2012 at the Hammond Barn

[Bob Carriere]

...except that it is hot ansd sticky.

With the barn doors open at both ends..... and laying down on a folded cardboard over the cool cement floor was not so bad.....

...... in fact after Rob left I laid my head on a roll of paper towel and dozed off for a few minutes....... just lying there under the truck..... nuttin cooler than that.

I removed the bumper and unbolted the front U shape cross member that holds the "arches" ..... the cross member sprang forward about 1/2 in. but no effect on the frame twist.

Next step will be to loosened all the bolts to the large crossmember under the rad and also loosen the crossmember that holds the engine......

I have now removed the rad and removed the front tire/wheels and the axle are resting on leveled jack stands resting on the bottom of the flange to the egg cup.... the only point of reference I know to be exactly the same height from the floor.

Frame seems to be twisted upperward on the LH pass. side by at least 3/4 in.

Twist seems to be from the T case cross member forward..... this truck had a huge snow plow made from a cut off section of rivetted curved boiler plate.
Frame had a crack on the pass. side which was ground V shaped and Mig welded........

I tried lifting the driver's side but the axles lifted off the axle stand before any noticeable changes could be seen/measured on the frame.

I had to remove the floor to access some fo the bolts and also to reduce the possible rigidity induced by the floor.

To do a reverse twist with jacks I may need to released the spring packs from the spring perches.

Not glamorous work but needs to be done....... I am starting to know this baby inside out from the many assembly and disassembly done so far.

Nut gonna give up yet !!!!!

Bob

[Private_collector]

Bob,

It sounds like you are having a nightmarish time, trying to remedy that warp.

At least you know what you are doing. I would have to give up & get a replacement. Either that or hand it over to someone else to fix, with all the $$$ that would go along with that.

Makes for interesting reading, but heartbreaking none the less.

[RHClarke]

late reports from Hammond indicate some damage to shelters. Repairs will take place tommorrow.

[RHClarke]

Well, the damage was not as great as expected. The wind did manage to shift a few shelters and did a number on a few of the plastic tarps and the original shelter material.

Clive's shelter took the biggest hit, which was surprising as it was in a treed area out of the wind. Grant's two shelters located along the laneway to the barn shifted slightly and there was tarp damage. The "Ted's Truck" shelter and the 45 HUP shelter suffered damage to the material. Ted's Truck shelter is slightly exposed behind the barn. Its exposed side shifted inwards about a foot. The 45 shelter had the modular tent roof blown off exposing the sunworn material underneath, which tattered in the wind. The front "door" separated where the tie downs meet the frame and split from top to bottom in the center.

Bob did the initial damage assessment and repairs, but it looks like more tarps will be needed. Clive's shelter will need major adjustment, but its contents are OK. The 45 shelter now has a new front "door" - a cat piss stained end section of a modular tent. Hopefully the stench will fade by the next visit.

Some of Bob's trees didn't fare well, and Bob spent the afternoon collecting dead fall and broken limbs from his trees near his front yard. He said that he filled a 3/4 ton trailer with blowdown. All in all, we got off lucky. It could have been much worse.

Photos:

1 - One of Grant's "walking" shelters
2 - Clive's "expanded" entrance
3 - Two destroyed trees - guess which way the wind was blowing
4 - The 45 shelter - now entirely wrapped in mod tentage

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by RHClarke

Well, the damage was not as great as expected. The wind did manage to shift a few shelters and did a number on a few of the plastic tarps and the original shelter material.

...

The 45 shelter had the modular tent roof blown off exposing the sunworn material underneath, which tattered in the wind. The front "door" separated where the tie downs meet the frame and split from top to bottom in the center.

Bob did the initial damage assessment and repairs, but it looks like more tarps will be needed. Clive's shelter will need major adjustment, but its contents are OK.
...

Agreed. I reskinned my car shelter with modular tent sections. There is a big brass grommet in the centre of the seam which locate a pin on the original folding arch. As long as you mask that off well, you can make a new roof in no time. Guy Vapeur helped with some major sewing repairs where the surplus pieces were unserviceable. (Guy is your neighbour of course.) The only modification I needed to do was use that modern invention - the fold - to raise the unneeded sides up about 5 feet.

