JOURNEYMAN

Thank you Nick and John for your replies. :)

Hi all. I am hoping to take my GMC from the UK to Veghel next year for the 2019 Arnhem event. Please could someone tell me if I require an OGEL for the truck. I have not taken the truck abroad before , so any advice would be welcome. Thanks Steve.

Hi Locolines, Welcome to the forum, nice looking man,s truck,what part of the world are you in ? I,m in East Yorkshire... Best wishes, Steve

Oops ! Just realised , birmingham . Must learn to engage brain before typing ! Steve

Hi andy, pm sent with details. I assume they are for a gmc ( ? ) or something similar . What part of the world are you in ? By the way ,welcome to the forum. Steve.

Hi cubed, just measured a u/j , 31 mm diameter of end caps , 108 mm across width of joint. It would appear the joints for the propshafts are the same size but i suggest you check first. Hope this helps, steve.

Hi vulture, i usually cover my 353 with one or two plastic tarpaulins like the one,s you can buy from machine mart. They are waterproof , ultra violet resistant and will last for most of the year. The downside with them is eventually the sun gets to them , they go thin and are then easily torn by the wind. The best protection i have had so far was material from a curtain-sided truck , waterproof but very heavy to drag over the top of the truck , waterproof and not easily torn by the wind. It may be worth asking at any local haulage yards to see if they have any sheets for sale. Hope this helps. By the way, no further problems with the truck since fixing the water pump ? Regards, steve.

Well done mate , think how easy the next one will be !!!!

Hi vulture, i have recently had to change the water pump on my gmc. Save yourself a lot of problems and get a re-built unit from rex ward. Save a lot of hassle by taking the radiator out to give yourself decent access , there is little or no space to remove the fan without the chance of damaging the radiator core. Take the fan off before removing the water pump and carefully lever the pump casing off if it is stuck to the block , to avoid damaging the casing. The new pump comes with a gasket to go between the pump casing and the block. Make sure any old gasket is cleaned off. Put the fan , drivebelt back and re-tension the belt before putting the radiator back. You can do the job with the radiator in but you risk damaging the radiator ,also it can be difficult to line up the bolts/holes in the fan/pulley as i found out the first time. While you are at it ,flush the engine out to clear out any muck in it ,do the same with the radiator. When putting the radiator back in, be careful not to damage the core, i covered mine with a sheet of cardboard to protect the core. Have a good look at any wiring , pipework etc... On the front cross-member while the radiator is out ,also a good time to re-paint that area as well. Hope this helps,sorry if it is too late but i have only just read the post. Best wishes, steve.

Hi vulture, on my 353 i run the front tyres at 45 psi and all the rear tyres at 40 psi. I have never had a problem with shimmying , but i must add that all my tyres are 8.25 x 20 michelin road pattern tyres as fitted by the french army. I assume that your tyres are bar grips ? I dont believe the tyres are under inflated at these pressures and its fair to say that the truck is never loaded anywhere near its capacity . I suppose that tyre pressures may be more critical depending on the type of tyre fitted / ply rating ? Regards steve

Hi vulture, don,t know if this will help. Move the priming lever under your fuel pump up and down to pump fuel up to the carb. As the fuel begins to flow , you will feel resistance when moving the lever and if you put your head close to the carb you will hear fuel being squirted into the carb. When the carb is full,the squirting noise will stop and the priming lever will no longer have any resistance ,it will go floppy. If the lever has little or no resistance on it , i would suspect the fuel pump is blocked or the diaphragm is punctured. You could also undo the fuel filter to check the filter for fuel/dirt. When my gmc is cold it is sometimes easier to start by giving it 3 or 4 quick dabs on the throttle rather than using the choke. When the truck has been standing for a while , the fuel has a tendency to run back towards the tank. Just a last thought , has the fuel tap between the tank and the filter/pump been turned off ? Hope this helps, steve. Ps have you seen any dirt in your inline filter which may suggest dirt in the carb/blocked jets ?

Hi jester, welcome to the forum,i have sent you a pm with a possible contact for what you want. Best wishes with your search . Don,t be afraid to ask for advice on the forum ,there,s a lot of good and very knowledgable people on here... Best wishes steve.

Hi vulture, you,re welcome... My gmc has now completed nearly two years running since sorting out the radiator/block. I will change the anti-freeze before our first run-out to york in april as it will have been in the engine for about two years, the inside of the radiator ( that i can see ) is still as clean as the day it was re-fitted.by the way, i remember seeing your truck at hunmanby a few years ago. From memory it looks a lot better now than when i saw it , i think it had been standing for a long time and looked a bit rough. Nice to see it back on the road and to know it,s gone to a good home. Best wishes steve.

Hi vulture, when you re-fit the thermostat make sure you clean out the small circular recess in the top of the thermostat housing. The new thermostat goes in next ,( the circular plate sits flush with the top of the thermostat housing ).the new gasket then goes on top , followed by the top half of the housing. From memory the inner hole of the gasket is slightly smaller than the round disc of the thermostat and helps to hold it in place. The inside of my gmc engine looked rusty but after it had been flushed through a few times it was ok. One thing i did find was that dirt had collected at the back of the engine and had to be removed by removing the drain plug on the rear of the block ( driver,s side ), and poking around with a length of stiffish wire. The block had to be flushed again to wash the muck out through the drain hole,i also flushed the block out by inserting the hose in the drain hole. Don,t forget to replace the drain plug... Fill up with 50/50 pre-mixed blue anti-freeze, i used bluecoll which has given no trouble. I put as much liquid as i could into the engine/radiator, then started the engine to allow it to circulate and to give any excess air a chance to escape,( i have a thermostat fitted which has a "jiggle pin " in it to allow air to escape from the block.) i then topped up the radiator until it was just visible in the neck of the radiator. I then replaced the cap, making sure it was sealing correctly.after a while the excess water vented itself from the tube on the side of the radiator ,stopping when the radiator had found it,s " own level " i always make a point of filling the radiator as described with 50/50 pre-mix and let the radiator vent itself. Don,t forget to flush the radiator as well, i took mine off, sealed the bottom opening with rags, left the radiator cap on,poured in 2 litres of de-scaler, followed with boiling water until full and sealed the top hole up with rags. This was left overnight and flushed several times the next day. Hope this helps. Steve

