Canvas Side Curtain Frame
 

I recently purchased a well used side curtain from Brian Asbury so that I could use it as a pattern for making up a pair of curtains for my F8 doors. Am almost finished with both but have a question. I do not have any parts of the frame that supports the curtains. The two holes in the doors are 1/2" in diameter. Which of the following are the frame pieces made of: 1/2" rod, or pipe, or some type of hardwood? Or, something else?

Any help on this will be most appreciated!

Regards,
Jim

Steel rods.....
 

HI JIm

The common practice in the civvy auto industry was to have a steel rod that fitted in pockets of the side curtains........ in turn the end of those rods were inserted in the two white metal tubes in the cab 11/12 doors..... 3 other fasteners held the bottom end of the curtain in place on the door.

Note that replacement tubes... almost identical to our CMPs and the top hat fasteners that fits in the doors are avaialble at Mac's Auto in Niagara NY as they were quite common on Ford vehicles of that period.

I have NOS side curtains from Dirk...... but unfortunetaly I have no idea of what the "rods" look like and may have to invent something......

Bob

curtain rods
 

Jim

As far as I know, the two rods ( about 3/8" diam. from memory ) are shaped with a crank handle shape on the end ..this end has a tapered square section that fits into the two fittings in the door tops . The door top fittings have a square shaped hole in them - the holes are located 90 degrees from side on, that is, standing at the door, looking across the cab to the other door, the square shape looks like a diamond ..hope u understand !

Not all of the vehicles had the snaps to hold down the lower edge of the curtain. The original side curtains I have here , do not have any snaps on them at all. The NOS doors I had didnt have any snap fittings on the either.
Mike

Window Curtain Frame for my F8
 

Bob,
I checked out the rods on Mac's site and they won't work on my F8; they're not the shape needed. The 1/2" holes on the top of the door sill are right at each end of the top door sill. On both the vertical latch and hinge sides of the doors are counter-sunk holes where a screw would go to hold each rod or tube frame piece in a vertical position.

I'm assuming that a cross piece fitted into the top of each vertical "post" to keep the top of the curtain ridgid. (Although I say vertical, the post of the windshield side of the door needs to have a bend in it to accomdate the sloping angle of the windshield frame.)

There are four snap rings on the inside of the door frame above the hinge side of the door for the back side of the curtain to snap into. Likewise there are 3 on the outside of the door itself to fasten down the bottom of the curtain. The curtain snaps for these are available from Mac's.

The curtain I have must be a later model as there are no snaps to attach it to the edge of the windshield frame. These were present on the frame on my F8 before we redid the windshield but have yet to replace them. These are available form Mac's as well.

This later model curtain must have been designed to take the place of the earlier model that snaped onto the windshield frame as it would have been a royal pain to unsnap them from inside the cab through the door latch opening when trying to open the door.

I think what I'll probably do is find some 1/2" OD pipe to make the frame as 1/2" solid rod would be a bit heavy. I'll need to drill and tap screw holes for the screws that will hold the pipe frames vertical.

I did notice that there are rod sockets listed on Mac's that might be what originally went into these 1/2" holes but am not sure. Use of these would cause the size of the curtain support "rods" to be somewhat less than 1/2" in diameter.

Regards,
Jim

I had still some in my C15 when bought , I will take pictures whenn I am with the truck .
They are rods wich go up , then there is another rod to push on top of them (so 3 pieces , so the screen can fold in the storage bag.

Maurice,
It would be great if you could provide some pictures of those rods. I'm curious as to how the top rod attaches to the other two vertical ones.

Thanks!

Regards,
Jim

curtain rods
 

Mike,
I can visualize what you're saying. However, the crank handle setup won't match what's there on my F8.

As for the snaps, I'm beginning to suspect that there were several variations in the design of the curtains as the War went on!

Regards,
Jim

We need pictures.....
 

Hi everyone...... nice to all chip in..... not to many 11/12 left with curtains.

