Otter LRC CM4647296 comes home

[Jordan Baker]

Hi Bob

Will do sorry just been busy with the family.

With my “spare” time I have these days I did manage to get a bunch of the parts reassembled. The transfer case lever, parking brake lever and the master cylinder mount. These will all be stored away waiting for their return to the frame once that’s ready.

The last photo is the clutch road with its clevis. It was a nice surprise to come across the KG#3 under all the grime.

[Jordan Baker]

Clutch and brake pedal assembly fully rebuilt. Three bushings replaced and everything cleaned up and repainted. One pedal still had its original rubber foot pad. I’ve got NOS ones but they have gone hard. Molding and casting supplies have been ordered to make some new ones.

[Jordan Baker]

New pedal pad has been cast. I still have some quirks to work out but it’s getting there.

[David Dunlop]

Nice work, Jordan.


David

[Jordan Baker]

Slow but steady. Rear hatch removed for cleanup. Interestingly there were shims behind the hinges.

[Niels V]

The Humber Mk 4 and Panzer 3 we restored also had shims under the various hinges

[Jordan Baker]

Originally Posted by Niels V

The Humber Mk 4 and Panzer 3 we restored also had shims under the various hinges

Interesting. Some aspects of these vehicles are pretty crude, then they instal shims under hatch hinges.

[Jordan Baker]

Yesterday’s task in the few hours of shop time was spent getting this one part cleaned up and painted. The handle needed a bit of straightening and a small amount of welding done to fix up where the rod was cracking. One day the rest of the vehicle will look this good.

[Jordan Baker]

The rear viewing hatch was also removed. I’ve included some detail on the linkage assembly.

[Jordan Baker]

Lastly I picked up a needle gun. I needed something that would help remove the old layers of paint. It was proving very slow trying to sandblast off the postwar applied paint. I tried it out on the front hull and was quite pleased with how fast it was removing paint. This should definitely save time and materials when sandblasting.

[Jordan Baker]

The rear viewing hatch is pretty much all rebuilt. There were two castle nuts on the arm pivot bolts that needed replacing. They had taken a bit of a beating from weather coming in the open hatch over the years. Thankfully I found some matching ones on EBay. Bounce they arrive, the rusted ones will be replaced and cotter pins put in as well.

[Jordan Baker]

Next up is removing the heavy cast antenna cable hole covers. These were used to protect the cable hole in the hull armour. Interestingly when I removed them I discovered yellow paint on the metal under the KG#3 paint. I’m thinking they were shop markings during production of the Otter. There was also the remains of the right side antenna mount that had been ripped off the hull.

[Jordan Baker]

When I removed the left cover I noticed more yellow paint under the layers of green. This time it was painted the numbers 277. After sandblasting I found the hand stamped numbers of 326. I suspect these were done during production but as for why, no idea.

[chris vickery]

Jordan, if you’re having trouble with your sandblasting you may have numerous issues.
I’ve yet to see sandblasting fail.
Your choice of media for starters. Try a more aggressive grit size.
Maybe your compressor isn’t sized to keep up , CFM.
Worn out nozzles can also affect the work.
Looking good

[Jordan Baker]

Chris.

Even the sandblaster guy said this paint was time consuming. It comes down to, do I spend 20 plus minutes sandblasting off the really hard thick paint or do I spend 5 min with the needle scaler and then 5 min sandblasting. My plan for the big stuff that won’t fit in the cabinet is to now needle scale it then send it off to be blasted.

[Jordan Baker]

Finally got around to making up another engine cart from some scrap lumber. Now the engine can be easily moved around the shop and the transmission can be removed for rebuilding.

[Jordan Baker]

Took the top off of the transmission. Still full of very clean oil and the gears all look to be mint and near NOS. The inside of the case is very very clean. I am quite thrilled as this transmission is very rare and hard to find for parts.

I did a short video of how nicely everything turns.

https://youtu.be/Wi64xGNXzVU

[David Dunlop]

Very nice tranny, Jordan.

I wonder if it was a rebuild, or perhaps the Otter got a brand new one late in its service life? Either way, surprises like that are very easy to take!



David

[Jordan Baker]

Its hard to say. I can tell the Otter did get a rebuild by the Dutch at some point as their dark green paint was on a lot of parts. The rad has a Dutch company tag on it too. Simply the fact that it has sat for so long and clearly been in the weather for a few seasons, I was surprised at how well it was. Mind you it does have an armoured roof over it so that would go a long way to keeping out the weather.

