2006 at the Hammond Barn

[Grant Bowker]

Originally posted by RHClarke
We also managed to weld the foot plate to the front clip.

Just curious, it looks as if you were plug welding (no, I'm not calling you plugs), and it looks as if you were getting enough heat in to make things solid. What was different than the last time when the process wouldn't heat the angle well enough for a good bond? Back to .035 (or was it .030) wire, warmer day, more beer? Do tell.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by Grant Bowker
Just curious, it looks as if you were plug welding (no, I'm not calling you plugs), and it looks as if you were getting enough heat in to make things solid. What was different than the last time when the process wouldn't heat the angle well enough for a good bond? Back to .035 (or was it .030) wire, warmer day, more beer? Do tell.

They ARE plugs, but's that beside the point. I suspect their success was the after-Chez Marie beer. BTW, .030 wire is good if used with Argon gas; CO2 demands .035 wire and a higher amperage, and it leads to more spatter. Argon is worth the extra money.

[RHClarke]

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
As an aside, Bob, you're delightfully filthy! At least I know that will keep Jessie away from you.....

GWB, Bob's condition is a result of a thing called "work". You may find a definition of it in an online or analog dictionary - but, I caution you, that would involve said "work"...

Please don't criticize his clothing, or he will think he is an emperor and will want to show off his new clothes...

[RHClarke]

Originally posted by Grant Bowker
. What was different than the last time when the process wouldn't heat the angle well enough for a good bond? Back to .035 (or was it .030) wire, warmer day, more beer? Do tell.

...your absence? Bob cranked up the amps, reved up the spool speed and tap danced the tip all over the edges.

The difference this time was technical (Bob will tell all), and cleanliness of the underlying metal. There isn't a chance in hell that the plate will fall out. Our test weld showed that the metal ripped before the weld gave.

[RHClarke]

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
They ARE plugs...

Us PLDGs? http://www.rcaca.org/includes/r-4PLDG.asp

Sorry, Bob never served (unless you count 1812 re-inacting), and my lineage is forever tied to the King of Battle (heaven forbid - me a blackhatter? Much too cultured for that type of lifestyle).

[Bob Carriere]

Well I followed Phil's advice and practice some more......

Tried out the replacement panel punch from Princess.... first one punched 3 holes and jammed........ hole are 3/16.


did some test on scrap angle...... and as suggested..... the base angle has to be very shiny clean....... setting at 30 for the wire speed and 3 on the heat range (Miller 210)....... and the plate has to be pressed very tight to the angle.....air gaps will result in enlarging the hole and minimal penetration.

Also found that I was starting the weld with the gun too close backed up to about 5/8 inch......... most spot weld were done in one puddle.... some if slightly off centered requried a second Zapp

When looking on the other side of the angle you could see where the red primer had been heated/burned.

On my test piece angle/sheet 18 gauge metal....... being a wackadoo welder...... I had to wack the sh** with a chisel to finally rip the top sheet metal.... I wanted to rip up a few welds on Rob's nose piece but he wouldn't let me......

Now for the cat sh**....... do you realize how dodo six cats can do in about 2 months.......a lot!!!! or a almost full bucket topped with a carbage can of wood ash..... that is ASH...... not A**

Interesting thing...... the four of us walked in 8 inch of snow in the back field around 1:30...... by the time I went back at 4:00 pm to dump the bucket in the gulley....the wind had completeld filled our footprint...... no wonder it was cool sitting on the tractor...

Also made some tests using the opposite side of the punch which has a flanger....... and overlapped two pieces of 18 gauge sheet metal....... welded nice....... stitching would need hammering with a dolly..... but.... I need a lot more pratice with that process....

BooB
PhD Wackeroo Welding.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by Bob Carriere
BooB
PhD Wackeroo Welding.

You forgot to list your MSc in Cat Poo Processing. Don't be shy, now. You and Mike Rowe need to talk...

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by Bob Carriere
Interesting thing...... the four of us walked in 8 inch of snow in the back field around 1:30...... by the time I went back at 4:00 pm to dump the bucket in the gulley....the wind had completeld filled our footprint...... no wonder it was cool sitting on the tractor...

I thought you said you were walking...? One of us is confused.... Clive, can you help us out here?

[RHClarke]

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
I thought you said you were walking...? One of us is confused.... Clive, can you help us out here?

GWB, Although not specifically mentioned by Bob, we did return to the shelter of the barn after our trek thru the Global Warming induced snow and blowing gale. Bob made the assumption that the reader understood that we would not be gaping at frames for two plus hours - as fun as that may be.

