2012 at the Hammond Barn

[RHClarke]

The boys were out to the barn on Saturday and they took care of shelter maintenance, snow removal and playing with a box. Bob can elaborate. Today was a very nice day with the mercury hitting -3 oC. The sun was out, so the first thing I did this morning was start up the HUP.

Bob arrived shortly after the HUP had warmed up and headed into the barn to spark up Lucifer. I jumped in the HUP and took a ride to the front of Bob's property where Grant was just pulling in. After turning the truck around, I headed back to the barn and out to the wagon line for some fun in the snow. I started out in two wheel drive with the intent of getting stuck in the snow, which was about a foot deep. Even with ice under the snow, the HUP chugged along nicely. After a spell I put her into four wheel drive and had some fun "dashing thru the snow".

On the way back, I decided to get into the deep snow at the rear of the barn. The truck had no problem going over the hills of snow Bob left after plowing around the barn. I noted with some amusement that the HUP was sort of like a male Basset Hound - its lower dangly bits left a small path in the deep snow... We had a quick lunch in Rockland at the local Tim Hortons, and as usual, chatted about the issues being discussed on MLU. After Bob finished his tea, we headed back to Hammond.

Back at the barn Bob and Grant made a spectacle of themselves by disassembling a lens grinding machine that Grant had obtained. We figured that there was no use for it as our glass man takes care of all of our glass needs - including beveling etc... My task was to do some welding on the HUP divider wall kick plate. The bottom lip had rotted from rust, so I replaced it.

Later, Bob and Grant designed a set of steel ramps to replace the old wooden ones that have come to the end of their lifecycle. They spent the remainder of the afternoon cutting up steel tube to prepare for the upcoming welding marathon. That will have to wait until next week, as Bob had a date with a Nun, and I headed home to watch the NHL All Star game. Grant was left behind to tend to Lucifer and lock up the barn for another weekend.

Photos:

1- Bob and Grant repairing Lucifer
2- HUP post snow frolic - someday I'll put the nose back on...
3- Grinding machine being worn down
4- New ramp parts being cut
5- Deep snow and "Basset" marks

[RHClarke]

The boys were out to the barn on Saturday and it looks like they spent the day assembling and welding the wheel ramps. Sunday started off fairly cool. It was -13 oC at 8AM but the sun was shining. The drive out to the barn was great with the sun dancing off the ice in the trees.

After sparking up Lucifer, I headed outside to clear the snow off the shelters. The warm weather on Saturday created a nice crust on the snow that made clearing snow fairly easy. The heavy layer of snow on the barn roof was fun to remove - it took a gentle nudge and instant avalanche! Bob and Joyce showed up later on to check on the local turkey population. There is a rafter of turkeys that have been moving around the local area.

After the turkey trek, Bob fired up the tractor and cleared the snow from the yard. Grant showed up at little later on and helped Bob work on the ramps. I did a little weld job on my tire rack and watched Bob and Grant do some more welding on the ramps. I am sure that they will be able to hold up a tank. The rest of the morning was spent adding a door handle to the rear door of the HUP. I am using a locking handle that required some modification to the door so that the security lugs fit in the opening.

After a quick lunch in Rockland, we got back to CMP related work. Bob and Grant cleaned up a set of shelves, and sorted out some nuts and bolts. I started assembling the lower portion of the HUP divider wall. With Grants aid, we managed to put it together in short order.

In the meantime, Lucifer was belting out the heat and we hit 70 oF inside the barn. The many layers of winter clothing started to come off as we worked up a sweat in the front of the barn. In the back of the barn, near Lucifer, Bob sorted out the steel supply and made use of the rack system he and Grant constructed. Smaller pieces of metal were stacked on the racks located near Lucifer and this opened up a lot of space.

The afternoon passed quickly, and all too soon, I had to head back home. The boys stayed behind for more clean up.

Photos:

1 - Mega ramps - awaiting more cross and lateral bracing
2 - Avalanche country - that stuff comes down quickly and with force!
3 - HUP rear door's new handle
4 - A great rack!
5 - HUP lower divider wall with wood panels installed

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Guys

The ramp design looks interesting how about a photo showing the hook over to keep the ramp and the flat stand together, see a little of it in the photo. What are you going to cover them with for tread surface? What size box tubing did you use?

I've been using chunks of 10x10 block but your solution looks much more elegant.

Cheers Phil

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Phil

I had been using a highway guardrail post for 15 years and added up a few 2x8 fro greater height as required...... as they sit outside they eventually rotted and became home to some colony of ants.