My modular sections came from Greg who is Mike Calnan's neighbour. (What is it about kindred spirits living close together?) He and I sorted through a number of pieces before finding enough single and double door ends, and centres that weren't in awful shape.

[RHClarke]

There was some activity at the barn last weekend. Bob and Grant returned from their trip to the states for a MV show. Bob might chime in with some observations. Back at the barn Bob continues to strip down his truck to determine where the misalignment between the front frame horns may lie. Grant sandblasted the nose to his truck.

I spent last Saturday propping up a few of the wrecks we got last year. Most of our latest acquisitions sit in the open with tarps over the valuable bits. The ground in the back field is somewhat soft, so every year we have to readjust the frames so that wheel assemblies (with and without rims) are out of direct contact with the ground.

The preferred tool is the tractor, but when Bob isn't around we rely on the trusty farmer's jack. Once the frame is in the air, a log is stuck under the frame. The jack is lowered and the truck's journey to China via the direct route is halted.
Cheap insurance from premature rot. Some shots follow.

Photos:

1 - Grant working the sandblasting equipment
2 - Elevated truck
3 - Another one
4 - One more
5 - Last one

[RHClarke]

This past week I had the honour of attending the birthday of our very own Gunner's father, Colonel (Ret'd) Michael Calnan. Gunner ain't no spring chicken but his dad has fewer grey hairs than Gunner has.

Prior to the festivities I spent the morning at the Swords and Ploughshares Museum doing grounds work. The rear of the main building needed a severe clearing as swamp maples had grown up between the building and the sea container. Once that was done, Gunner and I hooked in two guns that would later adorn Gunner's father's front lawn.

This event was interesting as a lot of senior retired gunners made their way to Kars to join in the festivities. Fortunately, most of them do not (or maybe choose not to) remember me, so I got to avoid rehashing some old misdeeds...for now.

It was good to see some of the old crew still kicking around, but I had to fetch my youngest from another birthday party in town and bowed out before the beer and wine really started to flow.

It was nice to see the Colonel and Barbara again. I also like their lawn ornaments!

Photos

1 - A Russian copy of a German gun used by the Finnish Army (true stuff!)
2 - A FYR gun we saved from the cutting torches
3 - Lawn ornaments

[Bob Carriere]

Been busy raiding across 3 different borders..... Ont. PQ, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia


A truck load of 19 sets and parts from Bob Estabrook too which we are very thankful. Also meet Jason Mead in the flesh and dropped off parts.

Hope Bill M. doesn't find out I was 8 km from his place but had no time to drop by.

Drove 2587 km in 36 hours.....decided to sleepover as we are getting to old for 15 hours of straight driving.....

Observations.....

Your butt goes numb after 8 hours...

The scenery is to die for.....

Man this is a big country......

In PQ you need two to drive,,,, one to look for police cars hidden in the tall grass of the medium..... on to make sure you stay around 110km .... and they love foreign plates...

In NB you drive at 125 to 128 and don't even see a cop car.......


Now the fun part.... unload and sort out the loot.

Bob

[jason meade]

Well Bob I was really happy to be able to put a face to the name of you and Grant, Got the parts all cleaned up and installed, sure looks good now.
I thankyou very much. I trust you and Grant had an uneventful drive back.
Did you guys end up staying in Nova Scotia for the night or come back to Frederiction?

[Alex van de Wetering]

A truck load of 19 sets and parts

19 sets of what?


Looking forward to hear what you guys picked up on this trip.

Alex

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Jason

We crashed in Dieppe...... logic prevailed over teenagers attitude of being immortal...... slept for 8 hours and ready for the road again..... driving awake is so much more fun and safer !!!!

Alex...... wireless 19 sets...... four of them...one very complete on wooden board...one less complete on a metal board and two more P/S and radio/variometers.... and a working 110 power supply to 12/24 volts. Oh yes... we now have a power supply that was a DND convertion to run on 110 volts..... all yet to be tested.

Sadly a lot of basic cabling is missing...... spare tubes.....C5 box...antennas or is it antennies ..... dummy antenna, etc. what really hurts in the equation is the $573 dollars of fuel.

