Saturday: 32oC - Bob and I spent the first part of the morning splitting and stacking wood. Then it got too damned hot. So, we retired to the barn, swapped out a starter and fiddled around with various bits and pieces of CMP history.
After reinstalling the HUP starter, I took the old girl for a short run. Bob looked like he wanted to give the HUP a try, so I offered him the opportunity. Little did I know that we would be going on a road trip! Bob took the HUP cross country to the big field where we bounced along the real estate in fine style. We had an issue with shifting, but found that the lock out lever had to be in a special location on the shift lever in order to let us shift gears - keep in mind that the HUP had only been driven in first and reverse to this point, so it was a bit of an educational process for us...
After 20 minutes of joy riding, I drove the HUP back to the barn (got up to third gear no less!). The Metal Mistress rode smoothly and handled quite well! Some lessons learned:
- lock out lever position is critical;
- CMPs do not possess power steering;
- 30kph in a CMP is FAST!
- CMPs are thirsty bastards; and most importantly
- Bob liked driving the HUP.
The day ended with a beer and the realization that Bob is the second most experienced HUP driver in Eastern Ontario.
Sunday: 32oC+ overcast.
Grant joined the party. The early morning was spent loading the trailer with the scrap firewood, which will be fed to Lucifer when Ottawa freezes again. Bob and his neighbour Bruce, joined us for a wood splitting and stacking morning. I spent the time with the weed-whacker knocking down the jungle that sprouted over the rainy season (April-mid August).
After lunch, we mounted the front clip onto the HUP. It really made the truck look good!
I took the truck for a ride in the back field and made some new trails thru the swamp maples...After a short trip, I headed back to the barn. My starter started to smoke so I shut the HUP down by removing the battery lead - which was friggin hot! Next time I'll use my gloves... Back to the barn I went, where Bob and Grant were adjusting the plugs on Bob's truck. Bob fired up his CMP and towed the HUP back to the barn, whilst giggling about HUPs and their "personalities".
As a lark, we compared the 20 in tires to the 16 in tires on the HUP - they might fit:
After swapping out the starter, I took another test ride and most things worked well. I had an issue with the auto choke on the Rocky B carb, but Grant came to the rescue with a new clip. Next challenge is to fix the accelerator linkage.
Bob took his truck out for a spin and ended walking back for a recovery mission. I smiled at the irony...
Bob did a fast diagnosis and it looks like there is a problem with the transfer case/transmission/linkage, which means there will be a tear down this week coming...Bob in his office:
All too soon, the end of the day approached. Bob, Grant and I cleaned up the barn, put the trucks away and sat down for a beer in the shade. It must have been really hot, as the beer disappeared really fast...
It was a great weekend at the Hammond barn despite the setbacks.