Over the Easter weekend I will dig out my NOS curtains and the tubes for the doors and photograph everything in detail... hard to describe everything by words alone.....

for example there is a separete canvas part that snaps on the slanted windshield pillar and a separete piece that fits on the upper part of the cab door opening....... all serving the purpose to better seal out the bad weather.

Bottom line.... they look good but are probably totally ineffective and greatly reduce dvision..... so in a front line situation they would get stored or chucked very quickly. I suspect that at 25 mph enough water would seep around the windscreen and drip on the driver's knees..... only to be matched by water being splashed from below by every lever opening available.

Cab11/12 were not meant to float !!!!!!!

Happy Easter and don't be fooled by the Easter Bunny hidding his eggs..... you would to if you didn't want anyone to know you've been scr***ing around with a chicken.

BooB

We need pictures
 

Bob,
That would be super! will look forward to the pictures. Now I get the "picture" on all the pieces that went into the window coverings! Like you, I wonder how effective they really all were!

Regards,
Jim

Hi Jim,

Here's what I've got for mine. I had one and 1/2 original rods to copy. The curtains are reproductions the former owner bought while attending Beltring some years ago.

The rods are 5/8" wide, 3/16" thick, and 18" long. I had to cut mine down a bit to work with these curtains. There were also two tapped holes in the rods for screws to attach to the curtain (I assume). The bottom is tapered from round to a square to fit the slots in the doors. I also angled the front rods to match the angle of the front of the curtains.

Chuck

PS.. if anyone has pics of what the top part of the rifle holders looks like, I'd sure appreciate it!

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...4-09-09002.jpg http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...4-09-09001.jpg http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...4-09-09003.jpg http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...4-09-09006.jpg http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...4-09-09007.jpg http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...h82009001a.jpg

Hi , mine are round rods with another 3rd one on top wich slides over the 2 bottom ones , pictures after weekend .
I still got a dozen original side screens for 11/12 cab , so if somebody needs some .

Maurice, can you tell me a little more about the screens you have? Are they NOS? Or only for patterns? left and right? greenish or brownish?

Alex

Rifle Holders
 

Chuck,
Thanks very much for the pictures of your curtains. Could you porvide me with some measurements and close up pictures of both sides of the windshield frame ones; I don't have anything on them at all.

Attached are pictures of the rifle holders I have for my F8. I haven't installed them as yet as I don't have the second "cup" that holds the rifle butt in place. One of those lesser "to do" things on the list!

Regards,
Jim

Maurice,
Would you have any of the other pieces besides the curtain itself that make up the three-piece set for each window? Or, any of the supporting rods?

Regards,
Jim

I think the peices you are after can be found if you do a search for " cab 11/12 canvas " and this thread has measurements for windflaps

go to the source
 

I've had a look at the C8 parts list C8-01 ..... I have a Nov. 43 print .

Page 127 lists

Rod , Door curtain - front - right ( Canadian army ) part no. COIQ755434
left

Note: When above two parts are used on "After Jobs" they are to be reworked as shown on print 5800060-1

Rod , Door curtain - front - right ( British army ) part No. 5800060
left

Support assembly curtain rod upper 5800014 2 required


CO1Q would be a Ford part number.

Must have been early and late versions of the rods .. confusing isn't it . I had a look at the original side curtains here ..cannot work out how a third rod can fit inside the curtain as the two vertical pockets for the rods are enclosed - sewn together . And , why would the parts book refer to them as Rods ..if they are flat section as Chucks pics show ?

BTW The snaps that hold the lower curtain edge to the door top are the same type as the WW2 Jeep HALF DOOR canvas snaps . These are unusual and not easy to find and very expensive

Andrew,
Thanks for the reference; I did check it out and although I couldn't find any measurements the pictures and drawing were sufficient to make a set of the windshield frame flaps from scratch. What I need know now is what the flap that goes on the top edge of the door frame looks like.