But we had fun !!!!!

Bob

[Alex van de Wetering]

Bob,

I am jealous about the 19 sets; about 10 years ago you could get one on every street corner for a penny, but now prices have gone up and it's pretty hard to get a complete working Canadian set together....or even a dummy which looks complete....as you say, antenna's can be quite hard to find and expensive to buy.

Alex

Oh...$573 for 2500km sound like a great deal out here. We now have to pay 1,90 Euro for a litre of petrol.

Alex

[Bob Carriere]

Bottom line Alex... they don't make them anymore so you have to get them while you can.

when I was a kid there was a big argument between my Mom and my Dad..... dad had bought 50/50 with another nut/guy a dump truck load of no 19 set..... they backed up the truck in the back yard and dumped the whole load...... now $25 was good money in early 50s ....... they must have had a dozen of running sets by the end of the Summer which they sold...... Dad never said if he made any money..... and I got to play with the leftovers...hihi

Bob

[RHClarke]

Domestic chores and wrapping up a contract have kept me away from the barn for what seems to be a very long time (only three weeks or so). Bob and Grant made the marathon trip to God's country and return with a truck full of radios. Bob has some interesting plans for all of that gear. Some of us may just have to get a license and call sign in the future.

In the past few weeks the boys have been quite busy. The major project for Bob was to get rid of the 3/4 inch or so bend out of his truck's front end. The photo below shows the lengths that our Bob will go to fix something. Now some would gasp at the audacity, others will nod their heads in agreement - whatever works, works. Lo and behold! Bob's truck now has rid itself of most of the bend! Now it seems that our buddy Bob puts good faith in our tools. However, be warned and take heed - 1/4 ton rated floor stands will not hold anything much over a 1/4 ton. See photo below for results. Luckily, Bob avoided any injuries.

With the bend out of the way, Bob turned to another annoyance that had to be taken care of. What to do with the parking brake holes when you no longer have parking brake cables? Bob fabbed up some metal covers, painted them and installed them in short order. All that had to be done was pull the axles, pull the bearings, pull the drum, insert two bolts, install the cover with a dose of silcone goop, attach a set of nuts, tighten and then reinstall the drum, bearings and axles.

Of course other chores were completed in and around the barn, but nothing out of the ordinary for this time of the year.

Photos:

1- Bob explaining the need for a separate set of gloves for each side and end of the truck.
2- Roasted CMP framerail. A rare dish best served red hot.
3 - What happens when you use a floor stand that is not rated for the load.
4 - Parking brake cable holes no longer needed.
5 - The Hammond solution to those pesky parking brake holes

[RHClarke]

Grant has kept himself quite busy as well. His focus has been on the front end of his truck. Recently he painted the clip or nose of his CMP. The glossy undercoat does not do justice as it shows every small flaw in the metal. Of course Grant will fix those issues and by the time he shoots the final coat on, the truck will look like it rolled out of the factory.

Next up were the rims and tires. After sandblasting the rims, Grant primed and painted them. He then installed his new tires on the rims. The new tires look absoultely stunning mounted on his refurbished rims.

Not to be outdone, Bob too installed his new tires.

Most of us know that a lot of effort goes into a restoration. If you want to see how to fix and restore a truck to a near perfect state, drop in and have a chat with Grant.

Photos

1 - Grant's clip
2 - Grant's tires
3 - Grant's rims
4 - Grant's rims and tires
5 - Bob's truck sporting new tires

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally Posted by RHClarke

Grant has kept himself quite busy as well. His focus has been on the front end of his truck. Recently he painted the clip or nose of his CMP. The glossy undercoat does not do justice as it shows every small flaw in the metal. Of course Grant will fix those issues and by the time he shoots the final coat on, the truck will look like it rolled out of the factory.

Next up were the rims and tires. After sandblasting the rims, Grant primed and painted them. He then installed his new tires on the rims. The new tires look absoultely stunning mounted on his refurbished rims.

Not to be outdone, Bob too installed his new tires.

Most of us know that a lot of effort goes into a restoration. If you want to see how to fix and restore a truck to a near perfect state, drop in and have a chat with Grant.

