For DRIVERS, MECHANICS & FOREMEN.
Page 25
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• A PRIZE OF TEN SHILLINGS is awarded each week to the sender of the best letter which we publish on this page ; all °there are paid for at the rate of a penny a line, with an allowance for photographs. All notes are edited before being published. Mention your employer's name, in confidence, as evidence of good faith. Address, D., 31; and 7., "The Conmercial Motor," 7-15, Rosebery Avenue, London, E.C. 1.
Lamps Alight: On Baturday, January 3rd, light your lamps at 4.31 in London, 4.19 in Edinburgh, 4.21 in Newcastle, 4.34 in' Liverpool, 4.34 in Birmingham, 4.41 in Bristol, and 5.17 in Dublin.
Emergency Repair to a Peerless..
The sender of the following communication, has been awarded the Ws. prize this week.
f2,042] " T.G." (Bighworth) writes:---" During the last railway strike I was engaged in transporting milk, using a Peerless lorry, which had seen some rough service. In the course of one-of our journeys, when descending a fairly steep hill, the fan came adrift with somewhat disastrous results. In particular the radiator was badly damaged. However, we managed to patch .up the radiator, chiefly by the rather rough and ready ,method of stopping up the broken tubes with wooden plugs. Th,e process did not necessarily improve the cooling properties of the unit, particularly with the fan out of commission. Furthermore, the route lay through a hilly district, and the inevitable consequence was that. we soon began to suffer from overheating of the engine. We therefore decided, since we. could do no snore with the radiator, to make an attempt so soon as opportunity offered at replacing the fan by some means or other. " What had r eally happened was that. one of the studs holdingthe fan bracket in place had broken off in the crankcase casting. We stopped at the first blacksmith's shop which we came across, and borrowed a few tools. He bad no taps or screwing tackle of any kind, so that we could do little in the way of removing the old piece of stucL What we did was to drill.a hole down the centre of it, and, using a taper punch we enlarged the upper part of the holl and made it taper.: We then obtained a in. set screw and filed the end taper for about in. We ran a nut up under the head of the screw, and drove the taper part tightly into the hole in the broken stud We then used this as.a stud, and made so good a job of the repair that it lasted throughout the strike and gave us no further trouble of any kind whatswpr
Lubrication Tips.
[2,043J " F'.G." (Camberwell) writes-e—" One or other of the following tips may prove of service to some of the readers of your 'P.M. and F.' pap. Most of them deal with lubrication, which is a subject in which I have always taken a particular interest.
"During an inspection ode day, I discovered that one of the drain plugs on the bottom of the crankcase was missing. The driver in charge of the lorry had replaced it with a wooden plug, but as I did not like the substitute, I looked round for 'a new plug, but was unfortunate as we had not one in, stock. However, I managed to make a good substitute from the body of a disused grease plug, the thread on the shank of which happened by chance to be the.,sanne as that in the crankcase. I therefore cut off the larger part of the cup, leaving only the hexagonal shank and the smaller screwed thread. I filled up. the hole in the shank by a piece of brass wire, which 1 further secured in place by a little solder.
"This dodge is not a new one with me, as I have done the same thing before, only in that case the repair was of a Claudel-Hobsoncarburetter. The connection for the hot water circulation pipe broke off short, in the carburetter. In order to keep going for the rest of the day, I plugged up the hole in the carburetter in the same way, using a piece of grease cup.
" I have a rooted objection to the use of a. grease gun, as in my opinion it does not allow of that 'little and often' prooess.which is so essential if a bearing is to be properly lubricated. I invariably substitute grease cups for plugs myself, so that I can give them a eon-pie of turns daily while on the road.
"Finally as regards the D.M. and F.' page itself. I always remove it from my copy of The, Commercial Motor and file' it away. The result is now that I have a book of hints and tips bound together and handily filed for easy reference."