2012 at the Hammond Barn

[RHClarke]

It has been busy at the barn despite the lull in updates. Last weekend saw a lot of fire wood stacking, cleaning up and clearing away of items in preparation for winter. Since Monday was a holiday (for federal employees) Bob and I spent the day at the barn. Grant was called in to work for some reason or other.

The temperature hit 21oC at the barn on Monday - a record for this region. So Bob broke out the sandblasting equipment and cleaned up most of his front fenders. There were some issues with the compressor that caused the coil in the control box to go up in smoke. Bob replaced the coil and got a few more minutes of blasting done before the new coil also went up in smoke. It looks like the control box will have to be replaced.

I spent the day working on the roof of the pilot model deciding where to replace the sheet metal. Bob recommended that I put the roof on a solid jig to prevent warping, so until that is done, the roof will wait. Next, I turned my attention to my 45 HUP roof hatch cover.

The hatch cover was in sad shape when I first got the truck. One of the previous owners cut a hole in the hatch into which he fitted a smoke stack for a wood burning stove that was put in back behind the divider on the passenger side of the rear of the truck. The heat from the stove warped all of the metal nearby and burned off the luxurious green liner on the passenger side door, the divider and the roof hatch. As mentioned previously in one of these threads, Bob and I welded up the hole. Last spring I dropped off the hatch cover at Brian Francis' place, where he trued up the edges and took out most of the warp in the hatch cover metal. He delivered the cover this summer and I was really surprised at how much metal can be shrunk or expanded. Brian did a great job. The cover stayed in the shelter until I dragged it out on Monday.

On Monday I cut away the rotten metal around the bushing mounting holes. The bushings hold the four arms and rollers that allow the hatch to roll back and forth in the tracks. All four of the bushings had rusted away on the inside edge of the hatch and had locked the shafts of the roller arms in place. Two of the bushing mounting brackets had also rusted away. The removal of the old bushings was quite easy as the metal around the edges of the hatch had also rusted away. This meant that new metal had to be welded in to replace it.

The next trick was to remove the broken off bolts on the end of two of the pivot arms. Using Bob’s “nut” technique, I welded on a small nut and eventually (after a dozen tries) removed the offending bits. I had forgotten that I had drilled out the old bolt shafts and tried to use “easy outs” to remove the remaining metal. Some folks never learn (meaning me of course). I figured that the easy outs would work nicely on such a small bolt. Wrong. Again. The remaining easy out came out rather easily using the nut technique, and the remaining metal followed suit.

Photos:

1 - Bob adding to the Hammond beach. Despite compressor problems, Bob spent the best part of the afternoon merrily blasting away.
2 - Refurbished hatch sliding hardware - pivot shafts/roller arms and bushings
3 - More of the same
4 - Some of the rust damage

[RHClarke]

Now I had four working pivot shafts/roller arms (one required a new fabbed up arm and roller), four new bushings, two replacement bushing mounts and four metal “blanks” to replace the rotted away metal. By the end of the day I managed to weld in two of the four blanks and two of the bushing brackets. As I use the gorilla weld technique, there is some clean up required, but that will have to wait for another day. After a clean up, Bob and I headed for home keenly aware that on 12 November 2012, we had worked up a sweat in the 20oC plus weather. Weird weather.

Photos:

1 - One of the old bushings (note the pitting) and some of the replacement metal bits and pieces
2 - Replacement bushing bracket in place (more welding needed)
3 - Rotten metal replaced (more welding needed) awaiting drilling of the new hole for the bushing
4 - Progress on the hatch cover - new metal in, bracket attached, awaiting drilling and attachment of bushings.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi

Very impressed with the roof arms, how did you make the brass rollers?

I've got a whole new hatch for my HUP and those little arms are the last thing I need to fabricate.

Cheers Phil

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Hi Very impressed with the roof arms, how did you make the brass rollers? I've got a whole new hatch for my HUP and those little arms are the last thing I need to fabricate.Cheers Phil

Hi Phil,

There is a small metal working/welding shop in a little town called Embrun, which is just down the road from Bob's ranch. The owner is an elderly gentleman with remarkable skills, which were no doubt honed from decades of plying his trade. He made up the brass ball on a lathe and turned the rivet to affix the ball to the arm (which I fabbed up).

Please let me know if you have any spare hatch hardware. I am in need of the interior handles. I think I can replace the springs, footman loops, chains and straps with commercially available items.

Could you check a few items for me? I need photos of the arms on your hatch so that I can replicate the angle of the bushings when I weld them in next week. A shot from the interior showing the holes in the bushings and how they align with the pivot arms would be appreciated. As well, a photo of the thumb screws that the springs attach to would also be great. Now that I think of it, I will be visiting your website to see if they already exist. If not, could you fix me up with the photos?

[Phil Waterman]

Hi

There are some photos on my site already look on http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/Posting.html and you will see a listing of photos. I have drawings of the center hold bracket I'l find and post along with some better photos related to your questions.

Cheers Phil

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Rob

Found the hatch hardware drawings I had them posted on my web site after all but one of the links was broken, now fixed.



Here are the links to all three drawings:
Drawing 1 http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/H..._Paper%201.htm
Drawing 2 http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/H..._Paper%201.htm
Drawing 3 http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/H..._Paper%201.htm

Details on your questions to follow.

Cheers Phil

[Phil Waterman]

Originally Posted by RHClarke

Hi Phil,...

....
Please let me know if you have any spare hatch hardware. I am in need of the interior handles. I think I can replace the springs, footman loops, chains and straps with commercially available items.

Could you check a few items for me? I need photos of the arms on your hatch so that I can replicate the angle of the bushings when I weld them in next week. A shot from the interior showing the holes in the bushings and how they align with the pivot arms would be appreciated. As well, a photo of the thumb screws that the springs attach to would also be great. Now that I think of it, I will be visiting your website to see if they already exist. If not, could you fix me up with the photos?

Hi Rob

Sorry I only have the one set of hardware for the hatch which I will be shifting over from the old hatch to the new hatch.

Took some pictures today to try and answer your questions above and posted them to my web site they're on http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/Posting.html page about half way down the page. Did it that way because of the MLU size limitation. Let me know if you need more pictures or ones taken from a different angle.

Cheers Phil

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by Phil Waterman

Hi Rob Sorry I only have the one set of hardware for the hatch which I will be shifting over from the old hatch to the new hatch. Took some pictures today to try and answer your questions above and posted them to my web site they're on http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/Posting.html page about half way down the page. Did it that way because of the MLU size limitation. Let me know if you need more pictures or ones taken from a different angle.
Cheers Phil

Phil, the shots on your website are the cat's pajamas! Thanks for the very useful photos. By the way, if you do not have plans for your old hatch, I could put it to good use.

Rob

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Rob

As I remove and replace parts that original I mark which vehicle they are off and store them away in the loft of the barn. For future use as templates and to answer questions. Got things like bumpers, door skins, etc.

I had a whole new hatch fabricated at a local sheet metal shop, I'll try and find the drawings. They are two computers back so I'll need to find the hard copies. They will probably be of more use than my bent hatch anyway.

Glad the photos are of help.

Cheers Phil