Maintenance Manual and Illustrated Spare Parts List 15- and 20-cwt GS Trailer

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Who has a copy of the Maintenance Manual and Illustrated Spare Parts List for 15-cwt and 20-cwt General Service Trailer?

The number is SB-5.

Please e-mail or PM me.

Thanks!
Hanno

[Grant Bowker]

Hanno,

Are you looking for an original or a reproduction? I don't have spare originals for sale but I do have reproductions.

Grant

[Harry Moon]

anything of any cosequence is in the water trailer manual which I think is in the "body Manual". I know i have it in the manual that has the info on and drawings of the water truck, tow truck and other body's. I'll look at home tonite.

[Grant Bowker]

The manual for the 15 and 20 cwt trailers, SB5, is mainly useful for the chassis of the trailer. There is nothing on the bodywork of the trailer in the copies I have seen. I don't recall having seen any drawings of the trailer bodies, either wood or metal versions. The best idea I have comes from the AEDB Design Records that has a text description of the bodies, with overall dimensions. The AEDB Design Records do refer to the files that held the original plans and specifications but I suspect those are for practical purposes lost. (DND has propably cleaned out their files, who knows if the files were ever given to the National Archives - they have limits to what they will keep, and the makers have likely purged files after a half century (some have been through several corporate takeovers, for example; Brantford Coach became part of Trailmobile which in turn was swallowed by Manac). Our best hope is probably that someone who worked in the plants or DND squirreled a set of plans away and that they come to light.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Grant Bowker

The manual for the 15 and 20 cwt trailers, SB5, is mainly useful for the chassis of the trailer. There is nothing on the bodywork of the trailer in the copies I have seen. I don't recall having seen any drawings of the trailer bodies, either wood or metal versions.

Grant,

Interesting. I have the SB-4A for the Gas Welding Trailer. It has a section on the chassis (also see attachment in the first posting), would this be any different from the SB-5 manual?

A photocopy will do nicely, thank you.

Regards,
Hanno

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Just after I mentioned flat-packing a 20-cwt trailer to Bob Carriere, Jeff Davis posted some interesting pictures on FB:

"Instructions to assemble body and mount on chassis for 20-cwt 2-wheeled trailer body only":

[Hanno Spoelstra]

More from Jeff: "Box opening and trailer assembling instructions".

I may have mixed up some of the pics, not sure if this one or two separate publications.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Jeff found the 20-cwt trailer while doing a fire inspection. Reportedly, "this trailer was in a partial crate, with a sales document from somewhere in Vancouver including the original manual. Sales paper work said 1947 or something, never been bolted together."

It looks like this was trailer serial #308

A true time capsule!

[Ed Storey]

There were the following SB manuals for the 15 and 20 CWT GS Trailers:

SB-4 Gas Welding Trailer - 1943
SB-4A Gas Welding Trailer - 1944

SB-5 15 and 20 CWT. General Service Trailer - 1944
SB-5A 15 and 20 CWT. General Service Trailer - 1945

There were subtle differences in the manuals although I'd have to go and fish them out to determine exactly what they were. One of the most obvious differences between 5 and 5A was the illustrations and I have attached one as an example.

[rob love]

WRT the welding trailer, which was a companion to the KL Lorry, I believe some of the kit from the truck was moved back to the trailer, which may have changed the layout of the trailer necessitating a new manual. It's been a while since I had that stuff, but I think the blacksmiths box and the welding screens may have moved.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Some AEDB docs found on the net: