G749 preservation

[hendersond]

"Richard Pryor" That is funny.

So... what do you call the M207 with the big rack?

 

[m1010plowboy]

M207

There was a 135 with the 207 when we first saw it so they got George and Gracie. Gracie the M207.

So that gives us Larry, Curly and More...George and Gracie...Richard Pryor and Goose. Picking up a parts truck tomorrow but I think we'll call it a parts truck.

 

[m1010plowboy]

M135 Carcass Recovery

Had one of the luckiest recovery days ever with a forklift available to load the parts truck at one end and a 207 to unload at the other. Got buried in the Alberta slop and Gracie did her first recovery pulling about 17,000 lbs out of the mud with ease. Had the day cut short with a phone call from our neighbour that they were having a fire and the fire fighters lost the key to my shop and had to alter the front door to get in.

Arrived back to the City to see this leg coming out of my shop and then got to meet some of the most amazing people that will stand in front of fire to save a structure, crazy job. A huge Thank You to the Edmonton Fire Department for being there. The fire at Murray Chemical caused some smoke damage to our place but it was a little nasty inside so we couldn't get a good look yet. Murray makes cleaning products so a little canola oil, ammonia and some other flavours filled our shop.

I had just finished oilin' the 302 and decided to leave the valve cover off because the shop is clean and no one's around to make dust on the weekends. I always cover engine openings when covers are left off so it'll be back to the old habits after this lesson. Never know when the neighbour's shop is going to burn down.

We'll see tomorrow but this day will be logged as a lucky recovery day.

 

[m1010plowboy]

EFD heroes

A few pics of the damage on the outside and the new pattern on the walls. The water was still pouring in from the roof next door and the aerial trucks were still there so they hit this hard.

Not knowing what was in Murray Chemical could have slowed the firefighters down but what a great finish.

Thank you EFD

 

[m1010plowboy]

M207 shelter

I did get a chance to get pictures of some of the prizes and hardware in the 207 and a couple shots with her new little friends. M207 with the 1956 Batus M135 and the M211.

 

[Superdave]

Glad the recovery went ok, sorry to hear about your shop but I guess it could have been worse

 

[m1010plowboy]

Shop Fire

It's all good, Good, Onward. The fire re-ignited last night and somehow the security guard missed it so the morning shift called 9-1-1 again and more crap sat in the yard when I got there. The smoke was still bad in our shop but better than last night so we checked out the 51' Chev MV and we had the windows up on it so it's not bad.

Had a smoker driving one of the crew cab pick-ups and we left all the windows open to get the smell of the cigarette smoke out. The Irony of that is pretty hilarious.

The kid was workin' on the nearly spotless Mitsu 3000 GT and left the hood open.

The back wall is leaning more than yesterday but until they finish the investigation we can't touch anything. We're kind of expecting a phone call from the Landlord or an adjuster but I'm new to this fire thang so I guess we're on standby.

 

[m1010plowboy]

shop fire

Crazy how the fire missed the alcohol drums and some cardboard.

Anyone go through this before? We're hoping the rumor is correct that they'll pack, inventory, palletize and haul everything to a cleaning facility then return it spotless.

A few more pics.

 

[Section8]

Nice recovery! Parts parts parts!!
That really sucks about the fire!! Like you said the up side is it could have been worse and you could have lost everything in the shop.
As for "them" packing, palletizing and hauling stuff to a cleaning facility...
This is the first I have ever heard of that sort of thing being done. Unless you have a really good insurance policy!!!
When I was a paramedic in Saskatchewan and went to fire calls and such. It was pretty much left to the owners of damaged goods to salvage their stuff on their own. See lots of good stuff end up in the dump cuz of smoke damage.
Sure hope that isn't the case for you!!!
I am not trying to be a party pooper here but I have not heard of that sort of thing. I pray I am wrong!!
If things don't smell rank then a quick wash should get most of your stuff clean though!
Keep us posted how things go for ya!

 

[hendersond]

Interesting thing about steel trusses, they tend to point to the hottest spot of the fire, sometimes even the origin.

 

[m1010plowboy]

Fire and Water

2013 is turning out to be one for the records. The pictures from our shop today, water pouring through the roof from heavy rain and the ditches not taking it away because of oil spill kits.....placed because of oil from the fire. Still waiting for adjusters that have their main business in the flooded City of Calgary which is totally unrelated to our heavy storm flood with the exception of tying up every available adjuster with possibly the biggest disaster, financially, in Canada's history. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/06/25/calgary-flood-economic-impact.html

Our little ol' flood and fire is nothing compared to what our Southern friends are facing so we're looking at the positives.

A few things we did right that I encourage everyone to do as they can.

1) We took pictures of the shop and toys on a regular basis, loaded to computer and on E storage devices.
2) Immediately photographed fire evidence.
3) Had the shop floor clear of debris and paths between the vehicles so fire-fighters had easy access.
4) We had plenty of Fire Extinguishers, locations clearly marked and current dates of inspection marked on tag. Not needed for this fire but commended by fire-fighters.
5) Have documents for nearly every purchase over $200.00 since start of business as well as Quick-books back up with serial number, make, model and we knew not to store that info in the shop.
6) Performed yearly inventory (never knew why this was so important but knew it was a pain) and had a cool record of stuff that was in the shop.
7) Have security cameras that showed no 'bodies' entered the building from the back, reducing the arson possibility with no front door breach. Got to see smoke fill the shop which is not exciting.

