2011 at the Hammond Barn

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Bob

Where are you measuring the covers, at the inside verticals of the end or outside of the gasket flange to outside of gasket flange.

Something is strange because I just went out and measured 5 different covers and they all are basically 27 inches outside of the flange to outside of flange. Both the original CMP covers are 27 inches as is the 235 cover.

As to 216 cover on 261 should not be a problem other than needing to replace the two rocker harm bolts with studs long enough to go through the cover. I remember seeing either in a gasket set or on one of the Stovebolt forums a reminder to fill the four bolt holes in the 235-261 gasket.

Yes getting of that fiddly stuff like routing tubing takes a long time particularly if you don't have good fitting originals to work from. I saved a whole bunch of heavy well wire which I straighten out and then bend to the shape of different tubing routes to get something to work from. Even so I often end up using several lengths of tubing. But your right when you get it right it just looks and feels right.

Cheers Phil

[RHClarke]

The sun was shining and the temperature was great! A perfect day to get to the barn to work on the Mistress! Alas! This was not to be. This morning son number three joined me on a trek to the barn - not to work on the truck, but to gather some information for a school project.

On the way to the barn we thought our eyes were deceiving us - it looked like it had snowed in one particular field just west of the village of Sarsfield. Upon closer examination it was found to be a field of snow geese that had decided to drop in for a snack prior to heading to the wild north. So, we snapped a few pics and carried on to the barn.

Jesse is putting a project together on the majestic beaver (castor canadensis) that well-known symbol of Canadian sovereignty. Fortunately for Jesse (not so for Bob), Bob's farm has a few of them hanging around. Jesse asked Bob if we could trek through his back 40 to see if we could spot a beaver. Bob agreed and even volunteered to act as our tour guide.

There are a few streams that run through Bob's property - one in particular really attracts beavers. So off we went. Bob showed us six dams and evidence of beaver activity (freshly gnawed stumps of trees, paw prints in the mud and food caches). We did not spot any of the timid creatures. Bob surmised that they were in their dens which are burrowed into the banks of the stream. We did however find a skull of a dead beaver, which would soon donate its two upper teeth to Jesse's cause.

After an hour of slogging through the underbrush and the mud, we headed back to the barn to do some dentistry on the beaver skull (thanks to Dr. Bob). After both teeth were extracted, Jesse and I headed back to the city with his treasures. He chattered all the way home about Bob's great nature preserve.

Later that afternoon, the better half arrived and I departed for the barn to do some welding on the HUP roof. While some progress was made, I am sure that I would never be hired by the hour or by the reel of wire...I spent about three hours welding and grinding the gap between the original cab roof and the new metal of the HUP's rear end. Pics of the finished work will be posted later this weekend. For the first time in recent history, I left the barn after Bob and Grant departed. The ride home was a bright affair as the sun was just above and on the horizon for most of the trip home. Small price to pay for a great day at the barn!

Photos:
1 - "Snow" in the fields
2 - Snow Geese in the fields
3 - Evidence of recent beaver activity
4 - Jesse and his tour guide at dam number 4 of 6
5 - HUP roof prepped for MIG welding

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Phil

I am concerned about having the valve cover effectively seal any possible oil leaking. My 261 valve cover seals up very well but does not look the part.

I found a valve cover on a spare cab 12 that has the proepr opening for the oil filler extension at the front and the small oil bath air breather for the middle of the valve cover. It will need some sandblasting and straigthening the edge.

I opened two spare engine gasket sets and both 235/261 cork valve cover gasket are almost a fit. I say almost because the new gaskets are about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch too narrow...... and this measured near the end so that cover flex would not be an issue. Yes the bolt holes cold be filled with "silly-cone" but still very narrow at the contact point.

so I bought a 36 x 18 roll of 1/8 rubberized cork material..... and plan to cut my own so I can make it a tad wider...... I pan to degrease the engine head area and glue the cork to the head...... with nothing on the cover side to facilitate easy removal for any unforeseen adjustments. ne thing I am wondering about...... the value of laminating two 1/8 thicknesses of cork with a oil/gas proof glue (claim to stay soft) for extra material to compress.

