2010 at the Hammond Barn

[RHClarke]

We had 30oC+ weather in May, but June's weather is plain nuts! It was 10oC this morning when I arrived at the barn. The good news: the bugs were not very active, and sweating was minimal. However, one step out of the barn insured you got very very wet. Some fella named Noah was rounding up wood for his boat project.

Bob and Grant spent the day conducting various indoor tasks including the removal of broken off manifold studs. They are getting quite good at this task. Bob helped me purge the HUP brake system and verified that the HUP's bearings were properly loaded.

The next task was to fit the driver side door to the HUP. A bit of background is necessary here - one of the first bits of work I contracted out on the HUP was the repair of the driver side door. Its frame was racked and the skin was beyond economical repair. The hinges were a mess as they had been broken more than once and welded a number of times. The lower hinge was welded directly to the door itself. The upper frame side hinge was welded to the frame. I sent the work out to a recommended metal banger in the west end of Ottawa. The door came back looking like it came right off of the assembly line - less the junked hinges. A test demonstrated that the door fit the opening very well. I felt that the money spent on the door was well worth the result. That was about five years ago.

Recently, I attached a pair of newly acquired "unique to the HUP" hinges to the door and attempted to attach the door to the frame. Things did not go well. Once attached to the frame, the door would not fully close. After some head scratching, the Hammond crew moved on to other tasks.

Today, the door was put in the frame with the hinges attached to it. As the photos show below, there is a misalignment of hinges. The problem stems from my rash decision as a CMP rookie to send work off to folks who were not familiar with our trucks. The metal banger thought (as did I) that the angle on the hinge end of the door was as it should be…Wrong! The metal should be at an angle of 90o when compared to the outer skin. It isn’t.

The three of us discussed various solutions to this little problem. It was suggested that I find another 45 HUP door – easier said than done as good 45 HUP parts are getting to be as rare as rocking horse dirt. It has been almost eight years since I got the HUP, and further delays awaiting parts is not my preferred option.

The next suggestion included the removal of the door skin and banging of the metal back into position. Considering the money I paid for this door, that suggestion didn’t gain too much traction.

Next was to drill new holes in the frame, but the location of the present holes show that they are there for a good reason – they are drilled in the center of the interior cab support bar that joins the windscreen to the lower part of the cab frame. Drilling new holes through the end of the bar would weaken the structure - so no go.

The most workable suggestion we came up with is to extend the length of the frame mounted hinge part. We are looking at welding 5/16 thick metal bar stock to the end of the frame side hinge, filling the holes and then drilling new holes. The “purist” in me had reservations over this move, but I have lots of frame side hinges, and if I am lucky enough to find another driver side 45 HUP door, then a quick fix can be affected. So, that’s the path ahead.

Unless you have some reasonable suggestions??