The Making of Yankee Joe

Part I

WHICH VEHICLE WILL WE TAKE ON “The Trip of a Lifetime”?

We looked not only at the suitability of any in our own vehicle fleet but considered buying anything else. Barry Hodges took us to look at an old Blitz radio van at Laidley, but it turned out to be a 60’s unit which interestingly had been used by a previous Governor to go star gazing back then.

DODGE ½ TON 4X4 WEAPONS CARRIER

Initially we chose the Dodge ½ ton which we’d swapped through Prices, Dalby. Its’ previous long term owner was Dan Dennis and everyone knew that the motor was “always stuffed”. On a stopover in Dalby we included a visit to our old mate Neville Morris, and as luck would have it he agreed to sell us a replacement engine. Dale went back with the tilt tray whilst up at the Dalby Museum open days in May, and picked it up. Neville had picked me a large bag of prickly pear from which I made a treacle honey, which was passed onto Russell to deliver a bottle of it back to Neville.

CHEVROLET 2.5 TON 4X4

It wasn’t long after getting the engine home that we realized that I would be too exposed to the elements in the cab of the Dodge, with its lack of doors and canvas hood, so we switched back to Dale’s most favoured vehicle, the 1942 Chevrolet Yankee Joe bought from the Dubbo Military Museum auction sale in November 2006.

The Chevy which was little more than a running wreck, with its transplanted running gear, Ford V8 flathead engine and gearbox, after market RH steering conversion, collapsed seats, six shot tyres; there wasn’t any door linings! An enormous later model tray body had been dumped on its back, and the spray gun had gone right over it transferring it to camo desert tones, right over the windows, headlights and all!

Dale had a burst of enthusiasm, set himself an easy three months to completion and went at it hammer and tongs. His goal was to have it ready in time for the Canungra Rally and Swap October 2008.

AND SO BEGAN A NINE MONTH RESTORERS NIGHTMARE – NOTHING WENT TO PLAN, NOTHING WAS EASY, EVERYTHING HAD TO BE ESPECIALLY PROCURED OR REMADE, AND THE PRESSURE WAS ON TO HAVE IT READY TO BE CONTAINERISED BY FEB 21ST 2009.

After making the initial assessment we concluded that there was extensive panel work required to repair the back of the cabin which had holes all along the seam. The bonnet was badly dented, had lost its bracing and was all loose and floppy, windscreen repairs, there were no wipers, the doors had no guts in them, so there were no windows, brackets, winders, frames or any structure at all. We got a quote for the panel work for $5,000.

RARE UNITS

There seemed to be few around to compare ours with to enable us see what we were missing and how to go about it.

A spare civilian Chevy of the correct vintage acquired locally for a couple of cartons was snapped up! You may remember the picture of it with the concrete ballast for its crane under the seat!

We had hoped to be able to recover its’ engine for our project, but it wouldn’t turnover.

So, we were now also on the hunt for a new motor, Dale had been given a list of Chevy people to look up by Warren Kerle from the Military Jeep club. The first contact lived at Toowoomba, which we thought was too far away, so decided to meet up with another prospect, Gordon Buteux at Laidley. Gordon said he had doors and quite a bit of other stuff.

We shot out there and couldn’t believe our luck. There was his old Chevy which he had owned for 20 years together with a recently imported one. He had parts stacked about the place everywhere. At first we started out by buying a bonnet, side panels and doors, and then came up with the bright idea to buy the whole vehicle and anything surplus to his needs. This would save us thousands of dollars on the restoration of the doors, give us a better cab and short cut the work no end. Also his was still left hand drive, whereas ours had been converted to right hand drive. Additionally, our chassis had an angle end on the chassis rails and was fitted with a Blitz tow bar set up.

So, with the deal done and Gordon now on side, we loaded up and headed back to Brisbane with Gordon promising to hand over extras as they turned up!

Back in the workshop though, it was a different story. We considered taking our cab off and replacing it with Gordon’s which had already been lifted off the chassis rails. But in reality Gordon’s had been stripped of so much that it was better to go with our own, and using his doors.

AUSTRALIAN ARMY CAB (DUBBO) VERSUS USA ARMY CAB (GORDON’S)

With the two Chevy’s together, suddenly we were looking at different windscreens, different locks and handles, vents, fuel tank locations, and RH and LH fuel filler holes.

GMH CAB

“What is unique to Australian Chevy’s, on the instrument panel you’ll notice the gauges are rectangular, while the USA has round dials and on the Oz the back lighting is built in, whereas with the American version the lights are down light stalks!” said Dale.

