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WW1 Peerless lorry restoration


Great War truck

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Thank you for the clarification. We have been having some discussion as to what it should be called. 'Front board', 'fire wall' and 'scuttle' have all been considerations. 'Dash board' seems to work quite well and preventing one from being 'pebble dashed' is very logical. There is always something to learn here!

Steve

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We have been getting ready for the Christmas project. The timber has just arrived.

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Piles of the stuff!

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Our chippy friend, Mark, has very kindly sourced and prepared it all. We just couldn't have done it ourselves.

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Dad has been busily painting the ironwork in the mean time.

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I have been drilling the rear body braces for bolting up.

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These hefty pieces of ironwork go underneath the crane and would not appear on a normal GS waggon. We have just chosen to make life difficult for ourselves!

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You need a good project at Christmas and we always make some serious progress over the break. I am looking forward to getting stuck in!

Steve   🙂

Edited by Old Bill
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We are getting close to a point where we are going to want to try the beast so our thoughts have turned to the drive chains. We have half a dozen chains in varying states of repair.

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Dad started looking at them some time ago and got one of them sand blasted.

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It cleaned up quite well but the sand is a bit brutal and, of course, all of the joints need to move so the sand will have got into them. Dad pickled another in the molasses barrel and that came up a treat.

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A couple of them didn't look too bad so they were left alone.

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As the joints were all seized or very stiff, we felt that every link should be taken apart so Tim started removing split pins.

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I had a go too but I struggle to work on the ground these days and had to resort to the vice!

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The pins just wouldn't come apart, even from the joints that were moving. Fortunately, you can see in the pic, that one link plate is marginally bigger then the other so I made a support plate to hold the links whilst I pressed them out.

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This worked well and I soon had two boxes of bits.

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Unfortunately, the chain showed signs of its former use with missing rollers and a broken pin.

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The chain is put together with short tubes pressed into the side plates. The rollers run on the outside and the pin goes through the middle. Unfortunately, when I pressed them, I disturbed the tubes, pushing them slightly through the plate and pinching the roller in between.

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Sorting them turned out to be quite straightforward and I just made a plug to tap the tubes back with the plate sitting on top of the vice jaws.

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It worked well.

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Eight missing rollers and a broken pin in one chain.

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The solution looked simple. Take another chain and use a few links from there. Unfortunately for me, the third chain that I brought with me to press is of a slightly different pattern and the two plates are exactly the same size so my backing plate has nothing to push against. I can get some of the links apart but not enough to use as spares. Going through my photos, Dad has another chain of the original pattern so I can rob some from there. I must remember to bring it back with me after Christmas.

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For the time being, each link needs a good wire brushing and lubricating before reassembly. Once we have 2x78 links they can go on the lorry. Christmas is going to be busy!

Steve    🙂

 

Edited by Old Bill
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Steve, what is your objection to making new rollers/side plates rather than robbing another chain. Is it just because it is a easier and quicker solution to rob? If you were a motorcyclist from 50 years ago you would have a tin of 'Link Lyfe' to hand. This is a tin of solidified grease type compound which you heated up on yours Mum's cooker and then dropped your chain  in. You cooked your chain for 30 minutes or as long as your dare as the horrible smell pervaded the kitchen and slowly started to seep through the whole house.

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Quite right Barry. It is easier and I am getting lazy!

I have heated up chains in semi-solid grease before but they were chains I could lift with one hand and they were put into a gallon tin with the side cut out. These things are monstrous so I need to make up a big pan to play the same trick. Thinking about it, the bottom of a 5 gallon oil drum might do the trick. I wonder if I can get 'Link Lyfe' on Amazon?

Steve  😁

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Inrerestingly, hot-melt chain wax has just been rediscovered by the cycling crowd, and is now the hot new thing that they rave about. Unfortunately the stuff aimed at such cyclists is very expensive. 

Linkyfe equivalents exist, such as https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361926663197 but enough to soak your chains would be expensive. Do you know Dr Fish, the "God of Grease" ? He might have advice on a hot-melt grease that is used industrially. 

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For the use the Peerless is going to get I dare say it probably doesn't matter what Messrs Gosling use as lube - they are not going to wear the chains out. And in anycase Reynold Chain is still availible new. 

I'd simply assemble with a smear on each pin and hole as they go back together, using the thickest grease I could lay my hands on. Messy job, but no big deal. 

If you did want  to go the boiling in semi grease route, I'd be tempted in buying an old electric 'Burco' off facebook marketplace. And do it in one of them. I suspect more grease needed than above. 

As for the 'special' chain wax, probably similar to the beard wax used by such individuals. Some beef tallow would be ideal surely?

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Hi Hedd.

Many thanks for that. As we have the chain completely in bits, we can make sure that every joint has grease put in it. I have a tin of grease, described as 'heavy grease' which is more like a block of lard that we picked up somewhere. That may be the one to use. I would have to use a knife as you can't smear it with your fingers! Looks like a good winter's evening job.

Just packing up to get on with the Christmas project. Hopefully, we can make a bit of progress towards our goal of being out next year.

Steve 🙂

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I had saved over the years a number of lengths of second-hand Reynolds style 1.25" pitch duplex chain for my McDonald restoration, only to find I did not have a compatible joining link, no two being quite the same.

In the end I purchased a brand new box of chain though eBay at a quite reasonable price.

Ian

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6 hours ago, mammoth said:

"Bar oil" used for chainsaws would be the go. Is designed to get into the links and hang on  when things are whirring.

Chainsaw oil is also meant to be delivered from a reservoir, though. It's not all that tenacious. 
It is used as a cheaper alternative by some motorcyclists who have chain oilers (like the Scottoiler) 

But for the drive chains on a truck I think it would make sense to use motorcycle chain lube products, as this is actually _exactly_ the same application. 

Here is a review of 55 of them: https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/reviews/products/motorcycle-maintenance-and-servicing/best-motorcycle-chain-lube

 

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