1943 lend lease chevrolet (3ton)

[Shaun Mastin]

oh really, never really thought about that but you do make a good point

[Shaun Mastin]

first job was to sandblast the springs chassis and diff ,
I disassembled all of the springs after sandblasting and wire wheeled and fish oiled in-between them. replaced the bushes and dad made up the nylon spacers for the front . I found that one side at the front was sitting lower so I had to take it apart again and went to jack nevilles house and he helped me make the spring more taught and now its sits more level.
the front bracket that holds the bumper and front shackle was broken and "farmer joe" welded so we had to make a jig and bolted together to re-weld it in properly.

when these trucks came to Australia the Australian army put 8mm strengthening plates along the side .Unfortuntly mine started to de-laminate so I had to cut the rivets and drill them out and make up new plates and bolt them up

the crown and pinion gear was to worn so couldn't use the original , good thing about the banjo diffs that I could keep working without waiting on the diff. I eventually found one and pick it up at corowa last year

[Shaun Mastin]

just some more photos

[Shaun Mastin]

next step was the engine and boy that was a head ache , ill put it simply , that everything need to get replaced and machined. but not to worry a year later and thank you to rod my engine lives again. on the other hand my gearbox was imaculate didn't need to touch it , just gave it a good clean and replaced the gaskets , and to give the both a lick of paint

[Mike K]

Looking great.

You will not have any issues finding spares. When I think back, those LL Chevs were a dime a dozen. I was up at Glenrowan around 1998 and the guy running the Lake Mokoan caravan park had a LL Chev for 600 bucks, his family had bought it in early 60's for the farm. It was a beauty, running , minimal rust , straight cab and get in and drive it. My uncle had one on his farm in the early 60's at Devon Meadows near Cranbourne

Can you let us know about ROD the engine guy , where is he ? Did you install the metal timing gear ?

[Shaun Mastin]

thanks mate
yeah you say that but ive been to the swap meets and on ebay and facebook and not a lot has come up far as parts , its mostly full or half vehicles for sale .
its rod smith from the gmrg

[Shaun Mastin]

Next step was to pull apart the steering box , overall it was in good condition just gave it a good clean , re greased everything and made new gaskets for it.

Sent in my radiator to get re-cored. the guy ended up using a hilux core and re-using the top tank and making it work with that and the bottom tank he fabricated to fit in the frame. the cores abit thinner than the original but you wont reallt notice in once everything in , I wasn't going to spend $2,000 on an NEW original honeycomb core

The last photo was the diff in the vise , with me about the check the backlash of the gears

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Shaun Mastin

its rod smith from the gmrg

Geelong military ????? group