“Windscreen hinges are internal on the Australian cab and on the American one they are exposed on the outside,” he continued. “You’ll notice that the fuel tank is under the seat with a LH filler cap, whereas on the American one the tank is mounted between the chassis rails behind the transfer case at the back of the cab with the filler on the right.” “The advantage for the USA is that the seat vacuum becomes a tool box.” “Also, the Australian Cab has an exterior door lock fitted on RH side.”

Part II

PARTS FROM TOWNSVILLE MUSEUM

Whilst talking about the Yankee Joe at the South Coast Restoration Rally at Pimpama in July 2007, we were offered 2 pallets of Chevy leftovers from the Townsville Museum. It was shipped by McAleese and at the time little did we know how useful it was destined to be to us.

THE ENGINE

The decision to R & R the powerful Ford engine was one of the worst we made. Dale considered that as the Ford was too large for the engine bay, it would be difficult for him to work on it in the event of it’s failing whilst on the open road. He should’ve left it alone!

It seemed a pity to undo the Ford V8 Customline engine transplanted into it earlier and conversion to RH drive as well at the same time. The Engine bracket had been removed and adjustments made to fit the Ford into the engine bay, and this had to be reversed. Because of this conversion, it was considered to be too time consuming to try to start reversing the steering conversion, so he decided to leave the steering as it was.

Photo shows the two added engine mounts for the Ford engine and how the chassis has been cut around for the RH steering box (good job with its welded on bracket).

NONE OF THE MOTORS WOULD TURN

We expected to be able to build a motor out of the free Chevy truck we had picked up at Browns Plains, the 235 motor out of Gordon’s Chevy, and the ones in the Townsville parts.

Water had got into Gordon’s. It had no oil pressure and no compression. The head we’d hoped to recover from the concrete Chevy was sadly also water affected. Nothing was worth repairing with the limited time we had left.

CHEVY SLOPER 216 ON EBAY

In despair, on Thursday 24th July Dale decided to do a Landcruiser HZJ diesel transplant so we researched the internet to find a motor. To our shock we found we’d be looking at $4,500 - $8,000 range and with that Dale said, “just type in Chevrolet motor”. Wow, up it came, a 1939 motor with all the trappings out of a Sloper in Nowra. We want to here acknowledge the owner’s Sonja and Dave Clarke because they were put to a lot of inconvenience as far as packing and strapping, arranging for a crane, and the failure of the pick up to turn up time and again. They were rodding their car and were thrilled about our D-Day trip with the Yankee Chevy. The engine was, as they said, a beauty, turned over and ran as quiet as a mouse. The tiny 3 spd gearbox was sold to Lang Kidby. All we needed to complete the picture was a truck radiator. “Look, even the horn is hanging off it and it still works”, said Dale, “and best of all it came with an original large type starter button”. Dale reckoned he’d never seen one before.

MILITARISING THE SUMP

THE 235 MILITARY MOTOR V 216 CIVILIAN MOTOR

With the 216 and the 235 side by side, several differences were obvious. Apart from the length, the 235 has a deeper sump and is offset to clear the front diff.

The 216 car motor has a 2.5 to 3 L oil capacity only, whereas the militarized larger 235 has the larger capacity for lugging, driving for longer periods and coping with undulating terrain.

“My plan was to increase the oil capacity by deepening the sump to give me 6 Litres. I cut the sump off Gordon’s 235 and mig welded it onto the bottom of the car sump. Then by cutting a hole through the bottom of the 216 for the oil pump, I extended the pickup using a 235 oil pump which has longer gears.”

“By building a baffled sump extension it was a much improved set up for a splash fed system reducing the risk of oil starvation as was so common with the splash system,” said Dale.

Not only did Dale increase the depth of the trough, but he built baffles inside it to ensure that oil will always be available regardless of the length of the climb.

Dale likes to reengineer things if it can’t be noticed and it makes for a better driving situation.

LIGHTS AND ELECTRICALS

As per usual the wiring loom had been snipped right through in several places without being labeled, and so the tedious job of testing and eliminating began.

The original vacuum wiper motors were both missing. “They are known to be very inefficient especially going uphill, when the throttle is pressed, the wiper stops.” “I used a cut down two speed electric Daihatsu dual wiper assembly found at the Moore dump. Using two Morris Minor wiper arms and blades gleaned from a swap we now have a synchronized performance at a choice of two speeds with only one switch. It was tricky, I managed to conceal the entire unit inside the bulkhead you would not spot the difference.”

While the body was off it was an opportune time to fit a VH power brake booster and vacuum tank. Brake lines had been brazed up in places so all were replaced.

