2016 at the Hammond Barn
 

What a difference a week makes. We now have about a foot of snow on the ground and the temperatures have returned to about normal levels. While there was not too much reported on the barn activities in 2015, we hope to report on our new adventures and challenges in 2016.

I spent a few hours this afternoon cleaning off shelters, digging out doorways and some general CMP chores. Bob and Grant were taking it easy at home supposedly enjoying the warm fire and cold beer. I think that I (and you all) should do the same.

As Rob said, a week ago it was record warm temperatures on Christmas Eve, without a speck of snow in sight. Then on the 29th record snowfall for the day. Definitely odd weather. Happy New Year to all.

Happy New Years to you and the Hammond crew.

Beaver Update
 

Bob, Have you had a chance to visit the dams lately? Let me know if this guy shows up:

Well if he does....
 

He better be wearing beaver fur coat as it is cold out there.

May take a brisk walk over tomorrow when the temp. goes up to a balmy -2 C

Cheers

PS Rain foreecast for next weekend will most likely flow and freeze over the existing ice making walking on the stream very dangerous and very difficult for Mr Beaver.... as the water goes down air pockets will form than collapse with wet snow making it almost impossible for the furry little creature to get around....

While doing a bit of database cleaning here at MLU I noted 2015 was the tenth installment of the "at the Hammond Barn" threads :thup2:

Looking forward to 2016 as the 11th consecutive year of the activities of the Hammond Barn Crew.

Thanks guys!

Hanno

That Long, eh?
 

Wow! I had no idea that we had been at this for such a long period of time. We got a lot of small projects done, but as Guy, the Steam Guy says, what do you have on the road? Maybe this year we will have some trucks legally registered, insured and on the road. Maybe...we will see.

Time to Retire
 

Bob asked me to post some tire photos, so here they are.

Photos:
1 - Deuce and a half tire for a future project.
2 - Comparison deuce tire vs CMP 16 inch tire.

Soggy Day at the Barn
 

We experienced a very soggy and wet Saturday. The temps were well above zero and the rain really helped make a mess of things. Lucifer was fired up to drive off the humidity inside the barn so that Bob could continue his work on the sewing machines. Later on Grant and Bob demounted a Michelin military tire from a civvy rim and remounted it on a CMP rim using the Hammond Barn special tool that turns a fight into a casual chore (see the applicable thread). I spent the day removing grease, crud and rust from two hubs belonging to the 42 HUP Pilot model. While one hub had considerable brake wear on the inside, the other was in pristine shape. Both will have to be milled and fitted for shoes in the near future.

After lunch Bob took his truck for a ride to the back 40. It wasn't hard to tell where he went as the ground (mud) under the snow is still not frozen. Later we removed snow and ice from the shelters and spend a good amount of time digging out doorways. The boys found that Bob's shelter needed a new tarp, so they played at that task. All of this outdoor work was done in anticipation of the rain on Sunday and the cold snap that was forecasted to follow on Monday. For three of four seasons we spend as much time preparing for the weather events as we do actual CMP work. Part of the charm at the barn.

Photos:
1 - The slush on the barn just waiting for an unsuspecting denizen to walk through the door (it still had not let go when we departed).
2 - Bob's jacket hanging by the fireplace with care after a good soaking outside (Pilot model water pump hangs in the foreground).
3 - Evidence of CMP life at the barn.
4 - Pilot model hubs after the initial cleaning.

Almost Like Shilo
 

It was very cold at the barn early this morning. I chose the coldest day of the year so far to sneak out of the house early to get in some quality barn time. It took a few minutes to spark up Lucifer, but true to its name, it was glowing about 20 minutes later. While Lucifer was thawing out the mosquitoes, I did the usual clean up of the shelters and doorways. The rest of the morning was spent cleaning the Pilot Model hubs in prep for painting in the afternoon.

Bob and Grant made their appearance later on in the morning and set about their usual chores. Bob fiddled with his sewing machine and did some door measurements. Grant worked on his trailer suspension and dismantled a old Ford CMP spring pack that still had some life in it - particularly when the nut from the center pin was removed... After the spring surprise, a but more caution was used and a good number of C clamps as well.

Following lunch, we got back to the chores at hand. Later, Bob surprised us with a small treat - a ration can that he surmised came from an army ration pack from the 1950s. To me it looked like the old US ration can that always left green flecks in the food when you opened it. Bob decided to taste test the contents and did not seem worse for wear, so I guess the rats were OK.
It can never be said that we are not willing to try out different things at the barn.

The end of the day was marked by a sit down session to discuss the characteristics and dimensions of Ford and Chev springs. This was all too exciting for me, so I headed home just as it was getting dark.

