Another HUP question

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

On the back of HUPs there is a socket that takes the end of the pick handle. It scales at 2" wide by 3" tall. My question is whether it is round, or as is appears in some pictures, oval. I need to make one and would like to get it right.

[r.morrison]

Hey Bruce: Was out at the shop to the shop yesterday and took some photos of the "Helve" end of the pick and it's definitely oval. I also dug out some photos of my old HUP and there is your "cup" on the back. I would say it's oval, but it was also made of very thin sheet metal, as you can gather by the photo. I'll go out on a limb and say mine was original. Hope these photos help.
Cheers.....Robert

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Thanks Robert, that sure looks original!!! The tab with the two screws at the top convinces me, a perfect match with the factory pic I posted. I confess I'd rather shape 16 or 18 gauge steel than pound oval a one and a half inch piece of round tube.

Another point evident here is the screws holding the reinforcing plates for the pick head. By 1944 these were spot welded on, I assume as a war production economy. Also, 1942 production HUPs used leather straps for the tools whereas by 1944 they were canvas web.

[David Dunlop]

Looks like locations for the tools changed over time as well, Bruce.

David

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Looks like locations for the tools changed over time as well, Bruce.

David

I think the location is more determined by the type of HUP. Wireless versions had all three bits (pick head, helve and shovel) squeezed onto the right side because the generator door prevented locating the shovel on the left. The HUW strap for the shovel blade at the bottom has a weird (and original) warp to it when they were forced to bolt it on going around the body corner curve.

[David Dunlop]

Good point.

Thanks, Bruce.

David

[Lynn Eades]

Bruce, is the big end of the helve located into anything? I suspect the bottom socket is just a piece of round tube?....However Robert is just as likely correct? Maybe you can put your own mark on it. It gives the naysayers a toenail grip.
I have this pick head mount. It mounts to the same bolt pattern as a carrier one but is for the other type of pick head. It also has a BSF thread as per Carriers. I thought it might have been off one of the CMP box bodies?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Speaking of pickaxes…. http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=31367

[Lynn Eades]

Hanno, I posted my picture again hoping to gain some info on it.
Robert, is it oval at the top (because it has been squashed?) or is it oval where it is welded to the plate?

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

Bruce, is the big end of the helve located into anything? I suspect the bottom socket is just a piece of round tube?....However Robert is just as likely correct? Maybe you can put your own mark on it. It gives the naysayers a toenail grip.
I have this pick head mount. It mounts to the same bolt pattern as a carrier one but is for the other type of pick head. It also has a BSF thread as per Carriers. I thought it might have been off one of the CMP box bodies?

On HUPs, HUWs etc. the top end of the pick handle has no socket. There is this tube like piece at the bottom, then a small 1" square metal tab about 3/4 the way up that fastens a web strap (early trucks were leather). My best guess so far on the lower is that it's made from a horizontal oval plate with a tab (the tab containing a bolt that fastens under the lower body channel), a flimsy metal 'tube' formed out of 16 gauge steel, and a 1" metal spine running up the back of it, projecting over the top by about an inch for two small screws holding the top to the body. It's possible the small tab out the top, the spine and tab at the bottom are all the same made from a 1" by 1/8" strap. This may be because the taper on the pick handle required the bottom to be stepped out from the body a bit. Only an original will tell.