angle iron? Gordon

Sounds like you have a standard guage set for 6 volts, and that strip will be an inline resistor used to drop the input voltage from 12v to 6v. Best source is Steve Rivers at Dallas Autos, and you should talk it through with him as he'll know what needs to be there and what doesn't, and what works and what doesn't. I don't remember any of these things in my 12v Command and 12v Carryall, but then I never had to work on that stuff as it worked when I got it and I just left it alone. Gordon

Tells us about your plans for balancing the impellor and the shaft then. I'd reckon you would put the shaft and impellor together, and then just do a static balance, as I think it is unlikely that a WW1 engine will rev fast enough to need a dynamic balance? Did you leave any spare meat on the impellor to allow truing up when on the shaft or happy just go with the lathe accuracy? Gordon

Electric brakes can get quite complicated here in the UK, where electrically-applied trailer brakes are not common at all, compared with the US and Canada, anyway. Many people importing something like an Airstream caravan from the US will just bin or alter the axle and go for standard UK overrun brakes, which are adequate for the maximum sizes allowed here - 23 foot I think. The legal point on electric brakes seems to be that the controller for the electric trailer brakes must be automatic and can NOT be controlled from the drivers seat - which is exactly the way it is designed to operate on your side of the pond. I have one two ton single axle trailer here in Scotland with original electric brakes, and I'm sticking with them, but the trailer brake controller is mounted in the trailer, next to the backup battery, and trickle fed from the towing truck connection, plus I fitted an electrical brake control switch on the tow frame that is be lanyarded to the tow hitch - so any separation will result in automatic application. This complies with my understanding of the rules here, but obviously I'll have to tinker a bit with the settings till I get it right. I have a period electric brake controller to mount in the towing vehicle, but it won't be hooked up. I'm not expecting any big problems as I'll never tow it loaded, and I towed it home from the importers with a conventional car hitch ( ... and no brakes) and never noticed it. Didn't do anything silly while towing it like that, though. It has a military type hitch and twin drag chains too.

Yes, absolutely. I'd think this was the original configuration, able to be made much more easily, and the one you originally copied came later for some special purpose. Gordon

I'm surprised that in the comments, which quite rightly stress the strength of the military setup, that no-one has mentioned the role of these chains in supporting the front of the towed object if it breaks away or digs in. I normally size my tow chains so that I can cross them under the towbar of the towed object, so that if the hitch does fail the front end of something like your howitzer would drop onto the chains and not dig in and polevault. I do think breakaway chains / strops, properly sized, are absolutely essential, if only for the extra safety for your feet provided when hooking up or unlimbering if chains are in place and crossed as described above. No-one else here has ever had a trailer towbar fail to engage the hitch and fall off while trying to attach or detach it then ? Must just be me. :angel: It's astonishing how quickly that towbar falls towards your feet. Well worth the expense. I have this setup on seven of the eight trailers in the garage, the eighth one being the size of one of little Halfords things for carrying things back from Comet and Curries.

... will the moulder be able to use the new pattern without any technical stuff, as with your original effort? Looks to me that the new version should draw straight in a conventional two-part mould? Gordon

I use it on all my electrics, but don't buy enough for economies of scale to kick in. E-Bay is your friend, or Halfords if you are rich. I work mostly on 1939-41 Dodge stuff, and I long ago realised that the original electrical cables and fittings were super-solid, heavy gauge, high quality - the only problem is that the insulation tends to have gone over the past 70 years. I'll strip a whole truck, gut the dash, pull out the chassis harness, and assess each wire individually before deciding what to do with it. I'll keep any special wires, like heavy duty battery / ammeter cabling, and maybe heat-shink new insulation over the lot. Anything non specific I'll check both ends and any insulation gaps in between then put it on the pile for use - typically I'll cut it to use one end and a specific length, with new heat shrink and one new termination, or remove and re-solder the original termination to the required length. Complete visible loom sections get wrapped in that hockey-puck tape, leaving just an inch or two of the original fabric wrapping for effect.

If I had one I'd drive it on a car license, the weight aspect wouldn't really worry me as long as hire & reward or multiple seating weren't obvious problems. However, I'm not really clear on the driving of vehicles on a public highway with restricted vision. Last time I was in a Saracen (and most of my armoured driving was Daimler armoured car, off-highway) it struck me that you couldn't really see a damn thing out of the drivers seat of either of them except straight ahead. Anyone got any good guidelines / regulations about when you need someone to assist with drivers vision all round? Obviously with a Saladin you could put someone in the turret with a comm headset, but how would it work on an armoured vehicle with solid top and no turret provision? Gordon

Not my specialist subject, but here's some advice, mostly based on my experience with lifting equipment for offshore use rather than towing though. If you plan on using it for miles, not just a short breakdown-type tow off the motorway, for example, when you are buying either Bow shackles or D - shackles, buy the versions with long pins which protrude through the end of the shackle and allow fitment of a split pin. These are a little more expensive, and a little more trouble, but much more secure if any traffic officers or DOE people stop you for an examination. Personally I would buy chain and strops and shackles that were individually rated at least twice the gross weight of the towed object, so you are probably talking about 12 ton rating minimum for that application. Ask for test certificates when you buy the stuff if you are buying components. If you are buying assemblies, and most suppliers will assemble for you, crimp ends, whatever, then ask for the assemblies to be numbered and tested too. Chain is about twice as heavy as strop for a given length, so while you want long chain, be aware that a balance should be struck between them - only use chain as long as you need it. If your towed object is pre-pressure crimping, then the US style of four part mechanical strop joint would look better too. You would have to find those second hand and get them numbered / tested as an assembly. Of course you don't really have to do any of this, but if you plan to be using it a lot it would probably warrant doing it right, once, and then just keeping it in good order. There's no statutory test or re-test requirement for towing (as opposed to lifting) appliances that I can quote.

