Otter LRC CM4647296 comes home

[Jordan Baker]

Hi David

The blanking plate for the hand crank hole is a factory item. It shows up in a lot of period pictures. The C15TA also used the same plate. I’ve included a few pictures. Some are factory shots and others are from the field.

It is a cumbersome item to remove as one of those boss head bolts need to be totally removed and the other loosened. Then the plate can pivot. I suspect that is why there is also a number of pictures of these plates missing. The Otters in Sicily with 4th PLDG all seem to have the plates removed.

As for hand cranks being redundant, sure the technology had come a ways in terms of reliability, however, I can’t think of any Canadian WW2 vehicles that didn’t come with one?

[Jordan Baker]

Bit more progress was made tonight. The armoured nose was finally removed after hours of work. The boss head bolts proved to be a chore but they all finally let go and came out. Not knowing if the nose would stay put once the last bolt came out, I secured it with a sling on the gantry crane. A few, thankfully old, paper wasp nest were found inside the nose. The nose will now be put aside for sandblasting in the spring. The inner shroud was fully intact and will clean up quite nicely.

[Jordan Baker]

A few more pictures.

Once the shroud was removed the radiator is easily accessible. I’ve also included a few pictures of how the armoured body was attached to the frame and the engine crank bracket. I’m also quite pleased that most of the bonding straps are all still in place. Lastly the plate welded to the left side hull body plate. This was where the voltage regulator mounted. The remains of the shielded wiring ground are still attached.

[Bob Carriere]

..... the radiator support has a complete top section similar to civialian GM of that period...... in contrast the CMP has that same part with the top section cut off and referred to as the horse collar..... also your rad filler neck is similar to the cab 11 but cab11/12 had them on the pass. side yours is driver's side....

did your truck have a fan shroud???

Sure is built solid!!!!!!

[Jordan Baker]

Yes there was a fan side shroud. I’ve included a drawing from one of the Service Information Bulletins. Thankfully these drawings provide a lot of detail.

Interestingly the radiator has what I believe to be a Dutch rebuild tag on the top of if. I’ll try and get a picture in the next day or so. It was only ever half visible due to the way the armoured nose fits on.

[Bob Carriere]

.... I was wrong, it looks more like regular cab 13 rad.... your dis-assembly process is fun to follow on the forum....... it is just so massive!!

[Jordan Baker]

Radiator removed from the chassis. It’s quite the heavy duty mount that it sits in. Nice to see all the KG#3 paint when taking things apart. Interesting Dutch rebuild brass tag on the radiator top tank. Also some hand painted white numbers on the top of the tank. Appears to be 1953 and 254.

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

.... I was wrong, it looks more like regular cab 13 rad.... your dis-assembly process is fun to follow on the forum....... it is just so massive!!

I would be cautious assuming that the Otter and cab 13 CMPs used the same radiator.
My cab 13 has the overflow pipe running from a small dome located in a depression directly in line with the upper hose to the thermostat housing rather than into the filler neck. This isn't a firm indicator since it is completely possible that radiator may have been replaced by a non-original one at some time (although it does have both the overflow tube and the steam tube fittings and has one of the larger type drain cocks at the bottom tank). A quick look at the Otter parts list and the list for all CMPs issued 1942 listed different part numbers for the radiators. I also checked the C60X list since it also uses the 270 engine and again the radiators were different. I'm not sure how different but something was different to justify different part numbers...