bobs1918

Good  day  today  .mounted  the  two  front  tires  and  installed inner   wheel bearings. The bearings  had  been   seized on  the  axles   and  required   a  lot  of  pressure  to  separate  them.  To  reinstall  them we spent  several hours honing  the   inner  aspect.   Interesting  is  that  3  of  the  4  wheels   were  Firestones the  4th was either   Goodyear  or  Goodrich   There  was  a  "G" on  the  bolts  and  this  one  had   straight  bearings   The  Firestones  had  tapered  bearings.  The  wheels  them  selves  were   slightly   different  as  well the  "G" wheel  has  the  tire   mounted  slightly  offset  from center. The  Firestones  also  have  a  slot  that  the  rim  slides  into  when  mounting. Both  are  retained  on  the wheel   by   a  wedge inside  and  out   which  itself  is  held fast   by  the  outer  rings. These are hold  the  wedges   and   when  drawn   in  seat  the   wedges  and   center ,or  in  the  case  of  the  "G"  wheel, slightly  off  center the  mounting  of  the   rim  tire  assembly

getting  there. Wheels are  also  painted  and  hope  to  mount  tires  this  week

10 hours ago, mammoth said:

Looks fabulous, well done. First coat of "epoxy etch primer" should go on before afternoon chill, thinned usually by about 10% to 20%. Use a strainer cone (from auto paint shop) to fill your gun. A 1.8 tip should do the job. Once the etch primer is on you can relax as it will protect from weather for a month or so. Use the sander filler only when you are ready to do the full paint so that is fresh to receive following coats. You will need a 2.0  or larger tip  to handle the solids in the filler coat.

ps the blaster is not using an independent filtered air feed (to his non existent helmet) and should have been sent off site until he got properly equipped.

Thanks  I  did use a  2mm  gun  for  that PLUS  I  used  a  respirator for  painting.  The  fact  that  the blaster  operated  as  he  did well   it  was  his  business  his   responsibility my  thoughts  as  well

8 hours ago, Bob Grundy said:

Was this blasting done at the sandblasters or did he come to you ?

Came  to  me

13 hours ago, Citroman said:

Will the blasting not have left sand between the spring leafs?

Perhaps  on  the  outside edge  but I  will   reexamine   when   I  get  o  the  technical/mechanical  part  of  the project. 

Thanks    Hope  to have  it  all  prepped  for  paint  in  a  week.  Need to  get  the   wheels   completely  painted   and then  mount the  rubber   so the  truck  can  be  moved  from   present  location   to my  home  for   mechanical   work  to commence. Will  continue  with  updates  as   it moves along

Back  to  work  o  the  FWD. Had  it  sandblasted   . The guy  who  did  it   spent 6  hours  on  it  and  still  left   much for  me  to  do.  Once  it  was  done   I  had to   get  some   primer on  the  bare  metal   or  else well  you know  what  can  happen. Here  are  some  pictures  before  and  after  blasting  . Interesting is  that  a  previous  owner   reversed  the  tailgate  for   no apparent  reason.  Easy to   put it   right. Note  the  picture  with  the  sides  lowered.  ALso  missing the  two  middle  stantions   on  the  body  . Will  have  to  fabricate  them. I  used  and  epoxy  primer  seasler. Messy as  hell  and  clogged two  guns.  Anyone  have  a  better  choice  for   priming??   

I believe  that  these  are  original  to  the  truck  I  have  seen  other  photos  with  the  panels

I  believe  when  the side  gates  are  dropped  down   a  stake  is  placed  in  the  ground   and   under  the  wooden  panel  to  give   extra   support  to  the  side  gate

That  makes  little  sense  to  me  .   There  were   multiple  tire/wheel  makers  I  for one  have  3  firestone   and  1 goodyear  on  my  truck  and  rims  are  slightly  different.  and  do NOT  interchange.  Maybe the  plan  is  to  make   rims  and  tires  for  the  Liberty  truck  which  IS standardized. That  still leaves  a  LOT  of  trucks  out  of  the  loop.

Hi  Barry

Firstly   the  cost   was  about   1100 USD  per  tire.Plus the cost  to  ship  the  rims 360  USD and then  to  ship  the  completed  tires back  to  me   500 USD  I  provided  my  clean  rims  with  old  rubber removed.  The  company is  the  only  one  in  the  US  that  still  makes  molds to process these  tires. Not  sure   what the  molds  are  made  out  of. One  set  of  molds  for  a  set of  4  tires.   The  wait  time  was  about  1  year. Still  waiting  for  the  sand blaster  to   blast  my   wheels  so  that  I  can  paint  and  then  mount  the  tires. The  excess  rubber  that  you  see  was  shaved down before  the  tires   were  shipped  to me. .  Thanks  for  your kind  comments

Bob

After   waiting    in  the  que for  over  1 year  the  FWD  now  has new tires  courtesy  of  the Canton  Bandag  Co.  of  Canton  Ohio.  They   reproduce the Overman  Cushion  brand of  hard  rubber  tires.  In  the next  few   weeks   we  should  have  the   wheels  sandblasted and  painted   , bearings  seals installed  and  tires mounted  on  the  wheels.  Here  is  a  picture of  the   new   tires  and a  reminder picture of my  truck   which  has  a  pretty  rare  mobile  machine/repair  truck  body also pictured

Well  then   from   69K  to asking  45K getting  to  a  point  that  someone  may  take  the   plunge!