That looks more like inclusions, displaced sand or slag, than porosity. Should be no big deal for the duty that casting will be in. We used to use CASTINGITE to pressure impregnate / seal castings like these, but there's no way that will need it. A coat of epoxy internally maybe?

Clutch and pressure plate installation tool, the numbers to keep track of the pressure plate bolt tightening sequence maybe? Just a guess

Wait for it - there are six different types. According to the GMC ORD - 9 (I'm using the Norwegian reprint for the GMC and checking my US original for the DUKW) there are six different types. All but one have GM part numbers, which you would expect, plus the following manufacturers references; GM-917075 is GL-415F, amber, front (also listed as standard DUKW fitment in DUKW ORD-7-8-9) GM-2171325 is KD-33A, amber, front GM-2118237 front, early CCKWX and CCKW to chassis 41189 (presumably amber? GM own brand maybe) GM-2118326 rear, early CCKWX and CCKW to chassis 41189 (presumably red? GM own brand maybe) GM-917064 is GL-415-E, red, rear (also listed as standard DUKW fitment in DUKW ORD 7-8-9) GM-xxxxxx is KD-333R, red, rear More stuff about chassis numbers than I can be bothered to type, but GL = Guide Lamp manufacture and KD = K.D. Lamp Co. So If I had a GMC and it was reflector-less I'd be buying the Guide Lamp ones which I'm sure I've seen as repro in places like Supply Line. Next contestant please .....

Carte Gris - grey card - registration maybe? you have the middle piece, now you just need the bits that go inside, outside, and on top. Gordon

Nice enough for a car with MATTRACKS on it. If they were going to do it right they should have altered the steering setup to get wagon steer like I have on mine. You can see the wagon steer effect here; In addition the original Tuckers had full metal pontoons which prevented side-slip on snow, and with the wagon steer and full-length pontoons you can actually drive down the side of a hill, turn on the side slope, and drive back up, which he couldn't with that car as it would be rolling door over door downhill. Drive sprocket placement isn't a big thing. It is generally better at the front to get the drive effort closest to the part of the track that does the most work, but if you stick the engine at the back and have a long complex drivetrain coming forward, then the weight penalty generally means it doesn't perform well on really deep snow. Tucker used a conventional Chrysler engine and drivetrain in permanent 4 x 4, and although the chassis was steel, a lot of the contruction was aircraft grade aluminium. With the hollow pontoons the effect was more like a light aircraft than a truck, which is why the military Tuckers were no real success as they abandoned the original lightness for military spec cargo bodies and so on.

Rivet counting here we go. I don't know the type as my GMC ORD 7-8-9 isn't here, but I remember checking what went where on my DUKW. Red reflectors on rear, and rear side corners, amber reflectors on vehicle sides forward of the pair mounted on the rear sides at the corners. There is probably a spec for very long vehicles and trailers saying amber reflectors every x feet down the side, but never had to check that. Gordon

That's fighting talk, that is ..... Want to start with a discussion on the fitment of King Bee Foto-Ray No. 295s to the early VC Dodges, and Anthes Force Oiler Co. equivalents on the late WC 215 half tons, but only those built by bodywork contractors ? Spot the difference?

If they had stayed in the car, and off the brakes, would the driver have been able to steer out of it? I know locking the brakes wont work, but it is a natural reaction I suppose.

Well it looks very similar, but that top section and the joint with the body suggests to me this might be a lower rating. As you say, might be the same thing from an alternate manufacturer who didn't have he facilities to curve the top beams.

( Am I the only one old enough to remember Groats? ) It's good stuff, but a bit like Marmite - people either swear by it or at it. The Norwegian army went to using nothing but Silicone fluid in their trucks, so we know it works, and under arctic conditions no less. The dividing line seems to be - are you building a complete new system or not? If you are building a complete new system, with master cylinder, lines, hoses, slave cylinders, and you fill it with Silicone from new it SHOULD be fine. If you are working on an installed system, and it has had ordinary brake fluid in it - forget about putting Silicone in. It does seem to be able to creep past seals that aren't in perfect condition - that's true. I only mentioned it as a warning to anyone buying an ex-Norway vehicle and not realising how important that fluid sticker was ....

A rear step assembly from Midwest Military is currently $375, so reckon on that being £500 if you have to buy one and import it, see the link below. http://www.midwestmil.com/dodgewc15.html If it is ex-Norway, you can expect it to be fine, but shabby, and gutted. Plan on buying a rear step, all interior fitments, five tyres, seat covers, and a lot of cleaning and painting. Only other point would be to expect Silicone brake fluid in it.