Photos

1 - Grant's clip
2 - Grant's tires
3 - Grant's rims
4 - Grant's rims and tires
5 - Bob's truck sporting new tires

Beautiful..
Tires are mounted backwards..open part of the "V" should hit the ground first..not the point of the "V"..
I thought we settled this years ago..
But maybe driving it in reverse is the way to go..

[Bob Carriere]

Hey Alex.....

Picture only shows two tires..... the other two are mounted the other way.... helps to get out of a mud hole frontwards or backwards.....

Honestly, after reading all the MLU postings and re-reading the various shop manuals which by the way changes from early to later in the war, I opted for the same direction as on the farm tractor...... which is suppose to ride smoother and incur less wear....... next time I rotate them ...say in 5 years or 5,000 miles.... I may orient them differently just to get comments from the other half of MLU.

Bob C.

PS.. We are still using our own barn designed invention to seat those tires on the CMP rims that are not supposed to accept USA tires bead design........ having some tire shop snoothy lub does help. tremendously.

[Bob Carriere]

Since the cat is almost toasted out of the bag here goes......

Again some will swear blasphemy but bottom line it works.

My truck originally had a massive snow plow.... made from half inch boiler plate and still included a joint line with huge rivets. That in turn was heavily bolted and welded to the frame with U channel under the axle jointed at the frame behind the wheels..... made a good deal on the scrap value.

Well when I did the frame..... blasted....grinded to remove some welding a small crack appeared on the driver's side where a brace had been welded. It was all the way through the frame in the bottom curved section ...partly on the vertical side partly on the underneath. When washing the frame with gasoline ,the crack sucked dirt with the gas and was quite visible. I enlarged the crack with a diamond bit in the Dremel to increase the weld penetration. Welded and grounded both side using the MIG at a hi setting. Coated with POR, primer and paint and forgot about it, The heat applied "may" have contributed to the out of allignment... not sure.

I also replaced the front cross member and the second engine support cross member as mine had rust holes. In the process, I drilled and drifted all the factory rivets..... installed the good crossmembers pirated from other donors at the barn and re-installed using grade 8 bolts all around.

Well the engine eventually went in.... the the arches.... and the bumper radiator ect. and looking at it from the front the alignment was off.
Preliminary measuring showed over an inch difference.... the passenger side was higher from the T-case crossmember to the bumper horn.

Talked to an old guy that gave me some good ideas..... one was to insure I had a level playing field and to take serious measurements.

So we poured a 1 1/2 inch top coat of cement on the barn floor roughly 4 x 8 feet perfectly level......

Rolled the front axle over the slab and took measurements..... but the tires... all four of them 9:00 x 16 had different heights.... as much as almost 2 inches difference.... all new but different brands, except the two good year that were 1 inch difference ...... I needed more accuracy.

Jacked the from axle and using the only machined surface on the front axle took the front tires off the ground..... in fact removed both front wheels. Rested the axle joint line for the egg cup on the axle stand.

...and to be sure.... we replaced both rear tires with the new 10:50 x 16 on the rear axle. Now the rear frame was even.... level within 1/8 of an inch.... whcih to me accurate in CMP language.

Front frame horn now showed about 7/8 honest difference still with the pass. side to high.

Again trusting the old mechanic / exframe fixer upper..... we removed and or loosen all the grade 8 bolts in both front cross members...... still uneven.... despair set in..... while working alone with no one to correct my illfated courage I tried to jack up on side of the frame.... that frame is so stiff that even with all the loose cross members both side went up and..... well it fell off the jack stand.... only my pride was damaged along with a very flatted jack stand which I will keep as a reminder to stupidity.....

Ok back on a new spare stand...still crooked.

Weeks later..... you never know when someone unexpected will walk in and help you out...... if you just listen...

The Steam Guy (MLU Member) from down the road paid a visit with a Winnipeg friend of his. I was immediately impressed when he looked at the cab 11 radiator grill and said..... that's a CMP ford grill...... hum..... what else does he know.

