Old Bill

Thanks Chaps! I can't see us getting acetylene equipment in the short term as we just wouldn't use it enough. However, there are some jobs that when you need it, you need it! Anyway , that road-block is gone and we are moving again. Next job is to get the tyres off. This is hard work as they are remarkably tough, even after sixty or so years. The rubber is bonded to a steel band which has to be cut with the disc cutter so the first task is to groove the rubber so I can access it with the disc. A hand-saw put a couple of slots in it and then I attacked it with the Stanley knife. A cold chisel was driven in behind which is tricky as it bounces! Then we managed to get the jemmy behind and lever some lumps out. Run the disc through the gap and cut until the band breaks with quite a bang! Lifting the wheel out of the tyres. Even without the tyres, the wheel is far too heavy to lift and I had to stand it on edge with the chain block. Dad has been busy today removing the chain hooks from the spokes. That will make cleaning the wheel very much easier. The wheel is Dad's problem at the moment with lots of miserable cleaning up work to do. Go to it Dad! Steve 🙂

Success! (Eventually!) Well I am back in Devon to return to the fray. I have borrowed a monster hydraulic puller and still have the borrowed acetylene equipment so off we go again. I started by beefing up the weld with some big rods, mainly to get some heat into the system. Then it was out with thte big borrowed puller. Once fitted, I aimed the torch through the gap to get the bearing hot and then wound on the pressure. A good bang at this point indicated that the weld had failed. Surprisingly, this was not the joint with the bearing but the fillet around the top face which I had done down-hand on the bench. A bit disappointing but I had wound the puller well up and it hadn't a lot more to give. Strip it down and then onto the final string in my bow and that was to cut the bearing out. My experience of oxy-acetylene is limited to a bit of gas welding at college many moons ago and cutting is a new skill completely! Fortunately, my good friend who had loaned the puller had given me some tips in advance and Dad had gone out and bought some gas-goggles. I spent a lot of time with the torch and had been expecting to cut a simple slice in the race. Sadly, it was not as easy as that as a lot of my arc-welding slag got in the way and I made a real mess. I think I owe my other pal two bottles now as the acetylene is nearly empty again! Anyway, after a lot of persistence, I eventually managed to go right through and a good thump with hammer and cold chisel saw it move. A lot of waggling with the stilson wrench saw it moving and freeing up and it came off at last! I had made quite a mess of the bearing! The cage can be seen inside. Once the bearing was out, we pulled the crane back and the wheel came with it! Amazingly, apart from a little divot, I had done no damage to the axle. We pulled the replacement wheel out of stores and gave it a good brushing. We then put it onto the axle with a bearing from the collection and all was well. Even the hub cap went back on. After that, the chassis could be put away, much to Mother's relief. Tomorrow, we will inspect the wheel and see about getting it ready to fit on the chassis. What a relief, we can make some progress again! Very many thanks for all of your kindnesses and support and to my pals who have loaned me tools and equipment. This has to be one of the most painful jobs we have ever done. Certainly, there was no joy in it but we can start making progress again which is great. Steve 😁

Yes, it is strange. I have managed to acquire a wide variety of skills but welding just completely escapes me! Probably because I can't see and do it all by feel! I shall see if I can borrow the big puller again and have a final go. If that fails, I shall have to gas the end off the axle and scrap it. This job is getting very painful. Steve 🙁

The Fight Continues! A pal has very kindly loaned me some proper oxy-acetylene kit with sensibly sized bottles. Listening to the advice, I started by welding the end of the puller to a piece of tube. My best pigeon was on duty today. Then welded the tube to the bearing. I screwed the puller in and tightened it up. Of course, the weld immediately failed so I went around again gobbing on as much weld as I could. I leaned on the puller and it held although the bearing didn't move so out with the heat. After having a good go with that, we gave the handle a turn and after a while felt a definite 'give'. 'Hooray, we thought. However, the joy was short lived as we soon found that the puller had failed instead and the seals had blown. I had kept my hand on it to make sure that it didn't get too hot but obviously it did. Back to the drawing board. Steve 🤔

