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Doc

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Everything posted by Doc

  1. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    Adrian, thank you for filling in some of the back story. I'll pm you the name on the card. If you manage to find anything that correlates with the photograph, and, as a courtesy, with the vendor's permission maybe we might share your discoveries with the forum. Regards Andy
  2. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    My brother spotted a couple of WW1 post cards on eBay. After a few seconds of furious bidding they were mine. (Sorry if the under bidder was a forum regular). Anyway, they just arrived in the post so I have taken some time out from work to share them. The seller disclosed that they had belonged to a distant aunt who lived in Birmingham. A spinster, she died in the 1980s. From my perspective they show lots of interesting detail, especially the front mudguard brackets and, unusually, the inside of the cab. The seller was wondering about the identity of the gentleman in the first picture. So, here's the challenge: what can be discerned from the uniforms, the fleet number on the bonnet, the inscription on the inside of the cab door? There is a name penciled on the back of the first picture, but I'll not share that in open forum. If anyone thinks they can do some research, I'll make that name available by private message.
  3. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    Some pictures from September 2019. Who would have thought that two tea chests could hold so much treasure, but among the items was a pair of new-cast front hooks. So back when "working from work" was the norm, I set the hooks up on the Bridgeport and machined them square before drilling and boring the holes. Hooks were a right b***** (I think that's enough *s) to hold. This method seemed to work... Boring the first hole in the pair of hooks. To ensure the holes were aligned, I turned a spigot to the diameter of the first hole onto a piece of hexagonal aluminium bar and bolted it to the bed of the mill. Having clocked the spigot, I could then clamp the hooks in place, drill and bore the second pair of holes. So after removing the front axle assembly this weekend, I did a trial fitting, just to see what they would look like. I have no idea if my lorry ever carried hooks but I think they look rather grand. Practical too.
  4. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    Thanks for looking. Andy
  5. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    Thank-you. I can pm further pictures. Or take a look on eBay completed items Howes & Burley. "&" not "and" to be sure of finding it. Regards, Andy
  6. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    News flash! Hot off the press! Royal Mail delivered a couple of parcels today. Their contents: Howes and Burley side light and tail light. OK, maybe not everybody's first choice but the lorry came to me with Howes and Burley headlights and matching acetylene generator. The tea chests contained a pair of newly-fabricated fork type sidelight brackets. So if anyone knows the whereabouts of a matching sidelight, I would be pleased to hear. Now, doesn't that look nice...
  7. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    Very kind of you to put them to one side. Thank-you.
  8. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    This weekend would have been "Woolpit Steam." Which would have meant a week off work to toil from dawn till dark setting up the show and clearing away afterwards. Like pretty much every other semblance of normality this was cancelled on account of the pandemic. Which means I've spent all my evenings and the weekend in the shed doing lorry jobs and I still have the weeks holiday. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Nearside Rear Wheel Refitting the offside rear wheel was somewhat fraught due to the crane operator (me) consistently forgetting which button was which and the assistant becoming increasingly frustrated with the ineptitude of the aforementioned crane operator. Hence the lack of photographs. I was determined not to fall into the same trap with the nearside rear wheel. It's recycling bin this week and the refuse collectors have been a bit tardy, so I was able to retrieve this morning's empty cereal box and make myself this skilfully executed aide memoir. This time, the roles were reversed; I was assistant, leveling the axle with the bottle jack, guiding the wheel onto the axle and giving instructions. The first question from the crane operator: "Which way, left or right?" There are some questions which are just impossible to answer, like Sarah Platt asking Todd Grimshaw whether he wants rice or chips with his Chinese takeaway. I digress. Once the communication channels were clearly established the lift went flawlessly, allowing plenty of time to pause and take photographs. With a wheel on each corner once again, we were able to push the lorry out into the yard in order to turn it round, giving better access to the front axle. So today has been about removing the front axle. The front end was lifted using the gantry and chain blocks with a pair of axle stands placed under the chassis just behind the flywheel. With the weight off the front springs, the front pins were driven out with a hammer and copper drift. The rear pins are undone and likewise withdrawn. Nearside front pine almost out. Offside rear pin being unscrewed. Front axle being walked out with a couple of 3" x 2" timber levers and bolts in the rear spring eyes. Front axle safely removed.