I explained about my frame puzzle .......... a few grunt later..... he said... Worked 35 years in the CNR / CPR yards in Winnipeg...... we use to chain the coal cars to the tracks that had developed a pregnant sag in the middle from years of abuse. Once the top body bins were removed we use to straighten the massive U channel beams using blow torches. The trick is to heat up a triangular section of the frame from 3/4 from the top to the bottom.... cherry red...... and let it air cool..... no water to speed up cooling or you risk crystalizing the metal. Sometimes two or 3 heat sections was needed.... they will self correct on there own by shrinking.

Having looked at the 1940 frame and said these are not heat treated frames so it should not do any damage. You got a lot of old frames.... try it out you will see for yourself.

Well I pondered..... for a few weeks... the alternative to trailer the frame to an expensive Toronto or US frame restoration shop was a bit too pricy.

So... alone.... again... I tried the trick on the passenger side hoping to shrink it a bit..... set up two meter/yard sticks in front of each frame horn and started toasting...... paint bubbled and burned...... OMG what have I done.... too late to back off now...... so toasted 3/4 inch from the top in a triangle as wide as it was high..... inside..... underneath...... more smoke.....finally cherry red...... turned off the torches and watched..... in about 5 minutes it started to come down one millimeter at a time.... first heat gave me about 11 mm of correction.

The following day Grant was doiwn at the barn..... explained what I done and the results......

So we went at hit again a little further back same triangular pattern..... this time Grant stood up on the offending frame horn and we got about another
12 mm.

The frame was still a bit on the high side.... maybe less than a 1/4 inch.

We measured the distance between the spring packs and the frame and decided that if we installed another spring leaf of thickness on the driver's side we would be about perfect. This was based on the Dodge M37 having a raiser block on the driver's side when equipped with the door mounted spare tire.

To make a very long story short....... we installed a short spring piece with a new center bolt...... and it is now within 1/8 off but certainly well within the acceptable range for one of these beasts.

Conclusion...... take time to listen to the old guys..... they do have tricks that never made it into the school books.... be daring and try it..... but be safe.

I did remove the temporary outboard motor / boat fuel tank from the truck when we put the truck in the barn.... and disconnected the battery.

I will need to grind and clean up....repaint the frame and can now start dressing up the arches with the sheet metal.


On to the next challenge.

Comments and questions are welcome.


Bob

PS...... Guy.... when you read this you must remind me of your friend's name so I can express my gratitude.

[guyvapeur]

Bob...........

You are talking about Gerry, my brother in law. He and my sister Louise were visiting from Winnipeg. We call them Bonnie and Clyde..... cause we never know when they are going to show....

Gerry worked at the Transcona Shops with CNR.....He worked with the old timers who had a lot of tricks to get the job done.... They put a lot of boxcars back on the tracks..... I will make sure that he gets a heads up on your post... and gets to see the pics....

Guy

[Bob Carriere]

Amazing what can be done if you listen and have the balls to try it.

In the process of tweaking the frame just a bit more........ I salvaged a short section of leaf spring from a donor and prepared to installed one more leaf spring thickness on the driver's side...... actually 1/4 inch.

So I removed the spring pack.... relatively easy considereing the well greased/lubed new pins I had installed and using big C clamps prepared to remove the "center" bolts.... install the new leaf and a new "center bolt" which only costed 0.96 cents.

Well the center bolt that had been installed by an Ottawa spring dealer, a seemingly reputable truck spring shop ,turned out to be a regular grade 5 5/16 bolt that had the head ground round and a small washer ground to match the head size..... NOT the proper 3/8 center bolt that should have been installed. Why..... because the spring pack hole was too tight to fit the proper 3/8 bolt I purchased.

In a few minutes of drilling using a large HD hand drill I cleaned up the holes and installed the proper bolt. So much for trust !!!!!!

Whe came the time to re-install the spring pack I realized that it was a three hand job....... and my aging muscles just could not handle it alone. Getting older is a real piss-off !!!!

Well later Grant came by and with his help in about 45 minutes everything was back in its proper place....phew !!!

Frame is now also perfectly levelled.....

Bob

[Bob Carriere]

Has anyone installed a 2 speed T case in a single speed C15 or C30...?

Would like to know how you handled the difference on the top mounted bolts.

Single speed has a 2 1/2 inch spread and the two speed a 3 inch bolt pattern.

My C15a cross member was drilled extra holes for the two speed.... the relocation caused linkage alignment problems.

