Green Barn Services

Green Barn Services Historic Military Vehicle Restoration, Preservation and Conversion Specialist. Preservation, restoration, maintenance, repair and upgrade.

Classic heavy and ex-military vehicles. Engine conversions specialists.

I am probably never going to get round to doing the full write-up for the C2 restoration we completed in July 2025 so fo...
30/04/2026

I am probably never going to get round to doing the full write-up for the C2 restoration we completed in July 2025 so for now I am going to post up a load of photos of the finished vehicle. I hope these are of interest.

The truck arrived engine-less and having been stored for a very long time. It had been used by a Belgian electricity company and had a number of civilian modifications.

The truck was stripped down to a bare chassis and axles, blasted and then fully rebuilt. Every single component was inspected and repaired prior to reassembly.

Large amounts of components had to be sourced or fabricated.

An 8.3l 265hp Cummins 6CTA was mated to the original gearbox. With a nice big engine bay this was a good conversion and it drives very well on a full set of new tyres. We installed high speed Ward laFrance diffs so it will cruise comfortabily at 45mph.

29/04/2026

Crispy Duck part 3

A short video showing us using the two Ward laFrance wreckers to roll the Duck back onto its wheels for the final time. It may look alarming but was actually very controlled. The crunching sounds are from the sacrificial boards placed under the bottom corners to protect them.

It was nice to use the rear angle sheave bracket on the right hand Ward. It is the first time in over 20 years of playing with these trucks that we have actually found a use for one!

This was the fifth time we had turned the hull over in this way.

Crispy Duck part 2While the cutting and welding work was taking place, the mechanical components were overhauled. Most w...
29/04/2026

Crispy Duck part 2

While the cutting and welding work was taking place, the mechanical components were overhauled. Most were found to be in good condition;- requiring only seals and bearings and then paint. The two bilge pumps had to be dismantled and rebuilt with a number of new components. The axles were stripped to check the diffs, and the braking system was completely renewed. All propshaft universal joints were replaced. The clutch, release bearing and air pack, alternator and starter motor were replaced.

The wheels were stripped down and blasted before reassembly with new rubber from Tyres.

Once the hull bottom work was complete the axles were installed using the trusty Telehandler and the propshaft tubes and propshafts were fitted. New axle and pillow block breather pipework was made and installed. All of this work was really easy to do with the hull still on its side as we could work standing alongside it!

Crispy Duck part 1We are currently re-commissioning Crispy Duck 2. This is understood to be the last DUKW to have operat...
29/04/2026

Crispy Duck part 1

We are currently re-commissioning Crispy Duck 2. This is understood to be the last DUKW to have operated in British (and possibly worldwide) military service. We believe it came out of service in the early 2000's but we'd be happy to be corrected on that.

It has been fitted with a 150hp Cummins 6b mated to a modern ZF gearbox with and air assisted clutch and air over hydraulic brakes. The rest of the drivetrain is standard.

Following release it spent some time in Scotland, where at one point it was sunk in a Loch. Since being purchased by the current owner It has been in storage awaiting an opening in our schedule.

The remit for the job is to make the DUKW road- and sea-worthy, a well as incorporating a few modern upgrades to make it a practical and usable vehicle. This is not a restoration, although the work is being done with an appreciation of its history and legacy.

We had been informed that the vehicle required a general mechanical overhaul and a few repair patches to the hull to bring it back to a seaworthy state. Sadly as can be seen from the photos it was much, much worse than that. Upon receiving the vehicle we thoroughly inspected the hull and realised it needed far more work than had been anticipated. The engine, gearbox, marine box, transfer box, bilge pumps, propshafts, prop tunnels and axles were removed. The hull was then turned on its side using the winches of two of our Ward laFrance wreckers.

We then began to cut away the ribs and found that the hull underneath was in a very poor state. We initially looked at just replacing narrow strips where the ribs were welded on, but the rust damage was so extensive that there was no choice but to replace the whole of the hull bottom.

The panels were systematically cut out leaving just the supporting framework. This work was done a section at a time to mitigate the possibility of distorting the structure. In some places the framework needed repairs too. New panels were cut and welded in place. New ribs were folded and then welded onto the panels. The original drain b**g housings were cleaned up and welded into the new panels.

The hull was turned over several times during the work to facilitate access.

Part 2 to follow

We are pleased to announce that the Federal C2 aircraft wrecker is finished and has completed its test drive to Capel Mi...
02/07/2025

We are pleased to announce that the Federal C2 aircraft wrecker is finished and has completed its test drive to Capel Military Show.

We will do a full write-up of the project in the next week along with an update of everything we've been doing over recent months.

Leaving the best for last - our current project is a 1943 Federal C2 aircraft wrecker.Following service with the USAAF, ...
28/04/2024

Leaving the best for last - our current project is a 1943 Federal C2 aircraft wrecker.

Following service with the USAAF, this truck was rebuilt by the French Armée de l'Aire in 1956 and we think at that time it was fitted with a crated Mack diesel engine and a number of upgrades. It subsequently spent time with a Belgian Electricity company before being sold into preservation. The current owner has kept the truck in storage for some time and we are now carrying out a chassis-up restoration.