Meanwhile I spent some frustrating hours using a new ...made in China.... brake line bender with very poor results. The previous chinese made bender worked reliably for over 5 or 6 years bending steel and SS and steel 3/8 lines for the PCV...... well we had a very kinky afternoon. It seems that the new lines with a black poly covering are the worst for kinking..... on close examination the new tube bender from PA seems to be out of alignment and they replaced it free when I took in the broken one.....may go back to the store and open every box to see if there is a better one.... so much for ISO quality.

Hoping the little bunny is kind to you tomorrow...... we have family coming over for Easter..... or at least what's left of the family..... my Mom's youngest sister past away two months ago and her older son (56) died of cancer 2 months later to the day.... this is the first gathering with out them.

Will try to corner the market on the old fashion bares steel lines and plan on ordering a new ...hopefully better... tube bender from Eastwood.

Rob has decided to finish the welding of the roof on his HUP..... the whole back portion was replaced and now it needs to be joined to the existing front sheet metal...... fortunately the joint is over one of the roof stiffening rib which provides a convenient backing. It is a labour of love to say the least.... it is stich...stich...stich.... fill in were required...grind....grind..... fill in again....grind again.... and for the whole width of the roof.

Rob may earn is welding ticket by the time he is finished.

Bob

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Bob

Think I have at least 5 tubing benders, none of them are really good for all applications, in particular when you have to bends close together. I've looked Eastwood's but have not ordered one so let me know which one you get and how you like it.

With a few very notable exceptions most of the discount auto parts tools are not as good as older tools. When I'm visiting auto flee markets I always have my eyes out for older tools in good condition particularly the old Craftsman and Snap-on tools every now and then I find some real good buys on tools which have hardly been used or well cared for.

Cheers Phil

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Phil

In the bending department I have the coil benders, a plier type with different changeable center core mandrels, and the Jet model from China..... and youa re right they all have there use...... the jet with the 4 size fits all.... a gove for the 3/16 - 1/4 - 3/8 was my most popular and good producer..... but afetr two trucks worth of SS and some 3/8 I may have exceeded it's life span and it broke. the new one I got free as replacement does not seem to be as tight fitting as the older one..... that's why I will go back and rummage in all the boxes they ahve to see if one is not a better fit.

The one from Eastwood I am intereste din is the $37.99 model that will do 1/4 - 3/16 - 3/8 ...... which seems to be strudier construction.

The ultimate would be models from Swagelock..... over $100 each and for only one size..... so you would need at least 3 to cover the 3/16 vacuum lines, the 1/4 for brake and fuel and the 3/8 for PCV line.

Good idea on the flea markets.... in fact we will be attending the Sterling one weekend.... first big one of the season.

Caught Rob doing some stiching this morning on his HUP....

............ and pictures of wild turkey eggs ...... about 200 feet from where Rob is grinding....... don't seem to scare them.....the hen will come back every day until she hasa cluthc of 12 or so eggs.

Now this is a Hammond wild turkey...... not to be confused with the ones working on CMP trucks..... yet to take a picture of the latest member of the Hammond barn.

Bob

[gjamo]

My dad was in LAME in the RAAF during the war and regularly used tube filling methods to bend hydraulic lines together with a tube bender. There are several methods of doing this ,some that I am aware of are Bismuth (melts in boiling water) Cerrobend I think is its commercial name. Frozen soapy water also works they tell me and I have even heard of packing with sand but not sure how it would work.
Has anyone here tried it I have some bismuth from another project and keen to give it a try.
Graeme

[RHClarke]

Easter Sunday - I should have been in church, but contented myself with Hammond's place of worship - the barn. This morning I had the barn all to myself.
Bob took advantage of the nice weather today to commune with nature. As mentioned above, there is a resident turkey (yes, a real wild one) nesting nearby. While Bob was on his wild turkey hunt, I continued to find new ways of screwing up simple welding tasks. The probleme du jour was "blow through". Some of my tack welds were blowing holes into the metal I was trying to weld. Bob suggested that he wind may have a hand in the problem, so a simple wind block was used - actually a recyling bin with a large chunk of metal in it. That solved that problem.

