1944 C-15A-Wire-5 Restoration

[David Dunlop]

Super Dave

The fitting in the bracket mounted on the upper corner of the side of your Gen Box is a heat shroud that is supposed to be clipped somewhere onto the Onan AC/DC generator to shield it's exhaust pipe and prevent it from overheating something critical. I have never seen an example of the model of Generator in question to understand why protection was required.

If the mounting bracket and shroud are original to your Wireless Box, then it was originally equipped with the Onan mounted on the floor and the chore horse on the upper shelf. My old Wire-5 Box had the same bracket and I found the shroud in a box at Princess Auto. The same Gen Box also had that big steel tray with the grab handle mounted in the floor of the Gen Box so it must also relate to the Onan, or it was a standard item for all boxes.

There is an instruction decal (white paper with red printing and border) that was put on the wall of the gen box just to the left of the shroud mount and it actually referenced the model number of the Onan Generator used in these trucks. Currently, my photos of that decal are in my 'No Can Find Collection'. Whenever it turns up I will post a copy of it.

The ratio of Onan/Chorehorse combos to all Chorehorse must have been quite low. Princess purchased a lot of some 100 Wireless-5 vehicles from War Assets or Crown Assets in the mid 1950's at a point in their service history where they had only ever seen wartime equipment in them. They were sold initially as complete vehicles. By the late 1960's Princess had started stripping the boxes off the cab and chassis assemblies and flogging them separately. For some odd reason the cab and chassis's were listed in their catalog as Dodge 3/4-tons even though the photo was a Chev CMP. About 40 unsold boxes and about a dozen cab and chassis assembles were still in the Princess Yard here in Winnipeg by the end of the 1970's. Only a half dozen or so of the boxes by then had traces of having the Onan bracket setup. Some of the boxes were being used for storage but most were still pretty complete .There were also a pair of Ford Cab 13 FAT's, a cutdown HUA a half dozen Halftracks formerly owned by the Brandon Construction Company and two or three Chev 6x4 CMP's, one of which had been a Dental Lorry. By the end of the 1980's all had gone to their Scrap operation north of town and were crushed.

David

[super dave]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Super Dave

The fitting in the bracket mounted on the upper corner of the side of your Gen Box is a heat shroud that is supposed to be clipped somewhere onto the Onan AC/DC generator to shield it's exhaust pipe and prevent it from overheating something critical. I have never seen an example of the model of Generator in question to understand why protection was required.

If the mounting bracket and shroud are original to your Wireless Box, then it was originally equipped with the Onan mounted on the floor and the chore horse on the upper shelf. My old Wire-5 Box had the same bracket and I found the shroud in a box at Princess Auto. The same Gen Box also had that big steel tray with the grab handle mounted in the floor of the Gen Box so it must also relate to the Onan, or it was a standard item for all boxes.

There is an instruction decal (white paper with red printing and border) that was put on the wall of the gen box just to the left of the shroud mount and it actually referenced the model number of the Onan Generator used in these trucks. Currently, my photos of that decal are in my 'No Can Find Collection'. Whenever it turns up I will post a copy of it.

The ratio of Onan/Chorehorse combos to all Chorehorse must have been quite low. Princess purchased a lot of some 100 Wireless-5 vehicles from War Assets or Crown Assets in the mid 1950's at a point in their service history where they had only ever seen wartime equipment in them. They were sold initially as complete vehicles. By the late 1960's Princess had started stripping the boxes off the cab and chassis assemblies and flogging them separately. For some odd reason the cab and chassis's were listed in their catalog as Dodge 3/4-tons even though the photo was a Chev CMP. About 40 unsold boxes and about a dozen cab and chassis assembles were still in the Princess Yard here in Winnipeg by the end of the 1970's. Only a half dozen or so of the boxes by then had traces of having the Onan bracket setup. Some of the boxes were being used for storage but most were still pretty complete .There were also a pair of Ford Cab 13 FAT's, a cutdown HUA a half dozen Halftracks formerly owned by the Brandon Construction Company and two or three Chev 6x4 CMP's, one of which had been a Dental Lorry. By the end of the 1980's all had gone to their Scrap operation north of town and were crushed.

