Sloth

Hello gentlemen, thank you you for your advice. Below are some pictures of the half shafts (yesterday I managed to delete them on my telephone 😒). Both finished half shafts. Shaft end with key way Shaft end with differential gear. Drivers side hub with the tapered hole and "offending" key way, the passengers side hub is even worse. First option would be: widening the key way to 10 mm (my old 3/8" broach is missing some edges on the teeth 😒, delivery time of a new one -6 weeks..-). My doubts are, that this key way will be much wider than the existing one, I have no idea what the mechanical implications are. Another option would be: leaving the key way at the shaft as is (5/16") and broaching a new one at the opposite direction of the existing one, and filling up the existing one. I am still pondering what to do. Regards, Harm

Hello, today I ran in a nasty problem. Last week I finished the half shafts, milled the key ways (5/16") and fitted the keys to test it with the hubs. At first glance the keys fitted nicely into the key way of the hubs. But I got a bit suspicious because on the end of the hubs (at the brake drum end so to say) I saw about 3/64" play. Taking the half shaft out and measured the key way at the hub, the hub key way seems tapered over the full length (about 5"). I guess this wear is caused by non fitting keys or lose half shaft nuts. To rectify this there are some solutions: broaching a new larger key way (3/8") or turning out the core of the hub brazing a new core in it, turning a new taper and broaching the correct key way. But I am a bit stuck now, what to do to repair this? Gentleman can you give me some advice what to do? Regards, Harm

Hello Al, Spring came slowly en went away very fast, may be next week its getting better.... It seems Spring has a bit of a starting problem 😄. Yesterday I took the mower -John Deere X740- out, came half way (1 acre of the 2) ran very hot, V belt broken, well, not a good start of the mowing season 🤬. I hope to have the Oakland running end of April.... The brakes need some attention too. Regards, Harm

Hello, I started last week trying to assemble the multi plate clutch. That went well, till I tried to move the clutch plates against each other. Sometimes it went more or less smooth (but with a lot of force), but most of the time it get stuck and they wont' move at all. After trying the same with the broken hub, the movement of that one went very smooth. Inspecting the slots in the hub it dawned to me that the slots in the reproduction hub, that are the slots with the fixed pins were to small and had a wrong angle. So, putting the hub into the milling machine and made the slots larger and on the right angle. The consequence of all this was that I had to turn new bigger pins. After some fiddling and small adjustments, the mechanism now works very smooth. Multi plate clutch mechanism, with the modified slots enlarged pins. Parts of the multi plate clutch. Left side: assembled clutch plates with inner hub and clutch movement mechanism. Middle: Universal Joint Right: clutch plates outer hub, bearings and driven gear (in side the gear box) Same parts as above, pictured at the back. Yesterday I painted the clutch and gear box housings. Painted clutch and gear box housings. To morrow I hope to start with tuning new half shafts. The current half shafts: one to short and the other one to long and with a botched screw thread (not repairable). Furthermore the square part for the differential gears is just to small (on both half axles). Regards, Harm

Hello, Found the parts I needed. Regards, Harm

Hello, I am restoring (very slowly) an 1935 851 Auburn cabriolet. I am looking for a left hand steering arm and front axle backing plates. Regards, Harm

Hello Al, yes I did it that way. But Ann assisted me, as you have to work fast. The rivet cools rather fast. The last action (after hammering) is heating the hammered head to a white / yellow heath and using a small pneumatic hammer with a rivet tool to make a nice round head. Regards, Harm

Hello all, thank you for your kind words. I consider the upholstery part as done. Just left some small chores to be done when I put the hood on the car. Last Monday I send the ring and pinion to a Steel Hardening Company. I used this company in the past, they will Nitrading the gears. Hope to receive the gear back at Thursday next week. To day I riveted both parts of the outer shell of the multi-plate clutch together. The riveting went well, see pictures. So, at last, I can start with assembling the clutch, gearbox and third member. Regards, Harm

Thanks.

Hello sir, are these handles still for sale or sold a long time ago? Regards, Harm

Hi Al, about 10 - 12 Lbs. So that is quite a lot. I think you will need the same amount for your Locomobile, maybe less if it is not diamond tufted but straight.

