New Ben Hur home

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 7:36 pm

Wow, after a 2000 mile round trip I have a new and nearly complete Ben Hur in the drive , ready for restoration. It was a great trip to Blackwater , Missouri, where I met up with Greg Bates, his wife and brother in Law and picked up the trailer. Greg is a re=enactor and owner of a great running CCKW 353 open cabed truck. We met at a convience store just off IH 70 and loaded the trailer up He came motoring down the road, pulling the old trailer and that it inself was a great sight.
They were great people to meet and talk to and I hated to leave but it was time to find a place to spend the night and bed down for the long trip back to Texas. The poor old Ben Hur has been used and abused as a farm trailer, but is basically complete, needing only the landing wheel and the left tail light. Look for photos to be posted soon.
We had fun and it is always great to meet other HMV'ers.

John V Cliche · Post by **John V Cliche** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 9:29 pm

So that's where you've been AD
With all the rain on the weather map in your area I figured you were trying to put together a fording kit for "Betty Boop "

John

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 5:03 am

We did get a lot of rain. Weather was great for the whole trip until we got to Austin, Texas then heavy rain all the way home pulling that trailer with a trailer on it. That was tedious to say the least.
I am sure glad I live at the top of the hill, or old Betty Boop would have needed fording gear.

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:00 am

Wow, the work tearing this old trailer down for restoration is working on this old man. It has sat in the weather so long that even an impact wrench will not remove bolts. A hand grinder and cutting torch are the word of the day. But progress is being made.

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:11 am

This site is great. I need 20" wheels and tires for the trailer and who steps forward with the tires, Major Gus Miskovsky, U.S. Army who is currently posted here at Fort Sam Houston and is a historic military vehicle collector. He has a WWII Dodge and a Ben Hur he got from Sid Beck. Communications are the key to everything and because of this site I found part of what I needed. The rims are available in Waxahachie, Texas but that trip is for another time as it is over 200 miles away.
Thanks Bill for this site and thanks Gus for contacting me about the tires.

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 8:26 am

I had a great visit with Gus when I picked up the tires. He has a beautifully restored 43 Dodge Weapons carrier and has mostly NOS parts used in the restoration. The 1 Ton trailer he has is a Gerstlater( sp) mfg in 1943 also. It is really nice with the original wooden sideboards still in excellent condition. He is stripping the layer of yellow paint off of the trailer and has uncovered the original numbers on it.
The tires I got are original issue. I am not sure when as I have not had time to look at them, but they are at 80 % tread and old issue, not current remake. Will post more info later. They came off of the 1 ton trailer, but he wanted to go back with new tires.

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 2:03 am

I looked at the tires I got from Gus this week and they are Kelly military tires manufactured July 1952. Rubber is very plyable and no dry rot. They will look real good on the Ben Hur.

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:04 am

Work is progressing on the old trailer. I mounted one tire on the single rim I had and am awaiting shipment and arrival of another rim from Thundercat 97.
I got the NOS landing leg and wheel I got from rhinexing mounted and she is looking more like a real Army trailer, not the farm trailer she had been turned into.
The most amazing Bubbaizing of the trailer were the wheels. Regular 15 inch rims and tires were mounted on the trailer. The centers of the 15 inch rims were cut out as were the center of the 20" original rims and they were welded into the center of the 15 inch wheels. Bubba engineering at it's best.

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Fri May 18, 2007 8:24 am

Restoration is going great. I have recieved my second CCKW rim from Thundercat 97 and will sandblast it and paint it tomorrow, then mount the tire and put it on the trailer. Also will spend time on the electrical wireing for the tail lights.
Hope to have it at least complete enough for a Memorial Day display at a local shopping mall . This is a great place for old military vehicle displays as it is only 3 miles from the main gate at Randolph Air Force base and lots of retired and active duty military types come around.

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Mon May 21, 2007 4:42 pm

This is a continuing saga. I cleaned up the rim I got from Thundercat 97 and it cleaned up real nice. It was dated 7-45. Got it painted, and tire and new tube put on it and now it is installed on the trailer. Wow those 7:50 x 20 tires make all the difference. Restoration is close at hand and will post photos soon.

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:00 am

The continueing saga is nearing a finish. I am building the side boards, per the specs so kindly offerend on this site. Thanks to those that helped supply the needed parts to get this old trailer completed and ready for the 4th of July parade in Schertz, Texas.

Bill_Wolf · Post by **Bill_Wolf** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 7:16 am

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Thu Jun 14, 2007 5:03 am

The sideboards are nearly complete and ready for paint. In an attempt to try to find out what year the trailer was manufactured, I decided to see fi there were any markings on the Bubbaized wheels that came off of the trailer. The farmer had put fifteen inche wheels on the trailer by having the center bolt pattern cut from the originals and welded into fifteen inch rims. Well there was some information. One trim was a Budd manufacture and dated 1942, the other rim had no manufacture markings but the date of 1941, Still only guessing on the date of manufacture but I had a lot of fun playibng detective.

Thundercat97 · Post by **Thundercat97** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:32 pm

it looks great.... i will soon have to break my trailer out and do it.

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:31 am

Good luck on the trailer. Working on traileers is kind of fun for an old man. You don't have to work on a ladder to work on it.

armydriver · Post by **armydriver** » Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:59 am

I pulled the trailer for the first time in the 4th of July parade in Schertz, Texas and it pulled great. It really adds to the truck also. They look great together.

The GMC CCKW

New Ben Hur home

New Ben Hur home

ben hur trailer