2012 at the Hammond Barn

[RHClarke]

Another year just flew past, and the New Year is already underway. You can expect more fun and games from the Hammond gang in 2012. This year we plan to gain more progress on our truck restorations and increase the back 40 follies from two CMPs to three with Grant's truck on the road.

Photo - Tell tale traces of fun.

[Phil Waterman]

Was wondering if we would have the next season in that great reality program the Hammond Barn.

You guys are far better than TV you have a new installment nearly everyday while television is lucky if they can get out 26 new episodes.

Cheers Phil

[cliff]

I have made this new 2012 thread a sticky one and unstickied the 2011 barn one guys. Phil I'll do the same with yours when you start a new 2012 one.

[RHClarke]

With the young fellow away at camp (school break - for the teachers not for us), the better half working, and being a gummint employee (of sorts), what better way to spend the day than at the Hammond Barn?

There I met two other gummint employees (real civil servants) and we embarked on a number of small projects. Bob and Grant assembled a set of shelves to help keep things organized, and did some wiring, while I played with my Bronco hinge set.

The last attempt to free the hinge pin met with failure, so today, I drilled out the pin. The first attempt at drilling went OK, and when I repeated the process for the bottom half, things also went well. I took the hinge set to the vice to attempt to knock out the rest of the pin which resided in the center loop. While trying to rotate one of the hinge arms, the arm came free. Seems we busted up the pin while pounding on it yesterday. The upper and lower remnants of the pins were drifted out with ease. The center portion did not want to leave home. It was heat treated again and then came free after a few hits on the drift.

The next stage of the operation was to drill the hole slightly oversized to accept a nice stainless steel rod as a replacement pin. The holes drilled out quite nicely and the steel rod fit just like it was supposed to. I rounded over the top portion of the steel pin and reattached the hinge set to the rear door. Once the door was properly set in the opening, the inside hinge arms were then center punched. The hinges were removed and the center punched marks were drilled out. The tap finished off the job.

After reattaching the hinges to the door (for what seems to have been the twentieth time), the door was put back into the opening with vice grips holding the hinges to the frame. Three large flat head screws were turned into each hinge – I have to admit, my alignment was not spot on, so one set of screws needed to be “convinced” into their respective holes. Once in place, the door opened and closed for the first time in over seven years.

Now that the Bronco hinges have been modified after some intense effort, I am sure that a set of rear door hinges will fall into my lap in the near future. It is part of the Hammond Barn DNA not to let a scarcity of parts keep us from the ultimate goal. I think good things will happen in 2012 - unless you are Incan...

Photos:

1 - Outside view of the "new" hinges
2 - Lower configuration
3 - Upper configuration - the rear wall-mounted seat brackets are visible in this pic

[RHClarke]

The weather this morning was wonky at best, and dangerous at its worse. We had a light dusting of snow last night that was followed by a bout of freezing rain. It took quite a lot of effort to clear the driveway this morning. I got to the barn late only to find Bob sitting by Lucifer reading porn (a CMP manual). Not much happened before lunch, and after lunch Grant joined us.

Again, Bob and Grant were fixated on racks – not the kind young fellows think about, but equipment racks. They fabbed up a rack that eventually got bolted to the rear wall. After that fun Grant kept busy dashing about – in fact he disassembled four dashes this afternoon. As with all things CMP, differences soon appeared – Grant can fill in blanks on this one.

My afternoon was spent clearing snow and ice from the shelters, doing some sandblasting and fixing a window throw out arm off of the 42 Pilot Model. One of the four arms was broken. Another had been repaired with a very nice weld job, so I called in my expert to fix the break in the arm. Bob did a great job aligning the metal and flattening out ends so that they matched. A few zaps later and a quick session with the grinder, the arm looked ready for use.

Like all things we enjoy, time at the barn went by in a flash, and I headed back to Ottawa for my domestic duties.