I have not been much in the shop. Last weeks were very cold 🥶 (for a Dutch point of view). As I keep the shop heated with a pellet stove, the stove was this time not up to the task. Instead I took the passengers rear seat into the nicely warm house, and upholstered it (the seat that is 😉). Fitting the back slab on the cushion was a bit hard in my fingers, pushing the half round needle through 6 layers of leather and some burlap is a heavy task. Thinking this over, and contemplating how large the back seat cushion really is, I thought that there must be an easier way to do this. So I looked at a website for horse saddle makers, tips, tricks and tools. Long story short: those people using a special tool for it. I ordered one at a leather shop. Its not expensive at all, I payed $35 for it. Well that was quiet a revelation, I don not say its easy, but its really a much less though job now. It works like a small hand sewing machine. You push the needle trough all the layers you wish to be sewn. Retread it a little till it forms a small loop on the end of the needle, and feed a sew thread through the loop. And then repeat it, to sew the back slab to the side slabs took me 6 hours. But on the end, my fingers were not nearly as sore as when I made the front cushions. Here is the result of my labor: Regards, Harm

Today I competed the sewing of the back slab to the side panel of the passengers seat cushion. Put it into the car, not unhappy with the result. Only thing to do is: investigate what causes the wrinkle on the right side of the seat. Same happens on the drivers side 😡. On the picture it can clearly be seen, in reality not so much, but I can unsee it anymore, very annoying. I started covering the back seat with hessian. Next thing to do, sewing side panels. Passengers cushion, ready for installation into the car. Detail of the cushion back slab sewn to the side panel. Completed front seats. Hessian on the rear seat. Regards, Harm

Hello Al, good luck. 😉

Hello Al, The answer to your question: the Singer can not be used as the amount of material is to small to use the Singer sewing feet. Maybe there are sewing machines for this, but I am not aware of them. Below are some detail pictures to make it more clear what I mean. Cushion upside down, with underside cover slab. These two parts should be sewn together. I use a curved strong sewing needle for sewing together the bottom slab and the cushion side panel. And this is where the fun begins 😉 All the layers are sewn before, so holding all the layers in position is easy. For regular leather work I use thread number 20, plenty strong for these cushions. For sewing the back slab to the side panel, I use thread number 10. To make it a bit more easy to get the threat through all the layers, I use hard leather wax on a small rag. (swiping the thread with the waxed rag) Al, thank you for your kind words. Regards, Harm

Today, I finished the drivers seat cushion. Sew the underside slab (artificial leather) to the side panels of the seat. Did it by hand with a canvas needle, that is a half round needle. As the artificial leather is quite stiff, I used pliers to push and pull it through 2 layers of leather and 4 layers of artificial leather. -Have now sore hands 😫-. One remark: the front of the seat is about 4" high, the rear of the seat is 2 3/4" high. The difference in height is necessary to keep you seated without sliding out of the seat, when the brakes are applied 😉. Cushion top side. Cushion bottom side. Driver side cushion at its final position. Hope to continue to morrow with the passengers side. Regards, Harm

Today Ann and I worked on the front seats. We are sewing the side pieces on the seats. As these side piece are sewn on at a 90 degrees angle, it is a very difficult job to do it with a 'regular' sewing machine. Years ago I bought a very old Singer leather workers machine. It took the greater part of the day to get it running and sewing again. But now it works perfect, after searching the web, I found and could download PDF manuals for it. Bringing such an ancient machine back to live you really need some kind of manual. Its a Singer type 29K71, its manually driven by hand wheel or by treadle. We use the hand wheel, start and stop is easier to control. Ann and I managed to get one seat sewn, Ann turns the wheel and I guide the leather seat, went well -still happily married 😉-. One problem I encountered, sewing in a straight line is rather difficult with this type of machine. The reason is the transport mechanism is simple, just the upper feet is transporting the leather. After a few inches it tends to put the leather of line. But on the other hand, you can rotate the upper feet 360 degrees horizontally. For this kind of job, a very useful machine. BTW it goes straight through 1/3" leather (be careful with fingers and nails, they are no match for these machines 😲. I hope to do the other seat to morrow. Ann turning the hand wheel of the Singer sewing machine. The pink dots are sewing pins. As it is rather cold in the shop, we keep our body warmers on. Left side new running board. Bought he brass edge trimming at the Restoration Stuff Company. Finished right side rear door. Finished left side rear door. Regards, Harm

