Pete Ashby

As I mentioned in a previous post I've had a little side project to hide the Optima inside a redundant battery case bit of a fiddly job that has required extending the terminals but I think the result looks better than that funny little red dude lurking in the engine bay. On a jeep it's highly visible so I think it's worth the effort on a truck where the battery was not on display I don't think it would be worth the effort involved. Now you see it Now you don't And now for a bit of window dressing with a stencil and dab of paint. Early Fords were fitted with Autolite batteries while the MB and later production GPW's used Willard units ( I copied the font from a period advert) So how's the Optima performing ?? I don't think the cranking speed is vastly different from a conventional lead acid battery in good condition but the engine starts first time every time and there is no terminal corrosion so I'll see how it stands up over winter and report in the spring. Pete

Work continued removing the engine ancillaries There then followed a slight hiatus involving an epic struggle to remove the exhaust manifold the problem was that at some stage in the engines life two manifold to block bolts had been replaced with the wrong type and had become welded in place, worst still the differential expansion again from the use of wrong bolts and nuts had cracked the outlet flange not good news and a real shame as everything else to date has been in good condition the hunt is now on for a replacement long block (25") right hand drive exhaust manifold...... watch this space. The next task was lift the engine out of the frame Next job will be to remove the front and rear axles. Pete

Welcome to HMVF Dave nice looking project. There are a number of MW owners on this site, several have run or are currently running blogs in the restoration forum. There has been some discussion recently in either the British vehicle forum or the restoration forum regarding rear mud guards for MW's worth having a look or using the search feature to find the relevant threads. Pete

Thanks Hanno yes finally got round to starting the restoration after having the truck in store for ten years it should be worth the wait as it's not been messed about with too much. Pete

Good point Tony, the same follows for seals and bearings these are in the main all still available off the shelf or from specialist vintage suppliers (look them up on the web). The key is to accurately measure the internal/external diameter and then track down via the web the equivalent modern part number and manufacturer. Bear in mind the reference descriptor will not say MB/GPW jeep it will be a common sized part for anything from a fork lift to a set of conveyor belts and any thing in between they all need seals and bearings and their all made to a standard size for the load or shaft diameter that they are intended for. In terms of manufactures Ford were a little unusual as they produced a large amount of their ancillary equipment in house other smaller manufactures opened a suppliers catalogue be it for nuts and bolts, bearings, seals or indeed gears and shafts and bulk bought the part for the job, having said that about Ford even if the part was produced in house it was to a recognized standard size. welcome to the world of vintage part number cross referencing or buy from the dealers obviously at cost plus, the former can be interesting and cheaper the latter quick but expensive if your buying a lot of stuff and you haven't learnt anything..... .........bit like life in general I suppose Pete

Congratulations Mark always an exciting moment when that hoped for vehicle arrives in terms of parts supplies you really have a very wide choice for a jeep these days. I would suggest you do a little web research it's all part of the learning curve you have a choice of 4 major outlets in the UK, and any number of well known suppliers from Holland, Belgium and France that's before you start to look at suppliers in the US, just remember that non EU countries will carry a not inconsequential import tax. I'm purposefully not naming names as I don't believe one is better than all the others it's a case of mix and match depending on the size of your pocket and what you ultimately want to achieve. The most important thing to keep in mind is that it's your truck and you can do with it as you wish and don't be afraid of asking questions on any of the forums that's what their there for. regards Pete

Just checked my parts list this is not a Retriever part number Ed, looks as you suggest a 1920's or very early 1930's production part number.. Pete

Kevin that is a very neat job on the vent, is there any chance of some photos of the press tooling you used as mine has gone in exactly the same place as yours so I will have to do an identical repair. Pete

Yes that's right Jeff on the jeep it's a plain sintered phosphor bronze oilite bush this type of bush should be soaked in clean engine oil over night then drained and wiped before fitting and reaming to size. The sintered bronze is porous and absorbs a small amount of the oil if the bush was not oiled and/ or reamed to fit and/or has dried out with standing or a combination of all three it will drag on the spigot of input shaft and set up a god almighty wail as the clutch is let in when everything warms up the bush will probably expand just enough to let the shaft run free in extreme cases it can appear like clutch drag so that you are unable to get a clean gear selection as the primary shaft will keep turning with the flywheel even with the clutch down. As you suggest go in from the top of the bell housing do not use ordinary oil it's too viscous and will just fly off the shaft when it turns and get all over the clutch plate, use something like WD40 and don't fire hose it in, be very circumspect with the application and leave the truck jacked up nose down for at least 12 hours before trying to start it. Let us know here on the forum how you get on, or if you find it's something else entirely come back and tell us what is was, this sort of information is of use to all of us when trying to sort out these irritating problems. Pete

