Jump to content

WW1 Peerless lorry restoration


Great War truck

Recommended Posts

15 minutes ago, andypugh said:

It's easier to make hex-head bolts out of hex-head bolts, and they are available in the same grades as cap screws. 

 

2 hours ago, radiomike7 said:

Would metric cap screws be a good starting point, they are available in UHT 10.9 and 12.9 versions?

UHT  =  milk  ,  you must mean  UTS   ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, radiomike7 said:

My abbreviation, Ultra High Tensile although I have heard of bolts described as being made of cream cheese......

Last year I renewed the rear suspension  'lower arms' on a Focus diesel  (19 year old but I intend running it into the earth).  A kit off Ebay , the arms were German made & probably off same tools for Ford branded, however the bolts must have been  "Property Class"  5.8 , but ISTR the  PRC lowest cheese is more like 4.2 , needless to say I should have used a SO short series instead of a OEXL  , stripped the bolt threads before I even got the torque wrench on (40+ round trip to Ford agent for proper bolts).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been over to Grantham today to see CPA Radiators and pick up a set of tubes and gills for the radiator. They can do 15/16" dia and turned the lot around in two weeks from order so I am very pleased. They can also do 15/16" square gills if anyone needs them.

13000 gills which I now suspect is not enough! Oh well.

DSCN0006.JPG.2ff7f62037104e5a6556696db441bb3b.JPG

126 tubes.

DSCN0007.JPG.e57a848cd1e806988c9ae77b451d55fb.JPG

I had to try one! All is well and I just need to put the hours into the remainder.

DSCN0008.JPG.eb522c765e01ec4a8c3fa35879c958bd.JPG

DSCN0010.JPG.405b1a7b820a80b7d970d5c58b4e4d2f.JPG

Must get on with salvaging the tube plates so I can return the lot to CPA for soldering up. More progress!

Steve  🙂

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I have been pressing on with threading gills onto tubes and have completed 111 with 15 to complete. Unfortunately, I am short of gills and so must order some more. It is an unfortunate break but at least it will give my fingers a rest! When I take the tubes back, I will see if I can get some pictures of the dipping process.

080.JPG.0a54cce6e062500ffe54c41c2b0ae2d9.JPG

Dad has taken Barry's advice and has spent a lot of time salvaging the tube plates. Fist job was to remove the bottom tank from the chosen core.

081.JPG.1b6474d45621e98cb6b037a240cec6a5.JPG

082.JPG.8645125dba8d9678bccf3224c7e1b8c1.JPG

Looks like the mice managed to get inside the tank!

083.JPG.12506a996936be7c15c8d5177f4c1ef2.JPG

084.JPG.fe73eec60dcb992a6c5638afa62d377b.JPG

He then attacked the tubes with the disc cutter.

085.JPG.31ffd0d1df24a5b793098180aaaa1b1b.JPG

This rad had been buried next to one of the Peerless chassis somewhere down on the south coast. As a result, the core was very rusty and full of filth.

086.JPG.5e009f55ac0becf3913bb842a7fa1116.JPG

087.JPG.c2e8b3ecf6ccefb66041a856f8384eab.JPG

The plates don't look too bad.

088.JPG.661a5f2b7181759d4822956d2aa459d0.JPG

089.JPG.dc61ac5abcf7f966310e9eb376233489.JPG

He attacked the muck with a nylon brush in the drill which was quite effective.

090.JPG.9af8aef446a252a15e48777ede378480.JPG

A few odd gills remain soldered to the plate so I will have to get them off later.

091.JPG.f84d7c36a3b5f75475dc6de78f17c34b.JPG

092.JPG.0ae080e81b24220b797ae8cfe0304a1c.JPG

The soldering is curious. I wonder if those tubes at the edge were a repair job at aome time?

094.JPG.48dccb6822aee5365b4ebbb92f89da01.JPG

All cleaned up and ready to have the tubes drilled out.

095.JPG.46cc1463ea89cf38875eb42ed45b1a9b.JPG

Dad is coming to visit soon so he will bring them up for me to finish. Should save a few quid in brass anyway!

Steve   🙂

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I might be inclined to put a blow torch  on them, melt the solder and then just tap the remains of the tubes out. A job for your under cover black smithing facility, where there is plenty of fresh air as we wouldn’t like you to catch ‘fume fever’.!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Barry. Might be worth a go.

Looking at these photos this morning, I have just realised that there are ten more tubes in this plate compared with the one I counted before placing my original order! Will have to get some more tubes as well. Oh well. That's a job for later. I am on Dennis radiator castings today!

Steve  🙂

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

A bit more progress on the Peerless. Dad has continued painting the cylinders.

201.JPG.0758605414e29bcbbb4948f7bcc6ef67.JPG

202.JPG.5aa7791b51c7349784eb1e75b798d162.JPG

203.JPG.51f22518f55263fe50cf4489be86e4a3.JPG

The valve guides remain to be reamed and new valves obtained but after that, they can go back on the engine.

Dad has been to visit and brought the radiator tube plates with him. We decided to see how easy it would be to just melt the tube ends out and found, much to my surprise, that it was effortless.