To recap:

Bob and company go to field (on foot) at 13:30 hrs to look at frozen CMP frames, but end up freezing their frames.
Bob and company go to barn (on foot) at 13:45 hrs to thaw frozen frames.
Bob and catshit go to field (by tractor) at 16:00 hrs.
Footprints left at or about 13:45 hrs filled in by drifting snow.

Hope this helped.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by RHClarke
Footprints left at or about 13:45 hrs filled in by drifting snow.

Conveniently, it would seem.

[Grant Bowker]

Today was rather less frosty out than the last week or so. So what would a guy do except hide inside in the barn? And that is exactly what was done.
Before I arrived Bob had been cleaning his axle ends in preparation for re-assembly, a lovely set of eggcups etc.
Bob and I then spent time continuing the inventory of parts for my project, I'm sure I'll be making appeals for help in finding a series of bits and pieces, perhaps picking up the Hammond habit of buying another truck to get needed/wanted or tradeable parts.
Next we moved on to discussion of how to unstick pistons in the power tire pumps for our transmissions. The basic disassembly isn't too bad, but the closed top cylinder isn't letting go of the piston (or at least the rings) as easily as I would like.
More discussion of the precise nature of the challenge of fitting 261CID engines to Cab 11 and Cab 13s led to us discovering that betwen us we have an amazingly varied collection of fan pullies. By the way, does anyone know the difference in applications of 216 water pumps with one or two holes in the water pump backing plate?
Bob moved on to adjusting (blacksmith style) and assmbling the brace rod for the fairleads on the rear of his truck and then started a square search for the securing plates for the shafts for the front fairleads. In the end it came down to Bob saying "I can't find them among all the other treasures but as soon as I make a new set, the old ones will surface".
Meanwhile I was up to my wrists in cleaning solvent working on a fuel filter assembly, a brake booster and a pair of bumper "D" rings. The fuel filter is cleaning up nicely, will need a bit more work since the interior seems to have collected a bit of rust over the years, the brass filter element is in excellent shape and is now soaking in lacquer thinner to try to loosen the dried on fuel gunge. The lacquer thinner is turning a disgusting shade so I'm hopeful that the filter element will become clean. Bob had a new element sitting in store that instead of all brass construction seems to be a steel body with fabric discs, an interesting variation in construction.
The brake booster looks great externally but as a precaution will probably get a rebuild (assuming that parts can be found) and definitely needs a new bellows boot for the shaft.
Like so many other "D" rings, mine are at least part seized, more soaking followed by violence seems in order.
Rob graced us with his presence for a while, painting some of the metalwork that had been done in the last weeks and some other tasks.
Break time was taken at the usual location.

[RHClarke]

Originally posted by Grant Bowker
Break time was taken at the usual location.

Keep up the good work cub reporter. Maybe you could throw in some info about the Acton show...

[Bob Carriere]

Very old packing slips......

David Hayward will need your expertise.

First one is a slip that came form a crate of 1942 headlamps.. the tear drop models that fitted on or blended into the fender.... this is the one with the parkinglight on top......

Looks like we were shipping parts to Iran a long time ago.

David can you tell us something from the contract number..??

Next one is for air filters....

BooB

[Bob Carriere]

Picture fell out....

[Bob Carriere]

This previous picture was for a box of air filters that are made for Chrysler engines.......

From the part number can anyone tell me which Dodge model this air filter fits.....??

Will include pictures of the actual airfilter later once my camera batteries are recharged.


Now the following packing slip is for the headlamps previsouly mentioned...

Boy that Italian red wine was good.....

Bob

[Phil Waterman]

Originally posted by Grant Bowker
.........does anyone know the difference in applications of 216 water pumps with one or two holes in the water pump backing plate?.......

I think that you will find that the 216 water pump with the two holes is generally post 1947+/- I have on 216 engine with the two holes and it is a 1953. I’ve looked in my 38-51 Canadian Chevy parts master catalog and it appears that the change is 1947. Don’t have my US master catalog handy so I can not cross check right now. Of course the parts change over don’t always happen at the same time between US GM and “Foreign” GM, I always wondered if it was delay in tooling change over or the “Foreign” GM engineers were just waiting to see if the changed designs really worked.

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Phil

From the parts drawing I have the two holer without the backing plate..... and 3 kits to rebuild same..... and the kits I have are like the right hand side bearing type from your manual....

Compare to the two holer I took off a cab 13 exwater truck.....

Now I can swap the plate from the rusted one to the NOS..... but it will not fit the adapter plate....

[Bob Carriere]

Here is a picture of the adapter plate to fit a 216 one hole to a 261 block.......

