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WW1 Dennis truck find


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The tyres on the Scammell 100-tonner didn't last anywhere near long enough for the canvas to rot. New rears every 2 months was about the average.

 

I wondered if that might be the case. Using the lorries commercially then would be a lot different to using them infrequently privately now.

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... it would have been very difficult to know how much metal to remove...

 

Presumably the data / knowledge for how much of an interference fit was needed must all have been about at some point - perhaps still is buried in a dusty archive somewhere!

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Glad to here you are in.[/i]

Snap' date=' I will be joining and hopefully overtaking you if I successfully make the drive down to London in the Crossley Tender! [/i']

Please bring a rope as I will not be preparing my vehicle other than filing up a couple of big ends.

 

Tom

 

Great stuff! Barry's entry has been accepted, too - so it really will be a gathering of the Clans, that day!

 

Tony

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We did the same thing with the Autocar tipper but that worked very well. Of course, with that one, the wheels are wooden so they were not blasted and the bands were tighter to start with.

 

We are gaining experience the hard way!

 

Steve

 

Black smiths used to "shrink" wheel bands, but a modern equivelent could be to cut the band with an angle grinder and use a rachet strap to strap it onto the wheel, either tack weld in situe or based on experience with a weld in situe close or open slightly before tacking and welding.

 

Just a thought, Matthew

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Black smiths used to "shrink" wheel bands, but a modern equivelent could be to cut the band with an angle grinder and use a rachet strap to strap it onto the wheel, either tack weld in situe or based on experience with a weld in situe close or open slightly before tacking and welding.

 

Just a thought, Matthew

 

Are you referring to altering the circumference of the tyre band if so the idea is sound but there is a rubber tyre in the way which does not like being cut then attempted to be joined again!

Shrinking a tyre on was more akin with a straight steel tyre with no rubber. ie horse drawn wagon. Heat the steel tyre to expand it, place it over the wooden fellows then rapidly cool it with gallons of water. A shrink fit.

Doug

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I was referring to adjusting the bands to the wheels before "retreading" them I was aware of the presence of the rubber now. I may be wrong, but from what I've read about wheel bands on wooden wheels was that they "grew" with use, the rolling action on uneven stony roads hammered the steel bands making them longer. Shrinking, a form of "upsetting" to make the band thicker and shorter, as opposed to the heating (not to red hot!) the band to expand it to fit it over the wood.

 

I had understood that the wheels had been sand blasted, taking off the rust and thus reducing them diameter. Were solid tyre bands stretched by the rolling action? Sorry if I'm off on a wild goose chase! I t was a thought which is probably irrelevant now.

 

Regards, Matthew

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Bloomin eck, thats pretty horrific. I do ask myself the question why? It seems pretty pointless setting light to a car and then pushing it in to a lake. Interesting to see how close to the houses they are. To think one of my neigbours complained when i parked my Jeep outside her house. I wonder how she would react if i torched six cars outside her back door.

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So, will the Dennis appear at Beltring?

I'd love to see it in the flesh.

 

Not this year! The plan is just to do the 'Brighton' and also take it to Honiton Hill Rally which is our local. (August Bank Holiday weekend). We are not ruling it out for the future but haulage is such an expensive exercise and our spend rate has been a bit high recently. We need a bit of a breather!

 

Incidentally, I hear via the grapevine, that there will also be Pierce Arrow and Locomobile 3 tonners appearing on the Brighton as well as Tom's Crossley and us. We could have a convoy!

 

Steve

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I am in awe at the standard of conservation and reconstruction of vehicles such as this. In a related way, I have been searching for a piece of film about a project I have on at the moment and found this footage on the Pathe film archive. Therefore this film isn't for the feint hearted.

 

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=3327

 

Feltham was an RASC MT base post WW1. Not got any other info as its a bit late for my work but wonder if they were war-surplus staff cars deemed not worth trying to sell, or had been experimental cars (Feltham appear to have had some experimental lorries at times). At least we know where there are a few projects for the future. Just need to find the lake.

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Steve has been making some more bits for the body. He has fabricated and dressed the tailboard catch plates and also the backing plates for the inside which have loops for the tailboard support chain.

 

DSCN2306.jpg

 

He has also made up the seatbox corner brackets which support the cab hood bows. These were quite tricky as they have three right-angles in them. He decided to do them by making two bends and welding the third joint after trimming to size. Making a nice crisp bend in 1/4" plate can be quite hard. However, he had previously made a mini press-brake for bending bits of brass in his hydraulic press. These plates were a bit heavy for it but they went ok when hot and he is very pleased with the results.

 

DSCN2309.jpg

 

DSCN2310.jpg

 

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The next items will be the tailboard catches themselves.

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Tony has been making up some U Bolts from some old steel bar we had laying around:

 

DSCN3766.jpg

 

These are to secure the body to the chassis and we need 4. After cutting to length he cut a thread in each end. These will need to be bent into shape.

 

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He has also made a pair of brackets copied from photos which were to hold the seat together. We shouldnt actually need them (as the seat should be strong enough), but to be correct as per the original we should have them:

 

DSCN3774.jpg

 

The painting of the seat continues on and on and on:

 

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Only a few more coats of paint needed. As he had some spare time and some bluetack Tony tried out the NZ marking:

 

DSCN3773.jpg

 

We will be getting the sign writer in soon.

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With the painting of the seat at last finished

 

DSCN3780.jpg

 

Tony painted on the black circle in anticipation of the signwriters visit. Using our pattern fern as a template:

 

DSCN3786.jpg

 

He produced a circle, masked it and painted the inside:

 

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he then fixed the reflectors:

 

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And then back on the mudguards again:

 

DSCN3782.jpg

 

DSCN3810.jpg

 

DSCN3824.jpg

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At the local auto paint and body supply store you will be able to buy a fine line tape in various widths, it would have been excellent for running around the template then use the blue tape to cover the outer edge.

 

You are really getting close to finishing now and what an amazing job you have done, inspiration for us all!

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Thanks for that sugestion. We will look out for that next time.

 

 

Steve had to go out yesterday so his progress has been slowed a bit. He has, however, cut all of the various wooden blocks for the pick and shovel brackets and has also completed the tailboard catches. The blocks would have been a lot easier with joiner Mark's power tools. As it is, Steve has had to do them the old fashioned way which certainly teaches the benefits of a good sharp plane! All of these are now to be transported to Devon next weekend for Father to paint. Wing brackets next!

 

DSCN2315.jpg

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"Meant to be!"

 

When we did the "Brighton" two years ago with the FWD, we had a problem with the Magneto when we were about 14 miles out. With thanks to some significant help from Seb, the Magneto was "sorted" and we proceeded onwards to Brighton. We resolved then that in the future, should we do the run again, then we would make sure that we had a spare mag with us to change over if another crisis came along.

 

That was all forgotten until about a week or so ago when we remembered that we did not have another similar model "Simms" to do a swap with if we ran into that sort of trouble again - so a hasty look on Ebay revealed a suitable Magneto on offer - and would you believe it - in Axminster, just down the road. The vendor quoted £29 for shipping for such a heavy item. The mag was slightly imperfect and had a damaged cover with three of the terminal plastic or bakelite screws missing.

 

We decided to go for it - there were no other bids and we bought it for the bottom and very realistic price. As Tony was able to collect it - there was no carriage charge involved.

 

DSCN3829.jpg

 

Now some years earlier, a friend had given us the remains of a magneto which had been "gutted" and was very poorly - and that was just put away in the garage and forgotten. With the thoughts now of having to replace the cover on the newly acquired one and get three terminal screws for it, Steve remembered the gutted one and dug it out and would you believe it, it was an identical model! And whilst so much of that one was missing, it did still have the undamaged cover with three of the original four terminal screws remaining on it - perfect to do a swap with the damaged cover on the new one and to replace the three missing screws so that we would have all four.

 

DSCN2314.jpg

 

"Meant to be" do you think? The new "Spare" was located just down the road, found very quickly, realistic price paid, no carriage charge involved and the required "spares" already in stock!

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"Meant to be!"

 

 

 

To do what you're doing, you have to "make luck" otherwise, you'd never be able to assemble such an extraordinary puzzle! So definitely "Meant to be!", with a spare you won't need it!

 

It's a pleasure to watch your progress, Thank you for this thread!

 

Regards, Matthew

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To do what you're doing, you have to "make luck" otherwise, you'd never be able to assemble such an extraordinary puzzle! So definitely "Meant to be!", with a spare you won't need it!

 

It's a pleasure to watch your progress, Thank you for this thread!

 

Regards, Matthew

 

Thanks, Matthew - that's very kind - as are so many of our new friends who are watching us. We just hope now that we don't let anybody down!

 

Tony

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