Hello paul, welcome to the forum from a pembrokeshire " ex-pat ". I was born and lived in haverfordwest until the need for work took me to kent and then east yorkshire ( goole ) where i live now. I am the owner of a 1945 gmc353 and ben hur trailer. I cannot remember any interest in military vehicles during the time i lived there apart from seeing german tanks driving through pembroke on their way to castlemartin.its nice to hear that someone is taking an interest now. Its also funny to think i may have met robin craig in st davids, as i delivered the mail there for 4 years. A small world indeed ! Hope you enjoy your time with us, best wishes steve james.

Hi pockers, when i re-built my lightweight land rover, it had a layer of solid underseal on the chassis and body panels which had started to flake off. I found the easiest way to remove it was to take all the loose bits off first and after softening the remainder with a hot air gun, i found it came off easily. It,s a bit smelly and time consuming , but worth the effort when you end up with a clean panel. All i did then was degrease the panels / chassis , prime them and spray a couple of top coats. I used black waxoyl in/on the chassis but left the panels painted. Any rust was obviously treated before priming. Hope this helps, steve.

Hi mark, get yourself a man,s truck !! A nice gmc , mine will sit at 40-45 mph all day and a lot easier to get parts for a gmc than a reo. By the way , i had a reo before the gmc. Feel free to call me if you want to have a look at my gmc, i am off work for the next week. Best wishes and thanks for the friends request, steve.

Hi mark and welcome to the forum..... I,m just down the road from you in goole. I saw the militant when it first arrived in howden, it had a crane in the back having been used by a firm in beverley and it was yellow in colour. The lad who restored it appears to have done a good job. Regards steve

Thats the one tony ! My mate also needs details of anyone who can supply the rubber sealing strips for the two front windows and also the rear cab window. Finding parts for rl,s seems to be a bit of a challenge and genuine ex military trucks seem to be very rare. My mates truck appears to have possibly served in cyprus / malta ? As the original paint seems to be a sand colour. It also appears to have been modified at some time, with extra brackets welded to the front of the cargo bed as if to possibly carry some form of basket over the cab. I have not been able to find any photos to show any fittings above the cab. Regards steve

Thanks ian, will pass the info on. Steve

Hi all, a question on behalf of a friend who has just bought a bedford rl airportable. He is in need of service parts for the engine ie distributor cap , points etc.... Could any one suggest a source of parts for the 300 petrol engine ? He may also need a nos complete rear canvas . Any info would be appreciated. Thanks steve

HI DEADLINE, IN THE TECNICAL MANUAL SERIES NO.6015 , FOR CCKW 352 & 353 , PUBLISHED BY TANKOGRAD , ( http://www.tankograd.com ) THE AC DECALS ON THE LID AND BODY OF THE OIL FILTER ARE VERY CLEARLY SHOWN ON PAGES 21, 22 AND 24. AS A BONUS , THE LOCATION OF THE DECAL ON THE DEEP SUMP IS SHOWN ON PAGE 21ALTHOUGH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO READ THE WORDS. THE LANGUAGE IN THE BOOK IS A MIX OF MAINLY ENGLISH/GERMAN. THE QUALITY OF THE PICTURES USED IS VERY GOOD. I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN BUYING A SET OF THE DECALS IF YOU GET ANY PRINTED. HOPE THIS HELPS STEVE.

Hi deadline, glad i could help, feel free to post some pictures of the finished decals if you can get some made. I am sure other people would be interested in seeing them. Steve.

Hi jon, i use a clarke 12 ton bottle jack on my gmc 353 ( no winch ) with a solid block of wood underneath it to spread the load. The block is approx 14 inches long , 10 inches wide and 4-5 inches thick. I have had no problem at all with this set-up,i also used it on my previous reo which was a lot heavier on the front end than the 353 is. The use of the extra height of the block also ensures that the lifting height of the jack does not become excessive. The jack and the block also fit nicely in the trough at the back of the cab, behind the driver/passenger. The axle stands i use are all individually 6 ton rating, also made by clarke, and they cope easily. Hope this helps, steve.

Hi deadline, thanks for your reply. Some time ago i bought a cd copy of tm 10-1563 ( 15th november 1942 ) for the cckw from e-bay , i believe the seller was from ohio. In the lubrication section of the manual on page 25 , picture 38 shows half of the air filter decal on the air filter lid. Picture 41 shows half of the ac decal on the side of the oil filter and most of the decal on the oil filter lid. Sadly although the pictures have been electronically cleaned, it is not possible to read the smaller writing. It does appear to give an idea of the appearance, shape and size of the decals. Hopefully you may be able to match the pictures to any existing decals you may have found. I will keep a look out for anything that may be of use, regards steve.