mattb73lt

This should help. The long piston pivots with the deck.

It works. I still need to get another pail of hydraulic oil to fill it completely. No leaks, except for one fitting I missed when putting all the lines in. Body and tail lights next, then adding on the wood deck. Getting close to having this all wrapped up. you can see from the pictures how the body operates.

Here it is!! A marathon day running around for a few odds and ends to finish before sliding the body on. Quite the day. Seeing it together and how long the complete truck is, amazes me. Thought about this project and piecing it together it seems like forever. My friend's 8K# lift made light work of it. With all it's features, you can twist, crab, tilt and move it any way you need to to get things lined up. Took a bit to do as I was solo because it showed up way earlier than I asked for. Still lots to hook up and get done, never mind putting the deck on. Hydraulics are about 85% done and I have some more electrical stuff to do. But, DAMN, it's in one piece!!!!!

That actually looks pretty solid. The back of the cab is a rust prone area and it looks good. How is the rest rust wise? That looks like it'll clean up nicely and make you a good hauler. There'll be a few big expenses(tires/rims!) but it shouldn't be too bad for the rest. Depending on the level of restoration, it would be about as much as doing a car if it's mostly cosmetic.

Mechohaulic, it’ll definitely gravity dump if you don’t put the landing gear leg down and run the body back. The sliders are set up with the two frame mounted ones on the inside and the two lift ones on the outside of the two main I-beams that run under the body.

I'm sure the quality of that new casting is way above the original. when I had my frame completely apart all of my aluminum castings were of pretty poor quality, never mind the years of use and corrosion damage. A lot of them needed repair and re-machining.

Painted everything black with POR-15. A lot of this stuff was pretty crusty and had to be rebuilt, mostly the lifting frames and the bed cross members. Everything is heavily coated, but it's unlikely this truck will see Snow and salt again. I got some smaller stuff hooked up today and painted to piston that slides the body. It seemed to be the best was to do it, because it's so long. Next week should see the hydraulic lines go in and some more equipment mounted. I'm thinking later next week I may slide the body back on. I may do it with the other truck by reversing the body on the bed and rolling it onto the new truck. Or, I may call my friend and borrow another lift. That may be the easiest way to do it.

I hope you feel better. This one operates differently than the one on the B42. That one is a Chevron body that has fixed pistons to the frame. You can unlock the body, raise it and drive around to reposition to hook a load up. This one you put the landing gear down, then run the body out and then raise and lower it with the landing gear. That's really the main difference. Other than that they operate the same. The body is repainted black and will remain so. One, it's a lot cheaper to repair or repaint it black vs red.

The truck grew 6+ feet in length, today. Added both upper and lower lifting frames and all three hydraulic pistons. Lots to hook up and connect. But, edging closer to adding the deck onto it, pretty soon.

There's actually a few extra inches between the cab and the head board, for the stack and more importantly a condenser for air conditioning (in the future).

Damn, now you’re making me second guess what I did?? I had to go out and remeasure everything to double check and draw it up to be certain.Thanks by the way! So the axle does sit close to the center of the bed, 12’8” forward and 11’4” in the rear. What you’re probably not accounting for are the two under body frames that raise and lower the deck. In the upper photo, they’re blocked by the torch set. The lower frame extends out from the end of the truck frame about 6’4”. From there, there’s only 1’10” of over hang at the tail end. The lower frame presses on the ground to raise/lower the deck, stabilizes the deck at loading docks and is also a rear bumper (Mansfield bar).

That's a heavy spec Tractor!! I've seen Anthony equipment around, just can't place them at the moment. RT 22, somewhere in the New Haven-Branford area.

Looking good!!

I was going to suggest the same thing. It would stand to reason that if they were built here and shipped to Australia, that some sort of record would exist. If the were built in Australia, then they might be there, also.

No worries, it’s all good.

The fire truck forums here should be helpful. Joining SPAAMFA could also be a good resource for obtaining parts and fire equipment. Easiest solution would be to find a good running takeout to replace it. Rebuilding can get very expensive, depending on the work involved to bring it back. Be prepared for some significant payout of resources to get it back into an operational state.

It’s always darkest before the dawn. Keep at it and once you start fixing things and laying on some primer to make it one color it’ll start looking like something! At least it runs moves and is mostly complete. You’ll turn the corner soon.

And I’ll say this, I feel blessed surviving what I’ve done and now enjoying the fruits of my labors. Three combat tours and 21 years as a state trooper. Five years away from home from 2003 to 2013. I’m just so glad I’m able to do what I want and fixing up this truck up as I want. A bunch of people I served with never had this opportunity to enjoy what they earned.

All of the WWII vets I know are gone. My Godfather was a LST captain in Europe and the Pacific theater and my neighbor was a Marine vet from Iwo Jima and later the Chosin Reservoir. The Viet Nam vets I’m most close to, as I learned to fly from them when I was a kid fresh out of flight school. We’re all retired now and we meet up monthly for coffee once a month on a Sunday to chat. But, they too are fading away.

The LED’s are so small now. I can easily hide them at the top of the rack in the screened area, front and back. I might mount some additional rear stops and turns on the back side. Nothing crazy and sort of unobtrusive.

Thanks. But it'll be a while before I get tired of driving this one, then we'd have to duke it out before I give it up(LOL)!!

I'm going to add some work lights to it for the deck and some underneath the body for backing up. I'll probably add some LED warning lights at some point, too. The winch mounts into the deck, up front below the head board, like most roll backs.

Utilizing my amateur woodworking skills today. Ripped down the oak for the frame rail strips. Drilled and countersunk all the holes for mounting and now treating the wood with preservative. I’ll give them a few coats before I mount them. Ordered up some parts from Jerr-Dan for the sliding pads and some hydraulic line protector for the winch lines. Mocked up a NOS control box I found to replace the crusty one where the valve body mounts. Ordered more hardware to attach all the bed bed mounts and guides. All the new hydraulic lines should be back next week. And…. Busy day getting a lot of things ready for the bed. Thinking I might make Gerhart’s this year(maybe)!!

Well, that was fast. Thought deck would be done towards the end of next week from what I was told when I set this up. Got a call this morning that it was done and ready for pickup. Jumped through my ass and got the B42 up to Torrington by 11:00, loaded and headed back to the house by 12:00. Glad I shopped this out. I don’t think I could’ve done it cheaper by myself, plus the mess of sandblasting. They guy I dealt with said it took 6 gallons of paint to cover it. It’s done now I’ve got to hustle it up and get it mounted. Painted all the mounts and guides for the frame, today. I have the oak for the frame top, where the bed slides and rests on. All my hydraulic hoses should be headed out to be fabricated tomorrow or Friday. Lots to do and source, but it’s coming together pretty quick at the moment.

This is the Saturday Evening Post cover from 1943 that this car replicates and a recent photo the department did as a tribute.