Could possibly be a dry pilot bush in the fly wheel Jeff. I had that once on a jeep I did some years ago it had the same symptoms you describe, I solved it by jacking up the back end of the jeep a put one very very light squirt of WD40 onto the input shaft and left it over night on the blocks to let the WD40 creep down the splines and shaft towards the bush next morning took the truck off the jacks and problem was solved but do not over cook this or the WD40 will drip off the shaft and contaminate your clutch lining........not good Pete

Is this a new build or has the problem suddenly developed? Pete

Interesting comment regarding the desert colour you found. Iv'e found a similar thing on my D15 cab under the data plates and some of the cab fittings other parts are standard G3. I wonder if early contracts destined for North Africa and Britain were run simultaneously on the assembly line leading to a mix of paint finishes on sub assemblies prior to the application of the final top coat. Pete

Well done Kevin for starting the blog , So what's the back story on the truck ? do you know anything of it's past civilian and/ or military history? what's the year of manufacture? it looks pretty complete from the photos regards Pete

Nice project Kevin thanks for posting the photos I'm sure I and others would like to hear a bit more about the history of the truck and follow the your progress have you considered starting a blog on HMVF?. Not too many T110L around in fact I can't think of a restored one in the UK, at one time there were a couple of short wheel base tippers and a short wheel base GS but I've not seen or heard of them for some years now. Looking at the photos of your engine It looks like you have the original long block engine, have you found a source of spares for long block engines? Although some parts are interchangeable with the US short block version some major components are unique to the long block and finding a parts source has been somewhat elusive to date for certain items. The governor you show in your photos is for regulating maximum road speed and works on limiting the throttle plate opening using the dynamic air flow in the throttle body working against a preset spring tension it's a common fitting on the larger North American trucks of the period. The mechanism on the D15T is a manually operated system via a cable quite how it works or what it looks like currently remains a mystery as the truck is not governed for road speed in any way. Regards Pete

Came across this on another site, https://swifthitch.com/pages/taillights-landing this manufacturer is in the US and would not cheap if shipping is taken into account so not really a viable option for us on this side of the pond. However I thought the technology was interesting has anyone come across this in the UK before ?? Pete

As a result of comments here, thank you all and other reports I have read elsewhere I have splashed out on a 6 volt 50AH 800 amp CCA Red top Optima RTS 2.1 . First impressions are very favorable staring from cold is much faster and starting from hot (around 200F after standing) is almost instantaneous which was not the case before. I'll test run it for a few months and report back here on this thread on the overall performance. It is however a funny looking dude sat in the battery tray so I'm going to have a go at fitting it inside a redundant Lincoln battery case that I have under the bench. Others have done a similar thing with other cases so it should be possible. There are several places in the US that sell dummy cases for classic cars just for this purpose but the shipping cost to the UK is prohibitive. There is also a project ongoing again in the US to manufacture a reproduction Willard battery case ( factory fitted to Ford GPW and Willys MB) that will take the Optima this is still in the design phase at the moment however but could be worth keeping an eye on progress. Pete

Hello Kevin the T110L project sounds very interesting are you going to run a blog on it here on HMVF ? a lot of people would be interested in following it. The governor sounds interesting I'd very much like to see some photos of it and indeed the whole truck if that's possible. where in the world are you by the way ? regards Pete

It’s been a bit damp of late here in the Wild West so I spent a bit of time on a wet afternoon continuing to strip the Dodge. The side step brackets are now removed from both sides and in preparation for the removal of the gearbox the prop shaft was removed also the exhaust silencer and pipe taken off to give a bit more room for manoeuvre. With the cab roof removed and the floor sections split and pushed out of the way there was room to use the crane to remove the gearbox so I left the top of the gear box and shifter stick in position, if this job was to be done with the cab in place the gearbox top and stick would have to be removed, the box supported from below and then lowered away using the trolley jack and cradle. The gearbox and PTO safely out on the floor, no nasty surprise here, the splines and flywheel spigot look very clean with no obvious ware so the input shaft was wrapped in a rag and tapped closed to keep the muck and grit out and unit was put aside to be cleaned, stripped and inspected when work on the mechanical units starts. The engagement control for the power pump PTO which is used to fill the water tank is an interesting detail. The engagement control is a small handle underneath the right hand dash board all very civilized and neat instead of a leaver sticking up out of the floor. The handle is connected via a solid wire running in an armoured cable to the PTO so that by pushing the handle in the PTO dog is engaged with the truck gear box. The truck RPM is automatically limited on the carburetor via another cable attached to the same fulcrum lever on the PTO this is so that the power pump cannot be over speeded and damaged. I wonder do British water trucks have a similar operating mechanism that limits engine speed?. Sadly the power pump and limiter on the carb are missing from this truck but all the operating cables are intact and in good condition so who knows? One day I may find the power pump drive shaft and carb limiter. With the gearbox out the next job was to remove the steering column from the frame and then take off the last of the body brackets so that the scuttle could be moved back from the engine and laid flat on the frame along with the cab back and roof sections. These three units will be lifted off the frame and stored awaiting their turn for repair. So after all that and several mugs of tea the truck now looks like this: The next task will be to strip the engine of all its ancillary units prior to lifting out of the frame. Pete

