2017 at the Hammond Barn

[Bob Carriere]

I have some pictures of the unique features of this cargo box. Assuming that the cargo box is original to the manufacture of the truck..... March 24th 1942..... it could be an early version..... yet to be refined or simplify for efficient production.

Now for the pics..


Does any one knows what is the proper designation for this odd cargo box...... is an early model of the 2C1 or the later all welded "J" box????

[Jordan Baker]

Great find on the early F15a.

I thought I had seen this style of box before an indeed I did. The following pictures are enlargements from The Factory Photos CD. The box is on a C15a

[Jordan Baker]

As for your cross section of the top channel. When I had mine made up at the shop they were trying to figure out how the original was done too. The first and second bend would be easy. The 3rd bend is the hard one since the first two bend would now want to close down onto the die. What the shop figures was done is the third bend was made until the first two closed down on the die, then the panel was placed into a form in a another press brake and then pressed down. One my sample you could make out the third bend wasn't as tight of a radius as the first two.

[Bob Carriere]

I have been tackling the wood portion of my roof in the last few days ....... and I have gained a great respect for our Aussie friends who are restoring trucks that has a lot more wood than mine.

Might be easier on a new vehicle but when trying to fit the wood to the steel that has been deformed, twisted, bent, cracked, stretched and heated to fill in numerous bolt holes it is frustrating.

The small "L" reinforcement in the 90 degree corner of the cab had cracked along with 3 inches of the roof...... of course it was spot welded with far two many spots...... which I removed by grinding from the inside with a stone and made replacements out of 16 gauge steel.... and welded back in place....using a grinder in that corner is very difficult....... at least part of my welding will be behind the wooden brace.

Now building a"jig" that will allow me to cut the bottom 8 or 10 inches off the back of the cab YET retain the same dimensions and not twist or sag. Will do one half at a time...... based on a newly made angle iron bottom. Not looking forward to the long "butt" weld which must be perfect as it is visible from both the inside and outside of the cab...... lots of stitch welds, hammering and grinding and more stitch welding, ect. ect......... not sure yet if I will spot weld the sheet metal to the angle iron or use the new auto body glue..... I have used it before and it did a good job...... no heat to cause warping and it seals the space between the cab rear wall and the angle iron .......an area prone to rusting.

Hints, comments or suggestions welcome.

Cheers

[Bob Carriere]

Everyone knows that storing your CMP in a relatively air tight, fire proof and secure space is the ultimate. Well a "sea can" can accomplish all of these BUT it has the disadvantage of being very narrow. Been using a sea can for quite a few years since the cab 11 chassis was mobile under its own power. Crawling over the rear section of the frame was fine for a while but since I have installed the cab and rear cargo box it has become a Yoga exercise everytime I want to take the truck out.

So we designed a door that would open..... inline.... with the driver's door of the cab 11. Measured at least 3 times than cut. The task was complicated by the sea can location 100 meters from the barn and nearest power source. so we used the backup house generator which powered the plasma cutter quite efficiently. The vertical cuts, from the inside, using a guide bar, were by far the easiest. The remaining cuts were done with a hand held 4.5 in. rectifier grinder. It would have been nice to capture the moment the cut out section fell down..... but all hands were on deck and the section quite heavy.

The section of the sea can we removed will be recycled as the door skin. The door frame is a 2 in. square tubing and the door perimeter will also be a 2 in. tubing. The frame is now installed and the door done but will be part of my next posting with photos.

It is amazing how much light gets in the container when that section is removed.

Finally tested the opening by driving the cab 11 back in place. Plenty of room to enter and exit and access to the battery box for the Winter months.

Eventually a small 2 step wooden landing will be built for the benefit of my sore and old back.

Details of progress will follow.

Bob C

The once orange Sea can recently paint with a home blend of multiple leftover oil based paint and resulted in 3 gallons of dark near OD green!!!!

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

I have some pictures of the unique features of this cargo box. Assuming that the cargo box is original to the manufacture of the truck..... March 24th 1942..... it could be an early version..... yet to be refined or simplify for efficient production.

Now for the pics..

Regarding your question about the final fold going in on itself. Quite a puzzler. The only thing I can come up with is a solid bar inserted front to back and someone hammering the last bend into place.

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Bruce.

I believe that the time pressure on war time production would have eliminated most hand hammering. I believe that a flat die hydraulic press must have finished the last bend and quickly welded the boxed section shut...... that would partly explain the uneven bend radius reported by Jordan.

From what I have read on war time production, a lot of sub-assemblies were done in small shops pressed into war time production....... good being moved in large wooden bins or open top 45 gallon drums. Parts produced in large quantities by shops making only one or only a few sub components. Hooks for the tarps, hinge straps, pre bent partly welded fender well boxes, sub-assemblies of tail gates such as hooks, hinges, etc..... all to be joined (welded) together in a central plant. Spot welds were rarely dressed up like we would do today and unevenly spaced.

Very few small shops would have the means of doing the larger components like the head board of a cargo box or the long narrow drop sides of the cab 11/12 2B1 box.

Over time the design and assembly was modified to its most simple mode of manufacturing keeping in mind what could be done cheaply and as fast as possible.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

All true, but what amazes me (as someone who has spent a great deal of time re-making all this old stuff) is why me in my workshop with simple tools regularly finds simpler ways to make this stuff. Sometime re-producing the way they did it adds a whole new level of complication.

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

Hi Bruce.

I believe that the time pressure on war time production would have eliminated most hand hammering. I believe that a flat die hydraulic press must have finished the last bend and quickly welded the boxed section shut...... that would partly explain the uneven bend radius reported by Jordan.

From what I have read on war time production, a lot of sub-assemblies were done in small shops pressed into war time production....... good being moved in large wooden bins or open top 45 gallon drums. Parts produced in large quantities by shops making only one or only a few sub components. Hooks for the tarps, hinge straps, pre bent partly welded fender well boxes, sub-assemblies of tail gates such as hooks, hinges, etc..... all to be joined (welded) together in a central plant. Spot welds were rarely dressed up like we would do today and unevenly spaced.

Very few small shops would have the means of doing the larger components like the head board of a cargo box or the long narrow drop sides of the cab 11/12 2B1 box.

Over time the design and assembly was modified to its most simple mode of manufacturing keeping in mind what could be done cheaply and as fast as possible.

[rob love]

Nice job on the door cut-out Bob. I had to cut several windows and doors in sea cans in Bosnia using oxy acetylene torches, and the warping was incredible.

[Bob Carriere]

Bruce
........" why me in my workshop with simple tools regularly finds simpler ways to make this stuff." 'cause your good!!!!!!

Rob ......... the plasma reduced the heat signature but nonetheless when the top and bottom cuts were done by hand there was the Odd Boing as some tension released...... and the cut out piece had a definite twist in it.

Not sure what kind of steel alloy they used when fabricating them but it is not easy stuff to weld with a Mig......almost like zinc coated angle iron used in hydro towers.

Cheers

[rob love]

They do seem to be an odd mix of metal. Whether that is the result of being made in Chine using recycled Hondas, or intentionally made that way to better resist saltwater is the question.