2013 at the Hammond Barn

[RHClarke]

I took a short trip to the barn this morning to deliver a parts bin and to do some outside work. The road to the barn was very soft and wet. There is a lot of water on the surface of the grounds as the frost is still just below the surface in some areas. Where the sun hits the ground you find mud. Not just ankle deep...

As the morning progressed, the temperature dropped and snow squalls blew through. Thursday we were up to 20cC. Not today, it was windy, overcast and chilly. Bob and Grant were nowhere to be seen this morning, and the mud prevented any useful work outside, so I loaded up the van and headed back home in the snow.

Photos:
1 - Clive's "stealth" shelter.
2 - Vehicle park in Lake Hammond
3 - More of the same
4 - A sign of spring!

[RHClarke]

Well, we went from winter to summer in one fell swoop. Instead of being too cold, too muddy, too wet, it is now too frigging hot. We went from -20oC up to 24oC in less than a week or so. Our thick Canadian winterized blood has not yet thinned enough to handle the heat of the day. We do live in a world of extremes here.

The past few weeks involved a lot of maintenance around the barn. Bob got some sandblasting time in, Grant worked on making up some wooden hip ring spacers, while I busied myself with ground preparation for the eventual move of my container. This involved removing deadfall, a few trees and a whole lot of poison ivy. Next step is to bring in a truck load of pit run to build up the four corners of the container's resting place. Once done, I will top each of the four corners off with gravel, level it out and build piers for support. Bob has a container moving rig already made up, so moving the box should be fairly easy - if the ground dries out enough.

In the meanwhile, we had a visit from Guy Vapeur, who brought along a small naval type replica canon. He made the barrel from an old shotgun barrel and machined up an interesting breech mechanism and firing pin assembly. At 10:30 AM, Hammond was awoken to the sound of gunfire, courtesy of Guy and his gun crew.

Other work accomplished - we ran a test of my alternator and wiring harness. There are a few more tweaks to be done, but we should see a fully running electrical system in the near future. Thanks to my pal Johnny T for taking care of the electrics.

Yesterday was another maintenance day at the barn. Bob and Grant took down a few dead trees and a few that were close to the power lines. Being quite warm (by our standards), the tree felling was followed by a well-appreciated beer.

Next steps - pull out Grant's truck, pull out the Pilot Model HUP for body removal and engine work. Thankfully, the fun never ends at the barn!

Photos:

1 - Guy's naval gun
2 - Same
3 - Johnny T working away on the HUP
4 - The lumberjacks at it
5 - The end product

[Stuart Fedak]

Originally Posted by RHClarke

...I busied myself with ground preparation for the eventual move of my container. This involved removing deadfall, a few trees and a whole lot of poison ivy. Next step is to bring in a truck load of pit run to build up the four corners of the container's resting place. Once done, I will top each of the four corners off with gravel, level it out and build piers for support. Bob has a container moving rig already made up, so moving the box should be fairly easy - if the ground dries out enough.

Bob and Grant took down a few dead trees and a few that were close to the power lines. Being quite warm (by our standards), the tree felling was followed by a well-appreciated beer.

Thankfully, the fun never ends at the barn!

Rob, with all the land clearing and HUP House building, this is starting to sound like a reality show called "Little HUP on the Prairie".

Nice to hear that the Hammond Barn crew survived the winter and is now into summer mode. I came across my first batch of wasps who also survived the winter and were already setting up home in my salvage Iltis. You have to be careful when jumping into the vehicles and lifting hoods.

Any news on a potential meet and greet at the barn? Then we can admire all the updates in person.......... Have a great summer!

Cheers!
Stuart

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Guys

Glad to hear the Hammond Crew has woken from winter hibernation to finally find spring. Stuart may have renamed you thread, Little HUP on the Prairie, is kind of catchy.

In a similar vain today I started and drove all three of my CMPs for the first time this spring. The wonders of electric fuel pumps they all started right up. This is about the latest that I started driving them in all the years I had them generally they come out sometime in March.