  9. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    Steve, There was no evidence of packing material, so I refitted them metal to metal. Then again, I'm not the first person to take these apart. Red fibre could be advantageous in removing point loads due to surface imperfections, but would need to be a grade not prone to extrusion otherwise one would never keep the springs tight. I don't remember anything mentioned in the photocopy parts book but I don't have it to hand and I fear it will be a few weeks before I will be able to retreive it. I have just consulted The Book of the Thornycroft by "Auriga". This makes no mention of fibre pads either. Maybe this was an in-service modification borne out of experience. I have managed to find red fibre as thin sheets (same company as kindly suggested by Andy in the previous post) but stout blocks that might be clamped to a faceplate and machined to a profile, this eludes me. Off topic, but this was the material used for the clutch withdrawal blocks on a WW1 Saunderson model G tractor. I have made replacements from Tufnol, but this would probably be too hard to use under a spring. Regards Andy
  10. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    It's been a funny week. Maybe after ten weeks of the "new normal" the novelty is starting to wear a bit thin. It's felt as though I've not achieved as much as I would have liked, but somehow, taking the time to stop and consider in order to write it down, maybe those feelings are misplaced. In reality, it was a slow start to the week, but the three day weekend has more than made up for it. Continuing with the bulkhead theme, the new fabricated buttresses are in first coat green, so it was time to offer it back up to the chassis to set the position of the accelerator shaft bearing tube. One imagines this was originally press fit in the boss on the casting. After a 20 minute wait, mine is press-fit too! While thinking about a trial fitting of the bulkhead, I thought I had better drag the exhaust manifold and pipe out from one of the darker recesses of the shed. If this fouls the reproduction bulkhead, I would prefer to know before I've invested the time in preparing and painting. Quite respectable for 100 years old. Made from steel, unlike the metal that passes for steel today. So while it was out in the yard, I thought I would remove the silencer flange. Quick whiz through the nuts with an angle grinder and slitting disk, and off came the flange. The torn shards under the bolt heads must be the remains of the silencer body. Flange and copper-asbestos gasket. One things leads to another. How many times have you said "I'll just..." and before you know where you are the whole afternoon has gone. In this case it was "I'll just take a wire brush to the unsightly blue paint drips on the manifold." I have no idea where the afternoon went, but it took most of the rust off the manifold with it. Very pleased with that for a first going over. A trip to Screwfix is required to get some wire brushes more suitable for getting into the nooks and crannies. The only corrosion is on the last 1.1/2" by the silencer flange. Maybe bimetallic in origin due to the braze filler? The other jobs I have completed this week have been around the back axle. The back axle and torque tube have had first coat black; such a dramatic change, they've been in grey undercoat for so long... Spring saddle was in top coat fairly early on, so was hard enough for the leaf spring to be re-fitted. Prior to that, all the greaser holes were tapped out to remove excess paint. Quick "cheat" with the grease-gun before fitting the greaser. Re-fitting the brakes. I mentioned previously that I had saved the Grover washers from the brake shoes. I sorted out four decent ones and put them to good use: Pride of place retaining the reproduction tail-lamp brackets.
  11. Doug, Yes, it is a linseed oil based product. A good coating is first applied to the roof timbers. Next the canvas is folded back over the adhesive and bedded down with a roller. During this process you start to see the compound coming through the weft of the cloth. Finally a second coat is applied to the exterior surface of the canvas before the whole is left to dry. Thereafter painting gives the final colour. As you recall, the product is extremely heavy - too dense for the tins - the bottoms bulge so far as to touch the floor. Regards Andy
  12. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    So what have I been up to this week? In order to finish the construction of the off side bulkhead buttress, I needed to account for the position of the accelerator pedal.This was located in a boss cast on the side of the bulkhead. The pedal shaft did not run directly in this boss, rather it carried a fixed steel tube with brass bearings at its extremities. First, this had to be excised from the old bulkhead: a job for the angle grinder and a thin slitting disk. The tube wouldn't drive out as there was some stray weld uniting it with the boss. More careful work with the grinder and out it came. Yes! It's an original part. The number is no longer visible. The rust moth fed that to her young, but the stamping "WDS" has survived. The accelerator / throttle linkage never lined up particularly well, fouling the steering column at the extremes of travel, so I decided to experiment with the optimum position for the pedal and linkage. Please don't look too critically at my carpentry. It served the purpose, enabling me to raise and lower the pedal with plywood "shims" whilst translating it forwards and backwards. The result of this was full travel without fouling and a derived dimension for the centre of the shaft. The bulkhead was returned to the radial drill to drill the hole. A quick drawing of the boss was prepared in Autocad. Many thanks to Jon for turning the boss for me on Monday morning and posting it to Suffolk the same day, also for having the foresight to send it First Class. It arrived on Saturday. It fitted perfectly. Here it is clamped in place in preparation for welding. After some filling and sanding, these parts have taken their turn in the paint shop. So, while I was waiting for the bush, I took a closer look at the front mudguard brackets. One of the 1997 photographs show the near side front bracket clearly. So we can see the bracket was formed from angle iron with the flat face forward. This and the rust patterns on the mudguard and the chassis inform the position of the bends. Having worked out the dimensions I first cut a template from 16 swg steel. Next I notched and bent the brackets to shape. Brackets are obviously mirror images of each other, so I made them together on the same piece of steel for fear of accidentally making two the same. Thanks to my brother Gerald for the welding. After welding and fettling, on to the radial drill. Trial fitting. These must rate as some of the ugliest mudguard brackets in Christendom, which may go some way to explaining they they were discarded.
