2015 at the Hammond Barn

[Bob Carriere]

Someting happened to me yesterday while driving my truck. As I was leaving the driveway onto the street...right hand turn....while crash shifting into 3 rd gear ( I was in 4x4 low range)...... truck continued to turn directly into the ditch...... a bit scary with no cab going in at 45 degrees over the snow bank nose first for the hydro pole.... truck stalled resting on the steel guy wire of the hydro pole. I obviously panicked trying to abort the shift, trying to get to the brake pedal and steering wildly to the left..... you have to understand that driving a cab 11 with the small foot space while wearing Winter boots only allows the use of one foot at a time...... CRASH.

Tried getting out but was floating on the hard packed snow bank.

The Pitman Arm ball had separated from the arm....front wheel full right lock.

Well I towed it back it back to the yard with the tractor and tackled the repairs today.

The Pitman arm ball is welded on to the arm but the weld penetration was only about 1/6 of an inch deep and fractured after 74 years..... what else is about to go????

Today I managed to wire the arm/ball together enough to manoeuvre the truck out of the sea container and into the barn.

I must apologize for the poor resolution of the pictures as I was only using my cell phone.

Had a bitch of a time removing the arm from the steering box shaft ..... finally resorted to a pulley puller which I installed with as much tension as I could and applied heat with the acetylene torch...... and it just popped loose. This pitman arm was from another truck as my original had some gorilla welding and plate reinforcement besides looked awful.

Now before applying heat I had liberally soaked the spline with penetrating oil which dripped and coated the arm. While heating the pitman arm the surface oil quickly evaporated but as I played the torch flame up and down and all around I notice small cracks where the oil was coming to the surface.... in all 4 cracks.
A potential disaster waiting to happen.

Well I do have spare pitman arms but they are on the trucks in the back field and it bitching Winter here so I reinstalled the same one for the time being.

So I set about to weld up the old parts......

I ground the ball/shaft and the arm to get better penetration and welded at the highest setting of my mig welder.... than did a second pass to created a weld button the width of the arm. Should stay in place.

Next Spring I must find a good Pitman Arm and will test it for cracks.

We have to remember that our machines are old and need special attention....... I shiver to think this could happen at full speed ........

Now for the pictures.

[Bob Carriere]

...... not too bad for cell phone pictures

[Bob Carriere]

....about the "dust cover" they are NOS parts intended for the steering arms of the Dodge Power wagon....same size.....on Ebay regularly at 15 to $20 each. The leather seal needs to be soaked in Neats Foot oil for flex.

Cheers

[RHClarke]

Bob, Glad you made it out of that situation safely. I would not have thought about the CMP steering arm as a problem area, but as you stated, parts get old and need to be inspected thoroughly.

I read a thread on another forum about steering loss on a US based M37, where the ball on the end of the rather robust steering pitman arm separated causing some anxiety for the driver, who like you, was doing a low speed run. Fortunately, no real damage occurred. Others, I am sure, have not been so lucky.

We (the royal we) must ensure that we inspect all of our vehicle's running gear to ensure that we are not a threat to ourselves or others.

[maple_leaf_eh]

Bob:

I know the corner you mention and yes, very good thing you were moving slowly and just dented the snowbank. Those banks eat plastic car body parts, but obviously can't digest WW2 Canadian steel!

The Regiment de Hull had CJ7 Jeeps between the retirement of the M38A1 and M151A2 1/4 tons, and the arrival of the Iltis. One of their folklore stories was how a "CJ" broke its steering linkage on the big bridge over the St Lawrence River enroute to Valcartier. The vehicle damn near pitched over the guardrails with three soldiers inside.

I suspect "the boys" had been 4-wheeling at some point and applied an adundance of gravity to the front end. Those were peppy vehicles that could chirp the tires in all gears.

[RHClarke]

It was so cold out that our customary visits from the mosquito population inside the barn failed to materialize. Even with Lucifer belching out a massive number of BTUs, the barn failed to reach 40oF until well after lunch. The hottest it got was just under 60oF at closing time...

Bob's first task was to rev up the tractor and blast away the snow that had fallen. Fortunately, there was no wind to contend with making the task a little less difficult. While Bob was flailing the snow, I carried on with the usual duties of clearing snow.

Grant joined us after lunch, at which time both he and Bob tackled the removal of the skin of his Cab 11 lower rear cab frame. Bob built a jig to ensure accuracy when he reskins the frame.

While the lads were busy with the jig, I began the weld job on my M37 fender. The lower patch went in quite well and I was pleased with the results. Rather than wait for the patch panels from the US, I decided to tackle the patching of the hole in the front of the fender using whatever was available at the barn. Fortunately, Bob had stocked the barn with lots of metal rod, bar and sheets of steel. Over the past few years, Grant and I have added to the stock, restricting runs to the steel shop for odd pieces of metal.

The afternoon was spent mostly inside with one exception. Bob and Grant took a quick trip to the back 40 to look over steering arms. They didn't stay outside for long. As usual, time flew by way too quickly and we closed up shop and headed home.

Photos:

1 - Bob admiring his handiwork
2 - The jig
3 - Lower end patch completed - M37 Fender
4 - Damage at the upper end - the previous patch is easy to spot
5 - Prep for welding

[RHClarke]

I decided that my son Jesse, needed to be detached from his electronic life support systems (TVs, computer, DS, Xbox) and spend some time in the great out of doors. So, early this fine morning, we thawed out the car and headed to the S&P Museum to give Gunner a hand in moving some frames. It took the car some time to warm up in the -25oC weather, but the roads were clear, making the trip to Kars fairly fast. Seems folks around here tend to stay home when the mercury dips low.

Jesse dug out the front and back door to the museum's main building, and then worked on clearing snow from a few of the trucks. Gunner and I extracted a "quick assembly/disassembly" jeep frame from its icy parking space. It took some time to get the tires out of the frozen ground, but the handy farm jack made short work of it. After hooking the frame to the nearest 2 and half ton, the frame was eventually parked in a warm garage. Gunner will be working on this project over the remainder of the winter, and if and when he comes on to this forum, he can explain what is up.

After frolicking in the wind and snow, we headed into Ottawa to visit the Regimental Museum at the Morrison Gun Park - a new facility set up to accommodate the Bytown Gunners. The park is a temporary solution until someone decides where a permanent structure can be built to house 30th Field Regiment, RCA. After a quick tour, we off-loaded some 6 pounder wheel assemblies and then headed for the comfort of home.

On the way home Jesse remarked that every visit with Gunner was an interesting visit. I think that Jesse actually enjoyed his day away from the electronics. Sadly, he has now reconnected with his Xbox. I guess I shouldn't complain too much. After all, here I sit feeding one of my obsessions...

Photos:

1 - Deuce frolicking in the snow
2 - A frigid Jeep
3 - The restored 17lbr at the Morrison Gun Park
4 - Jesse enjoying the view
5 - Gunner and Jes hamming it up