2011 at the Hammond Barn

[Bob Carriere]

Will get yours finished first with engine tranny etc.....

I will have to focus some time on fire wood over September anyways.

Need to plan and maybe make a list of steps....take more photos to be enlarged to write down dimensions, etc....

The welded frame would be large square tubing....free standing that would sit astride the front of the frame..... such as a large door frame.... with provision for using our body jack......

I like Robin's idea of a ground anchor as used in larger frame shops...... would require drilling the floor..... or breaking a hole where it is cracked and cementing a large anchoring device.

I ain't gonna quit yet......

I was cautioned this mroning to proceed one step at a time with careful measurments..... we may not need the big guns once we have tried the spring swap and/or the loose bolt approach....... and yes we must have a spare spring pack somewhere..... also have a lot of jack stands....and can hang from overhead crane......

... and we have a large supply of oil for Lucifer....

Bob

Remember we removed and replaced your front cross member as well so we may have another one to do...hihihi

[Grant Bowker]

The saving grace for mine may be that only 1 member was removed, The bumper, hat section behind, rear of engine crossmember, springs and axles were all left in place with weight on wheels while I removed the front of engine member. I also don't recall seing any misalignment of the holes developing as the crossmember was freed (but I wasn't watching for it either). If you are planning your frame inside at the back by Lucifer for the winter we have more cleanup to do back there (need to make the smaller wood crib anyway). I should try winder sticks before putting installing the engine and cab frame to avoid having to undo too much stuff iff there's a problem.

[Ganmain Tony]

I agree with Mr Clarke lads...I suspect they all have a bend in 'em. One side or the other.

Grants idea of swapping springs is a good one.

When I reassembled mine I must confess it was pretty straight compared to your's in that earlier picture Bob.

Having said that, when you go to bolt it back together. Even if the chassis bend is corrected. Things still arent going to go back together like lego.

Guards and panels will be done up and undone. My biggest ally was two or three good screw drivers to jam through holes to get panels to line up with their holes. Just enough to tap a few bolts through the adjacent holes and then slowly do up to gently pull the panel or guard into place.

You will have to do this - there will be no way around it.

Love the fabrication work Bob very nice. Look forward to further investigative work and reporting - great job.

Cant wait to see what Phil has to say when he returns. (from where ever he was blown to)

[Bob Carriere]

Well If I can get it within 1/2 inch instead of 1 to 2 inches I will be happy.

Been doing research on the frame thing on various web site including U tube.

Most are oriented to unitized construction where they just pull and stretch until things look like a car again. But then there is one site that deals wtih antiques...... thye are concerned with a 1/4 or 1/2 inch difference. Still some good ideas/pointers. Like the guy in Ottawa told me you need to take a lot of measurements...then some more..... otherwise with out a baseline you do not know where you are going.

The springs a definitely high on the to do list..... but unless I measure first I will not know how much of an improvement I may have. Matching tires is easy to do as I will install two of the new 10:50 tires that are matched then adjust air pressure to get even closer.

Loosening up all the bolts on the two front most frame cross member may make a difference..... I will also loosened the front bumper and the arches.
Removing that rigid 14 inch floor plate bolted tightly to the frame may also have an impact.

I would like to get closer to a better level stance before applying any hydraulic pressure to the frame.

I visited a few bodyshop suppliers today to see if they knew of any (reputabel ?) body shop that woudl have a frame straigthening set up.
I drew a blank most commented on the lack of need as a modern unitized constrcution vehicle/car that needs that much work the insurance company will just scrap it. A rebuilt "branded" vehicle has to be inspected, at the new buyers cost and time before plates are issued.

Comments about the huge floor space ti takes up with diminishing demand has basically killed it except for very expensive cars/antiques. One guy commmented that if I found one in use the operator would be an ol .... he looked at me and corrected himself..... well not a young man.

Yes I expect to have to use drift/alignment pins when working on the assembly.

Will keep you posted of our progress....meanwhile I am keeping my truck parked on a hill so it won't look so bad.

Phil is probably recovering from the storm.... I hope no arm has come to him. his family and his house.... not to mentionhis shop and the CMPs. Knowing Phil he is probably using his truck and army generator to help others.

Last weekend, I paused to look over my shoulder and was happy with what I saw...... three big kids enjoying themselves..... Rob was fabricating shims for his door hinges..... elongating bolt holes for better fit..... Grant was working on his front axle removing pins and bearing withhis home made tools and I am fabricating the nose brackets. At times we had to line up and take turns either at the bench vice or the drill press....... but that is what a good day is all about !!!!

May there be a lot more.

Bob

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Guys

Storm was not a problem for us, though at one point three days before it hit they had projected the path to go right over the house. It actually went 40 miles west of us.

Must admit that I have not been following the tread of your discussion closely, lots of activity with kids, grand kids, and wife retiring from her job as librarian. As you may have noted I've not kept up the posting on BEAST still working away and I'll try and get caught up on postings.

Now to your questions about trying to get vehicles to sit straight and level. My Pattern 12 had been rolled which bent the front cab frame, Bob found me a replacement cab frame and front fender which is all painted and ready to install as soon as BEAST is back together. Also have a 235 engine to put into the Pattern 12 at the same time.

The bent cab frame made it impossible to all the body panels on the cab to line back up on reassembly. The holes all of which had bolts when it came apart but was sprung bad enough that when trying to reassemble even with a 10 frame jack I could not get some of the bolt holes to line up some of them 2 inches off.

Trying to find where the out of level comes in the combination of springs, frame, and tires is a real puzzle. BEAST my HUP has always sat with a slight list to the drivers side. Even with all new tires it had a tilt. When I had it apart I tried to find the difference in the leaf springs. Unloaded the spring sets right to left measured the same. Bare frame measured on a nearly perfectly flat floor in the shop was within 1/8th inch of being flat and was square when measured across the diagonal. With all this done you would think that the HUP would sit flat when reassembled.

Well I've just put the body back on the frame, not level. So my only answer is that the body just plain is heavy on one side.

Now I'll really go back and read the last month of "at the Hammond Barn" posts see if I can add to the confusion.

Cheers Phil

[Bob Carriere]

... that you are OK.....just finished looking at Mountain PBS and the damage in upper NY is tremendous.

I will not try to make the frame perfect.... that would not be CMP original but at least less of a tilt.

Looking forward to your comments.

Bob C.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Bob

Yes, the damage in some parts of Vermont was pretty bad, my sister lives in the Rutland area and they're OK but a great deal of damage near them.

As to the list, was out on a US Navy Destroyer couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the ship had a slight list and asked one of the bridge officers about it, first he was surprised I'd noticed, and then he said the ship had a standard list of between 1-2 degrees, always had it. Thinking about it afterwards should have asked them why they didn't trim it out.

Cheers Phil