Hello, After a nearly 6 month gap, I started again restoring the Oakland. The reason for my absence are some family matters. Ann has one sister, now 82 years old, who participated successfully, this year for the 18th time the 'Nijmeegse Vierdaagse'. A world famous 4 days walk event. For her age group, you have to walk 20 miles a day, during four consecutive days. Ann participated successfully 8 times, but did not like it anymore. Nearly 40,000 participants, just too many people to her liking. So all went well, but after two weeks my SIL went ill. Long story short, we nursed her and stayed with her. She slowly recovered, but no work on the Oakland could be done (my SIL lives 80 miles away, it takes at least a 3 hours round trip, very busy roads over there). Interesting part of this story: As Ann and I stayed at my SIL's place, my SIL asked me to start with the clearance of her estate (with is huge -for Dutch standards-. Well there are a number of sheds / shops / and garages.... Filled to the brim with car parts, to me most of unknown cars and lorries. So a lot of work is involved, not easy for two 70 year old humans😏. I will not bother you with the details, but there is one very nice 'detail' to mention. As my brother in law, collected and dismantled many cars 😭 (he was a bit of a hoarder) he also dismantled a.o. a 1935 Auburn 851 cabriolet. The icing on our cake: we found nearly all the important parts of this car, Engine+gearbox, dual ratio rear axle, frame, steering box and wheel. Furthermore, 2 complete doors, front fenders, 1 rear fender, complete hood and so on. And a complete undisturbed wind shield, boy is that thing heavy! But sadly no front axle nor wheels. Also the sheet metal after the doors is missing. But I know why, I will write about it in another installment. But most important, I found all the paperwork and some pictures belonging to that car, in the archives of my deceased BIL. That means a lot of less trouble with the authorities -if I ever get living long enough😉 to restore this car-. Having all the numbers and papers, i did a quick scan and could tracing the history back to the second owner. I guess with a bit of more effort, it must be possible to find the first owner. Back to the Oakland. To boast morale, I started to assemble all the parts on the Oakland. Just to see it as complete as possible. The running boards are junk, the PO cut of all the bolts and screws. So I made new running boards, that went well. But, I could not get the drivers side horizontal. The running board sagged about 6 degrees, and that shows! After a lot of thinking, I came to the conclusion, that the weight of the very heavy Prest-O-Starter tank + the two spare tires, was just to much for the running board brackets. After more than 100 years they sagged a bit. So, with the help of some heath and a a large Bahco key (monkey wrench?) I got them horizontal. Progress: the front fender did not fit any more 😡. Seems that in the past the 'restorers' made it fit, by putting the front fender 1 inch more to the front and relocated the bracket for fitting the fender to the running board. That caused the head lamp to rub at the fender, they relocated the stanchion more to the middle of the car by cutting it of and welding it 1/2" more to the middle of the car, using a big nut as reinforcement. I removed all this hacking and installed it as the car left the factory. The running board, fenders and head lamp are now fitting properly. Today I started (again), with finishing the upholstery. Made the door panels. (no pictures, phone empty). To be continued soon. Sincerely, Harm

Hello Al, Thank you. Where I live its 70F and rainy, that is rather cold for the time of the year. We had a cold month of July. But in Italy, France, Spain, Greece and Portugal (that is to say, the whole south of Europe), it is extremely hot. 118F at some places, and very dry, terrible. Because of the wild fires, most of the tourists at the Island of Rhodes are now being evacuated. Maybe you heard about it on the news? Regards, Harm

