2013 at the Hammond Barn

[Bob Carriere]

Was out cruising a garage sale on Saturday which was a bust but did notice an "AUCTION" sign that I followed to a large farm equipment auction.

Got lucky and bought another Allis Chalmers CA for parts but it may be to good for parting out. I am in the process of rebuilding a small CA for Joyce.

So went back home to get the float which had not been used since March 2013. As I pulled it out of its parking spot two of the left hand wheels refused to turn..... nuttin' serious I though just rust on the brake lining/drums.

So we pulled and pushed the trailer to the barn door and things got progressively worst....wheels would turn then jam then turn.

We put the trailer on stands and remove both wheels and when we removed the drums the brake linings just fell out in chunks.....completely delaminated from the brake shoes ...... amazing amount of rust inside the drum, return springs, cams, etc all badly rusted probably accellarated by winter road salt.

So had to borrow Grant's trailer for the tractor recovery and get parts.

Lucky for us our local steel shop/fabricator had all the parts we needed.... got four new complete brake plate assembly and 4 seals ...... spent Sunday rebuilding all four wheels.

According to the dealer some of his customers replace these prone to rust parts almost yearly. Mine were 9 years old originals. No shortage of wheel grease when we disassembled..... all the damage was limited to the brake plate assembly, magnet, etc.

So next time you pull out your trailer to check the lights and tire pressure before heading off on a recovery......THINK ABOUT AN ANNUAL BRAKE PLATE INSPECTIONS........

Grant is seriously thinking of pulling off the 4 drums on his trailer, even if newer, than mine for a cautionary inspection.... just in case !!!!

Lucky it happened in the yard and not loaded with a CMP going down hills in Algonquin park....

Bob

[rob love]

I have 17 years on my 12,000 pound trailer and am still running the original shoes. But I do not have to deal with the corrosion that you guys out East have. We pay for that with the brutal never ending winters.

Replacing the backing plates with everything on them really is the way to go when it comes to trailers. The parts are cheap enough, and you catch all the problems at once.

As you mentioned Bob, better to have found out in the yard than on the highway.

[RHClarke]

A lot of work has been going on at the barn to prepare for the hot weather - which arrived (if just for a day) yesterday. After a general clean up, Bob and Grant got into fixing one of Bob's old tractors (see threads above).

This Friday the temperature only hit 25oC - perfect weather for a moving experience. After some preparation (support piers buried in the ground), plans were made to move the HUP sea container. Stu Fedak joined us at the barn to drop off some goodies and to check out our metal working shop. He also came in handy when we finally moved the container.

The sea can was prepared for moving by removing all of the contents to lighten the load (the can weighs 2100 kg). Bob's home built can axle and hubs were attached to the rear forklift pockets and his special sea can moving chain was hooked up to the can. Using the three point hitch on his tractor, Bob lifted the door end of the can and with remarkable precision (after a few attempts) delivered the can to its new resting place. There was some fine tuning of the can's position, but after some persuasion with a come-along, the can was on its piers.

This took up most of the afternoon, and by that time we had worked up a bit of sweat, so Bob came to the rescue with some cold beer, which evaporated quite quickly. We celebrated the move with a burger, a few pops and spent an hour chatting about hobby related things. After dinner we cleaned up the barn, put the HUP in the can and headed for home. Many thanks to Stu for the help and to Bob for being the gracious host he always tends to be.

Email Bob if you want more details on how to move a sea can using his (not) patented, homemade, jury-rigged axles and hubs.

Photos:
1 - Bob and Stu chatting about things metallic
2 - Bob's handiwork with axles
3 - Lifting chain arrangement
4 - "Home"
5 - Clear driveway at last!

[RHClarke]

You can never win with Ottawa weather. In winter we Hammond Barn types carp that it is too cold (and it is), in the spring time and fall we complain about the mud (and there is a lot of it), and in the summer we moan about the heat. Now I know that the Aussies may consider temperatures in the high 30oC range to be somewhat coolish, but for we northerners (who live in the south of our country), that temperature range is brain frying hot. You can count on both hands the number of days this year when working outside of the barn was "pleasant".

Despite the weather, things are happening at the Hammond Barn. Recently retired Bob has rekindled his love for tractors and with Grant's assistance, is restoring a few antique models. Bob also planted garlic and sunflowers in his spare time. When not tending his gardens he can be found in the barn working on the sheet metal for his CMP truck.

Grant has been busy this week fighting mother nature. He knocked down some robust weeds that threatened to take over the small wagon lines and more recently removed a number of stumps around the barn.

My CMP pursuits have been somewhat limited but there has been some progress on the HUP pilot model. I now have some nicely bent metal replacement parts for the rotted out doors. The next step is to restore the door structure and then map out how to restore the roof of the truck. I have plans to remove the body from the frame to look for damages and to prepare for sandblasting.

Our most recent activities centered around a custom winch installation for some chaps (David Moore and Tom Lodge) from down Kingston way. Bob can provide the details on how things went as I had to head for home for some domestic chores before the task was completed.

Photos:

1 - Grant at the controls of the stump eater (Bob really wanted to play, too.)
2 - Todays project - install winch
3 - The planning session
4 - Bob making fire (fabbing up a part)
5 - Quality control at its finest...

[Bob Carriere]

We always hear about how important it is to have a good grounding connection particularly on 6 volts system........ well it also applies top 12 volts.