After a morning of welding and grinding, Brian Francis dropped by. He had some time to kill between trips back to Kenya, so he lent a hand. Brian finished off the welding job for me - a well-appreciated break. We chatted about the dents and dings in the sheet metal and he mentioned that he had a tool designed for just those problems. On his next trip to the barn he will demonstrate its use.

The afternoon was spent finishing off the welding and cleaning up. Bob stopped to see who I was talking to (actually he thought I had gone mad and was talking to myself). After greeting Brian and catching up on his adventures, Bob headed home for Sunday dinner. This was my cue to wrap things up and go home to face the dreaded "honey-do" list. You can't have pleasure without knowing pain...

Photos
1 - Brian cleaning up my welding mess
2 - Driver side weld
3 - Pax side weld
4 - Roof weld - almost finished

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

Hi Phil

In the bending department I have the coil benders, a plier type with different changeable center core mandrels, and the Jet model from China..... and youa re right they all have there use...... the jet with the 4 size fits all.... a gove for the 3/16 - 1/4 - 3/8 was my most popular and good producer..... but afetr two trucks worth of SS and some 3/8 I may have exceeded it's life span and it broke. the new one I got free as replacement does not seem to be as tight fitting as the older one..... that's why I will go back and rummage in all the boxes they ahve to see if one is not a better fit.

The one from Eastwood I am intereste din is the $37.99 model that will do 1/4 - 3/16 - 3/8 ...... which seems to be strudier construction.

The ultimate would be models from Swagelock..... over $100 each and for only one size..... so you would need at least 3 to cover the 3/16 vacuum lines, the 1/4 for brake and fuel and the 3/8 for PCV line.

Good idea on the flea markets.... in fact we will be attending the Sterling one weekend.... first big one of the season.

Caught Rob doing some stiching this morning on his HUP....

............ and pictures of wild turkey eggs ...... about 200 feet from where Rob is grinding....... don't seem to scare them.....the hen will come back every day until she hasa cluthc of 12 or so eggs.

Now this is a Hammond wild turkey...... not to be confused with the ones working on CMP trucks..... yet to take a picture of the latest member of the Hammond barn.

Bob

Bob..
I have the good refrigeration tube benders ..different sizes..theree in one 1/4"...5/16ths...3/8ths..etc..and single benders ..I also have electrician hickeys..tube benders for 1/'2 thin wall conduit for bows for backs..of trucks..
Give me a call.
Alex
70069-A 70069-A Hand Multi Pipe Bender 4 sizes in one 70069-A Hand Multi Pipe Bender 4 sizes in one

[RHClarke]

Wow! I owe my dear wife a debt of gratitude for letting me escape the drugery of domestic chores over the long weekend. Although today was a short day, any time at the barn is golden in my books.

Most of the time was spent in cleaning up and in organizing parts for the next phase of the "never-ending HUP adventure". Once I offloaded the back of the HUP, I went through a dozen coffee cans of miscellaneous parts - some of which had been hiding from me for a few months. Next was a good spring cleaning consisting of a brooming followed by a blast of the air hose. It is amazing how much crap gets tracked into the vehicle over a winter.

After a quick lunch in situ, I joined Bob and Joyce for their trek to the turkey nest to view the progress the Hen was making in the egg count. Not much to report on, but we did find a freshly killed skunk - actually, we smelled it before we saw it.

Back at the barn Bob and I discussed our upcoming adventure on Saturday - the Hammond Trio will be heading west to seek for that which was lost - elusive CMP parts. After a quick clean up, we parted company to prepare for the upcoming work week.

Photo - The HUP sporting fresh parts