2022 at the Hammond Barn

[Hanno Spoelstra]

After surviving the early 2022 storm it is time for Bob, Grant, and the rest of the Hammond Barn crew to share their restoration efforts in this year's installment of "The Hammond Barn".

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Paul

Attended a GearHead car show on the weekend and the wife took pictures of my truck panning shot has I left the ground......... cruising at a comfortable speed of 32 MPH @ 2000 rpm....... at that speed I do not even have to look at the speedometre or the tachometer..... it just sings nicely.

Hot, uncomfortable, noisy..... but not has bad now that I have the roof top installed and the rubber roof head pads do muffle the oil canning of the sheet metal .....did I mention HOT.....engine never overheats and stays at the thermostat prescribed 165 F.

Last week Grant found and original door hooks so I could modify mine for Summer driving. He saved the original and reproduced two exact copies. My cab 11, being early never had the field modification as it stayed in Canada, reluctantly I now appreciate what a 5 inch open door can do for comfort. I have yet to carefully drill the holes in my reproduced doors. I am waiting for Grant to measure accurately where I am to drillthe holes, which will also serve for the side curtains.

I was ready to sell the truck for $5.00 after days of fiddling with replacing the switch on the starter.....had to remove the engine cover, the rigth side of the hood just to be able to take out the starter from above &^%^&##$.....
...also had to remove the Emergency brake system off the transmission.....but on re assembly I could not re install the clevis pin that attaches the ratchet of the E brake to the rear rod.....myhand were getting sore from trying and besides they are too big.... after hours lyingonmy back with arms stretched to the limit overhead....... Grant crawled underneath and did the job in a few minutes......
I had promised to kiss him but chickened out.....!!!!!

I now have a glorious total of 607 miles on the new odometre.

One of the many old visitor at the car show argued with me that his friend HAD one just like it but it was a 1937 Chev with a round hatch in the roof....I gave up and walk away from him.

Cheers

[Paul Singleton]

Hi Bob,

It was nice to talk to you and Grant at the Odessa show. You truck looks great with the roof installed in spite of the problems you had getting it to fit. I am also glad to hear that the truck runs cool on the road and that you installed the air conditioning upgrade.

Talk again soon.

[Bob Carriere]

Thanks Paul

I am lucky to have the original roof trim molding....... now waiting for a special order of screws with the old fashion screwdriver slot......

Nexrt job will be, before Winter, to adjust the one valve that has gone from clicking to clacking to CLACKING....... the process of undoing the engine cover screw by screw nut by nut and the two hood panels to reach the valve cover is a PAIN...... It is probably only on e valve but which one. I have a special modified valve cover cut to just about 3 inches..... minimizes the engine oil from running all over the place. I read that if you stick in a regular playing card under each valve in turn.... the one that goes quiet is the offender??? Not sure if that will work or resort to doing them all every 120 degrees using the hand crank. Of course you only hear it at idle.

I found that installing the roof has reduced the noise from the T case that would clatter between the toolbox and the lower back of the cab.... now the direct path of the sound is reduced. The rubber foam pads glued to the inside of the roof seems to muffle bouncing noise and oil canning.
.....but it is hard to maintain a civilized conversation with a passenger.

The ceramic felt (about 1/4 inch) inside the engine cover has been helpful and seems to be weathering alright. It was a slow process to install using hand made and individually installed staples made from MIG stainless steel wire....all in the same staple holes....got the idea from Phil Waterman.

Wonder if Olive Drab Green carpeting might help!!!!!!

Always a pleasure seeing you.

[Paul Singleton]

Hi Bob, the noisy valve will probably be easy to spot once the valve cover is off. You may be able to tell just by feeling the slack in the rocker arm which one is making the noise. It wouldn’t hurt to check them all now that the engine has been broken in. I was asked to do a valve adjustment on a 235 in a pickup that was quite noisy. Whoever was in there before me failed to tighten up one of the lock nuts and the adjuster unscrewed to the point that the pushrod was very loose. I was surprised that the pushrod hadn’t jumped out of place.

Paul

[Bob Carriere]

....way before she was licensed but was driven in the back field looking for adjustments....

One of the pushrods, the trumpet end, shattered and a piece stayed in on the head's many depression........

It just begs to be done.....

[Grant Bowker]

A report from the Barn.
The mosquitos haven't carried us away, but they are a significant nuisance.
Work on refurbishing Bob's 2B1 body for his C15A has resumed. After considerable planning sheet steel was purchased, and layout done to cut blanks for fabrication of the replacement headboard, tailgate and dropsides.

[Grant Bowker]

The headboard (as a less complex shape and with some room for lower precision) was the first assembly made up and attached to the lower body. Before welding the upper stiffener into place blocks of 3/4" steel were installed as reinforcements in the holes for the dropside retainer hooks. The plan is to remove and bend the hooks once the dropsides are assembled. In the meantime the hooks have ribbon to try to keep us from poking out eyes.

Then we moved on to the more complex tailgate. First cutting the blank, then bendingindividual pieces, laying them out for a dry fit and comparison to the "rough" remains of the original.

[Grant Bowker]

The first sub-parts attached to the main sheet were the diagonal braces at the top of the opening. Installing these first let us use them to position the lateral stiffening brace and confirm its fit to the hinges and reinforcement straps. When it came to riveting the hinges to the gate, several experiments were made to try techniques. Although the original rivets were probably installed cold with a squeezer set-up we had to do one at a time. We were limited by several factors - my rivet gun is only rated to 3/16" steel rivets so we had to do without the nicer teasing control and use an "ordinary" air hammer. Even the heavier air hammer wouldn't do the 5/15 rivets cold so we had to heat each rivet to a toasty red, insert it in the holes of stacked hinge, tailgate sheet and reinforcing strap then grab our home-made bucking bar (made from a cast iron snow plow wear shoe) and use the air hammer on the rivet to make the shop head. Once the rivets were installed, the braces were welded into place. The holes for taillight visibility still need layout and creation - later. Also needed are the installation of the previously made hooks and cleats for tie down of the tarp.

[Bob Carriere]

....... Grant has been the real driver in this project that got started 2 years ago. He is not only reporting the progress he has been driving it. We ran into major problems with getting work done at local fabrication shop.

Initially thrilled by the fact the local shop finally got a 12 foot and 8 foot mechanical vertical brake..... we found out, the hard way, the dies they had were worn out and the operator in the early learning Phase.....time and steel was wasted...... it is only with the persistence and perseverance of Grant that we are doing any progress........ today my back went out and I am presently floating about 12 inches above my chair on codeine tablets and muscle relaxants .......

Never realized how elaborate this simple 2B1 box really is...... the basis of our project was using the best of 3 rusted old cargo box...... so as hard as we work at making parts absolutely square the cargo box base has been abused and curved, twisted and warped so Grant has been very creative in working out solutions....... thank God to the rotisserie which allows much more flexibility in positioning.

In retrospect it might have far easier starting a total rebuild from scratch.
Prices for steel and tools has become almost paralyzing and really threatens to kill the resto hobby. 3 years ago a rivet set punch for the air hammer was $39.00 now paid $190 for a 5/16 button top rivet set punch from the same supplier. But the tailgate needed rivets to look like the original.

I have more pictures to download but my newfangled "Android" camera refuses to link up to my PC........ but that is another story.....

Keep them rolling they say........

Buzzing
...... Bob C.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Great work guys; very nice. Good to see another Hammond Barn update!