The  FWD   still  not  home  as  I  await   the solid  rubber  tyres installed  on   my   rims.  .  8  months   since  the  rims  were  delivered .  There  is  only  one  company  in  the  States that   does  this  and   there  have  been   some   labor  issues  at  the  company.  I  have  been  assured  that   they  are in  the   works! For  now  I  have  taken  on   2  small  projects  to  keep  me  occupied.  Thanks  to   Tim   who  supplied   an  original  example  of  the   valve  spring   shroud I  was  able  to  have   molds  made  and   a  set   of  valve  spring   shrouds   cast.  Several  hours  of  finishing  and  they  came  out   very   well.  Now  they  will   need  to  be  final  fit  to  the engine.  Second  project  was  fabrication  of  the louvered  engine  panels  which  were  missing.  I  had  the  smaller  ones  so  the  size of  the  louver   could  be   ascertained.   Patterns  were  made  and  a  California   speed  shop    made  the  panels.  To  keep  them  rigid there is an  1/8 inch   steel   rod   which   surrounds  the  panel   and  the   lip  of  the  panel   is  folded  over  to   retain  the  rod.  Again  I  was  pretty  please  with  the result.  After   peening  the  lip  over   the  rod  I  used   an  offset   vise  grip  type  tool   for  the  final  crimp

This   was  posted on  Facebook   group  I  am  in.   It  is  in  Luxembourg.     Asking  price  is  69 K  USD  I'm out!  

Hello Adrian

GREAT find in my opinion LEAVE the bike as is . It is only original once and ww 2 paint is way off.

For correct ww 1 paint you would need to have it custom blended. Once again a terrific survivor that would be best refurbished and not "restored"

bob

After many hours was able to remove the wheels from the axles. The bearings would not slide off It took the use of three porta-power hydraulic devices to force them off.

Hello there Terry

Yes the pattern cover came from Tim Gosling a member of this forum and a superb restorer . Tim I will post it back to you when I have it in my possession. Waiting for the rims to be returned with new rubber. It has been 3 months wait time and still not ready> only ONE company here in the states is doing hard rubber tyres and the wait time is normal for them. In the mean time truck is up on a dolly and can be moved on a railroad track. IT has been difficult to remove the wheels as the bearings are not cooperating. will try hydraulic porta-power this weekend.

Found a great fabricator in California, home of speed and custom shops. He was able to fabricate the missing engine panels.I still need to make a frame of 5mm round steel rod. The panel is then rolled around it and it gives the panel rigidityStill in the shipping box. It took a long time to find someone to make these for a reasonable price.

OK I was wrong The manual does show a Stewart model 131M as original equipment..........So a little hunting led me to a very reasonable example Maybe not THE speedo but nobody will know. Sorry it is upside down.

Yes That is a civilian brochure.Likely after ww 1 . Here is cover of the US Army 1917 manual

OK really into the wheel project. All the rims are ready for new rubber. I need to wrap them up and send to Canton Ohio . We sorted out how to recondition the rim wedges. Made a steel jig to the correct diameter . Apply heat small section at a time and then bend twist raise or lower AND beat with body hammer to reshape. Two man job but got 2 of the 4 wedges almost back to shape. Found that the one odd wheel is not Firestone but must be made by a company beginning with letter G as all of these bolts are G marked

Good day today. The last two tires were removed from their rims. Interesting find is that one rim was different than the other three. The coned surface for the wedge is offset that is not centered. Never the less that will be used as that is what we have. Also today clutch is operational and foot brake is also functioning. Waiting for a break in the weather to sandblast chassis then we can get into the engine.

OK got the last two tires removed Quite a battle to remove the wedges Good picture of the Firestone name inside the rim

Did you get a whiff of it? The wind was blowing to the east!

good view of the inside of the rim which shows the bevel into which the wedge is driven. Also shown is the modification we found whereby the rim and the wheel were "locked " together . A large keyway was made on the rim and a key was affixed to the wheel . This was found on 3 of the 4 wheels. Also shown is how we removed the old rubber. A slot was made in the old rubber with a sawsall. Heat applied underside of the rim and the rubber was cleanly peeled from the rim . A fork lift applied a constant pressure which aided in the peeling . 2 down 2 to go!