Photos:

1 - Bob playing with a nice rack
2 - Mr Dash
3 - Pilot Model window throw out arm - before
4 - Arm - during
5 - Arm - after

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Guys

Been off line for a couple of days rebuilding computer so it was good to see somebodies weekend was productive.

Looking at the first picture wondered about the rack material, is the local super market missing a bunch of carts? Whats the English term for them? Trollies?

Good work on repairing the windscreen arms. I'll have to dig out the pictures for creating them from scratch with a plasma cutter. Mine on the Pattern 12 were so far gone had to create new ones.

Keep up the good work

Cheers Phil

[Bob Carriere]

When Joyce was a manager at Staples they would ...every now and then....throw out racking for more modern ones...... I scavenged a bunch of them.

We needed to take some scrap cut off steel off the floors in corners for room to work and easy access to the odd pieces and bits for future jobs. Wire shelves were nice but needed some bracing with angle iron for holding the weight that we will put on them.

Nice project for the Winter.

Also building a good sturdy box for storing and possibly securely transporting my recently acquired 19 set...... the whole set up moounted on the travel board will fit inside and be a two men carry.

Once that is completed will tackle sheet metal worjon the nose sheet metal fo tha cab 11 which has some nice large rust holes...... will try patches and or repro..... butt welding patches and spot welding will be the process of choice.

Still have to tackle the twisted frame but that will wait until we get milder weather.

Nice to fire up "Lucifer" and be able to work in a 50 to 55 F degrees setting.

Bob

[RHClarke]

The mercury dipped to -23 oC this clear and very sunny morning. With the wind, it felt like -32 – cold on any temperature scale! It was so cold that I was the only one at the barn this morning. Bob and Grant (I’m guessing) were out on Saturday. All of the vehicle shelters had the snow removed, so the boys were busy yesterday. Bob did a great job of clearing the snow from the front driveway, the road to the barn and the area in front of the barn. I’ll bet that was great fun, as no matter where the machine blows the snow, some is bound to blow back over you.

When I got to the barn I didn’t fire up Lucifer as I could only stay for a few hours. Upon entry I noticed that a new bin system was assembled and placed against one of the walls. Bob and Grant continue their fascination with racks and the like. So far most of the bins are empty, but that will change. Hopefully, the boys will chime in to speak of their exploits.

My morning was spent removing about 10 inches of snow from most of the roof of the old shed. The snow was in three layers – a soft top layer, a sheet of ice with compacted snow underneath. It was a bitch to breakup and clear off as the snow rake is somewhat flimsy and it catches the nails on the tin sheet roof. We will need to extend the reach of the snow rake so that I can get the remainder of the snow without having to get up on the roof. The old shed has developed a noticeable westward lean, and there was no sense in tempting fate.

After that fun, I fixed a broken shovel. The shovel blade had split where the dent for the handle meets the flat part of the shovel. After getting the power level right, the weld worked nicely. Some finishing touches with the grinder, and the shovel should last another five years. Yes, I am cheap. After locking up, I drove home for lunch very much enjoying the sun highlighting the ice in the trees. Winter in Canada can be a bit of a bitch, but it also can be downright beautiful.

Photos:
1 - Ice in the trees
2 - Camouflaged Dodges
3 - Unladen Bins

[Bob Carriere]

Colder than a mother-in-law's heart she was........

The wife convinced me that it would be toooo cold to work in the barn so we went photographing Snowy Owl....... it was minus 29C when we left the house at 7:45........ took me 30 minutes to get dressed...... felt like a two year old....warm but could not move. 4 hour Batteries lasted only about an hour in the camera before going dead........ did see 3 Snowy but they would not even respond to baiting with live lab mice......

Spent most of Saturday doing the snow/blow job while Grant did the roofs of the Winter canvass garages. Thanks for doing the shed/containers Rob.

More snow coming this week and Grant is toasting his buns in San Diago for the week.

Blowing snow is fine with modern conveniences.....sucks when the wind shifts and you wind up sucking most of it......
it was minus -15C when they were taken.

