[RHClarke]

Grant and Bob were at the barn on Saturday fiddling with Grant's engine. They got it to turn over but ran into an oil pressure issue, which got solved on Sunday - Grant can explain.

My son Jesse and I spent Saturday on the road touring the fall landscape. After indulging in nature's fall show, we decided to do some visiting. The first stop was the Swords and Ploughshares Museum to help tarp up some of the displays for the coming winter. Unfortunately, we missed Gunner by a few minutes, who I understand was out dear hunting (yes, the spelling is correct). Next stop was at Greg Wright's place. Greg was in the middle of some yard work so I pitched in while we discussed the hobby and the surplus business. At noon, Jesse and I headed back to Ottawa for "boys only" afternoon of mayhem and destruction. He wanted to try out a few military style video games - the army video game made him uncomfortable, so we settled on learning to fly WWII aircraft. Jesse is OK with strafing and bombing, but draws the line at jumping into a trench and squaring the enemy away.

The clocks "fell back" on Saturday night, so I took advantage of the extra hour by going to the barn early on Sunday morning. The grounds were covered in a white coating of frost as the mercury had dipped to -5 oC overnight. This was the first really "cool" morning at the barn, so Lucifer was stocked with a good supply of kindling and wood. It didn't take long to get a roaring fire going. The next order of business was to repair the fan that moves the hot air. The power cord was rewired and the fan was put back into place. Good thing, because by this time it was plenty hot at the top of ole Lucifer.

Bob showed up after the frost disappeared and wondered aloud why the furnace was lit. The temp had risen to a balmy 8 oC in a few short hours and would eventually hit 13 oC. Bob needed to clean up some wood and to cut some more wood for Lucifer. He headed out to the back 40 and played with his chain saw for about an hour. I fired up the HUP and drove it to Bob's location to help him with the wood. Grant showed up shortly thereafter and finished the job with Bob.

While driving the HUP back to the barn I heard a very distinct noise from the rear of the truck that sounded like a rifle shot. I stopped to take a look around the truck to find the source, but could not find anything wrong. I drove the truck back to the barn and parked it. Bob and Grant had returned from the wood job and joined in the search for the source of the noise. We checked the typical locations where a loose bolt would cause a problem, but all of the drive shafts, tranny bolts and U joint bolts were intact.

Speculation turned to interal causes - my heart sank with the thought that the short (and rare) axle shaft may have sheared off. I checked the transfer gearbox shift lever and it looked like it was in the "front axle disengaged" or upper position - whew! The axle was not the cause. When I tried to shift the lever it was binding on something. I crawled underneath the truck and with Grant's assistance exercised the shift lever. The linkages looked OK, but the lever would not shift forward. After a little convincing the lever went into the "front axle engaged" position. I speculated that the lever detent was not fully engaged and the source of the noise was the transfer case linkage resulting from a "floppy" shift lever. The lever was found to be operating condition, so I will chalk it up to poor operator drills for not checking to ensure it was in the proper position.

The inspection of the bottom end of the truck led to the discovery of some damage inflicted in last week's romp through the trees. My passenger side front fender was bent at the leading edge near the bolt hole and bent sideways a bit near the mudflap. The nose or clip has not yet been installed, but soon will be after some wiring issues are sorted out. Bob and I fixed the bent metal in a jiffy. A hammer and dolly do wonders, and the judicious handling of a bottle jack quickly put things back into order. This was more incentive to get the wiring done and to put on the nose or clip.

The rest of Saturday was spent doing the thousand and one small tasks around the barn. This included the fitting of the newly acquired Bronco hinges. The hinges have been marked and will be modified in the near future. Right now, they are too long and the screw holes do not match up. However, they will be shortened, the holes filled with weld and new holes drilled and tapped. Once they are installed, it will mean that for the first time since 2003, the HUP will have its full complement of doors and sliding glass windows. Another milestone that I am eagerly anticipating.

With the sun setting, a full day at the barn ended. The sunset drive back to Ottawa was very nice and I am sure that any sailors in the area were quite delighted.


Photos:

1 - Hammond regulars sporting winter plumage
2 - HUP damage
3 - Hinge test fit
4 - Upper hinge
5 - Lower hinge