1950 Commer s25

Lang wrote: Gordy


PS. Any DOT for brake fluid - the higher DOT numbers are for disc brake higher temperatures which consideration I don't think will impinge heavily on the Commer braking system!

Lang

I believe true for DOT 4, but DOT 5 is silicone based - can not be mixed with mineral brake fluid. The results are expensive.

Jarrod.

You are right, it is the only one out. 5.1 is OK along with the others.

www.epicbleedsolutions.com/resources/faq...d-dot51-brake-fluid/

To be fair, given the price of DOT 5 and relative scarcity on the shelves, few would use it by accident, or convenience.

It is excellent where vehicles are rarely used, as it has a longer lifespan. I'm happy with DOT 3, or 4 myself and 4 seems to be the most common on the shelves today.

Jarrod.

Gordy,
looking at the photos you posted of the rear parking brake set up, it looks the same or at least very similar to my later cab-over Karrier set-up.
If it is, and you haven't got that far as stripping it down yet, I had the devil's own job of removing the drums from the hubs as well. I had to back off the square adjusting nuts (frozen solid) after soaking them in WD40 for a while, then put a long bar between the wheel nuts and just kept winding them around and tapping on the drum with a 4lb hammer. Took quite some time to get them off, one side the shoes departed from the liners but were stuffed anyway.
My parking brake set up is straight mechanical, independent of the hydraulics, they are a simple wedge type affair with a tapered cam in them. I cleaned mine up with a small reamer ($20 at Supercheap) and although a few minute pit marks, came up OK, figuring as they didn't have any rubbers in them, I could live with it. I was advised to give them a good dose of graphite grease on reassembly, which I'll do when it comes to putting it all back together.
Probably not telling you something that you don't already know, or have discovered if you have the drums off by now.
Cheers, Dave

Forgot to post this pic
If you see what I call the slave cylinder then look to the left and you can see the disconnected hand brake thing a ma jiggy in behind the slave and going out to the thinga ma jig is a twisted peice of metal.
As someone said before it must be a pommy thing and the handbrake works on the slave cylinder not independant.
I could see a hand brake adjuter either
So to free up hand brake I'll need to attack the inside of the cylinder I think
I want to have a go at driveing in and out of garage but a bit iffy if I dont even have a handbrake to stop me

Cab strippings coming along well
This is a pic from couple days ago
Bonnets done
I would put stripper on before I went to work then come home and peal off
No more stripping left to do just up to sanding now
All the guards and bonnet will come of for final clean up but i'll protect metal with wd 40 as suggested by panel beater

Anyway of establishing exactly what this truck is by this plate
Dosn't have a year stamped anywhere i've seen
Looking around for parts I get a bit confused as I se things such as
Superpoise, mark1, mark2, mark 3, it is an S25 but called something else etc etc

Gordy,
I had one of those Commers which was a February 1955 Model. I bought it in 1962 and sold it in the early 1980's. Yours looks identical to it , which makes me think that yours may be a bit newer than 1950. Does yours have an external spark advance system on it with an outside link on it which rotates the whole Distributor, or is it an internal advancer like all the common cars. I think they changed the Distributors in about 1954. The earlier model had a Crash Box and about 1954 they changed over to a Synchromesh in the three top gears. The Synchro box had a longer and skinnier gear lever. They had an English Girling brake system, which was, like all the early Commers, very sluggish in the brakes as you had to tramp on them hard. We had a VH8 PBR Hydrovac unit on it, mounted in front of the fuel tank, and the brakes were then very good. All of your electrics are Lucas and most of those parts are the same as Austin/Morris/BMC. If you have a look at the build date on the starter and Generator it may show when it was built if they have not been replaced.There were two Models that I know of in the Superpoise , a 15 hundredweight model and a 25 hundredweight. The 25 was a slightly longer wheelbase and I think it had a slightly slower Diff. Mine was Comfortable at 45 MPH but it would do a bit over 50, but the sidevalve motor was extended at that. I once broke the top off a Piston at about 50 MPH. Some of the early Motors had Cast Iron Pistons and they did not like too many revs. As somebody else said they are a similar motor to the Humber Hawk, but they had a totally different Cast Iron head on the Commer, whereas the Humber had a flatter Alloy head, and a different Carburettor. You could not start off in second gear as the clutch would shudder. At one stage I put a whole new clutch and Flywheel, on it but it didn't make any difference, it still shuddered. They have a very big diff and Gearbox for their size, similar to the 3 ton truck at that time.. We had a bagging out Bin on ours which held 3 tons, and it did that job for about 15 years. In 1956 they changed to the later more modern Cab and I think they put the OHV motor in then. Good luck with it Gordy. Kav.

Gordy

Your all up weight is very light (less than a Patrol/Landcruiser ute). The chassis rails look pretty light so you might only go 2 ton empty to make it a 1 1/4ton capacity as Kav suggests. It would be interesting to weigh it empty to find out and give you an idea of whether it had a high or low diff.

Just a WAG and probably not but would the S25 refer to 2 1/2 ton empty weight?

Lang

Thanks lang
As I mavo down this path I gradually learn more and more but unfortunately I'm always in a hurry for more info
It looks like they came in 15 to 25 cwt so mine must be the 25cwt which when doing a conversion to KG is over the one ton but not by much
Cheers