TooTallMike

So, today, in between retreiving and feeding new-born lambs, the engine mounts were modified to the correct height, the clutch was fitted and the gearbox was installed for what I hope will be the first and last time. The clutch was aligned using an old gearbox input shaft which I retrieved from the scrap pile. Strangely, desite everything else on the Cummins being metric, the pressure plate fasteners are UNF. Presumably this is due to the flywheel's Leyland 'parts bin' heritage. Anyway, 10 year-old engine meets brand new clutch meets NOS 65 year-old gearbox. You've got to love standardisation: the clutch splines match, the flywheel housing and bellhousing are SAE3 and go together perfectly. The result being that the engine and gearbox are now one. Currently I've used a standard WLF release bearing, but at the moment it is near the end of its useful travel at its point of engagement. This will obviously improve as the clutch wears but I am concerned that there may be a problem with achieving complete disengagement. (This problem has dogged my C series conversion.) I want to rig up a release mechanism to see how far it needs to move to disengage the clutch. I expect it to be in the region of 5mm at the release bearing but I need to confirm this is achievable.

John, In mine the petrol was around 4mpg. With Diesel it's now 10-12mpg with the C series Cummins. It will be interesting to see how Mark's is with the B. - MG

Thanks guys, Alan - truck is LEZ exempt through old age. Interesting idea about mounting the intercooler above the engine but I think we may have found the solution. With the intercooler turned upside down and some strategic improvements to the hidden lower sides of the original radiator surround the radiator/intercooler unit fits in the hole. The only question is whether the intercooler will work ok inverted? I am concerned that the heat may 'accumulate' at what is now the top. What are people's thoughts on this? I think the volume of air passing through it should keep it cool enough but I'm not sure... Once happy with it we'll put some fine black mesh over the front to hide it.

Thanks for the votes of confidence from everyone. We'd better make a good job of this then! Tony has touched on the technical aspects of installing the intercooler: we removed the complete radiator/intercooler assembly from the ERF and were pleasantly surprised to discover that it is only 10mm wider than the existing WLF radiator surround. We are sure a little judicious modification of one or the other will allow it to fit. We'll get the engine in the hole first and then it'll have to fit one way or the other. I'm going to meet Mark at his yard tomorrow evening after work to do some measuring and discuss the plan of attack. - MG

No problem - I have the list in the parts book - remember the part nos are still current after 65 years! - MG

Chris - do you remember those transfer box bearings you found me once before? We now need another two sets along with various seals etc.! I'll be in touch very soon... - MG

Thanks Brian, Your links have given me a 400% increase in photos of these trucks, i am very grateful to you! Do you think they were only used in conjunction with the SCR-270 radar system or were they also a more general radio truck as well? The reason I ask is that until now I had only seen reference to them as USAAF 'radio' vans. Reading some of your links could lead one to believe this was a cover for their true purpose, but even the truck TMs only refer to 'radio' equipment rather than anything more sophisticated. The thread on the CCKW forum was by my kind friend on whose land the truck is currently parked. I have almost cleared my workshop of other projects so that there will soon be space for the Autocar to come home and then work can begin. I bought a large quantity of spares from Beke including the missing chassis section. I also bought the cab which someone on here mentioned was for sale in Rouen.

Tony - it had done 300,000kms which in truck terms is no problem as fleet motors are usually regularly maintained. The oil was clean and as I say no smoke from cold is always a good sign. These Cummins are direct injection so you can tell a lot about condition just by how one starts from cold. This was good and had a nice crisp note. There is next to no play in the turbo. I forgot to say the engine was built in 1999. Chris - I couldn't possibly comment... Mark - thanks - I'm changing the stress/life balance and hoping to have a bit more time to report here on our engineering exploits. - Mike

Hi John, Thanks for your email. Hoepfully the following will be of some help to you: The axle change will be no big deal on hard standing. The biggest challenge is raising the back of the truck high enough to wheel the axle out on the wheels rather than having to remove the wheels as we did. I wanted to inspect and rebuild the entire rear bogie so we removed the complete unit as one and disassembled it once out. I would recommend this method if you have the inclination as it was much easier to undo the torque rods from the diffs once we could see them and there was space around. However since it's the third axle you are changing you may get away with not touching the main bogie pivots. Do you have replacement torque rods in stock? You may be unpleasantly surprised by their condition and I was forced to split some of mine to remove them. I was replacing all 6 so this wasn't a problem but you should be aware that they can look fine on the truck but may be very worn once released from tension! Here are some photos of my job in no particular order:

Once home the engine was striped of all the unnecessary bits like air stop control, air throttle, heater hoses (who needs those eh Mark?), electric oil pressure and temperature senders, remote oil filler, SAE2 flywheel and flywheel housing, 24V starter and alternator, and power steering pump. Then it was steam cleaned to bring it back to lovely Cummins yellow after which the sump was reversed (including extending the pick-up pipe), SAE3 flywheel housing and flywheel were fitted, rear engine mounts modified and fitted, 12V starter and aternator fitted incl. custom alternator bracket, various blanking plates and plugs added. Then it was steam cleaned again and is now awaiting the clutch assy, fuel and oil filters, pilot bearing (ChrisG - I'll be in touch...) and of course one of my NOS gearboxes. We started to strip the spare transfer box today but the two 57mm drive flange nuts defeated us and will have to be undone with a big buzz gun elsewehere.