Thanks Chaps! My problem is that once I have decided on a plan, I can't just get on with it as the lorry is 190 miles away! Anyway, I have found a local welding supplies place and will go and see him for advice and, hopefully, a purchase on Friday. Then I can plan another trip westwards. Oh what fun. Steve 🙂

Many thanks for all of your thoughts and kindness. It is great to have so many friends on side when a job is proving challenging! A higher rated puller would be nice as the legs will take a bit more load but I haven't found anything suitable yet. Welding a bit of tube or similar to the front of the bearing have been suggested by several people but, as you can see, my welding is awful at the very best of times. I think my ability rather than the principle will let me down there. The common thread which keeps recurring is the application of heat so I have decided to bite the bullet and invest in a full size oxy-propane kit. Hopefully, I can get the oxygen on a bottle deposit basis rather than ongoing rental as we will never use it enough to justify that. I am thinking that if I can get the bearing really hot without setting fire to the wheel and then wangle the puller in whilst wearing gloves, it might do the trick. We shall see! Steve 🙂

Lovely find! Steve 🙂

Well, we stiffened up the puller and had another go. My pigeon wasn't available to do the welding so I had to do it myself. Nothing broke this time as Dad had cut some new pins from silver steel . However, I wound it up until I bent the tommy bar but it wouldn't let go. Dad had borrowed a model engineer's oxy-propane set so I thought to try to warm the race whilst under load by pointing the very small nozzle behind the puller directly at it. However, the oxygen bottle proved empty which put paid to that. After leaving it for a couple hours, I released it and then carried on with grinding a slot in the face whereupon Father's Dremel grinder failed so I gave up and came home. In the mean time, Father has found a replacement bearing in the stores and has set to cleaning it up. It will give in one day I guess but at the moment, I am thoroughly fed up with the job. Steve 😒

Thank you chaps, We spent yesterday afternoon straightening out the puller and reinforcing the bend point so we will have another go with that later. I would dearly like to split the race completely but it is 3" deep and I can't get in more than 1". The groove I have is 1/4" deep at the moment as I ran out of bits. However, Father has obtained another box of them so I expect to be back grinding later. I can put a shallow groove in opposite sides so we can see if that has any effect. Since we have broken the joint we can at least keep applying the penetrating oil with some hope that it soaks in. More later! Steve

The Battle Continues! I am back down in Devon to have another go at the wheel. I thought we might get it this time. We started off adjusting my new puller to fit into the space. That all looked good. I tried putting some load on it to see if the bearing would move but no luck. Heat must be the solution so I had a go at it with the welder to get as much intense heat in as I could. After a few rods, we gave it a good thump with the sledge and eventually succeeded in moving the race inwards by 1/16". This looked really promising so we gave it a good squirt of penetrating oil and went about setting up the puller. Unfortunately, it was not up to it so no joy. We have straightened out the puller this afternoon and I have been trying to reinforce it and adjust it so that it goes back into position. A step forward but not as large as we had hoped. A return to the fray is scheduled for tomorrow. Steve 🙂

Hi Chaps. Thanks for your continuing suggestions! I haven't tried splitting it with a cold chisel as I don't think I have a deep enough groove to make it worthwhile. It is only 1/4" wide by 1/4" deep and the race itself is 2 1/2" wide so it would be a bit of a fight. Dad has ordered up some more grinding bits so I could go deeper. This remains an option. In the mean time, I have come home to make up a special puller to fit through the gap around the race. This has been today's project. The hydraulic ram centre piece is a £25 ebay find and rated at 12 tons. The disc was that we used as the centre plug when pushing the brake drum off the other wheel. Hopefully, this drum will be OK, otherwise I will have to make up another plug! Dad is in the process of borrowing an oxy-propane kit so I intend to return next weekend to have another go. Watch this space! Steve 🙂

