Old Bill

The blue would not have been original to the Locomobile although it might be to the body. The only Locomobiles to carry bus bodies were fitted with redundant B-type bodies when more troop transport was needed later in the war. The only correct colour for the combination would therefore be khaki-green! Steve

There is also this one of course at the Caister Castle Motor Museum. A scrap man called Goodey put the bus body into a lorry chassis in the 1960's and it has appeared in a number of films including 'Oh What a Lovely War'. The poor old thing has been left outside like this for some years and is not doing well when you look closely. It is a very strange museum as you are absolutely forbidden to take photographs. Someone has sneaked this one when they weren't looking. Hopefully, someone will give it some love one day. Steve.

My progress is becoming glacial which is very frustrating. However, the 5/16" UNS tap and die turned up from China this week so I have made up four replacement spindles for the bonnet catches. There are now eight completed catches in stock for the two lorries when the time comes. I continue to press on with the Dennis radiator pattern but there is nothing of interest to show for the time being. I would like to finish it before Christmas though. Cheers! Steve

Thanks Andy. It is great to see progress being made. Being locked down near your vehicle makes all the difference! Looking forward to seeing the progress. Steve 👍

Well, my planned visit has been kyboshed by the lockdown again. I have had a box of bonnet catches on my bench for some time requiring work so I have picked them up again. The Peerless has a somewhat fancy bonnet catch that I have seen nowhere else. Dad had a rummage through the stores and came up with a few more. We will need eight altogether. Once the bodies were cleaned up, Father painted them and turned some new spindles with UNF threads. I then slotted them. As we need eight catches for the two lorries, we decided to take some of the graft out of the job and get some new handles laser profiled. it was deemed worthwhile to order a couple of spares at the same time. I silver soldered some lumps on so that I had something to file back. Filing each one did become a bit tedious after a while at two hours apiece! Then, what do you know but Dad found some more! A bit of heat and gentle persuasion got them apart but, as you can see, the springs and spindles were completely shot. Well, we always like using original bits but I find that these have the dreaded UNS threads inside them so I must turn up some more spindles, Even getting a die has proven difficult and I am awaiting one from China at the moment. In the mean time, I have wound some new springs using my home-made spring winder. This works well but I usually need to practice a few times before I get the springs just right. This time, I was short of wire and had nothing spare to practice with. This is my progress, from left to right. The first two, the pitch was too small. Once adjusted, I had one too many coils. This was remedied by putting some coloured tape on the chuck so that I could count revolutions more easily. After that, they more or less settled down. Finally, some primer on everything to date. These three, I filed and the fourth has an original spindle so I have a set ready to fit. Not exactly urgent but another job ticked off the list. I am running out of bits now and really need a trip to see the thing again. Roll on Christmas! Steve 🙂

I do hope so! Steve

Hi Al. As you can see from the earlier pics, the lorry was fully functional. When Dad rebuilt the radiator, he replaced the sides by using the originals as patterns with some bits glued on to give a machining allowance and replace the broken bits. These are still fine. We are also fortunate in that the original core is in wonderful condition and needed only a few of the gills straightening out when he first did it. However, the aluminium tanks have corroded right away and, although we got a few years out of them, have now had it completely beyond repair. Hence the need for new ones. I am not much of a woodworker and have not done anything as complex as this before but one has to have a go. Our Thornycroft has a complete new radiator but for that one, I bought a share in the pattern that was professionally made for Hampshire Museums Service. That pattern has produced at least six sets of castings which are now scattered around the country. I had the gills made by a radiator repair company and threaded them on the tubes myself before returning them to be soldered into the tube plates. Unfortunately, they have stopped doing that sort of thing so I will have to look somewhere else for the next lot. If you take a look through the Thornycroft thread, you will find the whole story in there. Steve 🙂

I am not much of a wood worker and was getting a bit fed up with it so I gave it a break and did some other things. However, the feeling has come upon me again and it is time it was finished off. I took it to see a pal who has much more experience of this kind of work than I and he made a couple of points. One was that he didn't think the badge would draw very well, particularly around the points in the letter 'N'. I therefore applied some wax fillet around all of the letters. This comes in strips and, if it is warm enough, simply pushes into place using the ball tool. It took some patience but worked well. I put some filler in the letter 'N' and then dressed it off afterwards, tapering it upwards to the end of the points. We also had some discussion about the internal baffle feature. he didn't think it would work very well as there is no key to align the core so I took the wedge out and made up a removable piece of wood and another core box for a pice that could be dropped into the hole. The upper piece is screwed into big core box with wing nuts and the lower part is the box for the piece of sand that drops in. The original, non-located core box, now needed some adjustment. A couple of coats of Bondaprime. Ready for the foundry! I had planned to take it to Devon this weekend but have been kyboshed, unfortunately. Next trip down will be anybody's guess. Oh well. I can start on the bottom tank pattern now. Steve 🙂

No. I think there is a flat strip soldered into the bottom with the end turned up and a hole through it for the spring to hook through. You can just see the outline through the gauze in the pic.