Thanks for this, however I'm happy the plugs are set correctly and they are the correct multi electrode type as specified by Simms for mag operation, they are set at the specified gaps so I'm fairly certain it's the Mag at fault as all the HT leads are new copper cored and have very low resistance values so I don't think it's a HT lead issue either. Pete

I thought this was the best place to post this request as you chaps on this forum board will have more experience of Magneto ignition systems with your age of trucks. I have a Simms SRM4 rubber coupling non inertia 4 cylinder mag that is in very good physical condition but delivers a weak/intermittent spark at the plugs so I suspect there's either a problem with the condenser/ winding's/magnets/carbon pencil so I'm looking for a good reliable company to service/repair the unit. I've had a look on the web and have seen several firms who do this sort of thing but I would be interested to hear recommendations from anyone here who has had a magneto serviced recently, quality of work, ball park price for work done and turn round time would be of interest. Many thanks Pete

Looks sound well done sounds like the perfect deal for you and the seller. I'm sure you'll enjoy the truck I liked both of my weapons carriers, small enough to be manageable but large enough to be useful. Pete

Done and submitted Pete

Flushed with the latest bit of success I decided to get the fuel tank out of long term storage and fit it for no other reason than I could and I was fed up of walking round it in the barn restored and painted the tank over 15 years ago it's not steel it's made from plated brass not something that would be found on later war time vehicles, the straps I made from original patterns using the correct rivet pattern. For good measure I fitted my 1940 dated shovel into the bracket on the side of the cab as well..... "all work and no play"..... and all that. Pete

So everything cleaned up and ready for fitting the shoes. The factory manual as is the way with most British workshop manuals of the period is fairly vague on detail unlike the North American productions that break every task down into its simplest form. one thing the Leyland manual did stress was that the pull off springs must be located behind the shoes and NOT in front to prevent the shoes tipping forward on the pivots and making proper adjustment impossible….. All very sensible but an absolute B###er to try to fit unless you are blest with at least three pairs of hands. The manual says helpful things like “leave the hangers off the pivots and attach the springs to the top hanger then attach the bottom” then and leaver the hangers into position on the pivots. A couple of helpful photos from the manual, looks so easy, look he’s even doing it at arm’s length !! In common with a lot of larger trucks the Leyland brake hanger and shoe has a cut out in the face to hook a wire through onto the spring and by using a leaver on top of the shoe the tension can be taken off the spring but you still need three pairs of hands or a fitters mate as the springs are fitted from the rear of the shoes. I work alone as I suspect most of us do and the hangers are heavy, the room behind the hub is limited, and the pull off springs are very strong with very tight bends on the hooks so after I’d used up my fairly extensive vocabulary of swear words and then invented a few more for good measure I decided I would try something else. There were two options one, take the hubs off to give more room, didn’t want to do that as the bearings were greased and set or two, find a way of taking the strain off of the the springs while I had two hands free to encourage the end of the spring into the very small hole from the back of the hanger enter the faithful workshop crane a couple of lengths of 14 gauge wire and a torch. so the crane dose it all with no sweat and a couple of mm at time if required Job done in 2 minutes with no bad language one thing I would say when working with springs it's best to use eye protection, if they do decide to let go even a jeep return spring could do a lot of damage. Pete

Work has continued on the intermediate axle with the fitting of the refurbished brake gear like a number of British trucks the braking system is a blend of old and new technology. The service brakes are hydraulic servo assisted but the hand brake is rod and cam operated the operating rods running through the hydraulic cylinders into mechanical expanders attached to the shoes here’s a page from the factory manual showing the set up. The brake linings on all the wheels are in very good condition so it was just a case of cleaning and painting the hangers and then a wipe over the linings with some brake cleaner fluid. The pull off springs (two per set of shoes) were in good condition and only needed cleaning and a splash of paint. I have decided to refit the hand brake linkage without the hydraulic cylinders for now as these will need some serious renovation and re-sleeving so I’ll tackle them all together as a separate exercise in the future. More to follow Pete