FGT No9 (Aust) 134855 restoration

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by motto

Any idea what the tangle on the front of the Ford might be? Looks like it may be mounted on the vehicle, not just hung on there to get it up off the ground.

David

I recall I couldn't get any closer than this but it appears to be something driven from the crankshaft, possibly some sort of pump arrangement.

[Euan McDonald]

Could it be a weed sprayer?

[Tony Wheeler]

I guess this stretched F15 must have been one of the rare Ford PMG trucks. Note professional chassis extension job, windscreen pillars "verticalized", cab frame welds suggestive of crew cab extension, remnants of door pillars, and of course....red paint!

[Keith Webb]

Euan delivered the now sandblasted rear body frame and some work will need to be done on it before it is cut (precisely I hope) to join the rest of the body.
I spent some time today cutting some spare pieces from the remains of the old wrecked body to salvage some pieces of angle to use to replace the mountings for the lower left 2 gall can holder and step (which also needs to be fabricated).
Also cleaned and painted the shovel clamp, the spare wheel ramp clamps and the clamps which are used to secure the fronts of the wooden floorboards in the rear of the vehicle.
I've been labelling and bagging these as they are primed and they're going into a dedicated (marked) ammo box until they're needed.

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

Euan delivered the now sandblasted rear body frame and some work will need to be done on it before it is cut (precisely I hope) to join the rest of the body.

Any progress yet Keith? Anxiously awaiting developments here! Hoping to see many pics of FGT 9 body reassembly - a rare and sacred event! So many of these got the chop after disposal it doesn't bear thinking about. The unusual thing about 134855 is they left the subframe intact - I presume you'll just use the superstructure off the rear section....?

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by Tony Wheeler

Any progress yet Keith? Anxiously awaiting developments here! Hoping to see many pics of FGT 9 body reassembly - a rare and sacred event! So many of these got the chop after disposal it doesn't bear thinking about. The unusual thing about 134855 is they left the subframe intact - I presume you'll just use the superstructure off the rear section....?

I've looked at all possibilities, but because the existing subframe has been cut and has a fair bit missing the cut will be just in front of the 'D' pillar, which is the rear of the crew compartment. Unfortunately the crew seat has to come out because it needs a fair amount of rust repairs.

Hoping to do this ASAP and will take lots of pictures. Euan has access to a plasma cutter so we can do nice straight lines - I find angle grinders are difficult to control.

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

I've looked at all possibilities, but because the existing subframe has been cut and has a fair bit missing the cut will be just in front of the 'D' pillar

Yes I can see it would be quite a complex job to retain the original subframe, not really worth the extra effort. D pillar looks like the logical place to cut and weld. Just make sure you hang on to any left over bits, I need patterns for fabrication! Initially I'm planning to get some lengths of subframe channel made up, and hopefully the sheetmetal sections for the crew seat as well. If this is possible I'll get a few spares folded up at the same time for potential future projects. If yours are badly rusted you may be interested too, I'll give you a ring to discuss.

[sth65pac]

Originally Posted by Keith Webb

I've looked at all possibilities, but because the existing subframe has been cut and has a fair bit missing the cut will be just in front of the 'D' pillar, which is the rear of the crew compartment. Unfortunately the crew seat has to come out because it needs a fair amount of rust repairs.

Hoping to do this ASAP and will take lots of pictures. Euan has access to a plasma cutter so we can do nice straight lines - I find angle grinders are difficult to control.

Keith,

Just don't cut that outer rail. They are unique to Gun tractors. One piece - twice as long as the 13 Cab. Nice to see you are underway. That rail helped me identify a few chop-shop sawmill versions.

Ian