  13. Rick, You're right, not much room to spare, but this is the only shed tall enough. The roller shutter does just go up high enough to get the Leyland out, but you have to be careful not to wind the door clean out of the guides. When David has sorted through the pictures, I'll post a selection of the body at various stages of construction (or reconstruction) being moved from one shed to another each time it outgrew its home. All the best, Andy
  14. All good things must come to an end and for David, three weeks of furlough finished Friday. Back to work Monday morning. He feels the time has not been entirely wasted; I tend to agree. Steaming the first of four hoops for the workshop roof. Actually we steamed five so we would have a spare, just in case... Hoops clamped in place and to a temporary ridge piece. This will be removed once he has finished clambering about on the roof. Boarding out. Canvas laid out and trimmed to size. Rolled back in preparation for applying the adhesive. Bulldog clips at either end are a precaution against the canvas sliding down the roof. Liberal application of "Williamsons Roof Canvas Bonding" Edges turned over and tacked in position. Covering laths to follow.
  15. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    Midweek. Rusty stuff. Previously I've posted various pictures of treasure. Yesterday evening I started looking more closely at the front mudguards. Bolt holes and rust scour marks on the chassis rails indicate the original locations of the brackets though the brackets themselves are long gone. I bent some thin steel to try and visualise how they might have been; no matter how long I stood and looked at the pattern of the bolt holes (or at least the rusty patches where the bolt holes had once been) I couldn't make any sense of how the brackets might be bent to coincide with the holes. Tonight David took one look and said " You don't think that mudguard was off something else?" I think he may have a point... So it seems that these are the Karrier mudguard remains.
  16. It was an act of generosity that made the switch surplus to requirement; that act behoves another. I'm sure it will look better on your dashboard than gathering dust on a shelf or in a box. Yours to collect once the lockdown is over. Andy
  17. The same generous benefactor that donated the W^D padlock also contributed this rather lovely ignition switch to David's Leyland RAF-type project. It will replace this later pattern ignition switch (marked 2843 LMLTD ) which is now surplus to requirements. Is this suitable for your lorry?
  18. This tatty old case once contained spark plug testing apparatus (according to a stencil on the side). More recently it, like the Leyland chassis on which the workshop body is mounted, was used by an East Anglian showman. It's just the right size for Drummond lathe accessories, so has been repurposed. Some additional fitting out will be required before the chucks, steady and change gears are stowed in the box. Many thanks to a generous benefactor for donating this finishing touch.
  19. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    Spring Cleaning. The plan was to give the near-side rear spring a good "going over" with the angle grinder and a cup brush. Unfortunately, we have run out, most places are shut and, as our local supermarket does not deem these essential items (although 18" high plastic gnomes are, apparently) I found myself having to improvise. We had some M10 threaded cup brushes that seem not to fit any angle grinder we have ever possessed, so to one of these was added a cut-down bolt and a lock nut, thereby adapting it to fit the electric drill. Incidentally, even now whenever I use the phrase "I found myself", I'm reminded of my o-level French teacher's criticism of my translation of "il se trouvé" which was, apparently, too literal. I digress... Actually my makeshift wire brush did a good job: the spring was successfully de-rusted, paraffin washed and allowed to dry. With the spring out of the way, it was a good opportunity to clean up and paint the spring hangers. In a contrasting colour, one can appreciate the strength and elegance of their design. It's very much been a painting week: spring, pins, links, brake parts and rear wheel have all transitioned from red oxide, through grey undercoat, to their final colour - black or dark green.
