2015 at the Hammond Barn

[RHClarke]

I must add to the observations of Bob in the previous barn thread, and add my best wishes to all MLU'ers the world over. May your projects come to fruition and that you enjoy the results of your efforts. Stay safe and keep on trucking!

[RHClarke]

Not much to report. More work on tires and rims, some sheet metal work and putting together Bob's tin.

Photo: Bob and Grant doing something...Insert caption below!

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Guys

Good to see you guys enjoying the shop.

Cheers Phil

[Bob Carriere]

Lucifer is either frozen or dead.

Can't run Lucifer until we replace the motor from the blower..... I do have spares but not sure I want to do it on such a cold day.

Ford diesel has crapped out.... something about my forgetting to plugged it in when it goes down to -27C

Been plugged and batteries recharged but I fear fuel is congelled in the fuel block..... so now have a small heater blowing warm air on its tender parts.

Fuel conditioner that was on the back seat is now in the tank,,,,,Duh!!!

Cheers

PS....this may be slow to transmit has the outside web cable is coated with ice....

[RHClarke]

The local temps have been lower than a liberal politician's morals lately. The cold weather has limited us somewhat to the inside of the barn. Lucifer has not being feeling well, so we did a little fiddling about. It turns out that the blower motor was working well, but the rotary fan unit was starting to seize up. As a temporary fix, we gave the bearings a quick blast of liquid lubrication and away she went.

With Lucifer back into the game, we spent a chilly Saturday staying close to the furnace. Bob spend a good amount of time reviewing the parts manuals to track down numbers for the windshield assembly for his Cab 11. He also was trying to determine why one side of the sheet metal was not lining up properly. We may have to call upon the corporate memory of Cab 11 owners to get some photographs of certain areas that Bob will outline later on. Grant spent his time assisting Bob in the search for knowledge. My time was spent cleaning off shelters, digging out doorways and playing with some M37 parts.

Photos:
1 - Bob hitting the books.
2 - Shelter snow load - three layers - first was a gummy heavy rain-soaked and frozen layer covered by a quarter inch of ice, covered by about three inches of snow.
3 - Winter wagon lines - note how the tree branches in the background are "bowing" down - they are all encrusted with a layer of ice.
4 - Some Dodges showing the latest accumulation.
5 - M37 inner fender being reassembled.

[Wpns 421]

That was a nice post but to tell you the truth I am glad that it has snowed and its cold. Here in New Zealand the temperature is quite nice and I got a mild sunburn. Weather in Wellington warm, sunny and windy. Only 24 degrees
On Sunday we will be going to the airshow in Masterton and we will see some real Kiwi MVs.
Will post pictures when we get back.

Gilles & Carolle

[Grant Bowker]

The last while at the barn have been a mixture of modern vehicle maintenance (rewiring one of the recovery trailers) and CMP projects.
Bob has continued fine tuning the fit of his door frames in preparation for reskinning them and we have both been cleaning fuel tanks in preparation for applying a lining to them. I had already been offended by a terrible job of soldering in the necks done by the previous owners (POs) so had melted out the old, calmped the neck assembly down onto the tank, heated the support strap to allow it to "relax" into a better fit, tack welded the neck to the tank to replace the original spot welds and resoldered to deal the necks to the tank. Much better. Bob has been commenting/complaining about the many screws involved in the cab 11 tanks and the gorillas who last tightened the drain plugs while I have noticed that once the large cover is off the cab 11/12 tanks, interior access is so much better than cab 13 tanks. While cleaning dust and grit from the 13 tanks, I noticed that it looked like the POs had applied some form of sealer inside the tank that was failing so gallons of a product sold by auto paint dealer as "gun wash" were poured in to soak and strip the coating. At this point it became obvious that the coating had actually done some good in plugging a number of pinholes in the bottom of the tank. The longer the wash was in the tank, the more wet spots became noticeable. Strip the paint from the bottom of the tank, pick and probe at any possible pinhole locations (usually a dark spot or small pit) to identify problems, hammer gently to form a small dimple around the pinholes, shake loose any more flakes in the area and then try solder to seal the pinholes. I was surprised how well the solder worked with only simple plumbing products. Holes to 1/8" were sealed. The tank now has a case of the silver measles. Bob and I did alkaline soaks on 4 tanks to remove fuel residues and other dirt followed by acid to phosphate the interiors. The tanks are now drying to ensure a good base for the sealing coat that is to follow, also to be sure no moisture is trapped between tank and sealer. I was happy to note that the repaired tank didn't leak during the alkalai/acid soaks so I must have done something right. The tank necks didn't leak either so that helped the smiles. I would have been happier if I had been able to make lower profile repairs but that would have needed either much thinner patch solder or deeper dimples.

[Bob Carriere]

When you think you have found all the possible pin holes Grant came up with a great trick.

Insert a powered 12v brake light inside the tank and turn off the barn lights and doors...... amazingly enough ..... a few little stars glowed in the dark that we had totally overlooked..... a bit of poking with dental tools and cover with solder.

We are using a POR 15 tank sealer kit......... last step is the white inside coating that needs to be done. The tanks exterior can be repainted. Some of the caustic/acidic solutions inevitably spilled and removed some of the exterior paint but did not touch the bottom layer of POR 15 on my tanks.

Cheers

[RHClarke]

Looked what Santa dropped off early! A nice box for Bob and me. The weather was drop dead gorgeous - warm with a breath of wind. No bugs! Two new to us storage containers were imported and will serve to hold most of the spare parts floating around the barn. The great debate is where to place them.

Photos
1 - Presents!
2 - Our patented sea can mobility unit can be seen under box 1

[Phil Waterman]

Hi

Is that the Mark I or Mark II Container/Wheel Mobility Unit?

Good weather and time to be in the shop that's just plain to much, suppose you been driving CMPs around in the field as well.

Cheers Phil

PS still typing one handed, which sure doesn't help my typing

[Bob Carriere]

Not much time with my truck recently due to the mad rush for finishing Winter's firewood.

A few years ago I built an axle out of 4 inch tubing that fits into the fork lift pockets located at about 1/3 and 2/3 of the container.

We lift the container with the 3 point hitch insert the axle tube and attach to axle stub welded to a short section of tube over the 4 inch axle tube and pin tothether with tractor pins.

I then lift the far end of the container with the hitch of the tractor and merrily roll along at very low speed. I use the Winter tires from the Hyundai inflated at 35 pounds.... they are just plain 235/75 x 16 tires.

Hoping to pair my container with my first one and span the 20 odd feet of space with sheet metal roofing...... so I can store 2 trucks inside and two more under the in between span.

Cheers

[Grant Bowker]

The last while has been unseasonably mild. The attached photo of Bob driving his truck a week ago would be unthinkable most years but I don't hear anyone around here complaining except perhaps merchants who think we aren't in the proper Christmas spirit (read buying) yet.