David

Thanks for the info on the bracket, I will pass it on to the owner of the vehicle.Yes if you ever find that sheet of paper pleases post it with dimensions so that he can get one made up so it will be that more complete of a unit.

[David Dunlop]

Super Dave.

Just noticed in your Post 103 the last two photos nicely show the corner of the wall that Bruce Parker and I were talking about the other day. The Installation Manual for the 19-Set Equipment in these trucks indicates the Charging Board No.C5 is to be installed with it's four mounting brackets in this location and the sketch of said installation is a bit dodgy (possibly intended for the 2Gx Wireless Body Series) as it fails to include the copper buss bar and two main cable feeds running along the wall at this point. It gets even busier in that corner as I had forgotten about the pair of Enfield Racks in that location. Stow the two rifles and you have lost about another 6 inches of wall space.

David

[David Dunlop]

It is possible, there might be some confusion regarding the functions/requirements of the C5 Charging Board and the Fuse Panel/Distribution Box in the 2Kx Series of Wireless Boxes. Both perform similar functions but in two, entirely different ways.

The Fuse Panel/Distribution Box is permanently hardwired into the electrical circuitry of the WIRE-5 Body. It serves multiple functions within the wireless box, distributing power from the generators (either combination thereof) to the Wireless batteries, the lighting system and the power ventilating fan. It also provided circuit protection by means of fuses to these circuits. You can operate your 19-Set equipment within the wireless box until the cows come home the way this system is set up.

However, there may be circumstances arise, when the signals team have to leave the comforts of their wireless truck and set up operations with the 19-Set 500 yards away or more, possibly for several days, so in addition to the hardwired permanence of the basic wireless truck systems, critical pieces need to be portable on short notice to continue operation of the 19-set away from the truck. The wireless set on it's Carriers No. 23 goes, along with the batteries, the upper shelf (portable) chore horse, required cables and headsets. The two aerial leads are left hanging from the chimneys on the vehicle roof and you may or may not need the remote control units.

The one, critical thing you cannot take, is the Fuse Panel assembly since it is hardwired to the vehicle system. That is where the Switchboards Charging No.C5 Canadian comes in. It allows the signals team to continue charging the wireless batteries from the chore horse while operating the 19-Set away from the wireless truck. When everything is being run from inside the wireless truck, the No.C5 Switchboard assembly is no longer needed and must be stored somewhere. The manual suggests the four storage clips for it should go underneath the right rear window, in front of the Gen Box, but there is not enough room there to mount it when not in use. The other alternative when not in use is to store it in racks underneath the wireless table as is done with some other CMP Wireless vehicles.

So, if discussions about the location of the No.C5 Switchboard on the walls of the WIRE-5 lead any of you to believe this item was an integral part of the day to day operation of the WIRE-5, my apologies. It is strictly a travelling accessory for the 19-Set, to be taken from wherever it was stored and be used when away from home, and put away when one returns.

Hope this helps a bit.


David

[Robert Bergeron]

David,

You have just resolved , in a moment of pure genius . a riddle that has been unsolved for me for a very long time.

The C5 Canadian Charging Panel is a portable unit and has nothing to do with the Wire 5 box, ..unfortunately.

Now, we late restorers have to find the impossible to find .

Note: I have seen such a panel with the fuses and switches in a C60 L Machinery Lorry . Not that there are many around...

Oh well. The hunt continues .

[David Dunlop]

Robert.

The thanks are shared with Grant Bowker who took the time to PM me the presence of the potential confusion. Glad to help out, and like they say, if you are too old to learn, you are probably dead!


David

[super dave]

David, Do you have any pictures of the Onan generator that would be mounted on the lower shelf just in case one might stumble across one ??