How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Lynn Eades]

Here's a hint Jordan;
My mandrel doesn't have a drill bit in it. I have a bit of plain round tool steel in it.
I drill a clearance center hole with an ordinary drill bit. I then put a bit of oil on the plain pilot, poke it in the pre drilled hole and cut away with the hole saw. It dont wobble at all.
The reason why I did this was that I had trouble buying the correct pilot drill and most of them leave the clearing flutes of the drill bit at the same height as the teeth of the hole saw, which allows the hole saw to move sideways.

[Jordan Baker]

Lynn, thanks for the tip. I modified mine the same way. However sometimes the hole saw binds up. Last time when it did I bent the plain pilot. Hence the wobble. Plus I'd rather drill undersize and then file to finish size.

[Jordan Baker]

Well today I spent a few hours back working on the truck, specifically the tailgate hinges. The big hold up had been mostly winter and my lack of enthusiasm for being damp and cold. Anyway back to the truck. Last fall I made up a bending jig to roll the end of the metal into a hing. One of my uncles was able to help me out today by using the torch to heat up the flat stock. All in all it worked out really well. I made up the two long and two medium length ones for the tailgate. Only one of small ones on the box frame needed replacing.

[Jordan Baker]

With bending them hot we found the edges tended to curl out a bit. So I used my bend belt sander to slowly sand them down. Next up will be reeming them out so that the hinge pin slides freely.

[Jordan Baker]

I tack welded on the hinge straps and did a trial fitting on the box. All is good and it fit really well. It truly is amazing all of the work that went into making these for the army back in the day.

[Robert Bergeron]

Amazing workmanship Jordan . You are very dedicated and talented. Thanks for posting your progress. It is inspiring and motivating. Robert

[Jordan Baker]

I finished doing my basic welding on the tailgate yesterday. I decided to use the original tie down loops as they weren't in too bad of shape and would clean up just fine once sandblasted. Once I finished, all the parts were loaded up and taken for a drive to the sandblasting guy I use for the bigger stuff. Tomorrow when I pick up all the parts Ill be giving them a good coating of POR15. The plan is that once the POR is dry, Ill finish all the needed welding.