  20. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    Two days of blue skies and sunshine; guess who's spent most of it in the workshop! More fettling, hole - drilling and trial fitting of the new fabricated bulkhead buttresses. Our rather archaic radial drill pressed into service. Drilling the front face of the near side buttress Trial fitting with the bulkhead stiffener plates. Finding the correct location for the angle -iron stiffener. Drilling holes for the angle iron and floor-board in the near-side buttress. Same holes in the off-side buttress. Note the extra material up in the top corner - the accelerator pedal shaft has to come through here somewhere... Drilling the remainder of the floorboard holes. Apart from some filling and sanding, that't the near-side buttress finished.
  21. Many thanks to Gary for spotting this must - have accessory on our favourite on-line auction site Maybe it goes in here?
  22. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    In a change to the advertised programming... It's mid-week so, by rights should be a catch-up post. Really excited to have the bulkhead buttresses back from being welded, so wanted to share them instead. Trial fitting. I had to relieve the off-side buttress where the gear-change shafts pass through. Next task is to account for the position of the bolt holes for the bulkhead.
  23. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    It has been a particularly busy few days. The subject matter this time is wheels. The off side rear wheel was re-fitted (sorry for the lack of photographs) in order that the axle stands could be recovered for use on the near side. The wheel has still only had first coat gloss, but it was hard and so didn't scuff when lifting. Top coat will be applied in-situ. Wheel nut in position Fitting the retaining plate Removal of the near-side wheel presented no difficulties. First: remove the locking plate. Next the castellated nut. Jack up and rock and slide the wheel along the axle. Then on with a strap and let the crane take the weight. Finally swing the wheel away from the chassis and place on the wheel stand. Wheel nut and locking plate. Original bolts on the left. Will have to make a couple more of these. Beautifully cut eccentric oil groove on the thrust bearing Sliding the wheel off A bit of help from the crane And safely on the stand. No great surprises in the brake department Brake parts removed and awaiting cleaning. Removing the shoes from the callipers Ready for wire brushing. Preparing to remove the spring Spring safely removed. Wheel washed, wire brushed / emery clothed / conversion coating applied and first coat of red oxide primer. Brake parts after phosphate conversion coating. Red oxide primer in the morning before work...
  24. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    Been a busy old week, so thought I would post early. Decided to make a start on the buttresses for the bulkhead. The originals were thin steel castings that must have been very badly corroded in that they had been discarded. It is much easier now, with the ready availability of plasma cutting, to produce faithful replicas, than in the 1970's when the replacements were made. I've had a kit of laser cut parts for a while now, stored in the airing cupboard. Some fettling was required: the bolt holes needed to be measured from the chassis and drilled into the bottom plates, some other parts needed the ends ground off at an angle to fit. Trial fitting of the off side bottom plate And the near side. Loose assembly of buttress parts. Near side buttress loose assembly. The front plate has been left over long and will be cut to size after welding. Frank the welder sent these two photographs of the buttresses tacked together, to check he'd got everything in the correct place (which he had!). Difficult to explain the job whilst maintaining social distancing. Now, turning to the bulkhead itself. The skirt along the bottom would originally have been supported by a piece of angle iron that ran across the whole width of the bulkhead. Somewhere in the bottom of the treasure chest were these: Remains of the skirt, angle iron support and the two spacer blocks - yes! they are originals. You can just make out the part number on the left-hand block. Here, trimming down a piece of 30 x 30 x 3 angle iron. Slitting disc in the angle grinder with another piece of steel clamped on as a guide. Final fettling with a flap disc, To match the height of the spacer blocks. I will return to this topic later, when the buttresses are back from being welded.
  25. Doc

    Karrier WDS

    Social distancing precludes "Pinch, punch, first of the month" (and no returns!) so instead an extra post. The steering wheel had seen repair at some point in the past. Gone was the wooden rim; in its place a rolled and welded piece of galvanized pipe, with tabs brazed on, bolted to the spokes. Functional, yes. Ingenious, possibly. Elegant, no. Slitting disc in the angle grinder made short work of the tabs. In its place, a new laser-cut rim. Steering wheel casting is steel, so the rim could be welded on. (Thanks to my brother Gerald for doing this) A bit of work with the flap wheel on the grinder After filling and sanding and a couple of coats of primer, it's looking quite respectable again. At some point in the future (when free movement returns) this will be encased in wood. Another small job ticked off the list.
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