Cheers Phil

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by Stuart Fedak

... I came across my first batch of wasps who also survived the winter and were already setting up home in my salvage Iltis. You have to be careful when jumping into the vehicles and lifting hoods. Any news on a potential meet and greet at the barn? Then we can admire all the updates in person.......... Have a great summer! Stuart

Yes, hornets/wasps/yellow jackets help with security here at the barn. We also employ chemical/biologic agents (essence de chat ) to make unauthorized visits less than pleasant.

I will leave it up to Bob to discuss the "social season". Get your dance card ready.

[Bob Carriere]

Was out cruising a garage sale on Saturday which was a bust but did notice an "AUCTION" sign that I followed to a large farm equipment auction.

Got lucky and bought another Allis Chalmers CA for parts but it may be to good for parting out. I am in the process of rebuilding a small CA for Joyce.

So went back home to get the float which had not been used since March 2013. As I pulled it out of its parking spot two of the left hand wheels refused to turn..... nuttin' serious I though just rust on the brake lining/drums.

So we pulled and pushed the trailer to the barn door and things got progressively worst....wheels would turn then jam then turn.

We put the trailer on stands and remove both wheels and when we removed the drums the brake linings just fell out in chunks.....completely delaminated from the brake shoes ...... amazing amount of rust inside the drum, return springs, cams, etc all badly rusted probably accellarated by winter road salt.

So had to borrow Grant's trailer for the tractor recovery and get parts.

Lucky for us our local steel shop/fabricator had all the parts we needed.... got four new complete brake plate assembly and 4 seals ...... spent Sunday rebuilding all four wheels.

According to the dealer some of his customers replace these prone to rust parts almost yearly. Mine were 9 years old originals. No shortage of wheel grease when we disassembled..... all the damage was limited to the brake plate assembly, magnet, etc.

So next time you pull out your trailer to check the lights and tire pressure before heading off on a recovery......THINK ABOUT AN ANNUAL BRAKE PLATE INSPECTIONS........

Grant is seriously thinking of pulling off the 4 drums on his trailer, even if newer, than mine for a cautionary inspection.... just in case !!!!

Lucky it happened in the yard and not loaded with a CMP going down hills in Algonquin park....

Bob

[rob love]

I have 17 years on my 12,000 pound trailer and am still running the original shoes. But I do not have to deal with the corrosion that you guys out East have. We pay for that with the brutal never ending winters.

Replacing the backing plates with everything on them really is the way to go when it comes to trailers. The parts are cheap enough, and you catch all the problems at once.

As you mentioned Bob, better to have found out in the yard than on the highway.

[RHClarke]

A lot of work has been going on at the barn to prepare for the hot weather - which arrived (if just for a day) yesterday. After a general clean up, Bob and Grant got into fixing one of Bob's old tractors (see threads above).

This Friday the temperature only hit 25oC - perfect weather for a moving experience. After some preparation (support piers buried in the ground), plans were made to move the HUP sea container. Stu Fedak joined us at the barn to drop off some goodies and to check out our metal working shop. He also came in handy when we finally moved the container.

The sea can was prepared for moving by removing all of the contents to lighten the load (the can weighs 2100 kg). Bob's home built can axle and hubs were attached to the rear forklift pockets and his special sea can moving chain was hooked up to the can. Using the three point hitch on his tractor, Bob lifted the door end of the can and with remarkable precision (after a few attempts) delivered the can to its new resting place. There was some fine tuning of the can's position, but after some persuasion with a come-along, the can was on its piers.

This took up most of the afternoon, and by that time we had worked up a bit of sweat, so Bob came to the rescue with some cold beer, which evaporated quite quickly. We celebrated the move with a burger, a few pops and spent an hour chatting about hobby related things. After dinner we cleaned up the barn, put the HUP in the can and headed for home. Many thanks to Stu for the help and to Bob for being the gracious host he always tends to be.

Email Bob if you want more details on how to move a sea can using his (not) patented, homemade, jury-rigged axles and hubs.

Photos:
1 - Bob and Stu chatting about things metallic
2 - Bob's handiwork with axles
3 - Lifting chain arrangement
4 - "Home"
5 - Clear driveway at last!