Putting it together – a rolling chassis

This was it – the first opportunity to really start to get things back together again, after only 10 months of work. It doesn’t feel like that long – it feels like only yesterday we hauled the first wreck home on a trailer.

I started by putting the shackles back on – an easy job I could do myself, but it felt realyy good knowing I was building instead of pulling apart.

My son Brian came up to help with the axles – just as well, they’re not easy to shift after the springs are put back on.

We did the first one (the front) by putting the road wheels on the axle, then bolting the springs on, then wheeling the complete axle under the shackles and jiggling (with the big hammer on the front shackles) until everything lined up.

The back we did by putting the road wheels on as before, but then we bolted the springs onto the front shackle and rolled the wheels underneath. We suspended the chassis from above to make it easier – I wish I had thought a bit more and hung the chassis up with a block and tackle to make it easy to move up and down – you think of all these things afterwards when the job is finished.

All in all it only took about 4 hours for the whole thing, so it wasn’t a drama at all in the end.

We got a few pictures of this operation, thanks to my wife who came out and did the honours.