WW1 Dennis truck find

[Minesweeper]

OK!

 

Thanks again!

 

Tony

[andreadavide]

Still doing the same thing, but as i am doing my Emperor impersonation from "Return of the Jedi" i thought i would add another photo:

 

 

A Bundeswehr Emperor! I am impressed!

8-)

Andrea

[Great War truck]

The matching gloves look nice too!

.

Edited March 25, 2018 by Great War truck

[Great War truck]

A parcel turned up in the post for me today. When i opened it up it was this:

 

 

A very nice white metal, resin and brass model kit of a Dennis subsidy lorry with some very comprehensive instructions too.

 

 

I assisted WD Models who made this kit with some technical information and lots of photos. In return they very kindly sent me an example. it all looks very good, although i am wondering if my fingers can deal with such small pieces anymore.

 

I came across a model of our Autocar some years ago and bought that.

 

 

Nice model, but i didnt do a very good job of making it.

 

if you are interested in buying the Dennis it can be obtained directly from WD models on their website.

 

http://www.wdmodels.com/page4.htm#WDMT1

[Great War truck]

Another missing link has been completed! When we obtained the kit of parts to put the Dennis together, no Intermediate Shaft was included and we have been unable to find an original.

 

Fortunately, the original Drawing of it has survived and Ben very kindly obtained a copy for us. It is again just a little beyond our home workshop capabilities to make one so we asked Charles Leek & Sons Ltd of Stafford to machine one up for us from the Drawing. We used this firm once before to make up a Half Shaft and were impressed not only with their work, but the very helpful and quick service which they provided. So we had no hesitation in going back to them for the Intermediate Shaft. If anybody is interested, they have a website :-

 

http://www.leekgears.co.uk

 

The pictures show what the Shaft looks like - 17 3/16" overall length with the splines in line, and max diameter of 2 1/8". This couples the Gearbox to the Torque Joint. It now has to be fitted!

 

 

 

 

These three pictures show where the shaft will be fitted very shortly.

 

 

 

[Great War truck]

The newly built exhaust pipe arrived a couple of days ago. It looks ok. Hopefully it will fit first time:

 

 

 

 

[Great War truck]

Tony and Steve fitted the Intermediate shaft today - this is the shaft between the Gearbox and the Ball Joint. The shaft has been newly made but the splines have mated up very well indeed with the existing female parts with only the slightest bit of "twitching" required to get them to marry up.

 

They had to work in a very restricted space - and with all the various covers, seals and springs to be fitted at the same time, then it was certainly a job for more than one pair of hands to manoeuvre them in and to take the weight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[abn deuce]

Another well done step to getting it to moving under its own power!!! cant wait , cant wait !!!!

Edited May 5, 2010 by abn deuce

[cosrec]

Have been watching this thread since i joined. I am in awe at you dedication and standards of craftmanship

[Great War truck]

Thanks for your positive feedback. We are delighted that everyone finds this so interesting.

 

I have been having computer problems, so i will add the next lot of photos in small groups incase everything goes belly up and i lose it all.

 

We finished off the rear cover of the Intermediate shaft by bolting it down where it meets the Ball Joint - a felt seal was made and inserted but this had to be supported at the rear by a thin steel disc. The disc was cut across to the centre so that it could be "twisted" over the shaft. All straight forward.

 

 

 

 

[Great War truck]

With Steve down in Devon for the weekend, we took advantage of having the great necessity of having two pairs of hands available to fit the Universal Coupling.

 

The wire cut ends of the coupling were placed onto the spline (front end) and the square at the other end. The Clutch Release Bearing together with its big locking nut had first of all go on the shaft ahead of the front cover.

 

The "Dumbell" shape drive shaft is held up between the covers so that you can see where it goes and the supporting springs are visible there in Steve's hands.

 

 

 

 

[Great War truck]

Some of the parts of the Coupling prior to assembly are seen in the first picture.

 

It took two pairs of hands, working in a difficult restricted space to get the main parts of the assembly into the final position. It was not easy to get the studs in as they are longer than the available space when held parallel with the mechanism and the whole assembly had to be articulated to its full extent so that they could be "wiggled" in.

 

 

 

 

[Great War truck]

The two inside end covers were machined as one part for each of the two covers but with a deep "V" machined through the centre so that they could be broken into two with one half of each cover then being placed over the shaft. A rather cumbersome way of sealing the end - but this as in the original drawing!

 

 

 

 

[Great War truck]

These two pictures show the final assembly - but it has thrown out the fact that the Gearbox is about 1/4" higher than the engine on the chassis! Something that we hadn't really realised.

 

The engine will have to be lifted by about 1/4" - the same amount - to bring the engine and gearbox into line by placing packing pieces under the four feet of the engine - but that is no great deal.

 

Excluding building the body - something we look forward to, we have to install the magneto and the wiring, finish the plumbing of the water pump, fix the exhaust pipe, make a Steering wheel and buy copious amounts of oil to fill the engine, the gear box and the back axle. So we are nearly there!

