2008 at the Hammond Barn

[Bob Carriere]

....being too lazy to tackle the tires Grant and I decided to do some dental work on the floor plate of the truck.

First thing was to extract the suitable blank for the patch. Of course the donor plate is resting on the isde of the barn somewhere under 5 feet of hard packed snow that slid off the roof in the past month. So I opted for a good corner section of my old cab 11 plate...... after carefully selecting an area that would match the dots & dashes of the floor to be patched.

Here is the donor plate hanging rom the ceiling after some quick plasma cutting.

[Bob Carriere]

Bubbles are self explanatory....... black area was a previous patch from last Summer.

[Bob Carriere]

It is very interesting and frustrating to see the different size of the dots & dashes from two different plates...... I suppose different dies. different lots and different wear on the dies...... the donor plate had bigger dots and dashes and made lining them up difficult.

Grant being a perfectionist took the time to grind/carve the little boats back after we had the welding done...... he finihsed with a Dremel tool and fine stone to remove the grinding marks..... after some paint ti will almost be invisible.

The other problem we encountered is that the floor was seriously distorted from the back side being pressed in by the huge punches that created all the variuos openings in the floor...... if you put a straight edge on the under side there are marked depressions around the fuel valve hole... the battery cable hole and the shift lever hole we were patching...... but Grant persisted in getting a smooth finish.

[Bob Carriere]

Grant doing all the work....

.......hell someone had to take pictures.....

[Bob Carriere]

Geez Louise I finally managed to post 2 pictures at once....

Final picture is the back side after a quick coat of POR 15 Patching paste.... comes form a tooth paste like tube..... spreads easily with a putty knife..... make sur eyou clean you tools before it hardens.

Looks a little rough with the shinning light.... a coat or two of sandable primer and it will disappear.

The top side will need more careful manicuring to erase the joining lines. With everything welded from behind the top side is just puttied over.

We will wait to decide exactly where to cut the new 1 11/16 x 1 inch hole for the rod to connect between the handle and the bellcrank.

Will need to consult with Doctor Phil.....NO not the one on TV the one in Hew Hampshire....... I am having a hard time deciding where to mount the E Handle.....

On a more pleasant note.... weather was mild in the minus 3C and Lucifer kept us warm around 60 F inside the barn....

Boob

[RHClarke]

What patience! I don't think that I would have attempted that little project...Good to see you keeping Grant busy.

[RHClarke]

Saturday - Grant and I arrived at the barn just as Bob was heading downtown to see the ice sculptures at Ottawa's Winterlude festival.

We decided to remove the snow that was loading down our shelters. The excessive amounts of snow has caused more than a few shelters in the area to collapse. Our major problem is the snow that falls off the roof - it builds up around the sides and presses inwards causing the legs to buckle or the retaining straps to break.

Here is a shot that illustrates the problem:


After a few hours of digging snow, we fixed Lucifer. Grant replaced the feed line, but as it was approaching lunch hour, we headed out for home anticipating a good feed at Gracies.

Bob and Grant were rumoured to be playing at the barn on Sunday.