The Mack diesel has been returned to.the previous owner as part of a deal and we are installing an 8.3l Cummins 6CTA charge air cooled turbo diesel. This will be mated to the original gearbox. We are also replacing the original low ratio diffs with Ward laFrance ones to improve its performance.

The truck has been stripped to bare chassis rails and is awaiting blasting. The rust-jacked chassis reinforcements have been removed and new replacements designed and fabricated.

A lot of detailed repair work on the various smaller components has been going on in the background but we will leave that for later updates.

Last autumn we rebuilt a gearbox for a Scammell Pioneer. The gearbox had come from a scrap chassis and had considerable ...
27/04/2024

Last autumn we rebuilt a gearbox for a Scammell Pioneer. The gearbox had come from a scrap chassis and had considerable internal corrosion, although the gears and shaft were found to be in a re-usable condition after cleaning. The gearbox was rebuilt using new bearings throughout including hundreds of needle rollers. New metal/leather seals were also fitted.

The gearbox has now been fitted to the lorry and has proven to be a great improvement on the one which came out. Part of the work was to install pipework for the gearbox oil pressure gauge and this now shows 15psi at idle. Whilst we were replacing the gearbox, we also replaced the mounting rubbers and carried out a few repairs to the air system.

We also made a new set of rear wings and repaired the mounting brackets.

The Scammell has now returned to the owner for a few shake-down runs prior to a trip to Normandy in June.

We offer a fuel tank repair service where we will cut open your fuel tank, blast the inside, weld it back with new steel...
27/04/2024

We offer a fuel tank repair service where we will cut open your fuel tank, blast the inside, weld it back with new steel panels, and then treat it with POR15.

We do two or three tanks a month in this way.

The first one we did was for an M151A2 over 15 years ago, and it still looks as good inside as the day it was done!

Attached are photos of some of the most recent tanks we have done. In no particular order you can see Bedford OY, GMC 352, Diamond T 981, GMC 353 workshop truck, and Chaffee.

The photo of the pile of silvery muck is what happens when you treat a tank with POR15 without properly cleaning the tank out first 🤮 (not done by us!)

Please contact us for more information and pricing.

When we last talked about the M5 High Speed Tractor it was nearing completion and we were working towards getting it to ...
09/04/2024

When we last talked about the M5 High Speed Tractor it was nearing completion and we were working towards getting it to the Capel Military Show last July.

We are pleased to say it did make it there and apart from a few teething problems and a lot of driver training it performed well.

In the run-up to the show we replaced front winch dumb-irons, repaired one winch cheek plate and fabricated another. We also built a front bumper from scratch including welding on some extra tread grip sections. The winch is a borrowed item and was painted and fitted.

We replaced all of the damaged lengths of piano hinge on the rear lockers and the fan cover.

The roof and canvas frame were repaired and re-fitted, the gun ring was repaired and re-fitted and the skate freed off.

The dash and hull had already been re-wired so we made up the various wiring looms for the lighting and other additional items and these were fitted and tested.

One interesting outcome from Capel was that we had underestimated the fuel consumption and our standard electric fuel pump that we had fitted could not keep up! After Capel we fitted a much more powerful pump which made a big difference to the power.

The High Speed Tractor attended a number of shows last summer and was very well received. It will be out and about again this year.

Driving video in the comments section!

It's been a while since the last update, so this is the first of a few catch-up posts showing what we have been up to re...
08/04/2024

It's been a while since the last update, so this is the first of a few catch-up posts showing what we have been up to recently at Green Barn Services.

The Diamond T project was completed and has been returned to the owner. This was a chassis-up restoration of an ex-US, and then ex-Danish Army Diamond T 969 medium wrecker.

Our previous posts have shown how the chassis was blasted and painted prior to to reassembly.

All of the brake pipework was inspected and replaced as required. It was then covered with the correct braiding. All air system components were dismantled and inspected/repaired as required.

All oil seals were replaced throughout with our custom-made metal/leather seals. All hub bearings were inspected and replaced as required. The gearbox and transfer box were rebuilt and the new engine was mated to the gearbox.

The engine is a fully-rebuilt 235hp Cummins 6BTA fitted using our proprietary engine mounts. The radiator was re-cored using a deeper modern core and was reassembled with blasted and sealed top and bottom tanks.

The cab was completely repaired and rebuilt. The new floor side sections were supplied by McNobid. Once fitted, the cab was completely re-wired using a loom custom-made by us in-house, using cloth-covered wire following the original schematic but with the addition of an electric fuel pump, indicators, alternator, USB ports, halogen headlights and all of our other standard GBS modifications.

The crane and rear body were repaired, blasted and re-fitted.

The wheels were blasted and new tyres from Empire Tyres fitted.

I am sure I have missed loads of the small details which make us proud of this type of project, but one which the owner specifically requested was that we incorporated the original Viscometer sender unit into the Cummins sump so that every gauge on the dash would work.

We are pleased to say the truck drives very well with the Cummins engine fitted and it completed approximately 75miles of road testing prior to it being delivered.

As always please ask if there are any questions about it!

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Horley
RH69TF

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