Bob

[maple_leaf_eh]

Good reminder to clear the accumulations off the soft-skin shelter. The accumulations in the front of the driveway have been relentless but not impossible to clear. Better to turn 180 degrees and start raking. Monday the weather is expected to break, and get into single digits below zero.

[RHClarke]

It got busy this week at work. Deadlines tend to focus one's thoughts and actions. Now that I have had some time to catch my breath, here is what happened last Sunday. It was cold, but not stupid cold (which I think is easier to survive that stupid hot...). Nonetheless, all three of us made it to the barn for what turned out to be a short day. The first to cross the barn's threshold has the joy of feeding Lucifer and confusing the local mosquito population - they actually do show up when Lucifer is at full glow!

Once Lucifer was sated, I got on to painting some of the items taken off of the Pilot Model HUP. The throw out arms from the windshields, sunshine hatch stopper plates, a few spring clamps and the two upper support pillars got their first coat of black paint.

Whilst slapping the paint on the pre-heated parts, Bob arrived. I think he was amused at how fast the paint dried on the parts. It might have something to do with having spent a few minutes resting on top of Lucifer's fire box. Shorthly thereafter, Grant arrived sporting his California tan. We spent the rest of the morning yakking about cleaning up the barn and other tasks - Bob proudly showed off his "air dryer". The boys put a fresh tarp over one of Grant's shelter to keep the ice and snow at bay. Then we drove to the thriving metropolis of Rockland for a nice sit down full breakfast. It was good to see Bob was behaving himself and was eating wisely.

Back at the barn we fiddled around with various bits and pieces and decided to call it a day. Sometimes you need a small break in the action - or maybe we were just plain lazy. We will make up for it in the future.

Photos

1 - Yep. It is still cold - Bob thawing out the air regulator with the "air dryer"
2 - Pilot Model parts awaiting a new coat of paint
3 - The same with their new coat airing themselves near Lucifer- notice Bob's new rack in the background

[RHClarke]

The boys were out to the barn on Saturday and they took care of shelter maintenance, snow removal and playing with a box. Bob can elaborate. Today was a very nice day with the mercury hitting -3 oC. The sun was out, so the first thing I did this morning was start up the HUP.

Bob arrived shortly after the HUP had warmed up and headed into the barn to spark up Lucifer. I jumped in the HUP and took a ride to the front of Bob's property where Grant was just pulling in. After turning the truck around, I headed back to the barn and out to the wagon line for some fun in the snow. I started out in two wheel drive with the intent of getting stuck in the snow, which was about a foot deep. Even with ice under the snow, the HUP chugged along nicely. After a spell I put her into four wheel drive and had some fun "dashing thru the snow".

On the way back, I decided to get into the deep snow at the rear of the barn. The truck had no problem going over the hills of snow Bob left after plowing around the barn. I noted with some amusement that the HUP was sort of like a male Basset Hound - its lower dangly bits left a small path in the deep snow... We had a quick lunch in Rockland at the local Tim Hortons, and as usual, chatted about the issues being discussed on MLU. After Bob finished his tea, we headed back to Hammond.

Back at the barn Bob and Grant made a spectacle of themselves by disassembling a lens grinding machine that Grant had obtained. We figured that there was no use for it as our glass man takes care of all of our glass needs - including beveling etc... My task was to do some welding on the HUP divider wall kick plate. The bottom lip had rotted from rust, so I replaced it.

Later, Bob and Grant designed a set of steel ramps to replace the old wooden ones that have come to the end of their lifecycle. They spent the remainder of the afternoon cutting up steel tube to prepare for the upcoming welding marathon. That will have to wait until next week, as Bob had a date with a Nun, and I headed home to watch the NHL All Star game. Grant was left behind to tend to Lucifer and lock up the barn for another weekend.