204.JPG.a68d46c294357cc60423697f859331ff.JPG

Once warmed up, the ends could just be tapped through.

205.JPG.33a8f3aef9aa438d43abb4b3b5de5889.JPG

206.JPG.0d40da43725901ab9b0806af34726cd9.JPG

207.JPG.b363fb650a5d15ae9ac65e47aa8edf87.JPG

I turned out that they were not a close fit in the plate at all but were really quite sloppy so there were no problems. A quick dressing back afterwards followed by putting a 'W' drill through to clear out the gobs of lead and they are ready for final assembly.

208.JPG.63ccc70cd313f1af276bff418a58f03c.JPG

209.JPG.a744736fa7cd29a4dde0406fbfd5e110.JPG

I am off to Grantham again on Monday to pick up the extra tubes and gills. Once they are assembled I shall go again to deliver the kit for final assembly.

Steve   🙂

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My trip to Grantham was successful and I picked up the extra ten tubes and 3000 gills. They are now all threaded and ready for another trip to deliver them for soldering.

Tubes.JPG.509d285480e48ef0158c0505d8467e2b.JPG

136 tubes and 16000 gills with a few left over. All threaded by hand one at a time. My fingers are sore!

Steve  🙂

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the jobs we have been doing in parallel is to take a look at the clutch. This is a cone clutch with the female shape machined within the flywheel. The male part is an iron casting with a lining.201.jpg.825f6167e15ad03278537ca5b006cf54.jpg

As you will observe, the lining has seen better days. Interestingly, the lining is attached to a steel band, bolted to the casting.

202.jpg.bbc7490f32f0316adcba12dd913d9091.jpg

203.JPG.6bf603f5f2ecf37e760f3ec5c2145430.JPG

Father removed the lining ring and had the centre sand blasted before painting both.

205.JPG.600a54cf57394d26df5a5f4c4e0b1373.JPG

206.JPG.5bd0ff4a7f210bed97a0fe00597954be.JPG

He removed the lining from the steel band and found that it is of quite interesting construction. It is, in fact, a leather band with plugs of cork inserted at regular intervals.

223.JPG.fee40db71cd3fab94ce186142beebae4.JPG

224.JPG.b55847b6e4dc7931d969d6def8079eb5.JPG

The chances of us finding such a material are slim so we have elected to simply replace it with leather. One of my lorry friends came up with a piece of leather for us, the right thickness and just big enough. What you can't see is that it has been stored in a very dry environment for a very long time and was absolutely as hard as a board!

225.JPG.4d10de69a886bd1ac55ed5826ec243b7.JPG

Mark, our leather working friend, was contacted for some advice and he suggested painting it with Neatsfoot oil, letting it soak in until it would accept no more. Dad bought a pint and I started painting the outside. I couldn't get inside as it would not unbend, initially. However, after a week of treatment, I managed to get to the other side and carried on. Eventually, the sheet absorbed almost the full pint of oil that we had and had softened apprecialy. You still couldn't wear it but it was flexible enough for our purposes.

226.JPG.87d09a0e79761e2dfd1d76bdddd8961d.JPG

I cut out a template so that when cut, it could be wrapped around the conical liner ring.

227.JPG.40f8638f3e8e256d808cb9414e007baf.JPG

228.JPG.37b6aef0e890b274b20d1aaeecd2fe11.JPG

Half an hour with a Stanley knife saw the strip cut out.

229.JPG.3b1cfd61757549bcf491e69d6e4022dd.JPG

Dad has now taken the strip home to rivet to the lining plate so we are still making progress!

I am delivering the radiator components to Grantham tomorrow for solder dipping and soldering into the tube plates.

Steve  🙂

Edited by Old Bill
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/15/2021 at 8:13 PM, Old Bill said:

My trip to Grantham was successful and I picked up the extra ten tubes and 3000 gills. They are now all threaded and ready for another trip to deliver them for soldering.

Tubes.JPG.509d285480e48ef0158c0505d8467e2b.JPG

136 tubes and 16000 gills with a few left over. All threaded by hand one at a time. My fingers are sore!

Steve  🙂

.ooh know that feeling

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

We are still doing battle with the wheels. One is still attached to the chassis but Dad has been working on the other.

401.JPG.d775b336952643df66e32224f2ab5146.JPG

The wheelwright has had a look and stated that this wheel isn't bad but needs new felloes. We need to prepare it and then deliver it to him. Dad has spent a lot of time knocking out bolts.

402.JPG.d0540581c6fe2b22a9233f138a24bd7c.JPG

They are an interesting variant of the coach bolt.

403.JPG.a36aba216ef4903628a774677d65630c.JPG

They are all a boit ropy so Dad has turned up some new ones (9/18" dia, just to be awkward) from some M16 bolts.

405.JPG.148409c2751c21cc28a8d7f7a0692f84.JPG

The brake drum is not very well either.

408.JPG.00249609220adf095b2c1e3d11f401ad.JPG

An attack with the wire brush has shown that the surface is too far gone and must either be skimmed or replaced.