On the left the adaptor plate... on the right the backing plate for a one holer....

[Bob Carriere]

Look at the difference when I overlay the one hole backing plate against the more modern 47+ two holer pump.....

[Bob Carriere]

Here is the front of the engine block from the cab 13 ex water truck...... nice double barrel.

[Bob Carriere]

... here is a picture of an adapter plate that was for sale some years back on EBay.......

Different.... would it work on the two hole with the half moon opening.....????

[RHClarke]

Only -3C today! At one point it got warmer outside than in the front of the Barn. Bob and Grant discussed the characteristics of various CMP air pumps and discovered a variety of configurations. Some time was spent looking over AEDB Design Records and Service Bulletins.

Bob got immersed in fabbing up some retainer clips/bars/thingies for his winch fairlead. He is getting quite able with the metal work. A shot of his handywork follows:

[RHClarke]

Bob has some interesting stuff laying about the barn. One crate had some remarkably well-preserved labels:

[RHClarke]

Following some metal work and painting, Bub, Rub and Grub headed out to our favourite eatery - Chez Marie for brekkie. Our new waitress met us at the door with a smile and a few compliments...we all got very nervous.

After serving a nice cuppa, she took our order - with a translator standing by! Grant won her heart by ordering a simple breakfast - I think there is more than just coffee brewing there, Grant. Bob used his best "Chretianese" to order, but the translator managed to figure it out. The cook had the three orders almost ready before the waitress clipped up the order slip. Her laughter could be heard in the kitchen.

Lunch tasted great, and after a nice tip, we headed back to the barn for some tractor welding. Bob and Grant will fill in the details, as I had to hightail it home for Saturday shopping...whoopie.

[RHClarke]

Wow! I never thought that so much interest would be generated in the goings on at the Hammond Barn. While not the most viewed thread, it seems to have chugged along quite well. No doubt a lot of folks look in to learn from our mistrakes...

More to follow as we have a Saturday Barn Day coming up. Both wives will join us. This should be fun!

[Phil Waterman]

Originally posted by RHClarke
Wow! I never thought that so much interest would be generated in the goings on at the Hammond Barn. ... While not the most viewed thread, it seems to have chugged along quite well. No doubt a lot of folks look in to learn from our mistrakes

More to follow as we have a Saturday Barn Day coming up. Both wives will join us. This should be fun!

Told you guys back in September that you should put in a live web cam. Be kind of dual during the week but interesting on the weekends.

Cheers Phil

[RHClarke]

Originally posted by Phil Waterman
...you should put in a live web cam. Cheers Phil

Hmmm. This suggestion has a few pros and cons:

Pros:

. proves to our better halfs that we are where we said we were going to be
. shows others what not to do and how not to do it

Cons:

. some cost involved
. proves to our better halfs that we are where we said we were going to be
. would give the impression that it takes us a long time to do anything (i.e. Bob's front axle, my shock links, etc...)
. local thieves could case the joint from the comfort of their own homes (but that would save on lock replacement costs)
. it would prove that we were indeed "nuts"

The three amigos will have to discuss this at lunch Saturday. If anyone is in the area and would like to join us, come on out to Chez Marie Restaurant at Cheney - just down the road from Hammond.

[RHClarke]

Finally able to spend some time at the keyboard - been somewhat under the weather with a killer cold. Bob and Grant had the run of the barn last weekend. They gathered all of the fiddly bits for Bob's C15A front axle reassembly session. Hopefully, they will report what they accomplished.

[RHClarke]

Again, it was warmer outside than inside today at the barn. Lucifer kept the back end nice and toasty, but the front end warmed up only after we opened the barn doors. It was 1 degree C at 0800 hrs - not quite Texan standard...but nice the same.

It was so nice that Grant spent the best part of the morning grinding and cutting away at his cab vertical support pillers - they having been modified (heavily) by the previous owner.

Bob was not feeling good enough to join us until later in the day. He is just seeing some improvement in his cough and other ailments - a breath of fresh air does that.

I spent the morning figuring out brake (master cylinder and tranny brake) and clutch linkages, radiator support positioning and fan blade interference. Some challenges lay ahead, but everything looks like it fits.

After a nice lunch at Chez Marie, Bob and Grant strolled off to the field for a tactical walk and talk. I spent the remainder of the afternoon with the needle gun prepping my rims for their new rubber (can't wait really).

All too soon, it was time to head for home and help out around the ranch. It was a nice day - a little wet and muddy, but fun. Come on global warming! Get rid of this damned snow!

[RHClarke]

Grant gets personal with his cab.