Now that you mention it, I think that bracket must do that. I couldn't fathom it out and didn't make one but the spring does hold the lid in the way whilst pouring oil in so it would be good to have a stowage position. This is the filler on the original lorry at Carlton Colville.

Nice find, Tomo! By the way, the lid is held on with a spring rather than just a chain as the air movement blows it off altogether. I need to fit a stronger spring to ours! Steve

You are very kind. I am only sorry that we aren't progressing faster. Dad is keeping it all going but my contributions have been a bit lacking. I really need to keep looking at the thing and handling bits to plan the next move but have been keeping away. You may recall that the last time I went down, we assembled some of the brakes and the brake shoes. The shoes are held together by two springs on a rod and have to be compressed to be able to fit them. I did try squeezing them up in the vice and wrapping a cable tie around but I couldn't make it work so I have made a spring lifter. I found a couple of bits of steel in the drawer. I bored a rebate in the ends to suit the springs. A couple of bits of 3/8" square bar and a rivet made the hinge with a set screw between the two to jack them apart. Next time I go down, I will be able to finish the job and it can go in the 'special tools' box. A minor step forward anyway. Steve

Thanks Alastair. That is a nice project. Don't worry about thread hijacking. I think of this forum as a bunch of mates in the pub sitting around a table talking about a common interest. It is always nice to see what everyone else is up to. My Peerless activities have been severely hampered by this Covid busines. I need to spend much more time in Devon but have curtailed my travelling. It is such a pain being 200 miles from one's project! Steve

That's what friends are for and why I like this forum so much! We need a picture of the vehicle now! Steve 😀

Think I might struggle with that one and would probably end up making a tap instead! Nice job! Steve

You are too kind, Ed. We only do it for the fun of it and the friends we make around the world. Steve

Nice job! Steve

Can't leave Dad to have all the fun! Now that the front wheels are on along with the track rod, king pins and stub axles, the king pins need some greasers. We are fortunate to have the remains of three but, of course, we will eventually need four. They screw into the top of the king pin and , when the knob is turned, a piston is driven downwards expelling the grease and pushing it down the hole in the king pin. I took them apart for a clean and to assess what parts were missing. This was the most complete example having both the knob and locking clip. We have two pistons which have leather seals. The internal springs have ends bent so that they locate inside the cylinder and in the top of the piston to stop it rotating as the knob is turned. For a bit of light relief, I filed up the three missing clips. The fourth knob was next. A rummage in the stock drawer found alump of brass which would just do with a bit of judicious hole-dodging. Roughed out and with filing guides bolted on. An hour or two with a file and emery paper and there is a respectable replacement. Of the three centre spindles that we have, one is wobbly in the knob and has a poor thread. As usual, the thread was a UNS example but this time left handed! I don't have a die for that as you might expect. However, 3/8 UNS has 18 tpi but 3/8" Whit has 16. I opted to make the two replacements with 3/8" LH BSW threads. Well, there is a limit! We are missing two pistons. They were a simple turning job with a LH thread in the middle. I have used O-rings instead of leather washers and I am sure they will be fine. First complete original cleaned up and reassembled. We have only three original cases so I had to turn up the fourth. A rummage in the stock drawer turned up a 3 1/2" length of 3" brass bar. I have no idea where it came from but it was absolutely just right for the job. Lots and lots and lots of swarf with a bit of knurling thrown in. The excitement of parting off without damaging it. The slot for the locking clip. Pinning the knob to the spindle. I turned up a pin and tapped it into the hole before peining the ends over and dressing off. Nearly there now but still missing a spring for the new one. I wound this on a tapered mandrel. Unfortunately, I didn't allow enough for the spring to relax at the small end as it moved more there, reducing the net taper. Not quite perfect but I think it will do the job. Final assembly. The final three cleaned up and assembled. The fourth one is already on the lorry! It is amazing how long these silly little bits take. Fortunately, the remaining greasers are a lot simpler which is good news as there are dozens of them of a special Peerless pattern! Steve