Bob

[RHClarke]

This has been a good past week for my visits to the barn. Unfortunately they have been quite short and didn't really involve working on the trucks. On Saturday 22 September, my youngest son Jesse and I took a trip out to the barn. The aim of this visit was to gauge his interest in his army truck - a '53 SMP 3/4 ton radio van. Now nine years of age, he has realized that he is unique among his friends in that he is the only one who owns a real army truck. It was sunny and warm out so we spent some time going over the work that needs to be done on the truck. We ended our tour of the wagon lines with an agreement that we had better start planning to start work on his truck. The trick will be dragging him out of his warm bed early to work in the fall climate...we will see.

This Saturday Jesse joined me for another visit to the barn. It was cold and raining so we cut our visit to his truck short. Back at the barn we joined up with Bob and Grant who were analyzing a transfercase linkage problem with Bob's truck. We also delivered a nice almost new CF parka from Greg Wright to Bob. You can't beat the price for these coats. Unfortunately, we had other obligations to fulfil, so this trip too was cut short.

Today, I had the time to spend some quality time at the barn. Bob and I are both temporarily (I hope) unemployed, so what better time to cut, split and stack some wood for the winter. I met up with Bob at the barn and hitched a ride on his trailer. Between bouts with the chainsaw we spent the overcast afternoon at the wood pile chatting about the state of the hobby and upcoming events.

Once the trailer was filled with prime split maple wood, we headed back to the barn for a well-earned beer. It was there, over a nice cold beer that we vowed to get both of our trucks running again for another attempt at the wood chip pile at the big field before the snow flies.

Fortunately, I have some time available to that aim. I am not sure about Bob. The public service in Ottawa will come to a crashing halt without him. I suspect that he will be trading his coveralls for a business suit again soon...

Photos:

1 - Jesse and his ride getting re-acquainted
2- Jesse and the boys sorting out all of the world's problems
3- Bob's new office
4- The product of real work
5 - Tools of the trade - a killer splitter and an old army trailer

[Bob Carriere]

.... to fitting parts back on the cab 11.

First I forgot the Waterman rule of re-assembly.

Which is...... Do not toghten any bolts until most components are allowed to jiggle loosely and fall in place.

Now that I have the frame straight.....We started assembly the rad support, rad and trial fit of the sheet metal..... Nothing lines up.... but the all the holes are originally oval and some have been stretched since..... so we are getting good at installing and removing, tightening and loosenign thisngs up again.

WE gave up last SUnday after finally getting the rad support "horse collar" in place..... and like a fool I refilled the radiator with coolant so I coudl go for a spin...... now will have to drain it again to properly re-adjust.

For some reason the filler neck fo the rad is in the way of the littel rain trough in the nose piece.

NOTE TO Grant..... remember how the original sheet metal had been troched by the previous owner.... that was properly to make things fit..... now that we have repaired the sheet metal that had been removed we have clearance problems..... I swear it's like a Chinese puzzle.

I just had to take it out for a run....... we spent so much time re-adjusting the shifting rods of the 2 speed T case..... had to find out if it worked .... and it did..... pictures attached....... T case now works fine and so does the winch. All that frame twisting on the wood chip pile did not mess up anything.

Going up is fine coming back down is scary. Being very light wheels spins in the wood chips as soon as you give it more gas...... and the chevron treads do throw out wood chips quite a bit.

In low range 1st gear truck will crawl up just at fast idle.

Coming down was another story....... blue smoke came out of the tail pipe like a smoke bomb...... oil rushes to the front of the pan and must get by the rings....... also notice some oil dripping from the fuel pump/engine block gasket area. More adjustments are needed...... one fuel line was also dripping and needed retightening..... but to reach it properly we had to remove the front floor panel....... it's like one step forward and 2 steps back.
sure know how the parts fit by now....

One day will get it all done..... and be bored to death !!!!

Bob

[Alex van de Wetering]

Bob,

Awesome pics....looks like a Monster truck right now.

but the all the holes are originally oval and some have been stretched since

One of the spare fender supports I have actually has small round holes to attach the fender and headlight, while the other I have has the oval shaped holes allowing adjustment to light everything up. I guess the round holes are very early and they soon found out that it was a b*tch to line all panels up!