We were also "insured up" but have been told we don't have "business disruption insurance" because the shop was for storage, maintenance and repairs, not for generating income which is not nice. The broker suggested he'll add feces removal insurance for next time because I continue to poop my pants as I learn more everyday about fire and flood recovery.

Covered the ol' crate 302 but we're waiting for decisions from people that are facing delays from events far greater than ours so one day at a time.

 

[hendersond]

Sorry about your loss, but thank you for the wisdom.

 

[m1010plowboy]

M207 trials and testing

Sunny and bright one day, floodin' the next.

Took the time to change plugs on the 207 and spend some time looking at a few more items. I believe the thing behind the driver is a sextent used to map location in the dark.....or a gun rack.

....cmpman ......you know these trucks better then most, what info have you got on the M207 and/or shelter. This one is from Yellowknife and it's known history is being put together by the previous owner so I'm on the learning curve.

The '207' part of the truck is of course identical to the 135 with the exception of a 'jar' for storing my alcohol on the right side of the radiator and gas heater. It shows 6616 miles since a rebuild and is stickered with "Add 18,000 miles to........"

Have not looked at wiring in the back yet so will be pulling whatever info I can from the TM's and following cab switch wiring to see what was added so I'm looking for operating info for the back I'm guessing.

Date plate shows it is a 30-4-54 baby which is different (day-month-year) than other data plates (month-day-year) so I was wondering if that a standard thing used to keep the enemy guessing what year the truck was made.

Some happy pics!

 

[cmpman]

There were no total rebuilds of the deuces that I knew of.....the Cdn army always seemed to have a surplus of these trucks. We had a good number of them in war storage/long term preservation when I worked in Winnipeg in the early 80s. The add on sticker merely meant the speedometer was replaced at some time. Personally, I used to open up the new speedo case and spin the odometer to the proper mileage, so there was no need to challenge the operators with mathematics, which was not always their strong point. If we entered a wrong mileage in the record keeping system, it was near impossible to change it. Once the computers came in, if the mileage was lower than the last time you reported it, the computer would not accept the reading, and the poor Sgt (me) would have to walk out to the compound to find the correct mileage.

The alcohol bottles were on some deuces, usually those with the arctic kit (perfection engine heater, insulated battery boxes with heated underpans) but often the kits would get partially yanked over time, depending on where you were.

There were two basic van bodies....the standard two rear door model, and a communications shelter that also had a side door. The vans normally had a Southwind 978M gas heater mounted on them, and a battery charger mounted inside so you could run the van off an AC outlet or a generator. There were various internal layouts depending on the designation of the truck. Somewhere in this office I have a 1960s census manual that lists the various van configurations of that time period.

I have one of the van bodies out back which I use for storing canvas. I had considered mounting it to one of my deuces, but I already have about 25 projects lined up before it.

The brackets are for the FN rifles. The mechanism up in the roof of the cab is likely a bell. It was controlled by a cable from the van body, and was used to signal the driver. You have to remember that these were pre-intercom days.

If you post your CFR, I can check the DND records on the truck. Note those records only go back to 1977 though, when we started entering data into the computer system.

 

[Section8]

Hmmmm.... That really blows!! Get hit with one disaster and then when you finallylift your eyes to see the light you get slapped with another disaster.
Good on ya for documenting everything!! The pics and notes and such that you have taken from the fire and the flooding will aid you conciderably, once and adjuster, processes your claim.
As for the mount behind the driver...
I would lean toward the sextent or maybe a location for a radio of somesort. Looks wrong for a rifle mount,plus it would be very ackward having a rifle jammed behind the driver.

 

[cmpman]

The upper rifle bracket is the item shown next to the passenger seat. The deuces had the FN brackets ( upper clips as shown and lower rubber cups) and usually an SMG bracket for the Canadian Sterling type C1 SMG also in the cab. In the photos shown, you can see most of the smg bracket mounted just behind the window.

The mechanism shown up by the roof is definitely a bell assembly, but the actual metal cup that the striker would hit is missing from the bottom.

In the Cdn army, we did not use sextants. We had maps and compasses for navigation. Still do, although the army is leaning more and more on the GPS these days.

 

[Section8]

That is some awesome intel CMPMAN. I will just shut up and continue to absorb it. Instead of talking out the wrong end of the 20mm.

 

[m1010plowboy]

The mechanism up in the roof of the cab is likely a bell. It was controlled by a cable from the van body, and was used to signal the driver. You have to remember that these were pre-intercom days.

If you post your CFR, I can check the DND records on the truck.

My Truck Has a Bell!!!

The info is over the top and greatly appreciated. Any G749 stories you can preserve here before you write the book is appreciated. Thank you.

Where else on the G749 would we keep the CFR if not painted on the dash? http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net/history_of_you_vehicle.htm
The 207 is away until the weekend but my first 135 and the latest Batus looking 135 are 56-53714 and 56-54341

 

[m1010plowboy]

Pics

Looking inside the neighbour's burned out building and the possible culprits pulled out by the fire investigators. Week 3 and still waiting for a clean shop.

Had a Family Day Event for http://www.salh.net/ today and the M135 posed for shots beside the Navistar http://www.navistardefense.com/NavistarDefense/canada and MLVW http://militarytrucks.ca/mlvw.htm

...and a couple shots from inside the 56' 135 with the F104 in the window frame. Missed a spot.

 

[m1010plowboy]

fire pics

pics