Photos:
1 - Grant safely removing spring leafs
2 - Really old rats anyone?
3 - Adventurous Bob biting a biscuit
4 - CMP nerds at play

Hammond Barn
 

I got a military mechanic, box for a CMP this summer and it has benches in side like the ones I see you are using in your garage em me and I'll send you pictures geomck@wispernet.ca George Mckenzie

I just did it......
 

Curious to see what kind of benches you have....... what size truck???

The table you see in the background was purchased at a scrap yard..... they were originally used for lazer research and had to be very accurate flat.... they are built with a 5/8 solid stainless steel top and weights about 1500 pounds.... legs are 1/4 thick 4x6 steel tubes...... paid about $400 for it..... sorry now I did now buy 2 or 3......

Great as a set up table or as an anvil for hammering bent steel into submission.

Cheers

Bob C

cab 11 door reskinning......
 

The door frames are being given the last clean up....... 18 gauge sheet metal being cut and readied for the reskinning process.

Everything will be cleaned with acetone where the new skin will mate with the door frame as I am considering a few spot welds to absolutely hold the skin in place during the crimping process of the edges.

The curved section of the door that fits above the front fender will be more difficult as we will probably need to use heat to stretch the sheet metal to a near perfect curve.

We will document our trials and tribulation with photos for future MLU restorers.

The last few days of mild weather has rekindled our spirits....

Cheers

PS.... the tire bead breaker will be at the barn by the week end....stay tuned for "How it works..." on the installation thread.

Will be looking forward with interest on how the tire bead breaker works out :drunk:

First time ever.....
 

Actually cancelled barn activites for tomorrow..... forecast is -31C tonite (minus 24F for our USA friends)
and morning hours at_-30C with a 15 kph breeze worth a windchill of -39 C.

It would take sooooo long to even warm up the barn above freezing that it would be quitting time.

Must be getting old!!!!

Stay warm.....

Bob C

Trying figure how return the cold
 

Hi Bob

Yup it's cold, the nice Canadian air arrived, here in New Hampshire, last night -27C on nice breezes of 10-20 MPH. Trying to figure how to it send back north.

Lucifer isn't up to taking the chill of the air in the shop? Have you ever figured out how many BTUs Lucifer puts out at full bore?

Good weather to curl up and read a book.

Is it valentine's day Canada, that's my excuse here for not being out in the shop

Cheers Phil

PS Have shared the Ground Hog Day photo with the family, everybody loves it.

Lucifer's specs.....
 

Lucifer hails from the East coast made by Kerr. Originaly intended to heat up a large 2500 sq. foot house..... owners didn't like having to cut wood and stock the fires.

Got it slightly used.... air tight design rated at 100,000 BTU....however once fired up nice and hot we drip used motor oil (mixed oil, kerosene, atf, old deisel, skunky gas, paint thinner even axle gear oil).....drips in cast iron frypan resting on coal...... tends to burn pure white....very hot and no smoke from the chimney.

Problem at -30C the oil soup hardly flows from the gravity set up with the tank outside and it takes so long to warm up the air, and all the steel and the concrete slab floor forms a huge heat sink that has to be overcomed. Normally in 2 hours we can work in a ligth jacket..... by mid afternoon it is not usual to see thawed out mosquitoes buzzing around at 60 F.

But today I am staying inside the house.

After this cold snap the next weather front will bring snow and temperature of
+1 C on Tuesday...... then will send it your way.

Cheers

Reskinning cab 11 doors
 

Finally got around to reskinning my doors.

Doing the top bends and side bends of the skin using our 36inch pan box brake made our job a lot easier.

We started out using an 18 g sheet metal at least it was sold as 18 g but that measured something like 0.0475

Prepainted the inside facing of the sheet metal with POR 15 leaving clean section for edge spot welding.

We had very little difficulties doing the straight edges but admitedly very nervous about the bottom curved section,

So we designed a test jig that duplicated the curvature of the door.... tacked everything in place and clamped it to the heavy work table,

Grant found that the hand held dolly shown in the pictures to be invaluable to get the skin to slow roll over and the curve of the dolly was a good match for the curve of the door.

Here are some pictures.
Attachment 80252

Attachment 80253

Once the skin is beatten or tapped near 90 degrees the jig was turned over to finish the remaining 90 degrees of the bend.

You will noticed that we spot welded the skin on the test jig the same as we had spot welded the real door. We used a special flat tip for the bottom electrode and a pencil tip for the upper electrode.
The flat bottom electrode wad on the good face of the door and minimized any cratering that might occur. The skin will be buffed with sanding paper and the small remaining depression filled with a very small amount of JB weld for a smooth finish.

The door edge was supported by a 1/2 half inch thick by 2 in. bar stock that we had rooled at the local fabricator..... we actually tweaked the curvature with our hydraulic press to get a perfect match ot the door.