Although weeks apart, on 3 occasions the truck would not turn over and a fully charged battery made no difference. Because I am still running the truck as a rolling chassis it is easier to work on.... but after removing the starter 3 times....taking it apart, cleaning the segments as I assumed I had a dead spot somewhere...... no difference. Tuesday it started well Wednesday it was dead cold again.

After sweating bullets removing the starter again with no improvement I decided to push it into the barn for shade and ease of working. I tried to start it by towing it but no spark.....????

Everytime I used the tester it showed 12.88 volts.... so I assumed that power was getting to the starter.......

So went back over every thing one step at a time..... cleaned the battery terminals ..... no change..... checked the black ground wire tied to the bellhousing.... gave it another quarter turn .... still no change.

Decided to remove the bolt holding the ground wire..... installed two new star shaped washers one on each side of the cable ferrule..... bingo started right away.

Don't think that faulty connections can only happened on 6 volts system.

I have concluded that although the ground wire was conducting enough voltage at the low amps generated by the tester the connection was bad enough that on a high load for the starter it failed to carry the amperage.

Lesson learned.

Bob C.

[hrpearce]

Same for 24v Bob. When I was driving a N12 Volvo for work we thought the alternator was failing as the batteries lost power during the day and we had to leave the charger on overnight to run it the next day. After a few days of doing this the throttle cable went up in smoke while I was starting the truck. I fitted a new earth directly from the engine to the chassis and magically the alternator started working properly again and the starter worked a lot better.

[Wpns 421]

Hi Guys
I am sure the title caught your attention soooo!!!!
Gilles and Carolle are having a corn roast on the 17th Aug and we are inviting all the hermits/recluses from the Hammond Barn. Tomorrow we will post the official invitation and directions.
We plan on having some seminars on various subjects and a ssmall swap meet, bring your wives and we will send them to Merrickville on the sight seeing and shop visit tours.
RSVP

Gilles Carolle

[Stuart Fedak]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

We always hear about how important it is to have a good grounding connection particularly on 6 volts system........ well it also applies top 12 volts.

Everytime I used the tester it showed 12.88 volts.... so I assumed that power was getting to the starter.......

Decided to remove the bolt holding the ground wire..... installed two new star shaped washers one on each side of the cable ferrule..... bingo started right away.

Don't think that faulty connections can only happened on 6 volts system.

I have concluded that although the ground wire was conducting enough voltage at the low amps generated by the tester the connection was bad enough that on a high load for the starter it failed to carry the amperage.

Lesson learned.

Bob C.

Bob,
Good information. I have also seen this on 12/24 VDC systems. Just because the meter shows appropriate voltage, does not mean that the circuit is capable of drawing sufficent current to start a vehicle. Case in point, last year I had some issues with my Jeep Grand Cherokee on the North Shore of Lake Superior, on a Sunday. I dropped into a gargage, where the mechanic was not around, but someone offered to take off the battery cables and clean the terminals. The terminals were pried off, and the terminals were cleaned, and re-installed. The vehicle started but continued to act up intermittently. I would measure the voltage on the battery, and all seemed good. I ended up replacing the 12 VDC battery. When taking the terminals off, it became apparent that the lead connector on the battery was cracked at the plates of the battery. So at times it worked well, and other times it was unable to provide enough current because of the break.

Now I have purchased a battery terminal puller, which is very low cost, compared to the cost of replacement of a battery. I try to use the battery termninal puller now on all my vehicles, rather than just using some random tool to pry off the connectors.

In Ottawa, one fellow was having problems setting the voltage regulator on the alternator after assembling the system back up. The battery voltage kept on getting lower, and adjusting the voltage regulator was of no use. Voltage regulators need a reference to ground to work. It ended up the large ground wire from the engine to the body was not connected up. As soon as that was done, the voltage regulator was functional and could be adjusted. Then the batteries could accept a charge and their voltage increased.

Lots of little things to look at with batteries and starter/alternator circuits when they do not work properly.

Cheers!
Stuart

[RHClarke]

Bob was off murdering lobster in Maine. Grant has been busy at work. I have been spending time at the barn stripping down the Pilot Model HUP, working at home and helping Gunner with museum issues out in Kars, Ontario.

The Pilot Model is coming apart with surprising ease. With the exception of the nuts on the sheet metal, all the other parts came off nicely. The engine came out in the blink of an eye using a rudimentary “A” frame and pulley system - just like the one Bob and I used in our first engine recovery all those years ago! The next step with the Pilot Model is to pull the bottom end off the engine and then prepare the frame for eventual sandblasting. I will be tackling some of the sheet metal issues this fall and winter.

At the Swords and Ploughshares Museum, Mike and I discussed the operations of the museum and the way ahead. We also tackled some ground maintenance issues. It is amazing the amount of work that gets done behind the scenes by Mike. Running a museum with so much going on as a "one-man-show" is near impossible, but somehow Mike makes it work.

My youngest son Jesse helped us out with brush clearing and general cleaning tasks at the museum. It was good to see him un-tethered from his electronic devices for a morning of hard work. I hope to drag Jesse out to the barn to begin working on his truck in earnest this year, but time will tell!

See the photos - any ideas of what Jesse is sitting on? Note the use of the old axle shafts...

Photos:
1 - Jes taking a break
2 - Re-purposed vehicle axle
3 - Same - new angle