Photos:

1- Bob and Grant repairing Lucifer
2- HUP post snow frolic - someday I'll put the nose back on...
3- Grinding machine being worn down
4- New ramp parts being cut
5- Deep snow and "Basset" marks

[RHClarke]

The boys were out to the barn on Saturday and it looks like they spent the day assembling and welding the wheel ramps. Sunday started off fairly cool. It was -13 oC at 8AM but the sun was shining. The drive out to the barn was great with the sun dancing off the ice in the trees.

After sparking up Lucifer, I headed outside to clear the snow off the shelters. The warm weather on Saturday created a nice crust on the snow that made clearing snow fairly easy. The heavy layer of snow on the barn roof was fun to remove - it took a gentle nudge and instant avalanche! Bob and Joyce showed up later on to check on the local turkey population. There is a rafter of turkeys that have been moving around the local area.

After the turkey trek, Bob fired up the tractor and cleared the snow from the yard. Grant showed up at little later on and helped Bob work on the ramps. I did a little weld job on my tire rack and watched Bob and Grant do some more welding on the ramps. I am sure that they will be able to hold up a tank. The rest of the morning was spent adding a door handle to the rear door of the HUP. I am using a locking handle that required some modification to the door so that the security lugs fit in the opening.

After a quick lunch in Rockland, we got back to CMP related work. Bob and Grant cleaned up a set of shelves, and sorted out some nuts and bolts. I started assembling the lower portion of the HUP divider wall. With Grants aid, we managed to put it together in short order.

In the meantime, Lucifer was belting out the heat and we hit 70 oF inside the barn. The many layers of winter clothing started to come off as we worked up a sweat in the front of the barn. In the back of the barn, near Lucifer, Bob sorted out the steel supply and made use of the rack system he and Grant constructed. Smaller pieces of metal were stacked on the racks located near Lucifer and this opened up a lot of space.

The afternoon passed quickly, and all too soon, I had to head back home. The boys stayed behind for more clean up.

Photos:

1 - Mega ramps - awaiting more cross and lateral bracing
2 - Avalanche country - that stuff comes down quickly and with force!
3 - HUP rear door's new handle
4 - A great rack!
5 - HUP lower divider wall with wood panels installed

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Guys

The ramp design looks interesting how about a photo showing the hook over to keep the ramp and the flat stand together, see a little of it in the photo. What are you going to cover them with for tread surface? What size box tubing did you use?

I've been using chunks of 10x10 block but your solution looks much more elegant.

Cheers Phil

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Phil

I had been using a highway guardrail post for 15 years and added up a few 2x8 fro greater height as required...... as they sit outside they eventually rotted and became home to some colony of ants.

So decided that I should finally build some decent safe ramps as I had fallen off the ramps on the last oil change.

I basically copied the eight and lenght of the wooden ramps but made them in two parts for ease of moving them around....also because on my Ford diesel they have installed a fuel filter inside the frame underneath the driver's side..... so when the truck is on the wheel stand the ramp portion is in the way. In this fashion I can remove it do the job. replace and drive the truck down....... watch the day I forget to re-install the ramp Ka boom.....

I used 1/8 square tubing 1 1/2...... very sturdy like everything that we overbuild but should be able to use it for C15 to C60 trucks if need be.

Will take some photos and measurements and publish.

I plan on welding some HD expanded steel on the ramp and on the top wheel stand..... that will make them self cleaning with all our mud and snow and provide good traction...... fall back plan if too expensive will be sheets of 10 gauge spare steel and light gauge expanded steel in narrow strip just for traction.

They should last a life time and a half...... once slightly rusted over for bite will paint them with left over Tremclad paint.

The bottom device to hold the two section together was salvaged from the spare bin..... it is a piece of heavy 1/4 in. U shape channel 1 1/2 by 4 welded to the bottom section of the ramp portion it rides over the front stand and holds beautifully so far..... again back up plan if I find the top as a tendency to open will be to fabricate a U shape device that will fit in the open end of the square tubing as a safety pin......

Do you still have snow around your place...?

Bob C.