The door is actually 1.75 in. thick so we shimmed the door with 1/4 in. stock so it could be clammed very tigth to the table.

We were pleased to see that the metal stretched very easily with a series of light tap with small ballpeen hammer than went on with the hand held dolly.
Again tap, tap, tap into submission.

After reaching about 45 degrees we fired up the oxy-acet and warmed up the metal to take out stress.....allowed to cool thenresumed tapping.

Once we reached a 90 degree bend we made sure that the bend was square against the 14 g door section to insure a tight fit/bend.

We heated and allowed to cool at least 3 times.

The sheet metal stetched beautifully until almost flat. At that point we turned the door over and hammered with a large ballpeen hammer against the flat of the table. Table top is 5/8 SS and very ridgid.

more to follow.

Reskinning cab 11 doors part 2
 

Once we had proof that the metal could be rolled over and flattened without buckling or geting wavy we did the real door.

This picture is of the real door.

Next we will tackle doing a cab 13 skin..... which will have its own learning curve. The biggest challenge is figuring out the sequence that you do the bends in the pan box brake..... or you literaly box yourself in a corner.

No heat was used during the skin bending and tapping better describes the process rather than hammering.

guys...thanks for taking the time to share these experiences. Just like your recent adventures with the bead breaker tool; I am reading these one-hand experiences with great interest.

Bob, it looks like your cab is coming along nicely. Dare I ask what you have planned for the rear body? Do you have a salvagable box in the yard?

Alex

Dare ask.......
 

Hi Alex

I have 3 rear 2B1 bodies or maybe should be called cadavers......

I have my original cab 11 box and two from Cab 12.

Sadly all of them are badly rusted BUT between the 3 boxes I have one badly twisted tail gate and two sets of good side drop panels.

Only one cab 12 floor still has the original inside the box rectangular fenders.

Plans are to reverse engineer and built one new box. I have enough to use as patterns for a new fabrication. Mainly 14 and 16 gauge except for the floor.

I need to build a rotisserie first so I can swing the new box 180 degrees for fabrication.

I rough estimate is near a $1000 for the steel and maybe as much for the custom bending at a local fabricator... minimum charge $75...set up time then bending... might consider making parts for a second box once the set up time is paid for. Another possibility is buying my own 6 foot 12 gauge pan box brake but would need to build at least 3 boxes to break even. My own time and Mig welding not included.

Construction is fairly simple and most pieces needing bending is less than 5 feet long except for the head piece and tail gate. I would hope to be able to generate some pictures, sketches with measurements plus pit falls to avoid.

Plans are to safety the vehicle this Spring EVEN if I have to install a M101A trailer box temporarily or maybe one of the rusted box for a short while.

Grant is restoring a 20cwt trailer box and I may get some worth while experience with me as humble assistant.

Cheers

Bob,

Good to hear that you at least have some boxes as a base. Even cadavers are better than nothing, right?

There are a bunch of tutorials on making a DIY sheet metal brakes on youtube....I was just watching a few vids recently with a vision of maybe making a small sheet metal brake myself. Maybe something to think about for the barn as well? ....even though 6 foot is quite long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOYczH-yiWI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzc3NvkaC5Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3B9kJIfx2A

Alex

Thanks Alex
 

We acquired 2 brakes last year....one is 30 inches straight bar across the other more useful is a 36 inch pan box brake with multi fingers......both work well up to 16 gauge....... the cargo box 2B1 is a lot of 16 guage with some heavier pieces at 14.

I would be concerned making my own brake for 12 to 14 gauge sheet metal.

We have a smaller Chinese 40 in. shear-roller-vertical brake......good for 18 gauge at the most.....although we have cheated with 16 guage but preheated the sheet metal for a clean 90 degree bend.

On a 2B1 cargo box most of the pieces are less than 48 inches...... except the head board piece and the hat shaped section underneath that run the full width.

The tail gate can be done in two sections hidding the but joint under the large strap hinges.

So I have concluded that 72 inches at 12 gauge would do me just fine...... buit need to find the money to buy it.....or pay the local fabricator.

Will carefully watch the utube video next.

Cheers

Hammond Barn
 

I made a tail gate for a box on a CMP 13 .Turned out like original Just takes time

Into wiring my cab 11.....
 

Been madly involved with running the brand new wiring harness Phil W. did for me a few years back.

Did not realize how much of a nightmare it cvan be to snake the wires in pkace after the cab is almost all assembled...... but I am getting there.

Phil the harness is a delight to work with.... absolutely perfect.....THANKS YOU!!

Noticed in the process that my cab 11, which never went overseas, was never retro fitted with the front fenders marker lights nor the rear axle light..... that is now taken care of.... all my lights front and rear are working.... will be tackling the instrument cluster next...... what takes time is the hour of limbering yoga exercise before crawling under, over, etc.....

