2013 at the Hammond Barn

[RHClarke]

This thread should be renamed the Hammond Snow thread. It seems that fighting old man winter has become our first and foremost duty. All complaining aside, we got off lucky this week with only 7-10 inches of the fluffy white sh*t. Our American cousins and the east coast of Canada got the full brunt of this killer storm. Four deaths in Ontario were attributed to the storm - mostly road related.

Things were not so dire at the barn on Saturday as the snow had stopped and the sun was shining. Maintenance and snow removal were the major activities. Bob, as usual tended to snowblowing, Grant took on the shelters and other snow removal tasks, while I emptied Lucifer for a full inspection of its lines and fire box.

I am not sure what Grant and Bob were up to in the afternoon as I had left early. The last photo might give a clue...


Photos:

1 - Snow fall measured in the lee of the barn.
2 - Bob making a blizzard.
3 - No glamour in snow blowing.
4 - Grant getting up in the world.
5 - Mini clamps in place for spot welding.

[RHClarke]

It was beautiful on Saturday. The sun was shining and it was only about -14oC with very little wind. What better time to fix a leaky brake line? After winching the HUP out of its box and jacking up the front end, off came the wheel and tire.

Removing the hub was interesting. There was about a 1/16th of inch play with the bearings, but the two axle lock nuts were firmly held in place by the tab ring. I guess that driving the truck displaces the grease and settles things in. A good reason for all CMP truck owners to check their wheel bearings yearly.

The hub came off with no trouble. All of the trouble occurred on the backing plate. The lines had leaked on the inside and outside of the backing plate. Fortunately, there was no brake fluid on the shoes. After removing the banjo bolt the wheel cylinder was removed. The banjo bolt has its two copper squash washers in place but one washer had a build up on it - perhaps the cause of the leak or a symptom thereof. The wheel cylinder was taken apart and inspected. There was some rust staining on the inside, but all of the parts were in very good shape eliminating it as the cause for the leak.

Our attention turned back to the copper washers and the banjo bolt. A combination of dirt intrusion or loose bolt was determined to be the cause of the leak. After lunch, the backing plate was cleaned up and all of the parts put back together.

The test drive was fun - up to a point. I drove the HUP up to Bob's driveway and decided to turn around by crossing the lawn to the other driveway. I forgot to put the truck into four wheel drive and got stuck. Four wheel drive didn't solve anything as the wheels that turned sat on nice glare ice. It is always interesting to do the "walk of shame" back to the barn to ask for a tow. Thanks to Bob's towing and recovery services, the HUP was put back on the road. After parking it in the sea can, it was back to the barn for a good chat with Bob and Grant on current CMP events. We do live in interesting times...

Photos

1 - The damage to paint inflicted by brake fluid.
2 - HUP recovery operations.
3 - Bob turns out to be "mouse-friendly" - note the mouse ramp to assist the fat little b*stards out of the feed pail.

[Bob Carriere]

..... that falling in love with CMP was crazy......


Here is something only a mother would do for a kid or a CMP nut for his HUP....

...something our Aussie friends can't even imagine of doing......

Pulling the front wheel off to do a brake job in minus 14C .....

.....and as Rob said it's a nice day... the Sun is shining and not really that cold...... and he was right when he started earlier it was -19C with a slight breeze.

Now I don't have pictures as cameras are frown upon but I was at a Spa with Joyce today..... and you think Rob was crazy....... we walked from a hot tub to the Panoramic pool overlook the Gatineau valley.... wearing sandals..wet bathrobes and steaming..... they had salted the walkway as the steam vapors freezes on contact...... temp was minus 15C with a wind chill of minus 28 Celsius......... they closed the pool after 3 pm as they could not keep it above 90 F.....

Nice array of girls in bikini ...... but if one had dropped her robe I could not have done anything about it.... never felt so small in all my life !!!!

...and to think I paid darn good money for that privilege.

Bob

still sufffffffuring frrrrom brain freeze forgot the pics...

[Bob Carriere]

....enjoy Canadian sillyness....

Bob

[RHClarke]

Bob, Grant and I are on the road again. This time to pick up an engine and an old GMC frame in Quebec. Yes, this is a border raid. Currently we are bouncing tthru Montreal. Too bad the Quebec government doesn't put some of our transfer payments into fixing the roads properly. I guess declaring war on "pasta" is more important. More later.

[RHClarke]

Ineresting place. Lots of locals enjoying the snow. Tons of police cars around for some reason...they might have heard we were coming...

[RHClarke]

Bob picked up his reconditioned 235 engine and 1937 truck frame. After the load up we stopped in to Prefair. It was odd to see all three AA guns gone. We saw one bargain - TA 43s for 15 bucks each. Now back on the road heading for home.