For some reason the filler neck fo the rad is in the way of the littel rain trough in the nose piece.

.

It almost sounds like the nose piece is not at the correct angle? Or is the rad tilted forwards?

Part of my C8 nose is still assembled. Let me know if I can take any reference measurements that could help you.

Alex

[RHClarke]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

....One day will get it all done..... and be bored to death !!!!Bob

Fat chance! Take a walk out back, Bob. There are more projects there than we three have life remaining. Though, it would be interesting to see what a "bored" Bob would do...

[Grant Bowker]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

For some reason the filler neck fo the rad is in the way of the littel rain trough in the nose piece.

NOTE TO Grant..... remember how the original sheet metal had been troched by the previous owner.... that was properly to make things fit..... now that we have repaired the sheet metal that had been removed we have clearance problems..... I swear it's like a Chinese puzzle.

You might need to trim the interference between the radiatior and the frontal sheet metal, but I'm sure you will use a bit more finesse than the previous owners (not a jagged torch cut) and reinstate a folded lip to have the original appearance. However - if you move the nose shell and the radiator closer together to preserve the relation between fan, front end shell, arch bar, support brackets and radiator - you will also be increasing the conflict between radiator cap and front end shell. Which way do you want to lose?

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Alex

Part of my problem is that I have 4 other cab 12 to check, look at, crawl all over but ONLY the one cab 11.

The nose assembly of the cab 11 and cab 12 is somewhat different..... and my truck had been re-engined with a GMC 228 with all the necessary tweaking modification required. so I am robbing off the cab 12s for parts and idea. some of the fasterners were bolts on the cab 11 but on the cab 12 they are tapered/recessed bolt heads like wood screws.

I suspect that my rad is tilted slightly too far forward...... but can only move back so far before I hit the risk hitting the fan.

Grant....... we will need to remove the axtra rubber spacer on the wish bone rad support..... that will move us 3/16 lower.

From the old pictures I haev taken fo the truck before disassembly both the rain gutter and the rad cap was very close.....

One of the possibilities is that when the rad was "recored" the new core might have been a fraction of an inch taller..... or the rad sits taller in the rad support soldered on the new rad..... a fraction here a fraction there and you suddenly have parts rubbing....

Alex..... if I can't have a look at a cab 11 nose locally I may call on you for some close up pictures.

Meanwhile look at the enclosed old pictures to see how tight clearance where originally.

Bob

PS (Post Scrotum) space is very tight at the filler cap...so much that the tabs on the cap would prevent the rad cap from turning properly..... and notice how the filler neck is actually soldered at a slight angle.
On the cab 12 the filler pipe of the rad is about 1 1/4 inch longer providing additional clearance.
I have a spare cab 11 rad and the same tilted rad pipe is installed. I may try fitting the old original spare cab 11 rad to see if size "really matters".....

[Alex van de Wetering]

Bob,

I am at work so I can't check at the moment, but I think the filler neck on my (cab11) C8 is longer than the one on your cab11 rad(s). I have no idea if my rad is the original one or if it has been replaced with one from a cab 12....nor do I remember if the filler neck is tilted. I will try to have a look tomorrow morning.......tonight is a no-go, as we have already moved to those days of the year that it is dark when you get home from work

Almost sounds like the problem with the filler neck and cap was a known early cab 11 problem, which was solved during production with a longer filler neck???? Than again, it could also be a result of the mods on your truck by the previous owner as you described.

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Bob,

I don't now if these pics help you, but I took these of my C8 a few weeks ago. Filler neck on mine is definately longer.

Alex

[Bob Carriere]

..... what did you do to your truck......give it Viagra ?

Alex yours is definitely longer than mine.... you should be proud....

Sorry got excited...... I measured the cab 11 and cab 12 and the later model is at least 1 1/2 inch longer..... that would solve my problem but implies taking the rad to a proper shop to have it welded...... unless... if it is steel I could cut the pipe and insert and extension piece and mig weld the darn thing or maybe even braze with the gas torches......

something else to think about...... stay tune for developments...!

Thanks for the picture Alex.

Bob