[RHClarke]

It was a quiet weekend at the Hammond Barn. Bob headed south to spread the wealth at Acton, and Grant was kept busy elsewhere. The last few weeks have been "taxing" for myself. A new job, family health issues and finishing the accounting for my business forced a absence from the hallowed halls of Hammond.

This morning I put all that on hold and took a nice peaceful drive out to the barn. Once at the barn I took a stroll out to the back 40 to see if any of the trucks needed some attention or if they had received attention from non-authorized visitors. All looked to be in order. The sun was shining and the wind was gentle - the perfect combination for melting snow. I took a few minutes to clean off the tops of some of the trucks. Each had about five inches of ice and snow covering their roofs. Most of the snow and ice came off in one large piece which I slid over the side.

After working up a sweat, I headed back to the barn and fired up the HUP. After a brief warm up, I took the HUP for a jaunt around the Carriere homespread. I drove up to the main house and noted that there was a very large and heavy overhang of ice slipping off Bob's back porch. After parking the HUP, I helped Mother Nature by disloging some impressively large pans of ice and snow from the metal porch roof. The chunks hit the ground with a very threatening thud. I can only imagine what would happen if someone got nailed by a chunk of that crap.

Back in the HUP I made my way back to the barn along the road, which now resembled a skating rink. It was glare ice from the main road in Hammond all the way down to the barn and out to the back 40. Four wheel drive sure makes a difference. The driving was fun despite the perils that the ice presented - going down the gentle sloping road over the culvert is somewhat different when the road is iced over. With the truck in low gear and with the engine at idle, she made the trips back and forth with no issues whatsoever.

The trip out back was interesting. The snow had a thick ice crust as its top layer and had soft snow beneath it. It took some effort to get the HUP turned around in the snow, but the aggressive treads of the tires and the four wheel drive proved effective again. It was now approaching noon, so I headed back to the barn to see if anyone had arrived. All was quiet, so I put the HUP back into its shelter and shut her down until next week.

It is kind of a downer switching from an old cross country truck to a newer small import car, but I enjoyed the trip back home replaying the fun I had this morning in my mind.

Photos:

1- Bob's hangover
2- Some chunks of ice from the porch roof
3- The Hammond Ice Road
4- More of the same
5- etc...

[Bob Carriere]

Thanks for knocking the ice off the deck roft..... and not being underneath when it came down.

Had a wonderful time at Acton...... nice to see everyone again. Got some nice stuff as usual ....... very grateful for all the kind considerations and assistance from some of the members from Peter and Dean and Chris and who am I missing...... oh and a few leads on other rusted old trucks....

Visited the in laws and generally had a super weekend.....but did miss the barn.....

We took advantage of being in the neighbourhood to pick up parcels at the UPS in upper NY.......Even the Custom Officer was kind enough to be too busy to collect duty ....... must have been my honest face when I told him I had $91.61 to declare..... he just wished us well and off we went.

Fine bunch of lads in the MLU crowd.....

Bob

[peter simundson]

Did you have a look at the fittings in the plastic bag and are they

any use to you??

Peter S

[Bob Carriere]

I opened up my treasure while sittign at the diningroom table of my mother in law.... they think I am nuts........conclusion... I might have to buy a few more........

as in the advertisement.....priceless.

Thank you

Bob

[KrisHamilton]

impressive work on the MV's ... everytime i check in on these forums there is something new... better then TV

after renovating my entire house, electrical panel swap, plumbing, oil to gas conversion, basement remodel, and going back to school for hvac i havent had much time or money to play around with. this year im going to focus on converting my car-port into a funtional garage.
i will need some advice for minimum dimensions to house a CMP.
also dont know about the bylaws for using plasma cutter, welding in the Nepean area in ones garage... dont care tho.

take it easy

[Grant Bowker]

When in doubt, come out to Hammond, we have lots of CMPs, even HUPs to measure (just joking). More seriously, I don't think that Ottawa (former Nepean) has seriously restrictive laws on plasma and MIG as a hobby. The former Kanata was famous for crazy limitations on the colour of your front door and the style of clothesline you could have.
I suspect you will put more limits on yourself by not wanting to burn the house down than the city puts on you. If you have a chouce, you may want to keep most of the truck out of sight so none of the neighbours report you as a "junkyard".