Well, we are still doing battle! Thank you for all of your various thoughts and comments. They are all much appreciated. After giving it some more thought, we came to the conclusion that if we removed the cage and rollers, then the inner bearing would come off over this inner race. We therefore set to cutting the cage out with a cold chisel. After cutting between the rollers, I managed to break the ends off and push the race back to allow the rollers to bunch at the bottom. There was then enough room to draw the rollers one at a time. We slid the wheel outwards only to realise that the inner bearing is trapped by a screw-in ring in the back of the wheel so we were stymied. However, now we have some more space to work so I have measured up to make a puller that I can wangle in around the race. I have also cut a notch in the race with the Dremel so that we can get a punch on it to twist it. I would have gone closer to the axle but have run out of grinding bits! Current thinking is to make up the puller and then get some heat into the race with either an arc welder or possibly an oxy-propane torch if I can borrow one. Hit the race inwards to get it moving and then insert puller and remove. We shall see! Steve 🙂

Hello Chaps. Many thanks for all of your thoughts and suggestions. They are all much appreciated. Spark erosion would certainly eat through the bearing but it would be a pain to set up with seven feet of axle on the end! Worth keeping in mind though. The front flange and the centre hub are all one piece so I don't think that knocking the bolts through would help us much, unfortunately. The general concensus seems to be that getting heat into the bearing race to crack the joint is the way to go. I think I would have had a go with oxy-acetylene if I had that kit available. We have never gone that way but have stuck with propane over the years. Just now and again, oxy-acetylene would be nice to have! I did consider investing in oxy-MAPP gas equipment. Does anyone have any experience of it? What about a carbon-arc torch? Are they any good? I like the idea of an induction heater so I must see what is available in that area. Running a heavy weld around the race would also get a lot of heat in quickly. I like that idea, even though my welding is diabolical! Getting the race moving with a big hammer also has some appeal. Plenty of food for thought there. Thank you all very much. Steve 😀

Hi Ed. Many thanks for your thoughts. The wheel turns freely and is not touching the shoes. As it is chain drive, there are no half shafts so it isn't hung up there. It is simply the outer bearing stuck on the axle end. I hadn't thought of it turning and friction welding itself on but there are no signs of it overheating and sticking and at the speeds the thing goes I should be surprised if it got that hot. Getting heat into it has been our challenge as with the big propane torch everything gets hot together. However, I am now thinking along the lines of adding an oxy-mapp gas unit to our armoury so I can get the bearing really hot without setting fire to the wheel. Oh, what fun! Steve 🙂

Hi David. Many thanks for that. I can see exactly what you have done. The thick wall pipe makes all of the difference but I am still surprised that you didn't get a flat on it! Working copper is very satisfying and it is fascinating to feel it harden up. The trick is to stop when it does! Thank you for your description. I shall look forward to further installments! Steve 🙂

The saga of the wheels continues! We desperately want to get the back wheels on the chassis so we can tick off 'rolling chassis'. However regular readers will recall the fight we have been having with them. Our two best wooden rear wheels were on a chassis and we want to replace them with an iron pair that we have in stock so that we can refurbish them and fit them to the new chassis. Early in 2020, we dragged the chassis out to swap them over and made a start. We unscrewed the nut and slid the wheel off, taking its weight on the engine crane. We then put the iron one back and the job was done. Preparing that wheel for the wheelwright has been another story but that is currently with him for repairs and we should see it back in the Spring. Then we went on to the LH wheel This just wouldn't pull off so we strapped a beam across it and tried jacking it with some M16 studding. No joy so then we put the blowlamp on it and got it as hot as we dared, bearing in mind that the wheel is wooden! Still no joy so Father turned up a ring and screw cut it to fit the hub-cap thread, A pal very generously loaned us a Sealey hydraulic puller of significant proportions I gave it everything I could but not a squeak. We have come back to it today with the idea of sacrificing the bearing by cutting it out and taking the wheel over the top. I got in with the dremel and then the cold chisel to cut the cage with the idea of taking out the rollers one at a time. I knew that the rollers have a groove at one end which traps a ring around the inner race so I ground a slot in that. However, the roller still wouldn't move. I found another bearing in stock and realised that there is a groove at both ends and I have no access to the inner one. The wheel is therefore still on the end of the axle and the chassis is in the drive way. I have run out of ideas as to what to do next and it is very frustrating. Any ideas please chaps? We are stuck! Cheers! Steve 🤔

