2017 at the Hammond Barn

[Alex van de Wetering]

Bob,

I hope you are feeling better in the meantime....and you soon have the energy again to work on the hobby again.

Please take care!

Alex

[Bob Carriere]

......recovering slowly. I have started working on my roof rebuild slowly under the careful supervision of Grant and Rob.

Usually hit the wall after 4 or 5 hours but I am getting better and with the nice weather, if the rain ever stops, will continue to improve.

It's hard to get the OD green out of your blood!!!!!!!

Cheers

[Bob Carriere]

We have recovered two more CMPs parts trucks in the last few weeks.

One a 1942 C60s ..... the other a 24 march1942 F15a.......both ran hard and parked wet years ago BUT still offers some good parts.

Will first deal with the cab 13 F15a.......with a dash mounted tag fo F15a -ATT-2 which we have translated to Anti-Tank Tractor .....possibly used a 6 pounder.

In the process of salvaging parts we have made the following discovery on the cargo box construction......... the box is similar to a 2C1 box but it has been build/assembled very differently.

Remember this is early.....March 24th 1942 and the rysted floor plates show evidence of having been made from "dot and dash" floor plate......and so are the cab floor. Having the 1942 cab floor in a cab 13 is unusual for us...... may indicate a very early cab 13 Ford liquidating what was left of old stock.

The cargo box also has some strange peculiarity in its construction.
The top boxed edge of the side panels and headboard are made of two bent/folded parts than welded together. see attached diagram and photograph.

More to follow has I work out the bugs in my new ACDsee software...........

[Bob Carriere]

I have some pictures of the unique features of this cargo box. Assuming that the cargo box is original to the manufacture of the truck..... March 24th 1942..... it could be an early version..... yet to be refined or simplify for efficient production.

Now for the pics..


Does any one knows what is the proper designation for this odd cargo box...... is an early model of the 2C1 or the later all welded "J" box????

[Jordan Baker]

Great find on the early F15a.

I thought I had seen this style of box before an indeed I did. The following pictures are enlargements from The Factory Photos CD. The box is on a C15a

[Jordan Baker]

As for your cross section of the top channel. When I had mine made up at the shop they were trying to figure out how the original was done too. The first and second bend would be easy. The 3rd bend is the hard one since the first two bend would now want to close down onto the die. What the shop figures was done is the third bend was made until the first two closed down on the die, then the panel was placed into a form in a another press brake and then pressed down. One my sample you could make out the third bend wasn't as tight of a radius as the first two.

[Bob Carriere]

I have been tackling the wood portion of my roof in the last few days ....... and I have gained a great respect for our Aussie friends who are restoring trucks that has a lot more wood than mine.

Might be easier on a new vehicle but when trying to fit the wood to the steel that has been deformed, twisted, bent, cracked, stretched and heated to fill in numerous bolt holes it is frustrating.

The small "L" reinforcement in the 90 degree corner of the cab had cracked along with 3 inches of the roof...... of course it was spot welded with far two many spots...... which I removed by grinding from the inside with a stone and made replacements out of 16 gauge steel.... and welded back in place....using a grinder in that corner is very difficult....... at least part of my welding will be behind the wooden brace.

Now building a"jig" that will allow me to cut the bottom 8 or 10 inches off the back of the cab YET retain the same dimensions and not twist or sag. Will do one half at a time...... based on a newly made angle iron bottom. Not looking forward to the long "butt" weld which must be perfect as it is visible from both the inside and outside of the cab...... lots of stitch welds, hammering and grinding and more stitch welding, ect. ect......... not sure yet if I will spot weld the sheet metal to the angle iron or use the new auto body glue..... I have used it before and it did a good job...... no heat to cause warping and it seals the space between the cab rear wall and the angle iron .......an area prone to rusting.

Hints, comments or suggestions welcome.

Cheers

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

I have some pictures of the unique features of this cargo box. Assuming that the cargo box is original to the manufacture of the truck..... March 24th 1942..... it could be an early version..... yet to be refined or simplify for efficient production.

Now for the pics..

Regarding your question about the final fold going in on itself. Quite a puzzler. The only thing I can come up with is a solid bar inserted front to back and someone hammering the last bend into place.

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Bruce.

I believe that the time pressure on war time production would have eliminated most hand hammering. I believe that a flat die hydraulic press must have finished the last bend and quickly welded the boxed section shut...... that would partly explain the uneven bend radius reported by Jordan.

From what I have read on war time production, a lot of sub-assemblies were done in small shops pressed into war time production....... good being moved in large wooden bins or open top 45 gallon drums. Parts produced in large quantities by shops making only one or only a few sub components. Hooks for the tarps, hinge straps, pre bent partly welded fender well boxes, sub-assemblies of tail gates such as hooks, hinges, etc..... all to be joined (welded) together in a central plant. Spot welds were rarely dressed up like we would do today and unevenly spaced.

Very few small shops would have the means of doing the larger components like the head board of a cargo box or the long narrow drop sides of the cab 11/12 2B1 box.

Over time the design and assembly was modified to its most simple mode of manufacturing keeping in mind what could be done cheaply and as fast as possible.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

All true, but what amazes me (as someone who has spent a great deal of time re-making all this old stuff) is why me in my workshop with simple tools regularly finds simpler ways to make this stuff. Sometime re-producing the way they did it adds a whole new level of complication.

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

Hi Bruce.

I believe that the time pressure on war time production would have eliminated most hand hammering. I believe that a flat die hydraulic press must have finished the last bend and quickly welded the boxed section shut...... that would partly explain the uneven bend radius reported by Jordan.

From what I have read on war time production, a lot of sub-assemblies were done in small shops pressed into war time production....... good being moved in large wooden bins or open top 45 gallon drums. Parts produced in large quantities by shops making only one or only a few sub components. Hooks for the tarps, hinge straps, pre bent partly welded fender well boxes, sub-assemblies of tail gates such as hooks, hinges, etc..... all to be joined (welded) together in a central plant. Spot welds were rarely dressed up like we would do today and unevenly spaced.

Very few small shops would have the means of doing the larger components like the head board of a cargo box or the long narrow drop sides of the cab 11/12 2B1 box.

Over time the design and assembly was modified to its most simple mode of manufacturing keeping in mind what could be done cheaply and as fast as possible.