I have just had a nice weekend in Devon where we did a little more. The 1 3/16" x 12 tpi tap and die had turned up so I set to on tidying up the track rod. The die is a metric diameter for an imperial thread and we don't have a die stock that size. Fortunately, the thread wasn't too garbled and I managed to pull it around by hand and strap wrench to clean it up. The die isn't of the split pattern so it took that treatment. A good greasing this time with the thickest grease I could find (Rated ' Consistency 2' on the tin). I screwed it into roughly the right position and tried it for toe-in. It is 1/4" on a 30" wheel so following the advice above, I don't think we are too far out. I tightened up the locking nut and passed the rod over to the paint shop for some remedial work. Since last time, Father has cleaned up the other radius rod end and painted it so I soon hung that on the chassis and fitted the brake drum back plate. The brake levers went on next. The cams showed some signs of wear so I swapped them side to side to allow the unworn faces to come into contact instead. Whilst tightening the second pinch bolt, it just didn't feel right. Closer inspection revealed that is was a BSF bolt wound into a UNS tapped hole. We found another bolt which could be cleaned up and modified for use but Dad's brand new UNS die made a mess of the thread. After all of the lorries we have done, we thought that by now we would have all of the tools we would need to do these but UNS threads have really caught us out. Does anyone know where UNS fasteners may be obtained? They are very tedious things to make and getting decent dies is proving difficult as well. Next job was to screw the wear plates onto the ends of the brake shoes. Quite fortuitously, when Father replaced the linings on the shoes he replaced the countersunk screws and slot nuts with new UNF versions. He kept the originals which turned out to be UNS and there were enough left to secure the wear pads using holes tapped into the castings. At least we didn't have to make these! Again, the pads are worn on one side so I have carefully arranged them so that the unworn edges of the cams contact the unworn part of the wear plates. We hung these on the axle ends. Then there was the next challenge. How to compress the return springs to fit them! I think I am going to have to make a bespoke spring compression tool. Something else to ponder this week. Steve

Hi Ian. I think there has been a software glitch with the provider. Jack and Co have sorted it, fortunately! Steve

Thanks Ed. Nice to hear from you again! Yes, I did think that 2" toe-in would be a bit excessive. It is always nice to have the voice of experience so we can get it right first time. Steve

Thanks Bernard and Andy for your kind offer and suggestions. I think Father has tracked a tap and die down so, with a bit of luck, we will be sorted shortly. Just have to pay the bill! It is amazing what you can find when you start looking. 3/8" UNS nuts still elude us, however. We may have to resort to making the things. Oh well. Steve

Well, I am back in Leicestershire again and, having managed to dodge the bank holiday traffic, had a couple of hours this afternoon to take a look at the track rod. It was a bit of a puzzle to work out how it went together. There is a screw thread inside which must provide the adjustment but how does that nut work? A closer look revealed a slot cut in the clevis. I decided that rather than being a simple lock-nut, the nut must have a tapered bore which squeezes the clevis onto the thread. Only thing to do was to try to take it apart. Clamp it to the bench and get the blow lamp out. A bit of heave-ho with a big spanner got it moving but I could not release the lock nut. I therefore unscrewed them both together but, as you can see, this did the thread no good. Some serious hammer blows broke the joint between the clevis and lock nut and the taper was revealed. A wire brush soon tidied them up and they can be primed again. My problem now is the thread. The engagement is very long so I am happy that sufficient strength will remain in the joint. However, the threads do need cleaning up. They are 1 3/16" x 12tpi which is an odd size again so now I am on a hunt for a suitable tap and die to borrow or buy. I don't want to start making those as well! Steve

We took the track rod off again to see if it could be adjusted. Now onto the back axle. The U-bolts at the rear are OK but access to the nuts is very difficult. I managed to find a deep 29mm impact socket which would do the job except that it was still too big in diameter to fit without fouling the axle. I put it up in the lathe and, running it slowly with a tipped tool, managed to turn 1/8" off the diameter which was just enough. Back axle now secured to the limit of my strength with a 3/4" drive socket wrench! The back axle is mounted on swinging links at both ends and is secured by an adjustable radius rod which allows the chain tension to be adjusted. This rod has bronze bushes at both ends which locate on bosses on the end of the axle and on a casting on the side of the chassis. Dad had cleaned and painted two adjusters but unfortunately, one of them was very worn to the point that there was 1/4" clearance. We had a rummage in stores and found another which fitted much better so we decided to use that instead. First job was to strip it down and clean it. Getting the lock-nut off took two big spanners, heat and some serious effort. All OK in the end, however. To fit the radius rod assembly, the axle needs to be in the right place. It took a ratchett strap to move it though! It dropped on nicely in the end. The locking washer will be secured once the chain tension has been set. The brake back plate was fitted too. This was a performance again because it is on studs which are 3/8" UNS thread. We found enough nuts to clean up and fit it but are rapidly running out of these fasteners. I really don't want to start making up nuts if I can avoid it. Does anyone know where we could buy some UNS nuts in a handful of sizes please? That was it in Devon for the weekend. We will have another get-together to do the other side in a couple of weeks. Steve

Father had previously rescued and cleaned up some lock washers. Wheels next! I fitted the inner race after greasing it up and then screwed in the locking ring. This has a grub screw in the joint to stop it unscrewing. The two of us can just lift a front wheel so we put that on the stub whilst father fitted the other race. The securing nut and some shim washers to set the end float and the wheel was on! Dad had already cleaned and painted a hub cap spo that was fitted. Coming on now! Track rod next with Father's brand new pins. After that was fitted, I checked the tracking and found that the wheels toe-in by 2". That is the rims at the front of the wheel at a radius of 15" are 2" closer together than the rims at the back. I think that this is too much and that a better figure would be around the 1/2" mark. What do you think?