David Herbert

13s 6d each, That was an astonishing price then ! I hate to think what that translates to now.

David

For quite a long time Ford UK used the Thames badge on many but not all commercial vehicles, possibly only in the UK market. This applied to pure trucks like the 1950s Thames Trader and car derived vans and panel vans too.

David

There must be a derelict chassis in a wood somewhere, the back axle is usually about the last piece remaining when everything else has been robbed or rotted away.

David

Ricky,

Welcome to the forum. I can't help with T16 bits but you might get a better response if you put the country code of your phone number and, better still, what country you are in into your profile. The world is a big place !

David

Or click on his name and send him a personal message via the forum.

David

No knowledge of the valve lifters but judging by the white oil you have water mixing with the oil. that is not good !

You don't say what is wrong with the lifter - is it one of the ones in your photo?

David

I see that it has front towing hooks in the British WD style. Does that make it an ex British contract one ? It looks like the half shafts have been removed as some of the bolts are missing so it is possible that the diff itself is still there which would be a huge bonus. Great find !

David

Fuel in the oil is probably from an engine mounted fuel pump with an internal leak (diaphragm ?) if it has one.

David

Just to put this info in one place, it was also possible to order a D4 (and many other crawler tractors) with long track frames. The sprocket was in the same place but the track frames had an additional bottom roller so the idler moved forwards by about a foot. This gave more length of track on the ground for lower ground pressure.

Long track frames were also used to give much more stability for crane or loading shovel conversions where it was normal for the track frames to be rigidly bolted to the frame of the machine rather than being able to pivot at the back and the weight of the machine carried on a massive transverse leaf spring whose ends pressed down on the track frames. The center of the spring was pivoted to the underside of the machine so that the front of the tracks had springing and if one went up the other went down. This allowed the tracks to follow the contour of the ground but was not as stable as a rigid track machine.

David

Ploughman,

Wide gauge means that the centers of the tracks are further apart than a narrow gauge machine. This does give the opportunity to fit wider tracks as there is a bigger gap between the center line of the track and the sides of the tractor. However wide gauge might be specified to give better sideways stability on slopes or if fitted with any kind of crane that lifts over the side of the machine. Also a wide gauge machine will steer better when pulling hard.

David

Do you have a question about it ?

David

Could have been an incorrect number painted on by an owner who didn't know the original number of his pig.

David

Bob, you saw it in Jon Morris's thread about building a Pz Kw2 in 'Tracked Vehicles'. Page 24.

David

It is great to see you doing such a great job on this machine. I have never had much interest in two wheeled things but your enthusiasm is infectious and I look forward to reading each post as it comes. Keep up the good work !

David

Has someone cut a bit off the bottom of the lever in the cab and re-drilled it to make it clear the bell housing? that would reduce the travel of the bottom of the lever between the two positions that the detent / latch allows and could be causing this. it is the only explanation that I can think of.

David

Great find !

It is interesting that the numbers are stencilled onto the navy bodies before they were built up into complete machines. This would suggest that there is little possibility to work out the military registration from the frame number.

Looking at the woman's shirt I think that the colours are genuine. Certainly colour film was widely available in America at that time, much more so than in the UK.

David

Whatever you use, don't use anything with EP additives as they will destroy the bronze bush between the input and output shafts. I had to replace both shafts on mine because someone had used EP90. I used straight SAE140 in both the gearbox and diff though what came out of the diff was more like 600 viscosity steam oil !

David

The problems with bead width and shape only apply to WW2 British design 9.00 - 16 and 10. 50 - 16 tire/two piece wheel combinations. CMP wheels and so tires are the same and all have a different bead angle and diameter to American ones. I believe that the aluminum wheels and Dunlop Trac Grips used on Ferrets were made to the American standard. Fortunately this problem doesn't affect 20" sizes but as Radiomike7 says ply rating makes a huge difference to weight and also ride quality. As we will not be using our vehicles overloaded in combat situations we can go for the least ply rating that gives the carrying capacity needed.

David

14.00 - 20 was a re-naming of 13.50 - 20 in the same way that 10.50 - 20 became 11.00 - 20. I think this happened quite late in the war. This may have been to reflect the greater outside diameter caused by using the carcass of a road tire but the greater tread depth of cross country tires. Some tires are even marked with both sizes. American vehicles had 14.00 - 20 from the start and British vehicles would never have been built with American style non directional bar grip tread (with the bar at right angles to the centre line of the tread). If one was going to manufacture tires for British vehicles I would have thought that copies of Dunlop Trac Grip or Goodyear (can't think of the name but a V shape tread) would be most representative. There are a lot of Matadors, Militants and Scammells that desperately need them.

Before anyone starts debating exact dimensions, have a look at the original manufacturers figures. It is surprising just how different each make of the same size tire was.

David

Yes !

Ahh, now I see it !

David

There is a shortage of a spark plug hole in the left hand cylinder head. Won't this make the engine difficult to start ? 😁

David

Standard WW2 Army headlights are either Butler or Lucas manufacture. They look identical from a distance but most of the component parts do not interchange. They have a part number starting with either B or L stamped on the top of the body as a hint but beware of mixed parts that don't fit together properly. It may well be that one is easier to retrofit with modern reflectors/ glass than the other.

David

Obviously a sale needed to be made but it is a great shame to make a pretend German tank out of it as it will never look like one other than to wannabe paintball heroes and a rather nice piece of cold war history gets destroyed.

David

What a great set of photos! I think there must be something for everyone. Thank you very much for posting them.

David