Steve,
I've had good luck with Portrayal Press also, although they seem expensive.
The DUKW is coming along slower than I would like, but I am making progress.
I have dropped all the driveshafts and tubes, boy what fun! The plugs in the
tubes weren't removed very often, and the lower driveshafts which ran in the
tubes have serious corrosion. I'm not sure they won't turn into pretzels the
first time I run up onto a beach in the soft sand. All the u-joints are dust,
literally. The tube accordion seals are in decent shape, with a couple of
tears here and there. I am currently considering whether to repair them with
silicon sealer, or replace them, either with NOS seals or new reproductions.
Draining the axle assemblies resulted in a lot of water coming out and very
little oil. The differential bearings and the ring and pinion bearings on all
three axles are gone. I have yet to decide if I can live with the corrosion
and pitting on the tooth surfaces of the ring and pinion. Found out last
weekend I'm about 6 inches short of being able to remove the rear axle shaft:
it hits the side of my house. The DUKW is up against the fence on the other
side, so I'll have to remove the rear axle assembly completely. Bummer.
Still have the brakes to go thru, the system is completely empty of any brake
fluid. And then I get to turn my attention to the stuff inside the hull. You
know, minor stuff like the engine, transmission, transfercase, etc....
I was able to make one good, complete windshield out of the two I had.
Actually, all I had to do was move some glass from one frame to the other.
Know anybody who needs a late DUKW windshield? I've got one. All glass is
cracked or missing, but the frame is in very good condition with only a slight
bit of surface rust here and there. Has both side wings and both air pressure
wiper motors.
On the good side I've got a deal working on purchasing what's left of a CCKW
for parts: hopefully the CCKW 3rd members will be usable. I went to a
military swap meet recently and scored 2 NOS large air gauges for the DUKW,
the ones which say "Highway, Coral, Sand, Mud". Someone else at the meet said
he thought he still had one each of the driveline accordion seals which he
would sell, and I got a call yesterday morning from one of the past owners of
my DUKW telling me a buddy of his had a DUKW anchor and prop (among other
things) and was I interested in buying them?
Do frogs have water tight butts? :)
All in all, it's going well so far. I am enjoying the project and the never
ending search for DUKWstuff, I just wish the process was faster and, of
course, cheaper!
Mike Bennett 1944 DUKW
PG&E
MAB5@pge.com
(209) 434-9343
===
To unsubscribe from the mil-veh mailing list, send the single word
UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of a message to <mil-veh-request@skylee.com>.