the DT guy

i know of a rag top 969 project that could be bought but needs a lot of work but it is all there.

also know of a hard cab 969 all complete and original not been messed with but needs a good service and if needed a fresh coat of paint. 

are you looking for the 4 tonner or a 12 tonner? there isn't much about at all really and there are 4 people i know who are looking for DT's 

18 hours ago, john1950 said:

Just as an aside, a ball park figure of 1 per cent fall in power output for a diesel engine for each 10 degrees increase in air temperature above 90 degrees F. 32 degrees C. manifold intake temp.  

never new that john thank you for sharing, going off that the hercules should pull better as the air cleaners are mounted on the opposite side of the engine to the exhaust. were the british army fitted rolls c6's had both air cleaner mounted write next to the exhaust manifold. but they were limited to 10 mph max when loaded with a cent. so they would have been in the low gears any way so max power wasn't a massive benefit really.

my 5 T's 

2 hours ago, johnwardle said:

Just thinking back to when you bought your first Diamond T almost by accident and now you have 5!! Must be the most Diamond Ts owned by one person. Well done Sam, look forward to seeing another restoration. How are the Morrises coming on?

Graham booth has owned more T's think 14 or so over the years. the armoured morris should be going off for some metal work end of the year finger crossed john

13 hours ago, john1950 said:

Do you now have one Roller and one Hercules powered T and is that a wrecker in the background?

the restored 980 is rolls powered then i have 2 hercules powered 981's, 969 wrecker and a 972 tipper think that's enough just got to get them all back on the road. 

nice sunny day today so got the 980 out the shed to do some shunting and take a few pics with the recent acquisition. 

39 minutes ago, Richard Farrant said:

That is an original Hercules engine, it runs superbly given its age.

the rag top is rolls powered richard, air cleaners are mounted differently under the bonnet so a conventional bonnet can be used. the hard cab on the trailer is hercules powered still  

2 hours ago, john1950 said:

Under bonnet air intakes don't help engine performance, when they are running at full torque on hot air. You can hear it come off song as it climes a hill with no blower or turbo to help. Air forced in by the cooling fan does help to keep the pressure up under the bonnet but that is hot, making the problem worse. Domed air filter intakes design's tends to lower the pressure in the filter body as well, as it is trying to get air from a flow going past at 90 degrees. I know its not standard but if you replaced the two intakes with small forward facing short bend intake's with a wire grill across the opening to keep out any debris it will make quite a difference to its performance on grades, helping its breathing, and the man looking after the gear changing. Just my thoughts, Its a long time since I have seen a proper rig like that doing what it was intended for. I am presuming it is a Roller making the noise, they need cool air for best performance. Keep the temperature down on the heads and all of those little grommets will last a lot longer.    

i agree with what your saying john but the C6 rolls in jason's rag top is only 175 horse and with the original transmissions the gear ratio gap between 3rd & direct is big so when loaded soon as you hit a hill your changing regardless. really you'd need a 220 cummins or bigger to warrant worrying about cooler air i think. the british army ran them like this grossing 90 tons for years and the radiator does do a good job keeping the smaller rolls cool. 140-150 degrees F is nearly always maintained. 

though i will say for a fact the rolls is definitely more lively at night, not enough to make it pull better but you can hear it sounds crisper.  

last video i took off the trip about 1 mile from jason's and the end of a fantastic 2 day trip. going to be running 2 Diamond's loaded to Capel military show in september with a sherman and a morris armoured car. 

also taking jason's diamond to goodwood this year with sherman so loads more vids and pics to come.

4 minutes ago, john1950 said:

I think the old boys appreciate the effort you made making the video. Lovely exhaust note, slick gear changing. Thanks.    

cheers john the old boy i bought the truck from is 95 and he was over the moon when we pulled into the yard, not sure you can get any better than putting a big smile on a old man's face and bringing back memories like that. 

45 minutes ago, 67burwood said:

Fantastic video, well done to the camera man. 
 

interesting gear change, was that hi to low and a gear change all at the same time? 

that's direct/direct to 3rd over so down shifting half a gear, only way to do it on a hill on the flat you can do the sticks individually.  

just a short (334 mile) drive from bristol to dartford and back with jason jeffries to collect another truck to go with the 4 other's i have!! 

Wally dugan i don't know if you had any involvement with the Diamond T prime mover key cards but either way they have been invaluable in finding lost wartime H numbers and chassis numbers for trucks. which in turn has led to many wartime & post war photo's being linked to trucks know in preservation.

the key cards are a significant piece of vehicle history and i think there worth paying the £35 for as it all goes to the up keep of the documents and the labor involved in digitalising the documents to make them available via computer. i myself have purchased 4 key cards for the trucks i own and those cards have also helped other's with trucks which are included on them. the other great thing is the cards give you the H numbers for the trucks which in turn relates to various truck movements in the war diaries so it can open up if your lucky.

regards sam    

On 2/15/2021 at 11:07 AM, DAKOTABILL said:

Here is another to add to the gallery, its local to me and in a poor state , it does have front wheels but it's kind of hemmed in by junk.