 

 

[N.O.S.]

One thing which strikes me is how relatively difficult it was back in those days to actually build a truck - none of today's off-the-shelf Universal Joints and driveshaft flanges / yokes delivered Just In Time to the production line....

 

Just think of the work and cost involved in manufacturing all those parts for a simple driveline (oh, of course you've just done all that!! ).

[Old Bill]

You are quite right, it was a challenge to assemble! It took us a whole day to install that single drive shaft and was a real juggling exercise with me trying to hold up all of the bits, loosely assembled whilst Dad installed the springs. They had a tendency to ping off or go in sideways and I worked up quite a sweat holding it up, much to Dad's amusement. I guess that once you have done a few it becomes obvious how to attack the job. If I did it again, I would attach one end to the engine before installing the gearbox at all. Must remember that for next time!

 

Steve

[Gordon_M]

Hmm, humble suggestion having looked at the images. Excellent work, as usual.

 

I take it that you expect the weight of the load on the body / rear springs to push that differential " up " to the point where the alignment of that shaft is pretty much square?

 

I was going to suggest you consider just shimming the front ( or back ) engine mounts to get the angle of attack into that shaft where you want it, rather than raising the whole engine. It should make no operational difference to the engine ( fan / radiator alignment excluded, but not expected to be critical )

 

After some thought, would you be better to just build the whole thing, and add a representative load, and then look at heights and alignments of the whole system in a one-off excercise?

 

Gordon

[Old Bill]

Hi Gordon!

 

Yes, I agree that some extra weight would help the prop shaft alignment but it is not very far out so I am not really concerned. The main alignment problem is between the engine and the gearbox. Both the crank and the main shaft are on the lorry centreline and parallel to the ground but the crankshaft is 1/4" lower. We had to ease the coupling slightly to allow for the amount of articulation needed to connect it up so I think it would be a good idea to try to reduce this with some packing. We could lower the gearbox, of course, but that would give problems for the change mechanism. The puzzle, really, is why they are out of line in the first place. Both engine and gearbox are secured through the original holes!

 

I have just had an exciting telephone call. I think we might have found the correct carburettor! Should be able to pick it up in two weeks. It's all getting exciting now!

 

Steve

[Gordon_M]

Morning Steve,

 

well I think you've convinced me, engine up 1/4" it is then, which is exactly what they would have done in the factory too.

 

Found a carb too? dangerously close to getting out the video camers for the first engine run then.

 

Gordon

[Asciidv]

It is very strange tha there is so much mis-alignment. On all my Dennis's there is always some shimming to align the engine to the PTO, but this can always be measured in thou's of an inch rather than fractions of an inch. You can see one of the shims under the bottom left engine bolt.

 

Barry.

 

 

[Gordon_M]

I'm thinking that in this case the engine, gearbox, and chassis might have come from three different trucks, so although the original lineup for each might have been correct there are some tolerance issues creeping in.

 

So much of this has been fabricated or completely rebuilt I don't think the odd 1/4" lineup will prove to be a problem. It is faintly miraculous that it can be done at all, much less to this high standard.

 

Gordon

[Old Bill]

Thanks Gordon. I don't think there will be a problem as long as the alignment is reasonable. Just to add to your list of variation, the subframe came out of a different chassis altogether and the engine came from a fire pump and has never been in a lorry at all! The engine was mounted on some thin shims in the pump assembly and we have incorporated one of those into the lorry. Father will cut out four pieces of 1/4" plate and we will just lift the lot straight up. Hopefully, this won't mess up my pump-radiator hose connection.

 

There is a surprisingly large fiddling and messing element in this exercise, to get it just right. I now have a new concern in that the front axle is just underneath the joint flange between the sump and the crank case. Any spring deflection of 3" will cause the axle to smack it and probably break the castings. Probably OK in normal driving but if I hit an unseen speed bump we may well be in trouble. Another puzzle to ponder.

 

Steve

[N.O.S.]

I suppose you have either new springs or had the old ones re-set, Steve?

[Old Bill]

That's right. The front springs are brand new using rotten originals as patterns. We have fitted the axle in the centre of the springs which seemed logical at the time. However, I am beginning to come to the conclusion that the axle needs to be moved 3/4" forward to give us a clearance. This will tip the king pins back slightly increasing the castoring effect and mess up a lot of paintwork! I must look into the job a bit further before we attempt to do something about it. I will also ask Dad to take some pics of the problem as, surprisingly, we don't have any yet.

 

There's always something.

 

Steve

[Gordon_M]

I think you'd want to move something to make sure they didn't conflict, Steve.

 

If it is a firepump engine it is possible the original truck sump was just slightly different to avoid this, shorter, angled, whatever. Got any reference shots of other trucks to compare ?

 

One way or another you don't want them coming together, and it would never have been allowed on the original truck, given the use / abuse it would be subjected to when working.

 

On the bright side, raising the engine gives you another 1/4" :cool2:

 

Gordon

Edited May 9, 2010 by Gordon_M