F60L Cab 12 truck

[Shane]

Howard............... A GT Falcon...............You are comparing my Cab 12 to a.............. GT i can hardly bring myself to type it. Now a HJ monaro on the other hand At least Holdens will still be here in 2016(no they wont but half of my brain is in denial)

No mate i understand what you are saying, im not trying to be to picky but want her to look the part. The look im going for is the way she might have looked while serving in the army dents and other mods done on her by the Aussies will be left on. Its all a learning curve so thanks to you and others in this forum for helping me with not only advice but parts for the old girl.


Might try and call into Colins place today, never get sick of seeing his shed of goodies.

[Shane]

Dad and i had a great time at Colins today and typical of his hospitality he asked if we would like a spin in his brengun carrier.(we said no but Colin made us) Now Colins driveway is longer than most streets and i could not believe the speed we were going, enough to make the eyes water. So thanks mate for having us and showing your impressive collection of militaria.

[lynx42]

Shane, you were lucky to get a ride in a very unique vehicle. 6901 is Colin's recreation of a 3" mortar carrier. All that were built went to China during WWII and none are known to have survived. We owe a debt of gratitude to Colin for recreating a part of Australia's military history.

Regards Rick

[Shane]

Hi all.
Well this was four hours of fun, it was a mess but Coppers Ale made the time just fly bye.


Keith told me to use petrol to clean and it worked great. Also took it for a drive to Happy Car Wash the owner was not to happy about me cleaning the sump in a car wash but i had just finished. So happy days for me and the sump.

[Shane]

Hi lads
Some shots of the motor, still after a radiator if anyone has one for sale.



Also need a army marked fire extinguisher and fire extinguisher bracket. Cheers Shane

[aj.lec]

Box pictures

[Shane]

Hi all.

Well its been a long day but i finally got my tray. A big thanks to Hugh for selling and helping me load the very very heavy bit of kit. Nice to know it was made by Holdens you can see the Holden plant from Hugh's place. If anyone has the correct badge that would have been on the tray please let me know. The current condition needs attention but im going to learn from a man that could fix it in his sleep, its the last thing on the list to do so it will be a long time until you see her restored.On the side of the tray it reads.....

COMMONWEALTH
DEPT OF IMMIGRATION
MIGRANT CENTRE
BATHURST




The tray was way to heavy for my truck so it went on a car trailer.

[Keith Webb]

The tile truck wasn't quite up to the job I see... love the "crane" too.

[Shane]

Had a blast at Hugh's place getting the tray for the cab 12. However at the end of the day Hugh and i were taking rubber off the old bren wheels which for me was a blast, it takes around 30 min for each wheel.

[Ganmain Tony]

Gday Shane,

A couple of things I can think of at the moment in regards to correctly setting up a completely refurbished brake system.

Brake shoes - completely wind off the minor cam adjustments (this is only temporary) so they are "out of the way".

Ones at the bottom are called the anchor pins they have a small drilling (hole) in the end of them. These are set up so the holes are opposite each other.
I know a picture would help at this point but I can't seem to bloody well find any.

Doing this will get your shoes in the correct position to do the minor adjustment (with the Cam's)

You will need to be able to rotate the drum for the minor adjustment..

Adjust the cams to make the shoe come into contact with the drum
There should be just enough drag for the drum to be turned by hand.

That's your shoe set up done.

For the booster, I recommend you look at the Instructions on driving, maintenance, repair book. (The little book with Special pattern vehicles on the cover)

Basically (very basically) there is a small rod inside the piston rod (the outside rod). When you press the brake pedal the small rod has to move first to seal the air chamber. It is only small movement but this is the critical part of the set up.

It will provide a vacuum one side and atmospheric pressure on the other and gives you the power assist. You'll feel it when pressing the brake pedal.

Any hoo - hope this hasnt been too confusing - I often work out how things work by reading the manual under the truck, looking at the bits they are talking about, then reading again (repeating these steps 20 times if necessary).

[Shane]

Cheers Tony thanks very much for your advice.
Are you able to put up more pics of your cab 12 which parts of the cab you began to put back on in the correct order.(floor plate ect) I guess there is the wrong way and the right way of putting her back together.

[Ganmain Tony]

Hope it makes sense Shane. If not, ask away again....

As to the Cab assembly. Go to F60L recent pics thread in the softskin forum.

