A Light Recovery Trailer from Downunder

[Sam Scholz]

Good morning all,

Well, what memorable times we live in.

My overall plans have changed quite a bit recently, for obvious reasons.
As BTTT2020 has become BTTT2021, I have 16 months to do what I previously had 4 months to do.

This has opened up the possibility for taking the LRT to the MJCQ Swap meet at Caboolture in October, 7 months time. Only time will tell.

So, with the pressure off, I collected the LRT and brought it home.

I fitted the last of the 7.50x18 wheels, and loaded and strapped down the ramps. Man, they are heavy. I'll weigh one sometime and report back. Suffice to say it was Dennis on the crowbar and winch assistance.

LRT Dennis positioning ramp a 3 2020.JPG LRT Dennis positioning ramp e 3 2020.JPG


As I had not yet replaced the axles after the trip to Corowa, The Glorifier needed to be towed up the wet grassy slope out of the paddock and up to the road. But once on the road, everything went well. We stopped to check all was well on the 15km trip home.

LRT moving stop to check the load 3 2020.JPG

It seemed to travel very well, but I sure noticed the weight (41/2ton-ish), having to drive it like a well loaded truck. It is beyond me how these trailers, loaded with a 4 1/2ton Carrier were towed with a 3ton Chev CMP!?!

Anyway, it is home now and I feel like I actually own it now.

I have acquired a wheel chock as seen in the youtube video linked above, thanks Dave M . More on that later.

Have a nice weekend, BUT stay at home!
(Good excuse to get some restoration/maintenance jobs done.)

Sam.

[Sam Scholz]

Hello all,

I have recently found the time and energy to make a sort-of return to the LRT.

The first job is to straighten the very bent stub axles mounted in the rear bogie rocker assembly. The bend can be seen here in the gap between the axle spacers.

LRT bent axle 10 2023.JPG


The axle carrys a seal carrier, then a spacer, the backing plate and lastly a large spacer plate. These just slid off, a little too easily I fear. The remains of the brake backing plate can be seen, it has been oxy-cut off probably due to the bent axle. It is held in place with six 5/8" UNF bolts and has a spacer behind it, which can also be see.

LRT removing the bearing seal carrier.JPG


To straighten the axles, I had long ago intended to use brute force in the form of a "porta-power" which I bought at a swap meet cheaply as it needed seals replaced. Having fixed it a year ago, I tested it and managed 27 tons pressure, so I figured that would be enough. I also have a fairly heavy "H" beam that I have used repeatedly to straighten stuff for many years and have never even come close to bending it. But I would also need to constrain the outer end of the axle while applying pressure at the inner end. To avoid damaging the axle end, I manufactured a collar designed to go on the end of the axle with a neat fit and hold it in place with the original wheel bearing nut.

LRT Manufacturing a adaptor collar to straighten the axles. 10 2023.JPG

LRT Manufactured adaptor collar to straighten the axles. 10 2023.JPG


And here it is in place. As it is not long enough to carry 2 wraps of the chain, I found a neat-ish longer collar to go over it to get the length needed.

LRT Adaptor collar fitted to the axle. 10 2023.JPG


So far, so good.
Enjoy.
Sam, downunder.

[Sam Scholz]

Continuing the axle straightening, here is the setup described in the previous post.

LRT Set up to straighten the axles. 10 2023.JPG


One axle was also slightly bent forwards, dunno how that happened. So I could jack it from the rocker.

LRT Side straightening the axle. 10 2023.JPG


One question was how to know when the axle was straight, or straight enough. An engineer I know suggested the method in the picture below, however I ran into a problem I have seen before. That is that the whole assembly is so battle-weary that there is not anywhere straight enough to take accurate measurements from!!!
So, while this method is quite accurate, I couldn't make any sense out of it due to the imperfections in the axle. I ended up using a combination of a straight edge and eye.

LRT Attempt to measure the straighted the axle. 10 2023.JPG


The first axle I attacked was the worse one. I often do it that way so that they get easier as I do each one. The last two hardly took an afternoon!
And here is the finished job. Part of the preparation was disassembling all the brakes, which is the next part of this story.

LRT All 4 axles straightened a 10 2023.JPG


Time for a sit down and a nice cup of tea.
Have a nice day.
Sam.

[Bob Carriere]

Interesting post and amazing what some of you guys manage to find and fix up. KUDO!!!!!