Regards,
Jim

Mike,
The window curtain I got from Brian Asbury does have a horizontal pocket along its top for a "rod" to go through for attaching to the top of each of the two vertical "rods". The ends on all pockets are open so that this can be done.

Regards,
Jim

Jim

That flap isn't mentioned in the parts book.... my cab 11 did have a flap there as found. I believe it was an Aust. army mod as the snaps they used to fix it to the wood were the generic common type..not factory original.

I did draw the canvas windscreen post strip..posted it on this forum somewhere ...thanks MAX for the loan !

And , the original curtains I have do not have a horizontal pocket for a third rod ..I wonder why ? Never been one there either ..just the two vertical pockets.

Hi Jim,

Here are some pics of the windshield flaps. These are repops as well.

15 1/2" long, 3 1/2" wide. I had to move some of the "clips" (I don't know the proper term) on the windshield frame as the didn't line up with the holes in the flaps. The "clips" are the same ones used on early jeeps to hook the front of the top canvas to. Beachwood Canvas sells repros, they're about $5 a piece.
:blink:

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...4-09-09010.jpg http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...4-09-09009.jpg http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...4-09-09008.jpg http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...4-09-09011.jpg

Side screens
 

Here pictures of side screen , These NOS ones have an aging problem with the plastic widows.

side screens
 

Here the side screen out of wraping .Next screen left print on screen.

Maurice you devil.....
 

...... thanks for the wonderful pictures of the infamous "rods" ... this is the first time I have actually seen a full set.

I assume they are solid steel rods and transition to the square/diamond shape at the bottom....... can you give us some dimensions..... diam. length, etc.

Have you considered undoing the stiching (very carefully ) of the windows/celluloid and restitching by hand with new vinyl windows.....? I have originals NOS curtains like you but the clear plastic is seriously fogged over and brittle with age.......

Bob C.

Rod structure
 

Bob, look at the right hand photo again. The top (horizontal) rod looks to have slightly larger, tubular downward tips to hold the tops of the vertical rods. I think the horizontal rod should be inserted to the canvas first, then the verticals slid into the pockets. Does this theory match the reality if the sizing of the canvas?

I Stiched new window plastic in the ones I have in the truck . I also have a set wich is collored in a dark desert yellow . And I have from the same material a radiator cover.
The rods are solid and round even at the bottom .there are little tubes welded on the top ones corners, so you can slide the upright ones in .
if they are mounted , the screen is a nice tight fit in the cab , but if you unbucle the 3 doorfasteners , and lift it out the two upright ones fall out of the bottom of the screen . In practice they went in the mud , to not be botherred about anymore . You have to take the 3 rods out off screen so you can fold screen double and put it together with the rods in the bag behind driver.

Side Screens etc. (usw.)
 

The screen I obtained from Brian Asbury is a bit different from the ones I've seen in this thread. It has a different sized set of "windows' that the one Maurice has but the same as Chuck's. However, There are three"cinch" type fasteners that attach the bottom of the curtain to the door. Please see the pictures below.

Another conundrum: When I got my truck there were ring snaps along the top of the door frame. My body guy dutifully replaced them when replacing the wood framing. What was their purpose? Is there a third "flap" that snaps on there? See the picture.

Regards,
Jim

Maurice, may be a misunderstanding, but that doesnt make sense as the door fittings for the rods are square/diamond shaped , unless the door fittings are of two types ... mystery goes on.
Mike

Here's a couple of factory pix of the side curtains. You can see the top snaps on the inside pic.

David,
If you were referring to my email, I can't see any snaps on the top of the door frame in either of your pictures. Also, fastening the top of the curtain to the top of the door frame (which is an immovable part of the roof) doesn't make sense as one would have to unfasten the top of the curtain each time they opened the door.
Mike,
The openings in the top of the doors in my F8 are round, 1/2" in diameter.

Regards,
Jim

Ok Jim.... Maybe it takes a Canadian to insert a round shape into a square hole ! Or it is a variation of those IQ tests .. I give up :giveup