Page 3 is about the best spot to start looking at Cab assembly pictures and any comments made at the time on hiccups and moments of frustration.

[Private_collector]

That, and take LOTS of disassembly photos prior! Even with those, I still have problems.
Mostly because I have the memory of a goldfish.

Did I mention I have the memory of a goldfish.........

Have you been acquiring the manuals? Sometimes takes several seperate manuals to show the detail you may need.

On a different topic, I thought I had finally caught up with the guy I have been trying to track down for you. Turned out to be the meter reader, and he wasnt able to offer any help as to where the owner was. Wouldnt/couldnt even tell me the address that the power bills were being sent to. Swine!

[Shane]

LOL no worries Tony B you no what its like when someone puts on a uniform.....
(i know i used to wear one myself when i was young) I have found a manual and am getting help from Colin Jones and Hugh Davies both great blokes but also like to see how other members have done their restoration. GT mate ill look that up and study your Cab assembly. Thanks lads, thanks for your feedback good or bad its all good to me.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi All

Tony hit the nail right on the head for the most important step in starting a restoration

"....take LOTS of disassembly photos prior! Even with those, I still have problems.
Mostly because I have the memory of a goldfish.........."

None of us has the memory we wish we had and the pictures are great for that, but I can not count the number of times somebody has asked a question on MLU and somebody pops right back with a photo they already had in their computer.

I would add take lots and lots of photos before you even start work every conceivable angle top side, inside, and underneath. Digital cameras, picture cell phones are great for this, but don't do as one member of our club did keep the photos on your cell phone, you guessed it he lost the cell phone. Store the photos off on a computer, print them out, do something to create a copy.

Being a gold fish isn't all bad I just have to remember which way I swam around the bole yesterday, so I can go the opposite way today and see new stuff.

Cheers Phil

[David Dunlop]

At least you have a round bowl, Phil! I keep getting stuck in the corners in mine!

David

[Shane]

Cheers for that Phil. Hey GT i cant find F60L recent pics thread. Also a big shout out to Hugh Davies we were going to work on the truck tonight. However i gave him a call to see if he was still coming over and the answer was no... thats because hes over in NSW fighting the fires, thats right Hugh has put something else in front of a blitz truck and for those that know him thats just well......a miracle.

[hrpearce]

Shane, here's a link. http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ecent+pictures

[Ganmain Tony]

Thanks Robert,

Shane just click on the link Robert has put up and it should take you straight there.

[Shane]

Cheers boys, great photos GT they will help out a lot.

[Shane]

Hi all.

Would just like to know what the best thing is to flush out the diff. I am not going to take it apart so i was hoping either diesel or thin oil would work the best. Also is there any danger taking the booster apart?

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Shane

Concerning flushing the differential are you going to remove it from the axle or try and do it in place?

Trying to flush in the housing has some issues as you probably guessed of loosening dirt and gunk up but with out really not getting it out of the housing and having work into the axle bearings. When I first restored my HUP and C60S years ago I flushed the differentials by draining the gear lube and refilling with a 50/50 mixture of kero and gear lube and then drove the thing up and down my drive I think all this did was flush out the old lube because it really didn't come out with much stuff.

On my C60L and recent HUP overhaul I pulled the differential units and really cleaned them. One thing I can say about trying to clean the housing and the gear units is the only way to really get them clean is with real hot water or steam. I used Gunk to really loosen up the old gear lube, then washed them with 170F water.

Concerning dis-assembly of the brake booster, do you have the manual? Don't try without it and pay particular attention to the actual valve assemble very easy to damage. With care you can take these apart clean and reassemble without problem. Checking them on the bench for leaks is much much easier than installing in the truck. Look/listen particularly for leaks around the piston barrel.

Cheers Phil

[Shane]

Hi Phil
Thanks for your advice mate i have just put the wheels and axels back on so i wont be taking the diff apart this time. I have drained the diff oil and you could stand a stick up in it however not to much grit. So just boil water and pour it into the diff? Do i have the bottom plug in then let it drain or allow the water to run right through? I dont have a manual for the booster im thinking i should send it away to get fixed, Hugh Davies has a mate who sent us the booster i dont know if he is part of the MLU clan hope he is so i can thank him. Thanks again Phil

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Shane

But if the fluid you drained out didn't seem to have much in the way of dirt, grit or water. I think I might just go with Kero spin the wheels one at a time to work the diff gears and turn the drive shaft. Then just drain it and see what the drain looks like if it is just dark fluid with no chunks or grit then skip the water. Let it drain for a long time then just refill with correct gear lube and call it good. Just keep an I on the color and texture when you check the lube level.

