my C60L has come home...finally

[Col Tigwell]

A couple of fine looking boys a credit to you and your lady.

The truck looks great I presume that you restored it up there

Regards

Col

[Darrin Wright]

I bought it in 1991 and got it driving where I had some fun with it while at Bandiana, then stripped it down that year and had the chassis blasted and undercoated.
I was then moved to Ingleburn Sydney in Jan 1992, where I got the bulk of the restoration completed. Towards the end I had to move it to East Hills in Sydney (now a migrant facility) as I was posted to Holsworthy.
I managed to finish the truck in either 1997 or 98 and had it on the road in the military vehicle club there.
Its 1st real test drive was down the Hume Hwy to Mittagong for a picnic, and then back.
In early 1999 we moved to Darwin and the truck was transported on a float as part of my move.
Yes I did all the work, my Dad assisted with a few items such as rebuild of T-case, making the overflow tank.

[Mike Cecil]

Darrin,

'Unbinned' means 'Truck, 3ton, Stores, Unbinned', so it would have had a fixed canopy frame with wire mesh on all sides, and no interior fittings in the tray. The other stores truck with the same canopy frame was 'binned', ie fitted out in the tray with stacked bins, fixed to the floor, for small, bulk item stores. Stores trucks had fixed side tray bodies.

3BOD was indeed, 3 Base Ordnance Depot at Seymour. The other letters and figures make up the entire disposal authority (rather than the place it was sold from).

Very nice truck.

Mike C

[sth65pac]

Thanks Mike,
I was not sure what it meant either.
Finally able to get on to MLU again... after almost two years.

Good to see all the pictures Darrin. Nice & easy to look at in the future.

Cheers,

Ian

[Darrin Wright]

Thanks for the info Mike, that clears it up. I may have to look out for the bows and mesh sides, down side to that is that the truck will not fit into my workshop. It will be a tight fit as it is with only about 30mm clearance.
This weekend I will tow it into the workshop and see just how tight a fit it is. If it does not fit it can live outside for a while, the sun will not hurt it over summer.

Ian, glad you finally found MLU again, we expect updates on your Ford.

Washed the truck last night and checked it over, I think I now know what people went through when they purchased vehicles from the disposals, missing nuts & bolts, faded paint, spiders, wasp nests, oil leaks, coolant leaks.....the list goes on.

Checked the engine oil, that is good, engine turned over freely by the crank handle.
Filled the radiator, there is now a puddle of water under the front of the truck form several leaks in the core and top tank. At least I do not have the problem of water freezing in the block and radiator to cause these leaks.

[John Mackie]

Darren. there are a lot of things to check before you start the truck. i feel the most important is ti prelube the enginr. You ca do this by removing the disy and rotating the oil pump with a screwdriver untill you get oilpressure. A better way is to use the oilpump that screws to the top of a 20 ltr drum, renove the oilpressure line and connect the pump to that port. these pumps will produce about 100 psi on a good engine. have someone work the p;ump when you do te first start,
i have always used this system since about 1970 on rebuilt or long stored engines. will try and catch up with you at corowa.

[Darrin Wright]

On the weekend I started going over the truck and looking at what was damaged from people and the road trip south. Also check items in preparation for starting, not sure when this will be, maybe Santa will bring me another 6V battery..

Anyway, I have checked/repaired the following
plugs out and cleaned (and put back in)
cleaned the points
checked all oils and topped up as required
replaced the gear box oil due to moisture contamination
tightened all tray bolts (missed doing up 2 during the restoration)
tightened the spare wheel carrier mounts
replaced the bolts for the spare wheel tyre retaining arm
cleaned out the fuel filter
removed RH fuel tank for cleaning
greased the truck
removed the carby for a look and clean out

That is all for now, will try to complete some little jobs during the week.
Must buy a cleaning solution for the fuel tanks this week.