Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Farrant
Would this difference also involve those CMP's sent to India as well? I am aware the Indian ones had heavier steering boxes so maybe the chassis was heavier / thicker?
|
Sorry Richard, I missed your query earlier. No, it's not related to the steering box. Hint: try the other end of the chassis!
You raise an interesting question though. CMP chassis deliveries to India and Australia differed from Canadian production, in that neither country received the heavy duty axles and steering box until much later in the war. I've never really understood why this should be so. Presumably they were prioritized for Canadian production initially, but that doesn't explain why it took years to switch production from light duty components to heavy duty components. It seems to me there must be some other reason for persisting with light duty components for these particular exports, but I can't imagine what it could be. Does anyone else have any clues...?
As far as the siderails are concerned - to the best of my knowledge there's no difference between siderails on early production chassis (ie. light duty components) and late production chassis (ie. heavy duty components). I believe the heavy duty Chev steering box is directly interchangeable, and the steering box on Fords is upgradeable by changing the RHF spring hanger, which is designed to be interchangeable without drilling new holes. The only other change made was to the F60S/L chassis, which was strengthened in the midsection. That is, externally fitted reinforcement plates, and extension of the inner skin rearwards by approx 2 feet. None of this additional reinforcement was done on the Chev chassis as the siderails are much beefier than Fords.