Hello, after nearly a 3 month standstill (a lot of small but time consuming chores, and a few vintage car outings) I continued with the restoration of the rear axle of the Oakland. I started with the drivers side of the axle housing, that is the side where the ring gear is bolted onto the differential. As the Oakland 40 HP engine runs counter clockwise, the ring gear is mounted at the opposite side, contrary to clockwise running engines. I first made a test sleeve for the cup part of the differential gear. I made it with a loose fit, this to facilitate easy removal when adding or subtracting shims. Then the fun began, putting in shims to get the right gear clearance (ring and pinion), and obtaining some bearing preload. The differential and shafts became quickly very heavy, after removing and replacing it more than 10 times. After that I removed the test sleeve took dimensions, and turned the final sleeve, the final sleeves have to be a press fitting. Pressed the sleeve into the axle housing, putting in some shims and assembled it, together with the third member including the prop shaft and pinion. Disassembled it again, and put the test sleeve with some shims into the passengers side half of the rear axle housing. After that, I bolted it together with the third member. Result: not too bad, by hand turning the prop shaft, nearly no contact noise from the ring and pinion. Axial end play of axle shafts: 1/16" each. Some questions to be solved: differential bearings preload, how to make the final adjustment and how to measure the real pre load. Gear play (I have no idea how to measure that as there is no inspection hole or something to observe the gears). The only possibility is using the prop shaft? Maybe I should use the Ford model A procedure. Starting with disconnecting the third member and removing the axle shafts from the differential. Then assemble the empty differential case -including some shims- into the axle housing and measuring the pre load by a small torque meter. Well I guess I must dive into the Ford model A procedure. Final sleeve with shims and cup, I milled a provision for inserting a cup removal tool. Axle housing half with final pressed in sleeve shims and bearing cup. Assembled passengers side of rear axle housing with third member. I made the 12 special bolts to bolt the ring gear at the differential case. Must also make the correct bolts for bolting the two differential case halves together. A P.O. used a mix of Allan bolts and grade 2 bolts. Also have to make the necessary special castle nuts, botched grade 2 nuts with washers are not OK. Assembled rear axle with third member and differential. So far so good, more of this next week. Regards, Harm

Auburn cabriolet with dicky seat, 1932 model 8-100A with 8 cylinder 268 CI Lycoming engine , the A models were fitted with the Columbia dual ratio rear axle. As it seems to be a police car I guess it would have the dual ratio rear axle. They were fast cars for their time.

Auburn 1932 V12 engine type BB, 391 C.i. 160 hp, 5 pas. Sedan. These engines (updated and enlarged) were later used till 1956 in American La France fire engines.

Hello, This morning I received the new chuck. After fitting it on the indexer, I started leveling the mill as good as I could. The machinist level is very sensitive, so it took me more than one hour to have the mill level, its not perfect but better than before. After that, I mounted the indexer and the shaft on the mill table, still using the machinist level for levelness indication. That went rather well, to support the shaft I used a V-block and some steel plates and brass shims. Got it parallel with the mill table. After milling a lot of shallow passes, I got a very nice square. No taper at all, I used a micrometer and a dial indicator for measuring this. So now I am very happy with the result. Just to satisfy my curiosity, I put the shaft again in the lathe, centered it and measured the taper of the shaft. Length of the shaft 3 3/4' , I measured the taper from 4" of the end of the shaft till the square that is about 3' shaft length, shaft diameter 1,375" total taper 0.002", not bad for an old late. Picture of setup of the shaft support Result of 2 hours milling and indexer turning 😀. Remaining activities, completing the nut, milling the key way for the pinion milling the key way for the nut retaining washer, turning the pinion bearing trust washer and cleaning the shop and machinery (what a mess it is now). Regards, Harm

Hello Joe, Thank you for he good advice. The mill I use is certainly not level, its more or less level 😉. Yesterday I tried to get the axle level and centered, I used a 4 yaw chuck with independent yaws mounted on the indexer. It didn't work out, whatever I tried, but after 2 full rotations the shaft was off center. As last resort I decided to clean the inner parts of the (rather old) chuck. When I dismantled it, some chips and a part of a yaw thread fell out. Well, how about that. I bought this chuck 20 years ago, and never used it till yesterday. I ordered a new one yesterday, should be here tomorrow. Regards, Harm