HWade Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 Hi Tony I worked it out its Lt.Horne and not Lt Horne . Thanks Howard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Tony; glad I could be of help. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.O.S. Posted October 22, 2008 Share Posted October 22, 2008 I'm sorry John, I've just realised i did not reply to your PM re. contact info for Lt Horne. As you can see it is proving to be a good lead - many thanks! Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 Tony Your welcome, thats what we are all here for, to help each other out. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Burley Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 Some nice pics there.Looking forward to seeing more over the coming months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 Made lots of progress today. I borrowed my friends "Bobcat" and I used it to remove the bed. As you will see in the pictures, the wood that lays on top of the frame has seen better days. One advantage the Diamond T has over the Ward Lafrance is that the bogies are very accesible when the bed is removed. :)The bed is seperate from the wrecker frame. Now the fun begins, cleaning the frame, replacing the seals in the bogies, the list goes on and on................ John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormin Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Made lots of progress today. I borrowed my friends "Bobcat" and I used it to remove the bed. As you will see in the pictures, the wood that lays on top of the frame has seen better days. One advantage the Diamond T has over the Ward Lafrance is that the bogies are very accesible when the bed is removed. :)The bed is seperate from the wrecker frame.Now the fun begins, cleaning the frame, replacing the seals in the bogies, the list goes on and on................ John John, I should be lifting the bed off my Ward La France in the near future. I'll take photo's so we can compare accessibilty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted October 31, 2008 Author Share Posted October 31, 2008 Norman; I was told by, I believe, TooTallMike that frame crossmembers on a Ward LaFrance would interfere with trying to lift the reduction units staight up, and that was one reason that they removed the whole bogie assembly from the vehicle. Also, isn't the wrecker frame attached to the bed on a Ward LaFrance? John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormin Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Norman;I was told by, I believe, TooTallMike that frame crossmembers on a Ward LaFrance would interfere with trying to lift the reduction units staight up, and that was one reason that they removed the whole bogie assembly from the vehicle. Also, isn't the wrecker frame attached to the bed on a Ward LaFrance? John The wrecker frame along with the rear winch is on a subframe bolted to the chassis. The actual bed sits on another frame on top of this surrounding the crane and winch. I'm hoping to remove this seperately to rebuild it. I'm not sure I'm going to try to remove the differentials from the bogies yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted October 31, 2008 Author Share Posted October 31, 2008 Norman; I would like to see pictures when you do that job. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted November 2, 2008 Author Share Posted November 2, 2008 With the bed off, I have taken some pictures of the wire harness routing through the back half of the frame. This will aide me when I install the new harness and help others if they need to know the harness was routed. The Daimond T has 2 main harness's. The first one goes from under the dashboard, through the cowl and attaches to the junction block on the engine side off the cowl. The second harness goes from the juncton block and splits into 2 directions, one to the rear and one to the front for the headlights. There is a seperate harness for the high beam switch and 2 seperate pigtails for the headligts, additionally, for the wreckers, there is a harness that goes from the transfer switch to the 2 lights on the top of the wrecker frame. The attached photos show the rear harness and some air brake line routing. I hope these photos are useful for others, as I have found no others on the internet, that show the detail that my photos have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted November 23, 2008 Author Share Posted November 23, 2008 Progress update: All tires have been removed from the wheels. I job that was easier than I thought it would be after doing the tires on my Chevy last year. I only manged one a day before I was worn out, however, I had 3 Daimond T wheels broken down in a half hour. Some one had chalked the tubes showing an installation date in 1998, my Chevy tires had been on for 40 plus years. Spot lights removed from the wrecker frame. Air tanks removed Air brake chambers have been torn down, blasted and painted, just waiting for the new diaphrams to arrive. Relay valve, (2) 2 way check valves, and quick release valve have been taken aprt and cleaned. 4 new rubber air brakes hoses were made. I will post pictures soon, ran out of daylight today. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted November 25, 2008 Author Share Posted November 25, 2008 I picked up the new white oak planks that I had made today. They go between the frame and the wrecker bed. When it stops rainig I will post some pics, it is pity that they will not be seen once they are installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 This past weekend I was able to take out the old wiring harnesss (or what was left of it) and take off all of the airbrake lines from the rear of the frame. I got all the new tires mounted on my repainted wheels, with the help of my 10 year old son, he enjoyed filling them up with air. In the first pic you will see a before and after picture of my efforts to clean up the frame. The second piture is of the stripped frame and the last are of teh tires being mounted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 I am using a combination of media blasting and paint stripper to scrape the paint off, all 5 layers of it. I disassembled the glad hand couplers (they were full of rust) and I was able to free up the shut off valves. I will post pics after the paint dries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted February 18, 2009 Author Share Posted February 18, 2009 I had posted pictrues of the brake chamber rebuild under the wrecker forum but I will post them here to keep things consistent. As you can , not as bad as Normans's on his Ward, but still in need of attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormin Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Looks like you are having better weather for working outside and painting than we are at present. Looking good all round. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Thanks, however we got some snow today and more is expected for the weekend, hopefully it will all be melted by Sunday. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted March 18, 2009 Author Share Posted March 18, 2009 After a total of 8 hours, over 3 days, I finally got the seat base out of the cab. Jim Clark's shop is fabriacting some new panels for me. A very pleasant fellow to deal with I must say. Pictres attached of my handy work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 Good pics John, that seat pan is more awkward than it looks! I must say your cab is very similar to mine in terms of restoration work. Is this its first restoration? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 Adrian; As far as I can tell it is the cab's first restoration. I spoke to Jim Clark today via phone and my repair pieces are being fabricated. I have spent the past 2 days media blasting the wrecker frame and the left frame rail. The first 2 pics show the wrecker frame and the 3rd shows "tennesee USA" on teh steel frame of the wrecker body Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 In preparing the wrecker frame for blasting, I removed the oxygen bottle from it's bracket. After taken a few layers of paint off the bottle I found the following information stamped on it On the top US ARMY AIR FORCES opposite side was stamped 11-44 there were several date stamps put on over the years when the bottle was pressure checked, last itime it was checked was in 1983. you never know what you will find under all that paint, the original color was yellow. I cannot verify if this bottle has spent its whole life with my wrecker , but is was a great find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcus Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 As requested, here are photos of the data plates, sorry about the bright spots but it was the flash from the camera, plus, I did not take them out of the packing material. The engine plate I acquired from another source, as it is NOS. I had my plates done in zinc, but he offers them in brass also. I am not sure if that is the correct data plate for the front winch , as the one pictured in my TM is a little differant. John Bravo for your job. I am in search of plates as yours. Where you found them. In Europe, Becker E does not fabricate them any more. Thank you for your answers Sorry for my bad english! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted April 3, 2009 Author Share Posted April 3, 2009 Marcus; please refer to post(s) 24 and 25 on page 3 of this blog, I got them got them from Lt. Horne (his ebay ID), When I find his e mail I will PM you . John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
42 chevy Posted April 3, 2009 Author Share Posted April 3, 2009 Robert Dudkowski is the gentelman's name who makes the data plates. This is his e mail horne@pozcta.fm John Gott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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