18-07-20 A Gearbox to Barnsley

Today we had a trip over to Barnsley area to discuss and start a job on the Fords gearbox which meant leaving around 0830ish. The box was loaded in the day before and our routing would take up Stockport - Denton - Snake Pass and finally to Burnley where the ex Thomas Cook Captain lived upon leaving the traffic was light all the way there with stunning scenery along the snake pass with its rolling hills and many reservoirs with the road snaking its way through the scenery.

The Captains house was quite a moderate size from the outside as the Porsche greeted us in the driveway alongside another vehicle as we knocked on the door. Inside is not too cluttered as we chatted for a few minutes in the kitchen before returning to the van to retrieve the gearbox box and bring it into the garage where the toys hide. Lots of fancy machines and CAD machines lurked inside as the door was opened. Also joining us was another ex Thomas Cook Captain this time was based at Newcastle for the flying.

 
The lads discussed various ways to do the job of milling down the gearbox to tolerances and processes/tooling and told stories about the past at Thomas Cook.

After a while he showed us the toys and explained what they did and such then showed off the CAD machine talking a lot about it

Its quite an impressive machine the way he explained how it works and what it does and the various cutting tools and such that are with it also explained the story of how he acquired it. Then it was back home in the rain yet again over the snake pass seeing more of the scenery as the cloud base was higher this time with a heavier flow of traffic and the roadworks again it was a nice trip over to that part of South Yorkshire and through the peak district

04-07-20 A milestone for the project

So the start of the month we decided to go up with a friend and his car to Rudyard near Leek on the 4th to rent a trailer for 30 quid it even had a winch and then head to a farm near Holmes Chapel for to retrieve the body from storage.

We arrived at the farm to be greeted with a large storage shed full of caravans and campervans. The body had been sat here for quite a while on its makeshift trollie awaiting mating to the completed chassis it was warm and overcast with a few light on and off showers of rain as we ventured inside. The farmers telehandler at the front entrance to the storage shed had been removed before we arrived and we made our way inside to find the body shell nestled between 2 caravans

It was then manhandled out of its spot between the 2 caravans into the middle of the shed to be pushed outside

It was then pulled out into the centre of the shed and inspected before we dragged it towards the trailer awaiting outside hooked up to a friends Ford Fiesta

With the inspection complete it was time to move it outside to be loaded onto the trailer and return home with it to be able to mate it with the body

Now outside it was time to ready the trailer to receive the body we had to lower the ramps to each side and extend the winch to be connected to the trolly. After some slow winching it was finally on the trailer in its position to be taken back home

it was time to lash the body shell down to the trailer using some straps and then make sure it was safe to move forward. Whilst the other 2 where lashing it down I took the opertunity to take shot of the whole rig together with the friends vehicle

With the body shell now lashed down to the trailer it was time to head back to base and do it all over again and mate the body to the chassis. We arrived back home and offloaded the body but due to technical difficulties encountered because the chassis had wheels on it was decided it would not fit over so it was left outside with a tarp over it

The rest of the team tinkered with getting things squared up to receive the body over the chassis. It was almost in place before 1700 so we downed tools for the day. The next day the chassis was properly positioned and mounted down to the chassis with the dolly being stowed elsewhere after removal with our regular member of the team now back helping out things have progressed.

On the 18th there is a trip to Barnsley, South Yorkshire to meet an ex Thomas Cook Captain to see if they can help us with the gearbox issue. From photos seen over WhatsApp they have some cnc 3d printing machine and some fancy toys there going to help out with