Pete Ashby

Thanks for the reply Paul, yes I'm finding it is very difficult to track down a RH drive manifold, there must be one out there somewhere.it will just take time to find it. regards Pete

Paul is you truck a right or left hand drive version? I'm looking for a right hand drive exhaust manifold for a Canadian D15 ( outlet to the front for right hand drive trucks to clear the steering box) so far I'm having the same problems as you and have not had any luck sourcing one. Pete

Some more progress on the rear bogie the under coated axles, diffs and hubs have been given a sealing coat of gloss black then two coats of G3 top coat. One of the wheel rims that had been cleaned and painted in the previous post have been fitted with a new tube, flap and one of the four very good second hand tires that I have had in store waiting for this occasion. Wheel studs have been cleaned and chased and the wheel nuts have been soaking the Molasses tub in the poly tunnel (reported on using Molasses in my D15T thread previously) for two months, it made a good job of cleaning the internal threads on the nuts so all they required when I fished them out was a wash off with water and a quick going over with the wire brush on the external surfaces. The assembled wheel and tire was fitted to the rear axle, the rim and tire for the other side of the rear axle will be assembled over the next couple of days but until I can get the other two rims to the blaster I'll have to call a halt on finishing the leading axle. Right hand side WD axle in gloss coat Rear axle diff and stay rods in gloss coat the small rods left and right at the bottom of the axle are for the hand brake actuation and operate via the bell crank pillar on the left of the diff housing then by a series of rods, cams and levers mounted across the frame that can be seen in the first photo this is then connected by a long connecting rod and more activating levers to the hand brake leaver in the cab. Rear axle and completed wheel and tire in G3 Rear axle left hand side completed wheel and tire in G3 Pete

You might want to invest in a set of Butt weld clamps ( 8 in a set) as well, Stop sniggering at the back it's what their called OK, not a lot of money and a handy things to have for holding Butt sheets together at the right gap for maximum penetration while welding. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/383212721688 Pete

There was a 1:35 resin kit produced of the D15 a couple of years ago Pete

This is a well known IWM photo of Commandos of the 1st Special Service Brigade near the Ranville glider LZ 7th June 1944 note the bike on the bonnet of the jeep, not sure if it's a flea or a James Pete

There is one restored original Dodge D8 that used to reside in the UK and was a regular attender at War and Piece, it now sadly forms part of a private collection Europe. Here it is at WP around 1999/2000 Pete

Just going on the census number allocation from your key card (which is not a very accurate way of dating as number blocks were not issued in sequence I'm afraid) I'd have a stab at late 1943 early 1944 but this is more guess than deduction. If you could get frame number production figures year on year this would give you the definitive answer but I suspect these are long lost unfortunately. Pete

They did exactly the same with me Richard so I asked to speak with a supervisor and asked why I had been paying full rate all these years. The answer was that BoC weren't really interested in small volume users anymore and that they were offering me this option as a recognition of my long term account.......... needles to say I told him what he could with his offer. Pete

Exactly the same Richard I had my BoC account for nearly 30 years for Argoshield, Oxygen and Acetylene but like you I just could not justify the the rental price each year, it was almost as if you were being penalized for having an account so like you I now us Hobbyweld . Pete

I guess your using 16 gauge steel for your cab work? If so it's a case of slowly slowly catchy monkey. Your tacks look fine now you need to join the dots, don't do more than an inch at a time one weld in the middle of a long repair then move to one end do another inch then to the other end then let it cool off and go back to the middles section again. Things can be speeded up a little if you use a short piece of copper ( a short length of 15mm water pipe flattened with a hammer works fine) keep it clean with some wire wool or emery as it gets sooty and can lead to weld contamination. Clamped to the back of the joint in line with the weld this will then act as a heat sink and also helps prevent burn through. A damp rag to cool the weld and panel is useful but don't over do the damp rag as it can lead to unequal shrinkage and a brittle weld area it's better to just use the copper unless you actually want to shrink the panel to take a bow or spring out of it. Pete Forgot this bit, if your doing a long run more than say 6" don't run the weld in one direction only. Work in opposite directions from each side of the middle tack. the reason for this is if you run the weld in one direction only on thin sheet the heat expansion and subsequent contraction of the weld pool will make the patch "grow" and distort so by working from opposite ends each time it helps to cancel this effect out Pete

Here it is, number on body of pump L 4405, number on arm 1524424 I'm not a Bedford man but I think these numbers are for the later pump fitted to 28HP units?. It has never been fitted, there is no ware on the cam face of the arm everything is free and working but there isn't a lot of suck perhaps the valves are stuck it will need a new ethanol friendly diaphragm anyway so it's an easy job to check it out while apart. Let me know if your interested Pete

While rummaging around for something else in the bottom of a draw I've come across what looks to be a NoS AC pump that looks right for a 28HP engine, for the life of me I can't remember where I got it from or for what reason, I suspect it came with other bits of kit bought at auction. I'll check the parts numbers on the body and arm and post them here for you, if you'd be interested let me know. Pete

