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WW1 Peerless lorry restoration


Great War truck

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We are still cleaning up and preparing bits for the eventual re-assembly. This is part of the Clutch activation system and is described in the Parts Book as the "Clutch Shifter Assembly". It consists of two main bronze parts, held together by two 5/16" x 4 1/2" bolts. One of the original two bolts had been replaced by an overlength bolt of some kind during its life time, with the surplus length of the bolt padded out with washers. The one remaining original bolt is badly wasted so both of bolts will be replaced but the remaining original serves as a pattern.
 
There are inserts in the two bronze castings which I assume are of white metal?

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On 9/9/2019 at 6:10 PM, Great War truck said:

......but as the FWD had not been started for over three years, we decided to move it out and to make sure that it still runs! Amazingly, it started on the second pull of the starting handle.

 

 

While is is clear you enjoy the restoration and equally your complete vehicles don't want to be used too often perhaps you should enjoy the end result of your labour a little more often ?

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On the side of the Crank Case, the Oil Gauge Cock should be fitted - there is provision there for it to be held on by four nutted studs. Two of the studs are missing and again, the two remaining ones are an unusual thread -  1/4" by 27 which we find is another UNS thread.
 
All of the lorries that we have worked on so far have had different threads - the Autocars were UNC, the FWD was UNF, the Dennis was BSF and the Thorny was Whit. We did think that by the time that we got around to the Peerless, we would have had all the Taps and Dies in stock that we would ever need in hand from those previous completed restorations and now the Peerless is throwing up UNS at us.
 
1/4" x 27 UNS is again readily available through USA  Amazon and is not expensive.

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  • 2 weeks later...
The threads on the various fixings are still puzzling! We have cleaned up the original bolts, screws and studs that were holding the Sump and also the front cover to the crank case. We now expected to find that the 3/8" Bolts would be UNS but they are in fact, UNF - could they have been a replacement at some time in the past as it would not have been critical to use UNS on those? But there are also some 3/8" studs and they are UNS! It would have been strange for the manufacturers to have used UNF for this when they have used UNS elsewhere.
 
The 1/4" bolts measure out, we think, to as near as we can get with our Thread Gauge to be 26TPI - but it is not quite right. From what I can read, 27TPI was a common thread on 1/4" UNS and I think that these bolts must be 27 TPI. We shall know shortly!

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Decided to look for Shackles and Shackle pins today with the idea of getting them ready for when the chassis is ready for erection. We have a whole lot of spares which came with the lorry when we bought it. - some are inaccessible at the moment and the condition must be checked with the best ones then  put out for re-use. The easier ones to get out have been worked on today.

 

I was hoping that we would not find any more strange threads but all but one of them are threaded 7/8" x 16 - yet another odd ball thread - not even a recognised UNS thread. One was still in an original bracket complete with its hook. This assembly came apart after some heat treatment and we find on this one shackle pin, the thread is 5/8" Whitworth! I am guessing that the end of this one must have been turned down at some time during its life and re-threaded differently for what ever reason - perhaps the fitter at that time did not have 7/8" x 16 Tap and Die either.

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5 hours ago, Minesweeper said:

But what a price - £15.15 each!

The price is in the description, 'Bentley'.   I was chasing pistons for a Rolls Royce 20/25hp engine and the price was out of this world.  I cross checked the catalogue and found the same catalogue number was for a 6 cylinder Dodge truck piston.  Checked it out and the pistons were the same at less than 1/4 of the cost of the RR pistons.  Guess what pistons are still in the RR engine.

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I have found Taps and Dies now at a very reasonable price so it looks more like "home manufacture" again!

But it still does not explain to me why Peerless used these less common threads - having done our other American Trucks - the FWD and the two Autocars - where they used the more common UNC and UNF threads. What could the reasoning have been?

Tony

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43 minutes ago, Minesweeper said:

 

But it still does not explain to me why Peerless used these less common threads

If they were making the parts themselves it might have been as simple as saving faffing about with change gears on the lathes. 

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Dad decided to have a first look at the Shackle Pins, Shackles and Slot Nuts to see what could be saved for re-use. All of these bits were separate from the main Peerless Lorry and are designated as "spares" and have been saved from other Peerless remnants which we have acquired over years. One front spring shackle, pin and nut came complete with a front hook and the bracket holding that assembly to the chassis rail. It was locked up solidly but some heat loosened it and it was taken apart.

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