Bob Grundy Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 This is my chassis No16, photo taken last autumn after spraying deep bronze green. It now has the rear modified body fitted, this is because the previous restorers (sic) did an awful job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 Paul, You've got some very good ideas there! I've got 5 24" rims altogether, 1 is ok and useable as is, 2 are ok but have had 5 stud hubs welded onto them and will hopefully be ok once they are ground off and 2 are very rotten all over which i was thinking about building up with weld but there will probably be more weld than wheel. Hopefully a nice set will turn up on a farm trailer somewhere, if not i can still use the 3 tonner wheels that i have in the mean time. It will be a little while before i need them yet, but always good to be thinking about how to make the correct 30cwt wheels. Best of luck finding your tyres, is there a good supply of them in the US? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 Bob, Thanks for posting that picture, i'm looking forward to seeing the truck when you've finished her off, looking great! Cant wait to get mine up to that standard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 Next bit of progress has been the chassis, when i got the truck there was only the middle crossmember left holding the two side rails together. The rear member was present but the bottom half of it has rotted away and the front member is missing completely. The truck had been very overloaded during its working life and as a result both side rails are slightly bent where the chassis narrows and the nearside rail cracked and bent where the rear axles bolt on, this had been repaired with quite a few welding rods at some point. Chassis upside down. Remains of the rear chassis member. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 A huge thank you to Bob Grundy who was kind enough to let my Dad and myself come and crawl all over his truck to take hundreds of measurements and photos! This has helped so much as i could make a drawing of my missing front crossmember (and a lot of other parts!) this also acts as a front engine mount so it has to be right or the whole drive train will be out of alignment. Another huge thank you to my Dad who made me some shiny new cross members for christmas! Not quite in the correct place, just wedged in to show where they go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 One of the first jobs on the chassis was to remove the middle crossmember so that it would be easier to straighten out the bent side rails. For some reason Vulcan decided to use both rivets and bolts to hold it in. Picture showing the 3/8 BSF countersunk screws on the top and the 3/8 rivets on the bottom. A few minutes with a grinder and a spanner and it was out, then i built up a few thin parts with weld, ground them back and sandblasted then painted and found another chassis number! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 (edited) The crack on the nearside chassis rail was where the back axles bolt on underneath a strengthening brace that was riveted in, so i ground the rivet heads off and took the brace out. The chassis rail was bent by around 2" from this point to the back of the chassis, around 4 ft. The crack went nearly 2/3rds of the way through from the top, It doesn't show up too well in the picture. A hole was drilled at the end of the crack to stop it going any further, then the crack was ground out and prepared for welding. Edited February 6, 2012 by handy1882 Sausage fingers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 Once the crack was ground out, the chassis was straightened up using some steel channel and lots of g-clamps. Once it was straight it was tacked together, welded and ground off. For a bit more strength i stitched the weld by grinding a slot across the join then filling it up with weld. This was done twice on the side, once on the corner and once on the top, front and back. A quick flick of primer and i don't think looks too bad. Once the bracing plate is riveted back in, i'll weld round it just to brace the joint a little more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 Progress has been a bit slow on the Vulcan this month, mainly due to having a huge tidy up of the garage/workshop so that i can actually find things rather than falling over them. Lots of nice new shelving, new bench top to stop nuts, bolts, spanners, axles etc falling through the cracks, and have built a single to three phase converter so that i can finally run my lathe and make some bits and pieces. I have been having a go at the handbrake lever assembly while all this was going on, it had been given a coat of red oxide years ago but was seized solid. It took a lot of heat, WD 40 and careful hammering to get it all apart, especially since most of it was held together with 5/16'' taper pins which had rusted away nearly flush with the castings. These did not respond at all to heat, oil, hammering or harsh language. The only way i managed to get them out in the end was to file them completely flush with the casting on both sides and measure the very faintly visible diameters to find out which way they should come out, then centre punched the smaller diameter and drilled a 1/8'' hole as far as i could down the centre of the pin and counterbored it slighlty 1/4'' dia to fit my pin punch. A few good taps and they were out. They really didn't want this to fall off..... 5/8 nut and splitpin, 1/4'' key and 5/16 taper pin! One of the drilled and counterbored taper pins. Two pins in there somewhere! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Ashby Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Nice work Rob some good engineering practice being used, like Father like son I'm thinking. I remember the truck being saved by Roy etal back in the late 1970s good to see it come out of hibernation at long last. Keep posting progress. Regards Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Yeah, thanks for a masterclass in split repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted March 4, 2012 Share Posted March 4, 2012 Excellent project going on here! Vulcans were built in Southport, we have a road called 'Vulcan Street' where the old factory used to be....:-) And, Southport football club was the first football club to change its name after being sponsored by Vulcan, there were called the Southport Vulcans! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share Posted March 4, 2012 Thanks for the kind comments everyone! Austin, I did hear that the old Vulcan factory buildings were still there until fairly recently, not sure how correct that is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted March 4, 2012 Author Share Posted March 4, 2012 Just been cleaning up the ratchet on the handbrake and found a lot of markings on it. Its only around 4" long and seems unusual to have so many markings on such a small part. Anyone got any idea what the symbols are? I assume the VWT24-7301 is a part number, the symbol with the three letters in the coiled rope looks like it is a V,W and an 8, possibly S or B. I thought it might be VSW to go with the truck model, but that seems a bit specific for such a universal part? The other symbol is very hard to make out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted March 16, 2012 Author Share Posted March 16, 2012 Hand brake assembly all sandblasted, primered and back together, just have to get a few taper pins and a couple of nuts to finish it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted March 16, 2012 Author Share Posted March 16, 2012 Next is the brake/ handbrake linkage which bolts on to the centre chassis cross member and provides a support for the brake rods. The middle two link arms move independantly of the outer two, one set is for foot brakes the other is for hand brake. Not sure which is which yet, but i'm sure all will become clear once i bolt it on to the chassis. Seems quite an elaborate and expensive way of making a brake linkage mount, very well made though. One of the 2 1/2'' diameter bronze bearing balls. Some of the clevis pins and yokes were quite well wasted away. As were the ends of the link arms Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted March 16, 2012 Author Share Posted March 16, 2012 The link arm ends were built up with weld and ground back flat. Not the neatest job, but they should hold ok. The rest of the parts were all ok and hardly worn, so it was all sandblasted and given a coat of primer, and put back together. I must get some top coat soon or i'll end up with a months worth of painting to do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 All very nice. It is great to have finished parts put away ready for a reassembly exercise! Incidentally, when did Tecalemit type grease points come in? They are far superior to the Stauffers that we have all over the Dennis. Good show! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted March 17, 2012 Author Share Posted March 17, 2012 Thanks Steve, It is great to have some bits and pieces ready to go, still a big pile of rusty bits to go though! I would think that the Tecalemit greasers came out in the early 20's some time? It looks like Charawacky was right, I've found some original fittings on the steering box and they none of them have have the lower hexagon. Thanks tom. I'll turn this off on all the new ones i have so they all match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 It is great to have some bits and pieces ready to go, still a big pile of rusty bits to go though! Never mind. Every job is just one piece at a time. Thanks Steve,It looks like Charawacky was right, I've found some original fittings on the steering box and they none of them have have the lower hexagon. Thanks tom. I'll turn this off on all the new ones i have so they all match. That's what we like. Attention to detail! Thanks Rob. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted March 17, 2012 Author Share Posted March 17, 2012 Thanks Steve, it's all the little details that make a restoration, I may have to use a bit of poetic licence on some parts later on as there is not a great deal of information around on these trucks, so i would like to get as much of it correct as possible. I'm probably putting a bit too much detail on this blog! I've been meaning to get round to fixing the steering tie rod for ages, its made out of 1 1/8'' o/d pipe, which has been very hard to find, at a sensible price anyway. Most of the rod was fine with just a bit of light pitting but a section around 8" long was very thin and would have taken a lot of arc rods to build back up. Luckily whilst rooting around in the shed i stumbled across a large M30 bolt i picked up at an autojumble ages ago thinking it might come in handy, and it did! A spigot was turned on each end of the bolt to a nice fit in the pipe bore and the shaft was turned down to 1 1/8'' to match the rod. Then the rough section was out and all 3 parts pushed together, making sure the length of the rod was the same as before i started, 53 3/8". A 1/4'' hole was drilled each end of the pipe through the spigots and a pin knocked in for a bit of strength and to keep everything straight, then i welded the pins in place, welded the pipe to the bolt and built up any thin bits and ground it all off flat. It shouldn't look too bad once its got a bit of paint over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redherring Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Well done. For years my wife has thought me completely mad bringing home buckets of old bolts from clearing sales... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bill Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 I'm probably putting a bit too much detail on this blog! Definitely not too much detail! I always want to salvage original parts rather than make new, if I can, and I like to see the detail of how you have done it. Always something to be learned. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redherring Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Wholeheartedly agree. There comes a point with rust where the integrity of the part is compromised. It is really good to see how other people come to terms with this. To replace or to weld? How and why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy1882 Posted April 23, 2012 Author Share Posted April 23, 2012 Theres not been a huge amount of progress on the Vulcan at the moment due to having to do other things like rebuild my air compressor and rebuild the feed gearbox on my lathe, also doing my back in whilst chopping wood hasn't helped! I have stripped the steering box down and found that there are a few parts missing, mainly the worm and end plate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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