Markheliops has finally seen sense and is letting us fit a diesel into his WLF to replace the nasty little pertol lump they came with. For this conversion we are opting to install a 210HP Cummins 6BT which is a 5.9l turbo intercooled lump. Tony NOS found us a suitable engine still fitted in an 18 tonne ERF truck in a yard near him and we went up there to remove it and acquire as the necessary ancillaries at the same time. We were amazed to find that the truck we were cutting up was a 51 plate which had been condemned due to its having a rotten cab! Having seen the engine fire up first turn without a puff of smoke, we set to with the gas axe. Within half an hour the engine was in the trailer. We also collected the radiator/intercooler pack, a stainless silencer and some mild steel exhaust pipe, all the fuel piping back to the tank, an SAE3 manual flywheel and all sorts of other useful bits and pieces. We had already obtained an SAE3 flywheel housing elsewhere.

In the last 2 weeks I have also learned about what is likely to be another chassis cab here in the UK. We will be going to look at this in due course. Brian - many thanks for the link but at first glance I cannot find any photos, only lots of data. Could you point me in the right direction? Also, I don't get Supply Line, is there any chance you could scan and email me the advert? tootallmike[at]hotmail.com I'll update this thread properly in the next few days as there is a lot to report... - MG

Both barrels were running dry when we left at 23.30... - Mike

Well spotted Eagle-Eyes - that's where the ladder to the roof rack bolts on. I take it on and off frequently and I'm fed up with reaching underneath to remove the bolts. This way it just goes on with a couple of nuts from the outside onto what are now effectively studs. Clever huh :confused:. WLF axle is to rebuild to go on mine - one of many projects to keep me quiet over the winter. Nissed - the jacking point on the newer crossmembers is a tube only about 1" dia. so the socket won't fit in it (unless I've misunderstood?). I don't want to mount the socket on the back face as it'll be trashed in no time. I plan to mount it up underneath out of the way. - Mike

Scrubbing with petrol or white spirit will get rid of oil-based crud and dirt. Paintstripper will get rid of other stuff. Wire wool will clean it up afterwards - it'll soon oxidise again, hiding any slight scratching. - Mike

Thanks Lee, What's the significance of the 'No.11' ? - Mike

Well it certainly needed to be done! I followed the advice above and pulled the wiring right out of the chassis and tied it along the top. The new crossmember is more modern with the tubular lifting points and no PTO hole, but I'm not bothered as this is just a hack 110 and not a showpiece. I also treated myself to a new Dixon Bate drop hitch (ooh, the extravagance...). I'm going to Waxoyl it all tomorrow night. There's a few bits to finish like the trailer socket and the tie-down rings which will get a coat of paint before going back on. I also need to do one of the rear spring seats as it was squishier than I'd realised. Thanks for all the advice anyway. It wasn't too bad a job, just messy and fiddly in places. It gets its first test tonight when I'm towing a Ben Hur loaded with a WLF front axle! - Mike

Come on then chaps, what's this sign mean? Seen outside Trinity House in London. - Mike

Here's just a couple of photos of the happy couple. It was a lovely day and she looked beautiful. He didn't, but that's to be expected :-D. They're now on honeymoon in Croatia for 8 days. I'll post some of the wedding GMC once the official photos are released. - Mike

British WLFs only had one headlight, with the other replaced by a large blackout headlight. Other than that it was only the markings which differed as far as I can see from photos. - Mike

Well done Norman! I'm very pleased to hear it runs. I will get back to you on the chassis number once I've finished my Land Rover rear crossmember replacement mess! Tony looks to be right about the power/displacement/revs issue - it sounds like that's a low-end slogger but you ain't gonna win any races! Depends what you want to use the truck for as to whether you keep it or upgrade. Whatever you do, diesel is definitely the way forward as Uncle Mark is unhappily finding out...! Let us know if you need any help from the UKWLFOC - just send a blank cheque to our membership secretary and we'll do the rest :-D. Oh, and congratulations once again on your purchase of not one but two real man's trucks :whistle: - Mike

Hi Andy, I found that if you scrap a vehicle and leave the tyres on it they only charge about a fiver a time for truck ones. May not be applicable to you though! Otherwise most tyre dealers will get rid of them for a fee, especially if you're having the replacements fitted at the same time. - Mike

Aye, 'we' know... There's an unrestored one going in Froggyland too... - Mike

I'd be happy to do the French if you still need it? (as long as there's not too much of it...) - Mike

Let's start by defining a 'commercial vehicle' then...