2012 at the Hammond Barn

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by KrisHamilton

... im not sure if im going to restore my truck to a HUP, although i do like the profile and the amount of space inside a HUP...

Kris, Hopefully you do go the Heavy Utility route with your truck, or even the C8AX route, as they are rare. The bottom line is that it is your truck, your choice as to what it will look like. There are more than a few converted to logging trucks, swamp buggies and other atrocities...We should chat at the barn.

Cheers,

Rob

[KrisHamilton]

^^^^ for sure i will give you a call before hand

Clarke im thinking about the C8AX route, i would definitly like your perspective on a few things

anyway hope you guys didnt get to snowed in the last few days like i did .. my snow blower definitly saw some action today. .. as well my pint glass

take it easy

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by KrisHamilton

^^^^ for sure i will give you a call before hand
Clarke im thinking about the C8AX route, i would definitly like your perspective on a few things. anyway hope you guys didnt get to snowed in the last few days like i did .. my snow blower definitly saw some action today. .. as well my pint glass .
take it easy

Kris, If you go the C8AX route, you will have a very rare truck indeed. I will be at the barn tomorrow with the usual gang, so if you are in the neighbourhood...


Rob

[Bob Carriere]

Who's gang..... what gang....?

See you then...... drive slowly when you come in..... we have attack turkeys..

Boob

[RHClarke]

It was cold, sunny and beautiful this morning in Hammond. After sparking up Lucifer, I headed to the back 40 to remove some of the ice and snow that was building up on some of the trucks. On the way out there I noticed bird tracks in the snow and on the road. They were huge! Imagine my surprise when I interrupted a rafter (as a group of turkeys is sometime known as) of birds feasting on seeds. Their anti-social side was showing as they departed rapidly to the north. A half hour later I heard foot falls and lo and behold, Bob made his appearance sporting a 5 gallon pail filled with feed for his flock. Bob has some feeding stations for his flock. He even has names for some of them including; Thanksgiving and Christmas...odd names to be sure.

After the snow removal I headed back to Lucifer's warmth to find Grant and Bob channelling their inner artiste. Bob was drawing up plans for the ramp project. I busied myself with the upper divider wall from the HUP. This ate up the morning and triggered us to head for a brunch in Rockland. The looks on the faces of the locals (who were dressed in their Sunday best) when the three of us wandered in was priceless. I guess were were overdressed.

On the way home we stopped in at Casa Vapeur to visit Guy. Guy took us on the chef's tour of his workshop and asked us to identify a few of his newest acquisitions including a radio storage box and what turned out to be a Vickers MG ammo box (pics below).

Back at the barn the boys designed and welded up a set of stops for the ends of the ramps to ensure there was no repeat of past embarrasments... This being tax time, I headed home early to do some accounting - the aim to keep money out of the hands of the tax man!

Hopefully Bob will post some photos of the radio box and the stops that were added to the ramps.

Photos:
1. The almost finished ramps
2. Ramp connector
3. More of the same
4. The boys working on the stops
5. Upper divider wall - HUP

[RHClarke]

Bob brought home a slew of ammo boxes from Acton, and a few from Guy Vapeur today. Since they are not making them anymore, they are becoming more collectible. Guy provided us with two boxes to identify and evaluate. Bob has snaps of the radio box, and my shots of the ammo box follow.

The ammo box turned out to be for a Vickers machine gun. I checked out the nomenclature online and found similar items on ePay. The ePay boxes sell for around $50.00, but are not in as good shape as this box. If you have an interest in this box, contact Guy on this forum.

Photos of Guy's box (some of you are smiling needlessly...):

[Bob Carriere]

Nothing special about what we built except it should outlast us all.

My old wooden ones were rotting and then the ants decided to build a condominium in one of them.

I used basic 1 1/2 square tubing with medium thickness wall at about 1/8.

I used 1 1/2 angle for the bottom section again 1/8 thick. Size depends mainly on what I was already using in the old wooden ramps. You have to be careful not to make the ramp too step if you ntedn to change the oil in the wife's car. I opted to build the ramp in two sections... yeah the weight makes it easier for an ol' guy to hamdle them. The wheel supporting section is 12 inches wide by 14 inches high...... bottom tubing was cut at 18 inches to give more lateral stability. The wheel section is 21 inches long.... the ramp about 3 feet long...... the hand drawn sketch gives exact dimension.

None of the dimension are critical you cut and weld according towhat stock you have.

I opted for a Heavy Duty expended steel for the surface....good traction....self cleaning in muddy conditions and lighter than a solid sheet. The exppanded steel is 3/16 thick cut at 10 1/2 inches wide and welded to the tubing at every point or approx every 1 1/4 inch.... makes for a very ridgid surface.

To keep the two part of the ramp together when driveing up the thing I rummaged in the scrap pile....God bless the hoarders... I used a piece of very thick (5/16) U channel... 4 inches wide 1 1/2 high or deep. Welded the 8 inch section to the bottom tube of the ramp so it over rides the bottom tube of the wheel stand. Pictures are worth a 1000 words.

As an after thought and greatly supported by both Rob and Grant we added a wheel stop ... something about my enthusiastic driving.... to make sure I do not over shoot the ramp.

Nice part about the two section..... after the truck is on the wheel section the ramp can be removed and greater access is gained to the underside..... my Ford diesel has a fuel filter mounted inside the frame underneath the driver's side and my old wooden ramps always complicated the servicing.

The ramps should hold up the Ford nicely or any size CMP for that matter.

They will be left outside to develop a nice rust bloom.... the will paint with a Rust paint to insure good adhesion to the metal.

Any questions fire away.