So practicing social distancing and walking across the yard seeing only the chickens and the donkeys on route to the workshop I've spent a couple of days in useful productive restoration activities. First up the the wheel rims that were glossed in the last post have been given two coats of G3 top coat and now put aside to harden off for a few weeks prior to fitting new tyres. The next mini project was to clean, strip and then rebuilt the main prop-shaft that runs from the output shaft of the auxiliary gearbox to intermediate axle this is another piece of kit that has waited it's turn in the store for far too many years. First job was strip out the UJ's that surprisingly were in perfect condition and were good to go again, as I think I've mentioned before the Retriever is massively over engineered using the best of materials available before war time restrictions became an issue for manufactures another plus point is any work it has done in it's life it has done slowly thereby limiting stress and ware. Prop-shaft stripped and ready for a close encounter with the wire bush After a session with the wire brush on the grinder After de-rusting a coat of phosphoric acid was applied and then a coat of etch primer then two coats of gloss black sealing coat Then two coats of G3 and then reassembled ready for fitting, the bearing caps are not held in place with snap rings. Leyland however have a system that employs end plates having a raised ridge machined into them that locate in a corresponding slot in the bearing cap, the end plate is then bolted down to the yoke thereby locking the the bearing cap in place and preventing it rotating in the yoke. All good stuff but it makes pressing the end caps into the yokes tricky as everything has to line up perfectly. The bolts should then have spring clips held in place by small split pins ( 16 of them) added to prevent them from working lose another example of good engineering practice but a potential problem for field maintenance I imagine. Unfortunately the clips had corroded too badly to be used so I have wired the end cap bolts in place instead. Pete

Just looked the contract number up in the Chilwell lists it gives the following information: Census numbers run from L 5498053 to L 5498774 Contract number S 5060 Listed as 'Lorry 3 ton 4x4 Machinery (House Type) So it looks like at some point it lost the house type body and was replaced with a flat floor machinery type not an uncommon occurrence in service my Leyland Retriever was listed on the key card as a searchlight truck but this was altered in pencil while still under construction to 'Workshop' . Very nice truck look forward to following the restoration blog. Pete

Are there any other plates in the cab giving a contract number for the truck Seamus ? Pete

Welcome to HMVF that looks like a very do able project and it certainly looks like a Machinery body from your photos I'll look forward ward to following the restoration. Are you going to keep the engine conversion or put a V8 back in ? Pete

I would recommend you test for oil pressure now before doing anything else that screen looked very clogged in your photos. Your low oil pressure problem could be one of several different or interconnected faults by doing lots of things without testing in between you will not find out what the problem was. All you'll know is that hopefully it went away and just like problems with ignition systems that will be fine until the problem suddenly returns at a later date. Pete

Gordon has a good point here, if the new oil has stirred up sludge in the bottom of the sump it may well have blinded the mesh screen on the floating pick up head, it's the feed for the whole lubrication system and if this has become restricted it would explain your sudden loss of oil pressure. This is the easiest and cheapest first step in diagnosing and solving your problem. What ever the out come make sure you let us all know what the problem was and how it was fixed it's always useful to know the outcome of issues like this. Pete

Yes no problem Howard I'll look one out for you. Pete

Nothing moving here I'm afraid for the foreseeable future Howard. When the current situation eases give me another shout I have a number of them and they are not going anywhere fast and then I'll work out a price for you with shipping included as usual at cost. cheers Pete

I have a few Howard, getting it to you at the moment may be a problem in the current climate. Pete

Taking advantage of the warm weather a sealing coat of gloss black was sprayed onto the inner and outer rims and locking bands that had been cleaned and undercoated in the previous post Inner rims Outer rims and locking bands Pete

So for the past eleven months effort has focused on getting the the D15 up to the rolling chassis stage but now it's back to working on the Leyland. This phase is all about wheels and tyres and working towards getting the truck moving under its own power for first time in nearly 60 years. A journey into the unknown at the back of the barn was in order to unearth the rear wheels and tyres that had not been touched since I bought the truck nearly 30 years ago safe to say they had not improved with keeping however the rats’ mice and spiders had found them most accommodating. The Retriver runs on 900.20 tyres mounted on split rims held in place with a locking ring like a ginat snap ring this type of system is known in the trade as the ‘Widow Maker type’…….. well there’s encouraging then. First job was to remove the valve core completely and after the tyre had deflated poke a length of wire down the stem and into the tube cavity to ensure that there was no blockage that could result residual pressure in the tube. If everything works as it should the outer rim is pushed down a little to start to free the locking ring from the groove then using two tyre levers the locking ring is prized out of the groove in the outer rim, turn the tyre over and the main part of the rim just drops out…..oh how we laughed!.....the only way to do it after 80 years was to cut the tyres up with a Fein saw fitted with a course blade which actually made very short work of them to be fair. Here’s a tyre after having a close encounter with the Fein saw This is the pile of inner and outer rims and locking rings ready for de-rusting After rust and residual paint removal an undercoat of zinc rich primer has been applied Pete

If you don't have access to a small flame gas torch for the stubborn fixings try using a hot air gun, the sort sold in DIY stores or on line, use the narrow nozzle in the kit you'll be surprised how well it works with a little WD40 while the nut or bolt is still hot Pete