So decided that I should finally build some decent safe ramps as I had fallen off the ramps on the last oil change.

I basically copied the eight and lenght of the wooden ramps but made them in two parts for ease of moving them around....also because on my Ford diesel they have installed a fuel filter inside the frame underneath the driver's side..... so when the truck is on the wheel stand the ramp portion is in the way. In this fashion I can remove it do the job. replace and drive the truck down....... watch the day I forget to re-install the ramp Ka boom.....

I used 1/8 square tubing 1 1/2...... very sturdy like everything that we overbuild but should be able to use it for C15 to C60 trucks if need be.

Will take some photos and measurements and publish.

I plan on welding some HD expanded steel on the ramp and on the top wheel stand..... that will make them self cleaning with all our mud and snow and provide good traction...... fall back plan if too expensive will be sheets of 10 gauge spare steel and light gauge expanded steel in narrow strip just for traction.

They should last a life time and a half...... once slightly rusted over for bite will paint them with left over Tremclad paint.

The bottom device to hold the two section together was salvaged from the spare bin..... it is a piece of heavy 1/4 in. U shape channel 1 1/2 by 4 welded to the bottom section of the ramp portion it rides over the front stand and holds beautifully so far..... again back up plan if I find the top as a tendency to open will be to fabricate a U shape device that will fit in the open end of the square tubing as a safety pin......

Do you still have snow around your place...?

Bob C.

[RHClarke]

It was a quiet weekend at the Hammond Barn. Bob headed south to spread the wealth at Acton, and Grant was kept busy elsewhere. The last few weeks have been "taxing" for myself. A new job, family health issues and finishing the accounting for my business forced a absence from the hallowed halls of Hammond.

This morning I put all that on hold and took a nice peaceful drive out to the barn. Once at the barn I took a stroll out to the back 40 to see if any of the trucks needed some attention or if they had received attention from non-authorized visitors. All looked to be in order. The sun was shining and the wind was gentle - the perfect combination for melting snow. I took a few minutes to clean off the tops of some of the trucks. Each had about five inches of ice and snow covering their roofs. Most of the snow and ice came off in one large piece which I slid over the side.

After working up a sweat, I headed back to the barn and fired up the HUP. After a brief warm up, I took the HUP for a jaunt around the Carriere homespread. I drove up to the main house and noted that there was a very large and heavy overhang of ice slipping off Bob's back porch. After parking the HUP, I helped Mother Nature by disloging some impressively large pans of ice and snow from the metal porch roof. The chunks hit the ground with a very threatening thud. I can only imagine what would happen if someone got nailed by a chunk of that crap.

Back in the HUP I made my way back to the barn along the road, which now resembled a skating rink. It was glare ice from the main road in Hammond all the way down to the barn and out to the back 40. Four wheel drive sure makes a difference. The driving was fun despite the perils that the ice presented - going down the gentle sloping road over the culvert is somewhat different when the road is iced over. With the truck in low gear and with the engine at idle, she made the trips back and forth with no issues whatsoever.

The trip out back was interesting. The snow had a thick ice crust as its top layer and had soft snow beneath it. It took some effort to get the HUP turned around in the snow, but the aggressive treads of the tires and the four wheel drive proved effective again. It was now approaching noon, so I headed back to the barn to see if anyone had arrived. All was quiet, so I put the HUP back into its shelter and shut her down until next week.

It is kind of a downer switching from an old cross country truck to a newer small import car, but I enjoyed the trip back home replaying the fun I had this morning in my mind.

Photos:

1- Bob's hangover
2- Some chunks of ice from the porch roof
3- The Hammond Ice Road
4- More of the same
5- etc...

[Bob Carriere]

Thanks for knocking the ice off the deck roft..... and not being underneath when it came down.

Had a wonderful time at Acton...... nice to see everyone again. Got some nice stuff as usual ....... very grateful for all the kind considerations and assistance from some of the members from Peter and Dean and Chris and who am I missing...... oh and a few leads on other rusted old trucks....

Visited the in laws and generally had a super weekend.....but did miss the barn.....

We took advantage of being in the neighbourhood to pick up parcels at the UPS in upper NY.......Even the Custom Officer was kind enough to be too busy to collect duty ....... must have been my honest face when I told him I had $91.61 to declare..... he just wished us well and off we went.

Fine bunch of lads in the MLU crowd.....

Bob

[peter simundson]

Did you have a look at the fittings in the plastic bag and are they

any use to you??

Peter S