2014 at the Hammond Barn

[RHClarke]

It has been a dog's age since our last update, so here is what we have been doing at the barn since the "good" weather hit:

Bob and Grant rearranged the upstairs of the barn so that we can now store engines inside - this meant a lot of engine movement and shuffling;

Bob did a complete tear down and replacement of the brakes on his tractor;

Bob replaced the fenders of the tractor with a refurbished set;

Bob and I picked up a nice 235 engine;

We gathered up the tires laying about the property for eventual disposal;

Did the same with the scrap iron;

Bob and Grant built battery boxes to fit their trucks;

We removed the dump body from one of my trucks (on Kijiji if you want to see pics - http://www.kijiji.ca/v-heavy-equipme...ationFlag=true );

We removed downed branches and trees from around Bob's property;

We did a brake job on the 45 HUP;

A lot of yard work as per usual;

Shored up the "bridge" over the creek along the barn access road with rock picked up from a friend's house;

Picked up a few loads of maple fire wood;

Bob and his neighbour split a few cord of wood;

Grant and Bob pruned trees along the small field;

Bob rototilled the road to the small field;

I put in four piers for my next sea container;

A lot of sandblasting and welding on things CMP;

Bob repaired his ride on mower;

A hockey sock of other tasks that the boys may add later on;

We fed the mosquitoes, black flies, horse flies, deer flies, gnats and other creepy crawly blood-sucking insects found at the barn; and

We drank a few beers, told a few lies and enjoyed the hobby as best we could.

Photos

1- Brake repairs on the tractor
2- Sea can number 2 site prepped
3- The new "engine bay" in the attic of the barn
4- Blurry pic of the pump on the dump body
5- Non original CMP dump body finally off the Kemptville Chev

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Guys

Glad to hear you are keeping busy, was going to suggest you could come down to New Hampshire and do many of the same things down here.

Which 235 did you pickup early or late?

Being able to store engines in the loft is great way to get them off the shop floor. Hope you have got well sealed up to keep the critters out of exhaust, intake, water jacket etc.

Cheers Phil

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Phil

I recently scored a 55 Xpower glide engine from a 1/2 T P/U and late last Fall a 1952 235, oil splash lub also a Xpowerglide Have a spare shrot block 261, spare 235, spare GMC 228 and a fully rebuilt, yet to be fired 235 full pressure. Not to mention the 207 flat head Dodge and a spare 251 M37 Dodge.

Grant has a 248 GMC, a spare 261 Pontiac, 235 circa 1957....

Rob has various 216, ex CMP 261 OD green, a 235 full pressure......

That does not include the engine hulks-s-s-s stored outside in the back field.

some concern has been expressed that all our engines are on the same side of the barn attic and the building may lean over.
The solution is to clean up more storage room on the West side of the Barn.

One day will get caught up with all our squirrelling around.

Speaking of nuts storage..... we are carefull to cover all openings with spray can paint caps and yards of electrical tape on every intake, exhaust, water jackets, etc holes we can plug. so far so good. On one engine we loosened all the rockers and allowed the valves to fully closed on the head then rep[laced the valve cover. Cylinders are usually heavy oiled with Guibbs penetratiing oil.

Now busy replicating battery boxes using your diagrams and measurements. We will have pictures soon. We had to be creative and redesign the battery box to be sideways on the running board bracket..... same design same concept but mounted sideways. Grant is the engineer on this one and will supply the new dimensions.

I had no choice on my cab 11 as the battery would not fit the space available..... and had to be relocated from inside due to my 2 speed T case shifter.

Cheers

[RHClarke]

...which is why Bob and Grant stayed inside the barn. As usual, the extreme Hammond weather had an effect on what we do. Bob played with his Cab 11 (ish - he can explain) sheet metal trying to determine the assembly sequence. This is not as easy as one would think as some plates need to be loosely fitted in a given (but unknown to us) order. The Cab 11 has a myriad of bolts and plates that seem to have an effect on each of their neighbouring plates. Bob spent most of his day playing CMP roulette, but took some time to install his freshly made battery box, a hold down and cover.