BRAKES:

The footbrake linings came off the old crane Chevy and they were brand new all round. The handbrake band assembly was missing and you wouldn’t know it, a brand new one was found in the Townsville parts, new linings, springs, pins, levers, everything.

“On 23 August 2008 I pulled the timing cover off to replace the timing seal and the timing gear fell off the camshaft. It was a fibre one which was loose on the shaft and had to be replaced, which I found whilst hunting up the back from the boxes of parts from Townsville.”

Part III

11 SEPTEMBER 2008 – THE TURNING POINT

“At last with the new brake lines installed all round I can start putting bits on and not just taking bits off,” said Dale.

ANOTHER SETBACK

“On 13 September 2008, Karen was helping me lower the newly painted and kitted up motor into the engine bay using the Coventry Climax ½ ton forklift bought from Reg Schuster’s auction at Pimpama. Extended to the full height of the mast, it got stuck. I climbed up, freed it, and got it working again, but suddenly it dropped a couple of feet crashing into the engine bay and on to the radiator couling. The engine slumped into the recess. Miraculously, it had only bent the throttle lever as it wedged itself against the firewall, making a slight indent in the cowling,” said Dale

THE GEARBOX

“The Ford gearbox was not compatible with the Chev so here I had another problem to solve. The Chev was too slow, so I gave it a bit of thought and decided on a Toyota Dyna 5 speed overdrive, which I plucked from gearbox stock. By fitting a Landcruiser lid I was able to have the gear lever through the floor in it’s normal position. Dyna’s have two side levers to operate the gears, which wouldn’t come through the floor. So a LC lid fitted perfectly and looks the part.

“At this time I decided to pull apart the transfer to check it out. The gears looked perfect. The bearings are so tiny that I rebearinged and sealed the transfer which came with the vehicle just in case we had a bearing go on us to eliminate the risk of bearing failure.”

The transfer hangs off a crossmember under the seat independent of the gearbox.

A VISIT FROM NIGEL WARD

It was the last Friday before Christmas. “I’m at my wits end. I’ve been trying for hours to fit the rear cab window rubber and inset.” “Every time I get it lined up the whole assembly pops out the other side. I’ve had it,” declared Dale. So with Nigel working on one side and Dale on the other a couple of hours later “and twenty bandaids” said Dale, it was installed.

THE CHRISTMAS FAIRY

The savings we were going to make by switching cabs didn’t bear out. When the panel beating doubled from the earlier quote, we got done what we could afford to pay for, and then fell into despair.

A friend came along and offered to finish off the bonnet, doors and mudguards in return for mechanical work after the trip – we were back on the trip!

TRIP TO FRANKLINS

It was the Sunday before Christmas, 21st December 2008, on its’ maiden voyage, to set up a photo shoot and get our friend to witness the signature on Dale’s pommy passport. Everything ran beautifully, except on the first hill the transfer case popped out of high range. Hoping it was only a once off, we tried again, with no such luck, the transfer had to come out again. Dale performed a quick backgrind on high range, the gear which had looked perfect!

CUPPA’S WITH MIKE O’SULLIVAN

January 2nd 2009 – Fresh vegemite and cheese rolls over tea and coffee to sustain us. Mike too was feeling the financial pinch due to the world economic downturn. He was so inflated with enthusiasm about the trip – said he’d flown over parts we were visiting.

Mike was on his way to his hanger at Watts Bridge and provided the post New Year’s break we needed from the daily ritual “work on the Chevy”, “work on the grass cutting.”

Looking around Mike concluded, “The risk of having too many trucks is like my friend with his plane collection, he never gets to fly them.” Wow!

Seeing Mike’s “little” Chevrolet Blitz winding its way up our summer green driveway was inspirational. It was fun to compare the ride each of us would have. Mike with his “no frills” machine with the engine between him and Karen, nothing overhead, just the hoops and canvas; yet a better measure of comfort with his modern fit out including high backs - pneumatic suspension seats!

Mike was impressed with our Chevy, the cabin was tidy, its wind up windows!

THREE BODIES TO CHOOSE FROM

Once again we took the opportunity to seek an outsider’s opinion on which of the three bodies to go with. Unanimously, we voted in the 1950s Toyota troop carrier body. It would need to be cut down the middle and brought in 8 inches to fit the narrower chassis rails of the 1942 Chevy.

YOUR OWN WRECKING YARD

Dale just loves to go to his own parts supply and pick out something which can be slightly modified and used again without having to go to the wreckers. Time and time again he would proudly tell the story about how he had kept something which would now do the job. Like the mudguards for the rear wheels which came out of a scrap yard years ago, perfect fit!