Nice to see it coming on again. Just how did you bend the pipe? Did you just pull it around a piece of bar or was there some trick to it? It really is very difficult to get such a tight coil without it collapsing and I should like to know! Steve 🙂!

Nice pictures. Thanks for those. I didn't know about that one although I suspect that Tim does! Steve 🙂

Thanks Ed. Merry Christmas to you too! Steve 🎅

You are most welcome. As we are all interested in military vehicles, do you have any photos of your models? We all like to see them! Steve🙂

Hi Rambo. Is this any good? What sort of models do you make? Do you have any photos you could share with us? Steve 🙂

Thanks Al. Glad you enjoyed it. If ever you are in the UK, look us up! Steve 🙂

Nice job Ben. Let's hope you don't have to use them too often! Steve😁

You may recall that we were a bit dubious about the big-end bolts so we decided to make replacements. It was recommended here that we use En24 grade steel so Father got hold of some and set about making them. He did his usual trick of making them in pairs so that he had something to hold on to. An interesting decision to make was what thread to use. The originals were 3/8" UNS but rather than make the nuts as well, Father made them UNF form instead. Each has a flat on one side to stop it turning whilst being tightened, and a split pin hole. The sharp eyed among you will have noticed that half of them are longer than the other half. This was a puzzle until we noticed in the parts book that they are deliberately longer in order to dip in the oil and splash it around. The engine is only splash lubricated so this must have been found necessary. Dad did a lovely job with them and they just require a gentle tap to seat them in position. The first one is fitted! I shall have to fit the new pistons and do the rest over Christmas. As an aside, I made up some paper gaskets to go beneath the blocks. Does anyone have any views on this? Should the gaskets be there or not? I must admit that I am still in two minds over this so your thoughts would be appreciated! Steve 🙂

These rear wheels have been causing us no end of trouble and are refusing to give in without a fight. My last posting on the subject was how Father and I spent two days trying to get the brake drum off without success. We have therefore given it some thought and have applied a more scientific approach. We decided that we would have to make a puller. Whilst Father ordered up some laser cut steel blanks, I picked up this nifty 12 tonne hydraulic ram from our favourite auction site. I turned up a flange so that we can fit it to any puller we have to make in future and took it down to Devon. In the mean time, Father had acquired two discs of half inch plate. One was turned with a flange to engage in the wheel. The larger on had a hole cut in the middle for the ram and was drilled around its periphery so that it could be bolted through the sprocket holes. Once all was secure, I started winding. The ram is rated at 12 tons but has a stroke of only 1/2". Fortunately for me, although the disc developed quite a bow, the drum let go before I ran out of stroke. I could then slacken the ram off and wind the body into the flange for another bite. With some persistence, this approach worked and we soon had the brake drum on the floor. Now to get it into the car! Father had cleaned up the replacement brake drum and painted it as well so that went into the car along with a new set of bolts. Then off to the wheelwright it went. Nothing but the best for our Peerless! The brief is to do whatever needs to be done to give us a sound and functioning wheel. This was fine and he has promised that we can have it back in the new year. Our Christmas project now, is to get the other one off the axle and eye that up. Hopefully it will need no more than a good clean but we shall see. There is no such thing as a straightforward job in this game! Steve 🙂