Willanthry Chev Blitz C60L Restoration

[Willanthry]

G'day Howard

Bob's Radiator Repairs in Griffith did my radiator, and they did it for a price that amazed me; $150, not including GST.

[Bob McNeill]

Dont want to hijack this thread but nearly all the unit had pioneer tools fitted, even the guns had pick and shovel. the tool rack fitted to U.S. vehicles was carried over to the Acco and is still fitted to Mack,s and Mog,s.

[Phil Waterman]

What I was referring to was not just the carrying of pick, shovel etc. What I was really wondering about was the American Style Pioneer kit with its steel frame to hold the tools, meant to be bolted to the truck as a unit.

Where these units common on WWII CMPs, or only when they had fallen off, been liberated, salvaged or somebody ship entire Liberty Ship full of them and forgot to ship the trucks they were to be mounted to?

[Willanthry]

I've been considering getting the seats and canvas doors done whilst i'm momentarily at a stand with the engine. As you can see in the photo below, i have all the springs for the back of one seat, and i also have the original spring base for one seat as well. The question i've been turning over in my mind is should i incorporate the original spring base into one of the seats? Obviously i'll have to use foam for the other, but in the interests of being true to the original, or just being sentimental, should i have the original springs in the other?

[Bob McNeill]

Keep the spring base either on its own or boost it with an 2" of firm foam ,it will need a good pad on top to cover the coils so they don,t cut in to whatever is above them. the foam is nice BUT the springs are nicer.

[Keith Webb]

I agree with Bob

The original sprung seat base formed part of the vehicle's suspension at least as far as the driver and his mate were concerned.

You'd be amazed how much better they are than foam only.

[Phil Waterman]

I've tried different types of foam and never found a really comfortable set up yet. Of course it depends a lot on how you intend to drive your truck and how good the roads are. If you plan to do any amount of rough road or off road driving you will be surprised (or not) by how often your bottom will bottom out the springs or foam. If your spring bases are really tired or rusted and all you can get is foam then try layers with a soft 1-2" on top and 4" of really firm under.

Don't forget the back padding and particularly watch the bottom bar of the back, on one of the trucks I didn't get enough padding between me and the bar and a couple of hours of off roading I had worn the skin on my back raw.

Has anybody successfully replaced the springs in the seat bottoms?

Of course I also suspect that our generation may be harder on seats then guys who drove these trucks originally. We probably weigh a little more.

Cheers Phil