Grant was working on a stand for his bead roller. He ordered some 1/2 inch plate cut at a local welding shop, but wasn't pleased with the look of the cuts. He spent most of the morning perfecting the components for his stand before welding them up in the afternoon.

Photos:

1. Battery box installed on Bob's Cab 11 truck
2. Grant's handiwork
3. Our latest visitor
4. The boys contemplating plates

[RHClarke]

The latest addition to the Hammond military vehicle fleet is the M37 that was recently put up for sale on MLU. This recovery operation was perhaps one of the easiest we ever had as the truck moves under its own power and getting it on and off of the trailer was dirt simple.

We set off on Friday morning past and headed to the wilds of Stittsville, where the truck was being stored. After unwrapping it and putting a bit of fuel down the carb, the old girl fired up. We had a slight sprinkling of rain, which made the ramps a bit slick and I needed two attempts to get the truck up onto the trailer. The second attempt was in four wheel drive and the truck crawled up the ramps with no problem whatsoever.

After chaining her down we headed towards Orleans to drop the truck off for its safety inspection. She should be on the road by Monday and will head out to the barn for its first run as a Hammond Barn stable mate.

My thanks to Grant for providing the truck, to Bob for providing the trailer, and to both for the helping hand.

Photos:
1- Safely on the trailer
2- Bob and Grant chaining up
3- Shot from the rear
4- Pre move inspection
5- Heading out

[RHClarke]

Yesterday morning we had ice on the puddles and frost on everything else. So much for summer! Today's weather was much more reasonable until about 5 PM when the skies opened up. To sum up the summer, it was too hot and too wet. We really did not get a good run of dry hot days so our activities were limited to whatever the weather permitted. The Farmer's Almanac predicts a cold winter with lots of snow, so we are hoping that the fall makes up for the summer and potentially poor winter to come.

This week Bob was working on putting in the wood for the coming long winter. He and his neighbour Bruce cut up last year's supply of logs and ran wood to each other's garages. Grant got the engine to his radio truck up and running - from all accounts, she runs like a top.

My focus was on sea container number two, which was delivered earlier this week in a torrential downpour. It was exciting to watch the driver swinging the big rig that delivered the box down the trail to the barn. He almost put the truck in the creek on the way in and on the way out. The box was dumped near my first sea can waiting for today. Bob and Grant helped me rig up the sea can axle set that Bob designed and built. Bob then lifted the front of the sea can with the three point hitch on his tractor and swung the box into the correct position. This box will now house the M37 and spare parts.

The rest of the day was spent fabricating parts for Grant's truck, chatting about upcoming sewing classes (Bob will have to explain), and maintenance chores. I also got some time to do some work on the M37's steering, which was due for an overhaul. As mentioned, the rain came around supper time and put a damper on everything, so we all headed home.

Photos:

1 - Bob's deadly wood cutting machine;
2 - Sea Can 2 in position;
3 - Sea Cans (note space for third can...);
4 - M37 Heaven - a runner with a spare parts truck; and
5 - More Dodge money shots - the ambulance body (or parts thereof) is for sale.

[RHClarke]

I had a good reason to go to Toronto earlier this week so after business concluded, I decided to take a quick jaunt up to visit Gord Yeo's farm near Clinton Ontario. He had some M37 parts that I could use, so I did some shopping. While I was there I got the dime tour of Gord's fleet of military vehicles. I am astonished at the level of workmanship and with how quickly he gets things done. I was particularly drawn to the big truck as I know the condition it was in when Gord picked up from the Ottawa area.

My thanks to Gord for taking the time to help out this new M37 nut.

The attached photo shows a line up of Canadian army trucks ranging from the 1940s to the 1980s.