Would some one look at the wiring diagram in the MB-C2 and see if I am wrong.... the dotted lines for the second headlights ( yes mine has two) it seems that the dash instrument "Brigth Light" is shown as being wired ON when the low beam are actuated.....???

I have been using this diagram as my road map....... Phil made the wiring harness with EXACTLY the same color code as the manual...... it sure simplifies the process.....

I now have to factor in the new style ignition coil and the alternator...will keep the voltage regulator in place as a dummy so need to modify the diagram slightly. Also installing signal lights, for safety, and will be using an after market special dash switch similar to the fuel tank switch to manually turn on the flashers. Again Phil was thoughtful and included the extra wires for the flashers in the braided wiring loom.

Time to go out and get zapped!!

Cheers

Bob,

please post some pictures of the process.....well, not you hanging upside down in the engine bay, but rather the actual wiring :D. I am also preparing to start on the wiring and spoke to Phil to get some feedback, as I am really new to wiring. Just like you (and all other for that matter), I have to include some flashers, so the challenges are similar.

regards,

Alex

It is pretty clear the wiring went on as the truck was built.
 

Hi Bob

Good to hear the harness is going well. Besides yoga is good for use. I would not be surprised to hear that gal's got this job on assembly line.

Now having put new harnesses in both Pattern 12 & 13 after the trucks were assembled I can conclusively say that's not how it was done on the assembly line. I'm sure the started when it was a rolling chassis.

First time I replaced the harness on my HUP years ago, it has fully assembled took the old one out copy it and then installed the copy. When the HUP was over hauled twenty years later put the harness in starting with the chassis then once the bare body was in place much easier.

Anybody working on a Pattern 13 do the harness without the nose on, lot easier to wire.

Also as I mentioned on my Web site if you are making a new harness make it several inches (6") longer than the original, particularly at the dash end.

Cheers Phil

Wiring continued......
 

Phil what really helped was using the same color code as the original wiring.... made using the CMP MB-C2 wiring diagram much easier to use.

Putting in the wiring harness before the body is on the frame is definitely the way to go.... in a plant setting!!!

Fishing the headlight wiring after the fenders are installed is not easy...not impossible ...but not easy.

Alex..... regarding photos..... did not take any due to the tight physical location...... in some instances... I had to remove my jacket, roll up my shirt sleeve and remove my wrist watch to reach inside the engine bay.

I will try to take some photos and post them for you...... but if you have any specific questions let me know and will try to take additional photos or give you a verbal description.

Since Phil had faithfully reproduced the CMP harness it had the connectors mid way which allowed me to split the harness midway near the T-case cross member. It allowed me to install the rear section and the lights and apply power to test them out. I did the same with the front section...... I was fortunate enough to have 3 cab 12 to look at to see how the harness was installed as mine had been totally stripped out ( originally by the mice).

So having done the rear section I worked on the front section of the ligths and tested the headligths. Actually as you connect the most obvious parts you have less and less to be intimidated by.

My issue now is redoing an instrument cluster to that I can finish the dash wiring. I have to salvage a fuel guage then can move ahead.

I temporarily designed some front flasher lights to fit on the bumper for the signal lights... and they test good.... will have pics of that for you.

One of my headache right now is that my cab 11 never had side lights mounted on the front fenders and I am not sure I want to drill holes to install them. I am considering going back to the original headlights with the separate reflector/lens system which would include the built in parking lights inside the headlight bucket.

So far, starting from both ends and meeting in the middle, seems to work for me.

My plans are to fully hard wire the voltage regulator.... then modify to accomodate the alternator and leave the voltage regular sitting there as a dummy. I am not an expert at this and must admit that you need to really think and concentrate on doing it well..... it is not a slam dunk deal but do-able........ with patience and persistance.

Cheers

I has dunne it.....
 

Totally rewired my C15a with a repro wiring harness made by Phil Waterman.

It's a lot of work.....did a final check with Grant today....found one wire out of place on the HAM-metre.

Reconnected the battery..... waited....no fizzz....no phiittzzz...no smoke.... so tried all the lights.... worked fine.... turned the new ignition key ...engine fired up micely and even the HAM-metre was working properly..... and this is a 12 volt conversion with a new alternator.

Brake lights did not work but we tracked it down to a defective brake switch....

Very pleased with the result and the harness from Phil was a delight to work with.

One more step closer to getting a safety for the road.

Cheers

Glad it worked
 

Hi Bob

Good progress, I had this nagging fear in the back of my mind that you were going to say I had missed some important wire, or miss labeled something.

So now you have wiring lights whats left before the critical test?

Cheers Phil