BENDIX WEISS KNUCKLE JOINTS

Two faster diffs had been supplied by Warren Kerle and John Hill (deceased) and we put the best one in the back with new bearings and seal for reliability. There was no rear diff and the front diff was a slow ratio.
“I changed the front diff when I did the brakes,” says Dale. “I cleaned John’s diff and adjusted it and fitted a new seal.”

“When I pulled out the front axleshaft to check the front diff I wanted to show Karen the old way CV joints were made for trucks. The Bendix Weiss knuckle joint is a constant velocity joint, with 5 constantly loaded balls at all angles. Brilliant design, smooth and very hardy due to the large surface area around the balls, compared with modern CV joints that only have three moving parts for cheap production (limited life span).”

BUDDY NUTS

“I’ve decided to put extra wheel nuts on the front rims, not only do they look good, but they are handy to stand on when looking under the bonnet. They are on the back to carry the second dual wheel.” Buddy nuts on the front allow the fitting of a second rim as an option for extreme snow or mud conditions.

PINTLE HOOK

You can see from the photo of the rear of Yankee Joe and the one we got from Gordon that our chassis has been cut at a 45 degree angle which makes us think ours was a tipper dump truck. Also, you’ll notice that it was once fitted with a Blitz spring leaf type tow bar as compared with the Chev GMC pintle hook. Dale converted it back into Chevy specs.

WANTED ADS

Email: On the 12th January a challenge went out to convoy members to find us engine side covers and bumperettes. Ray Ward was one who kindly replied directing us to our old mate Russell Price! Herman Pfaulter also obliged by ensuring us that we would pick them up in France whilst on our travels! Wanted ads bring an unusual response – everyone looking for the same part ring you up wanting to buy them off you!

THE BED

After traveling all over town to look at an unsuitable bed, we found just what we needed at the recycling centre. The old style angle iron frame with mesh with the webbed slats from a later type laid in the frame and we had a base. Dale installed the legs to give us enough height to allow for our storage containers to go underneath.

TWO CONVOY TRUCKS HERITAGE LISTED

It was both flattering and frustrating to have Yankee Joe come under the scrutiny of the “Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986”. The second truck was the 1941 Ford 4x2 Ute V8 1 ton. We had to continue with our truck restoration right up to February 10th, not knowing if the truck were going to be allowed out of the country.

ALLORA RALLY JANUARY 17TH – 18TH

The ultimate road test was to get it up and down Cunningham’s Gap. There was no need to worry, it had good power, ran cool, good brakes, a comfortable 90 kph road speed, but developed a wheel wobble in the front which is common for old four wheel drives. So Dale installed new tie rod pins and bushes and retracked the steering with his measuring stick. With my help he then rechecked his work with a plumb bob line. A hydraulic steering damper completed it, perfect.

Without Les Turner’s help finishing off lights etc we wouldn’t even have had it ready for Allora. The Toyota body was not ready for pickup at the upholsterers, so we had to install a replacement to give us a sleeping compartment for the weekend. Les Turner helped us install the temporary body we picked up from Wanless.

COMMISSIONING OF YANKEE JOE - VALENTINE’S PARTY – FEB 14TH 2009

We held a great send off party for the Brisbane contingent. It was a shed opening party and birthday party for Lang and others. I was able to practice my selection of songs I’d been practicing to “entertain the troops with” whilst on convoy.

The finishing touches were now going on. We tricked it up by adding a yellow water tank, made stencils and copied its Australian Army number. We made up a unit number 85 and a divisional platypus sign, which was my father’s 9th Division Cavalry Regiment badging.

LOADING INTO CONTAINERS AT HEMMANT

Tuesday 21st February, loading in holding yard.

“Driving ie reversing the truck in was easy enough, but then as the day went on, I was working under the truck in unbearable heat like I’ve never felt before, no air, no circulation, putting the chains and straps around the axles,” says Dale. The container cleats were so small we couldn’t get the chains or tie down straps through them, so Nigel had to find a store to buy a bag full of shackles before we could even start.

Everything had to be done under the diffs on the back or belly, you couldn’t stand up to do anything because there was only 50ml clearance all round the truck. Lang couldn’t get under his Chev which was in front of ours. He had to jack it up on blocks of wood under the axles to give him the clearance to tie it down.

We had a five week break from the Chevy to complete the two Kaisers in time to take them to the Clubs Canungra Rally and Swap October 18 and 19th. Another week was taken up visiting Dale’s new grandson in Sydney in November, and then it took another few days to pick up our Chamberlain MKII Industrial tractor in Bargo. Apart from this, and Dale’s Jury Duty stint, we can’t remember a day going by without working on the truck.