2008 at the Hammond Barn

[Phil Waterman]

Originally Posted by RHClarke

Phil, ..... I have to reassemble my steering and have one mystery to solve - there was a gasket/shim between the steering wheel mount on the frame and the steering box - it got blown away by the overzealous sandblast maniac (me) a few years ago. I also found some horseshoe shaped metal shims when I removed the steering box. have a remnant of the gasket/shim that looks like stiff gasket material, but is as thick as two sheets of standard paper. Did you crack open your steering box or remove it from the frame? If so, was there a gasket or shim? Any guesses on the material of the gasket and dimensions?

I am guessing the shim provided fine alignment/adjustment and the metal horseshoes general alignment.

Anyone out there who can determine the composition of the shim material and recommend replacement material?

I encountered shim material on both the Pattern 13 C60S and Pattern 12 C60L never have had the box out of my HUP. Now someplace I have seen something about steering box alignment being a issue with CMPs I'll have to look for the info. Can't remember if it was in manual or service bulletin.

If I remember correctly on the C60S I had very carefully saved the shims but when I installed the body and then the steering box there was binding with the shims and not without so I left them out.

[Rob Beale]

On a C8AX in NZ, but not on others. I think we left them off when we reassembled the truck, and they are in a box somewhere!

I imagine the state of the rubber cab mounts could affect the alignment of the steering column, yet the mounting bracket below the windscreen has slotted holes I think?

The parts list C8AX shows:

5814779 SHIM Steering Gear bracket (between steering gear and bracket) 1

Hope that helps???

Rob

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by Rob Beale

On a C8AX in NZ, but not on others. I think we left them off when we reassembled the truck, and they are in a box somewhere! I imagine the state of the rubber cab mounts could affect the alignment of the steering column, yet the mounting bracket below the windscreen has slotted holes I think? The parts list C8AX shows:
5814779 SHIM Steering Gear bracket (between steering gear and bracket) 1
Hope that helps??? Rob

Indeed, it does. Some literature states that to check alignment, remove the brace clamp at the upper end of the shaft - "the steering column should lightly contact the rubber insert in the brace". If not, then shims (PN as you indicated) are to be used by loosening the four bolts at the lower end and shimming as necessary. We are also told that we are "never"...to "install shims at one bolt only".

I will play with the shims this weekend.

[RHClarke]

We got the news today. Chez Marie will be closing its doors in two weeks time. The fellow who owns the house where Chez Marie is located is not expected to bring it up to code, so the doors will close.

Bob, Grant and I had a moment of silence, which was broken by Bob's question: "Now where are we going to get fat?"

It looks like Mike's Restaurant in Bourget will benefit from our presence...fortunately, it is only a few clicks away from Bob's palace.

RIP

[RHClarke]

This morning Ottawa looked wonderful. There was frost on everything. As the sun rose it bathed the countryside in an incredible silver light. Damn! It's great to live in Canada (having fewer liberals around didn't hurt either...).

As previously mentioned, today was a bad news day for the Hammond Trio. However, we worked thru our grief and set about the fall chores at the barn. Bob and Grant concentrated on putting in the wood - I pitched in here and there, but the boys had everything under control, so I played with the HUP. The splitting continued until noon, when we headed out for lunch.



After lunch, more wood was harvested and the HUP got disassembled. The tie-down kit for the HUP is very basic - 12 eye bolts, 24 x 15/16" nuts and six stout metal plates to hold the body to the frame.



The eye bolts are mounted onto hooks on the underbody. The bolts then straddle the frame and the end plates are held on with the nuts (two per eye bolt - one acting as a lock nut). The only fly in the ointment was that the hooks are located in close in areas, such as the end of the frame near the chain locker, and midway on the pax side where the jerry can holder is bolted.



So off came the chain locker and the jerry can holder. As well, the oil filter system was moved further forward to avoid rubbing against one of the inboard bolts. I test fit the two end kits and was feeling pretty good about the fit until Bob and I refit the chain locker. Two of the wooden spacers located at the rear of the box impacted on the bolts. Down came the box - good thing because I forgot to insert the wooden guide blocks in the frame...

After cutting the blocks (which I made on speculation as my originals had turned to dust), we test fitted the box to the frame - voila! It fit. Two Grade 8 bolts were inserted up front and cinched down. That leaves two more to be inserted at the end of the front rails - but I am holding off due to a crack in the metal on the driver side and missing metal on the pax side near the bolt hole. The torture my Metal Mistress went thru in her various roles is still evident today.. I spent about a half hour under the HUP arranging bolts, plates, nuts and spacers. Then I drilled a new hole for the oil filter mount and refit the jerry can holder.

To celebrate the great "mating" I joined Bob for a few more hours of wood splitting. The shimming will have to wait. With the exception of the Chez Marie news, it was a tiring but satisfying day at the barn.

[RHClarke]

Bob and Grant went border raiding on Saturday. The boys will fill you in on that story.

On Sunday, we all went about various chores including more clean up to facilitate snow removal - seems the locals are predicting a good measure of it this winter.

After messing around with a leaky rad (needs to be re-cored), I dragged out the HUP and mounted the front windows just to get them out of the way (a "thank you" goes to John Granger at Speedy Glass in Orleans).



The rest of the day was spent mounting the steering column, which went on with a fight. The HUP steering is held on by a typical steering gear box mounted to the frame. No problems there until it came time to match up holes with the top of the column under the dash. There was no play between the upper mounts, so the lower mount was loosened off. Grant and I aligned the top mounts and bolted them up.



Next step was to attach the steering mechanism to its proper mount. Thin gasket material was used to make up the loss of the original gasket. The arms were connected using one bolt and three nuts - each cinching down a tapered collar and lock washer.



The end result:


I borrowed Grant's Chev steering wheel and gave the system a workout - there was some grit in the upper mechanism, but no binding. All seems well and in the end, I did not use any shims. More testing to follow.

Finally, we can steer the HUP!

[Bob Carriere]

... we were never in Quebec....!

........but did reach the outskirts of OshNahwah.....

Been having a real hard time signing on MLU lately.....!!!

Any ways....... here is the beast in all its beauty....
followed by the former custodian and the new owner..... Bob Gow in green sweater was very helpful in loading the "thing".... it has no name yet...

It was a wet 13 hour drive to and fro..... but luckily the rain stopped just long enough to load....

....more to follow....