Otter LRC CM4647296 comes home

[Jordan Baker]

Pulled the wiring loom cover from the steering tube. Just look at that lovely khaki green #3.

[Jordan Baker]

I also removed the instrument panel/dash. I’m thinking it’s the first time in a long long time it’s been out of the vehicle. Bruce Parker,on his last visit over, suggested I might get lucky and the mileage numbers inside the speedometer would still be present. Well when I pulled it apart they were. Checking out the mileage on the speedometer seems to show 13,719.8 miles.I didn’t think it would be this high but then again they did sever with the Dutch forces for a close to 30years after the war. My thoughts are the Dutch drove it the most.

[Jordan Baker]

Lastly I’m happy to report that the Otter is again back in the shop on solid ground this time.

Hopefully I will be able to post some more semi regular updates as work continues. The shop build continues as well.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Thanks for the update, Jordan. That workshop looks fabulous and it looks you will be cracking down on that Otter next.

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

I also removed the instrument panel/dash. I’m thinking it’s the first time in a long long time it’s been out of the vehicle. Bruce Parker,on his last visit over, suggested I might get lucky and the mileage numbers inside the speedometer would still be present. Well when I pulled it apart they were. Checking out the mileage on the speedometer seems to show 13,719.8 miles.I didn’t think it would be this high but then again they did sever with the Dutch forces for a close to 30years after the war. My thoughts are the Dutch drove it the most.

Nice find, indeed the Otters were the longest serving CMPs with the Dutch Armed Forces.

[Jordan Baker]

I got the dash fully disassembled this afternoon. I gave it good sandblast and it’s cleaned up quite nicely. Interestingly it was primed in black primer then over painted with KG#3.

The current limit relay has seen better days. I’m looking for a new one if anyone has any leads.

2.524 1997401 Relay, current limit. Per the manual it’s a 12v 30amp unit.

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Checking out the mileage on the speedometer seems to show 13,719.8 miles.I didn’t think it would be this high but then again they did sever with the Dutch forces for a close to 30years after the war. My thoughts are the Dutch drove it the most.

The other day I was talking to an acquaintance who asked me if I knew anything about the Otter armoured car. This, it turned out, because when he was conscripted in the Dutch Army ca. the early 60s, he spent 16 months in Suriname (which was a Dutch colony/overseas dependency until 1975) having the time of his life. They apparently went on long patrols in the jungle, up to three weeks at a time, and had Otter armoured cars. I’m not sure he meant they did those patrols with the Otters, but I suppose they must have come on at least some. That would probably get quite some distance on them, anyway.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Jakko Westerbeke

The other day I was talking to an acquaintance who asked me if I knew anything about the Otter armoured car. This, it turned out, because when he was conscripted in the Dutch Army ca. the early 60s, he spent 16 months in Suriname (which was a Dutch colony/overseas dependency until 1975) having the time of his life. They apparently went on long patrols in the jungle, up to three weeks at a time, and had Otter armoured cars. I’m not sure he meant they did those patrols with the Otters, but I suppose they must have come on at least some. That would probably get quite some distance on them, anyway.

See some period pictures of Otters in this thread: http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...554#post231554

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Ah, yes, I forgot about that thread. I’ll refer him to it, I think

[David Dunlop]

Hi Jordan.

That relay looks bad, but it came from the era when a lot of things were rebuildable, particularly electrical items like motors, generators and a host of different types of coils.

Is there a competent electrical shop near you doing that sort of work you could take the relay to for an honest evaluation? If you could carefully clean the frame assembly and free up all the hardware, could the core and coil be repaired/rewound by them to original specs? Asking usually does not cost anything and if they think it can be saved, then you know the time you then put into cleaning it up will be worth it.

The other possibility is that the relay from the Otter may have seen usage in a lot of other GM vehicles in the 30's, 40's and 50's, as a stand alone item or built into a fancier regulator style case.


David

[Jordan Baker]

The dash rebuild is moving along nicely. The next few posts will be photo heavy with a handful of “before and afters”

First up is the dash as it looks now. The pitting was filled with some jb weld and then carved and sanded down until it was smooth again. The gauge cluster will not be the original one as it was sadly too far gone with the entire bottom portions rotted away.

The second picture is of the parts I’ve rebuilt. See the next few posts for more details on them. The circuit cut out cleaned up quite nicely after vapour blasting. I haven’t tested it yet but it’s on the list to look at.