 

 

 

i've bout this one for spares just got to get out, washed off and home

very detailed restoration would be great to see it at shows doing work like replenishing steam engines with water etc. 

11 hours ago, fatcodycat said:

Just found out that they are; shaft is 3/8" diameter, and 3/4" long.

 

Hammering them over would be so much easier! any one got any tips?

i have no idea what access you have with it or if you even see the rivets when body is fitted. but have the pre formed head on the least accessible side so you can hit the shank on the easier side. have about 1/4" - 3/8" shank sticking out and hit the shank square on to swell it in the hole, then work around the edge of the diameter of the shank to round it off. i am sure there will be vids on you tube. 

no idea on a jeep i haven't had the pleasure to work on one. the hole in your chassis should be the same size or a fraction larger than the rivet you need to put in. if they are 3/8" rivets you'll be able to hammer them over cold.  

saphire are the uk's largest stockist of rivets in variety of seizes and head types.   

got the refurbished bonnet fitted yesterday, nice to have the final big piece fitted. onto sorting out the hand full off little things like wind screen wipers which i have stripped down tonight and got them half reassembled. need to make some bits for them which isn't to difficult. other wise just a tiny bit of wiring and will be there.

merry christmas every one 

best regards sam 

2 hours ago, johnwardle said:

Hi Sam, did you manage to get out on a road test? If so how was it?

afternoon John went out sat/sun last weekend and been out again this after noon. it goes very well and makes all the right noises!

had a few minor things to fiddle with after the 2nd run out which were all easy to deal with. just getting used to all her natural rattles and vibrations as you'd expect it to have. 

will treat her to her first wash tomorrow as most of the truck is no longer green!! 

5 hours ago, alsfarms said:

DT...

What a lucky fellow you are to be working on, and own, a steam traction engine.  The front wheels are particularly a "showy" piece of the unit.  Have you made first steam yet?  That armor plate must have made for oven like conditions for the crew!  I suppose if the unit was used in a very hostile area, you would consider it a blessing to sweat it out and live to see another day!  These Fowler units have huge flywheels, very impressive.  There must be an engineering point, to the large flywheels, as even the high Horse Power Case units, here in the US, do not have that large rotating mass.  What Horse power rating do the Fowler 4 and 5 have?

Al 

my fowler is an A4 class rated at 6nhp the B5 would be 8nhp but horse power doesn't really mean much with steam as they produce massive amounts of torque as you can drag them down to just a few dozen rpm's and they will keep going. i have steamed my fowler bout this time last year hopefully vid below. 

the flywheels are so big and heavy! as they help balance the engine out when running and also help a lot with momentum so they don't stall so easily when heavy loads are applied. the fowlers rev to around 300rpm comfortably but also they don't have clutches. so you select 1 of the 2 gears then you open the throttle so they start with max load at max torque instantly. certainly very impressive technology for the time they were designed and built way back in the late 1800's (road steam engines in general) and even today they will hold their own against a modern day equivalent.   

12 hours ago, Rootes75 said:

An already very heavy machine, I wonder how much extra weight the armour plating added!

a standard B5 weigh in around 17-18 tonnes full of water and coal so can believe them being 20 ton easy with the extra plate added if not a lot more.

steam traction being used during the Boer war

Fowler B5 road locomotive crossing the river with a 10 horse Burrell road loco standing by if needed.  

armored Fowler B5 road locomotive which were not very well liked by crews for obvious reasons so most had the armour  removed.

a preserved Fowler B5 here in the UK which ounce was one of the armoured B5's as it came back to the UK with all the brackets on the boiler to hold the plate on. 

My Fowler A4 road locomotive built in december 1899, under restoration though this is a very old pic she is know in the paint and final assembly faze know. my engine worked for McKenzie's of CapeTown and was used by them with 3 other engines for transporting military supplies from the docks to were ever they were needed. was sold and shipped to Oz in 1903 to work in a mine and returned to the UK on 2003  

4 minutes ago, Trooper 3/9 RAAC said:

What a superb looking brute of a truck.

Great job Sam, its a credit to you have watched this thread with great interest.

cheers

Pierre

thank you very much Pierre glad you have enjoyed following progress. 

i am restoring a 1899 fowler road locomotive that came back from Oz at the moment as well, it came from Nundle in NSW

originally worked in south africa during the boer war then went to Australia in 1904, came back to the UK in 2003.

regards sam