[Gunner]

Hi Kris: Your also welcome to check out the Swords and Ploughshares Museum when the snow is gone!

Cheers! Mike

[Bob Carriere]

So I see you have migrated from hot kitchen to hot air heating......

Your hulk is still parked at the back eagerly waiting your gentle touch or is it torch.

Drop by the barn remind yourslef how big the CMPs are...... Height is likely the major issue if you plan to instal a standard garage door. Having to bolt up and remove your cab top every time you go in and out can be a bitch.

Don't forget the Plasma will require a compressor...... and both the compressor and the plasma cutter will require amps..... hope you anticipated that in your E panel change over. The Mig welder has probably more frequent use than the plasma cutter....... Oxy-acet torches is also important for heating/loosening nuts, bending/straightening and cutting.

Apparently Spring is coming..... do drop by the barn on weekends.

Bob

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by KrisHamilton

... this year im going to focus on converting my car-port into a funtional garage. i will need some advice for minimum dimensions to house a CMP...

As Bob mentioned, you will need a good size garage door, particularly if you plan to restore your HUP as a HUP. I have been trying to get a 20 foot high cube container (that won't break the bank) to store my 45 HUP in. The normal 20 foot sea can does not have the height to fit my truck with its 10.50 x 16 tires. Even without the larger tires, the HUP body is still fairly high, so measure twice and cut once!

Good to hear from you, and now we know what was keeping you busy.

[KrisHamilton]

haha Bob you are hilarious. when i did the panel swap i could only afford to go with regular service ... hydro wanted an additional 700$ just for upgrading me to 220v. so im going to have to do with what i have for now. i will hook up additional outlets to the garage later on... easy peezy. after the garage is all said and done i will be on the hunt for tools... i only have two small compressors right now that only work for my air nailers and some other light air tools. i definitely need a big compressor for sure im going to borrow my dads wig welder and i need to find a plasma cutter,..but anyway, it will all fall into place. eventually.

Clarke ..have you checked for shipping containers on this site http://crownassets.pwgsc.gc.ca/mn-eng.cfm
you might get lucky. im not sure if im going to restore my truck to a HUP, although i do like the profile and the amount of space inside a HUP.

anyway i will check in again soon to make sure 100% the barn is open ... i would love to stop by for a visit in the next few weeks. check things out. measure my truck. see everyones progress, shoot the shit ect ect

[Bob Carriere]

.... just to make sure we will be around.

You may have to bring your own shit to shoot..... we are running low !!!!!

Bob

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by KrisHamilton

... im not sure if im going to restore my truck to a HUP, although i do like the profile and the amount of space inside a HUP...

Kris, Hopefully you do go the Heavy Utility route with your truck, or even the C8AX route, as they are rare. The bottom line is that it is your truck, your choice as to what it will look like. There are more than a few converted to logging trucks, swamp buggies and other atrocities...We should chat at the barn.

Cheers,

Rob

[KrisHamilton]

^^^^ for sure i will give you a call before hand

Clarke im thinking about the C8AX route, i would definitly like your perspective on a few things

anyway hope you guys didnt get to snowed in the last few days like i did .. my snow blower definitly saw some action today. .. as well my pint glass

take it easy

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by KrisHamilton

^^^^ for sure i will give you a call before hand
Clarke im thinking about the C8AX route, i would definitly like your perspective on a few things. anyway hope you guys didnt get to snowed in the last few days like i did .. my snow blower definitly saw some action today. .. as well my pint glass .
take it easy

Kris, If you go the C8AX route, you will have a very rare truck indeed. I will be at the barn tomorrow with the usual gang, so if you are in the neighbourhood...


Rob

[Bob Carriere]

Who's gang..... what gang....?

See you then...... drive slowly when you come in..... we have attack turkeys..

Boob