409.JPG.dbedb7c6f6caebca42dfce301446ce72.JPG

410.JPG.fbd56398d5b61fecbb8da487c9e19736.JPG

Fortunately, we have a spare in the collection and some attention with the flap wheel showed it to be serviceable.

411.JPG.82751f1ffd8c89371c98b48b977537f3.JPG

412.JPG.92c8406348db1f344ed3aebfae1d0910.JPG

So, we have to get the old one off. My best find at Beaulieu this year was this pin spanner. Perfect for removing bearing nuts!

413.JPG.e40067a915f7f0981800b1ae8119bd49.JPG

This wheel still weighs coming on for a couple of hundredweight so we lowered it onto blocks using the chain block.

414.JPG.6054ce23554e8875a1ab97e81daff838.JPG

Then we tried to knock the drum off by hitting it between the spokes.

415.JPG.cd303ebecdf3fb69e2ab0147b40a5533.JPG

Not a hope so out with the propane.

416.JPG.1885021d7f97fab97ac4f7f53b3edda6.JPG

Some further knocking cracked the joint and two days of hitting it have moved the drum an inch where it has stuck

417.JPG.8d869e0b97944fceff4b868b4ac1c381.JPG

As neither of us is really up to sustained hammer work, we have given up and are now ordering up the steel to make a puller.

Once the drum is off, the wheel can go to the wheelwright. Then we have the next fight which is to get the second wheel off the axle. I shall be glad to see the back of this job!

Steve   🙂

LikeLike

  • Like 6
  • Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Old Bill said:

They are all a boit ropy so Dad has turned up some new ones (9/18" dia, just to be awkward)

That is an awkward way to say 1/2" 🙂

If you want I can put a dome on them in seconds with my CNC lathe. I need to do at least one for the Fire Engine anyway. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, andypugh said:

That is an awkward way to say 1/2" 🙂

If you want I can put a dome on them in seconds with my CNC lathe. I need to do at least one for the Fire Engine anyway. 

That should, of course, be 9/16" - just a "typo"! Every dimension on this lorry is a strange one - I turned the heads of the M16 coach bolts to the reduced diameter shown and rethreaded them - they are countersunk into the wheel and the residual dome on the M16 bolts after being reduced fits very neatly into the existing countersink on the wheel - so thank you for your offer but I think we can leave them as they are without them looking too funny!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, mammoth said:

With regard to the steel band around the wheel has there been an attempt to remove it and is there any sign as to how it was manufactured such as a welded join? The 1911 Dennis needs a new pair of these wide bands so I will be watching with interest.

What we understand from the Wheelwright is that the steel band is cut to get it off and then the cut is welded up again when the wheel has been repaired and is ready for the band to be put back on! Sounds simple! I have not noticed an original joint in the band but I will look again.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Minesweeper said:

What we understand from the Wheelwright is that the steel band is cut to get it off and then the cut is welded up again when the wheel has been repaired ...

On Dave Engels YouTube channel he commonly cuts these bands on buggy wheels, but it is normally so that he can shorten them and re-install them tighter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, mammoth said:

 is there any sign as to how it was manufactured such as a welded join?

As a kid I recall driving past a seamless ring rolling mill somewhere near Sheffield and my dad explaining the process to me. (He worked for David Brown, who use forged rings as the starting point for some of their gears) 

 

 

 

I have seen variants where the mandrel is pushed through a solid billet, too. 

Edited by andypugh
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

We are in the process of making a puller to get the brake drum off. In the meantime, Father has been pressing on with the clutch. Once he got home, he tried wrapping it around the band. Fortunately, we had got the curve about right.

101.thumb.JPG.849f03e0a165ea0ff1ca88760d2ca681.JPG

102.thumb.JPG.a96935e3384cf9c502004221ba4fbc00.JPG

103.thumb.JPG.6abd7129ac16a7fd9a1c283aad637a37.JPG

Then he drilled the holes through. We were a bit suspicious of drilling leather but he tells me that it is fine if you just let the drill take its time. He did have a practice first on an offcut though!

104.thumb.JPG.fc19a1fb2e547fc022f13ec9a48465a4.JPG

107.thumb.JPG.023260414b0f5efec81d1ff4d82fc7e4.JPG

112.thumb.JPG.3303790128857ff7ea9b44a09825a85b.JPG

After trimming to length, he fixed the leather with copper brake lining rivets.

113.thumb.JPG.229a3735561040c495adda15d6a042b7.JPG

140.thumb.JPG.c116aa861507a42d7ae335a43f252c40.JPG

150.thumb.JPG.a322a3bf53d2aab2b00b321a6769aee1.JPG

It all looks very nice but Dad tells me that the leather looks a little thicker than the original. The question is should we just try it or should we attempt to true it up by turning in the lathe? We haven't played this particular game before!

Steve   🙂

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suppose you should see how well it sits in the cone of the flywheel. If it is proud by a long way then 'thinning down' on a lathe is an option, but I doubt if any of us have turned leather before. Be the first and tell us all how easy/difficult/impossible it was!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...