[Jordan Baker]

Started in on the transmission rebuild. First up was to get all the old oil spray and dirt off the outside. It just makes things a bit nicer to work on plus it needs to come off anyway for painting time. A power washer sure comes in handy for that stage.

[Jordan Baker]

Now it’s just a matter of following the maintenance manual. As good as this all looked when I took the top off, there was some rusting in behind the main bearing caps. The seals will be replaced as well.

[Jordan Baker]

Working away on the transmission rebuild. The case was fully dissembled, degreased and then sandblasted. It was then given a very good cleaning and scrubbing to get all the blasting grit out. Everything was acid etched and then painted with POR15 then over sprayed with the olive drab paint.

[Jordan Baker]

I also made up all new gaskets for the various covers. The center punch set works great for getting the holes lined right up. I was able to then use a handheld die punch to cut perfect holes. It worked great on the gasket with 8 small holes.

[Jordan Baker]

I’m glad I fully took apart the transmission as two bearings needed replacement. On closer inspection both had a bit of a “hang up” when rotating. I was able to find a bit of rust on the bearing inner race surface of one of the bearings. Two bearings have been ordered from a supplier. Hopefully I’ll have them in a few weeks.

Lastly a new output shaft seal was added. This should give many years of good service.

[Jordan Baker]

Next up, the transmission case top and gear shifters. All was in great shape with next to no wear. However there was some metal flaking and grit inside. So for the sake of getting everything nice and clean, it was taken apart. This also allowed me to sandblast the top and wash it all out.

[Jordan Baker]

The transmission rebuild is on hold waiting for the two bearings to arrive via EBay’s International Shipping. They got rid of the Global Shipping program and it’s been replaced with this new one. Supposed to be better but it is slower then slow. My last purchase was a few days short of a month.

Anyway progress doesn’t stop and some more parts got the rebuild treatment.

First up is the Boys ATR mount. Interestingly there were two versions. The first was small cradle assembly with a pin and chain. This is the second version it’s been nice to dissect the layers of paint and grime to find it’s original colours.

[Jordan Baker]

Next up are some small hull hatch parts. These were a level that had a sprung plate behind to latch the hatches closed. The hex parts are the spring attachment point for the hatches. I’m very fortunate that the Otter still had all these parts. A simple cleanup and repaint is all that was needed.

[Jordan Baker]

Last update for now…

The finished gunners hatch. The needle scaler proved its value again for getting most of the paint off and made it very simple to sandblast.

Lastly the drivers hatch is up next. I’m currently taking it all apart for cleanup. I’ve been trying my best to keep all the fasteners and components together with each other as they come off.

[Jordan Baker]

Work slowly continues on the various bits and pieces.

The drivers hatch was completed and rebuilt. It’s been fun spraying something else other than flat khaki green. When the parts have come off and apart I have been trying my best to determine what the original factory colours were. This is regarding what interior bits were white or painted in green. However with limited wartime interior pictures sometimes it is a challenging.

Lastly the crew commanders visor hatch. It got the usual disassemble process followed by sandblasting. I also spend some decent time on getting the hinges all nice and free. For getting them loosened up I’ll mount one end in the vice and then just start rotating the other end back and forth. I’ll use a combination of ATF, WD40, Brake Cleaner and Blaster. I find the Brake Cleaner does a great job of flushing the rust out. It’s just a matter of repetitive action until no more rust is flushed out.

Once everything is cleaned up the, parts were washed and prepped with metal prep spray. Next up will be painting.

[Jordan Baker]

I’m also happy to report that the transmission is now all back together. The bearings arrived last week. It now has a pair of Japanese KOYO bearings in it, replacing a Swedish Timken bearing.

The front input shaft bearing was an oddball New Departure number that I was unable to find for a reasonable price. However after learning about all the different types of bearings and the letter designations, I was able to cross reference it a KOYO bearing. All was going well as it fit the shaft and the hole in the transmission case. The issue arose when I went to install the snap ring on the input shaft, it simply would not fit. I needed about 2mm more of grove space. It was then that I realized the original bearing’s inner race was actually about 2mm shorter than the other race. The bearing was handed over to a machinist friend of mine who got it back to me later that night. After that everything fit perfectly and the snap ring went one without issue.

I’ve included a few pictures of the new KOYO bearing on the shaft and the snap ring not fitting.