If the gears are well coated in old lube you might consider waiting on this project until the truck is ready to drive as driving for a couple of hours is probably the best way to get all the moisture out of the differential.

When I did it sprayed in the degreaser mix of Gunk and Kero turned one wheel and the drive shaft to get it spread around then ran hot water through it with the drain out and turning the wheels both sides and and the drive shaft until the case felt warm then took a plumbing fitting to hitch an old hose type hair dryer up and just let it blow through the case for a couple of hours to really dry the insides out turning a wheel of the drive shaft every now and then.

Refilled the case with new rear axle lube per the manual. Then drive the thing around.

The CMP differentials seem to run cooler than some of the US Military Stuff. My CMPs after an hour driving average only 30-40F over the air temp. So air temp of 21C will get you 41 - 53 C which takes awhile to drive out any moisture.

Cheers Phil

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

hitch an old hose type hair dryer up and just let it blow through the case for a couple of hours to really dry the insides out

Best way to remove moisture from internals is to flush with methylated spirits, ie. alcohol. Water and alcohol are miscible (eg. beer, wine, spirits) so the metho carries away every molecule of moisture immediately, leaving a thin film of alcohol which quickly evaporates. Advantage of this method is speed, which is not only convenient, but also eliminates corrosion, which occurs rapidly on bare metal in the presence of water vapour, esp. if hot/warm (no big deal in a diff, but potentially important with very small components, esp. bearing surfaces). You could fill the diff with metho ($10-$15 for 5 litres at the supermarket) then drain and fill with oil immediately. Any remaining alcohol will soon evaporate through the breather.

Metho is quite useful stuff for eradicating moisture, eg. from brake systems after long disuse, or fuel systems that have accumulated water - usually through condensation inside non-airtight fuel tanks. Normally it sits on the bottom of the tank and eventually gets sucked into the carby (after filling up the fuel filter bowl if fitted), but a bottle of metho poured into the tank will mix the water with the fuel and allow it to pass through unnoticed. You can demonstrate this effect by putting some petrol and water in a glass, then adding some metho and stirring - the two separate layers of petrol and water disappear. If nothing else it's a neat party trick!

[Shane]

Cheers Tony. I have a few other questions if you or others can help.

Do the seats bolt onto the cab plate or is there a piece of wood between the seat and cab plate?(mine had wood between)

Also i have seen the fuel tanks on several pictures of the cab 12 that show the fuel caps close to the rear of the cab and other pictures of the fuel caps facing away from the cab. Is there a right way or does it not matter.

I have two seats that not sure which one is correct for my truck so here are the pictures.



Here is a picture of her so far



I will be going to Corowa next month so if any one else is going and has Cab 12 items for sale im in need of a few items. You know the small things... Spare wheel carrier, drivers door, engine cover that sort of thing.

[Shane]

Well it has slowed down my cab12 project but what the heck its faster, lighter, cheaper..............But all in good time one will carry the other

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJLle81Xq2Y

[Lang]

Shane,

As far as your diff goes, one must ask the question "Why touch it?"

There will only be foreign matter in it if there has been some major problem (Broken internals, torn seals or it has been submerged in a muddy creek)

Putting degreaser, kerosene and pouring hot water in it is only going to start the almost permanent "lining" of the housing coming loose and creating blobs of toffee to go into the bearings and causing seals to leak. Who cares what is coating the non-contact surfaces - it might even cut down on noise! The only thing that matters is the contact surfaces of the gears and bearings.

I would just be draining the oil, checking for unusual contamination and filling with recommended oil. One oil change to remove any loose sludge picked up by use after say 1,000km should almost do for the rest of the vehicle's life if it is used as a show/club truck only.

Lang

[Mike Cecil]

"I have two seats that not sure which one is correct for my truck so here are the pictures"

The Cab 12 had the narrow backed seat fitted as standard: the wide back seat is a 1944 Australian invention. Nothing to say it was not 'retrofitted', but it was not standard for the vehicle.

The comfortable one is the wide back one, of course!

Mike C

[Lang]

Mike,

I must be missing something - "comfortable" and Blitz seat in the same sentence!

Lang