friday art shot

Detail from front tire rim. There are still the original 8.25 X 20 Combat tires fitted, and even though they are deflated , the hardness of the rubber is a dangerous thing as they have lots of spring force still in them

10 years ago, the Society performed a running overhaul of a T-17 Staghound for a local Army Regiment, and we had a tire service company perform the removal of the old 1940's tires. The results were terrifying, as the tire, a big Run Flat 300 pound ,14 X 20 shot off the split rim, breaking the arm of the tire specialist.

Illustrates that even after years, things stay under tension

rear axles out

like the front, we have now stripped out the rear drive axle to the brake shoes. its clear that this is a low mileage unit , based on the almost complete absence of wear
look at the interesting axle "keeper" tapered washers , this is new to us and took some fiddling to remove

note the grease pencil factory mark, "8"  on the shoe, the other side has the same

hub-a ...hub-a

front is coming off now, with the horizontal shocks, wheels ( well, wheel, the front drivers side wheel studs are spinning, so, the hub will have to come off, to take the rim off ...ah... rust)

anyway, what's interesting about this hub is its EXACTLY like the front axle / hub on my daily driver, a 1982 4 x 4 Chevy Truck (hardly new, I know, but, this was designed in the mid 1930's !)

the bolts, locking washer , inner and outer hub nuts and bearings are all the same!

here are some takedown  pics and parts . note the hard hits by a cold chisel done years ago to tighten the outer nut...my chevy has the same marks too

the brake pictures were taken as soon as the hub was removed. the seals on the brake cylinder are pliable and in great shape, non the less, these will get a full rebuild

outside for a little fresh air

...well, it seems I came to work after all, and took the time to pull her out of the shop to clean and re-organize for the next stage of the work.

here are a couple of pictures with our hard working AMPT Tug !

bogie and rollers ....

....not sure what that title conjures up? a dance move? a '70's band ??....

but here. its a good news . bad news kind of day . while the inside of the return rollers is near perfect, with no sign of rust , we broke most of the 1/2 - bolts removing the mounts, necessitating drilling and re-tapping for most of the afternoon.

all are off and redone , so here are few detail shots !

We are closing early for the Holiday, but will be back on the 26th for more M3 Goodness !

Merry Christmas Everyone !

the casting number is the passenger side roller support

tough nuts on the drive sprocket !

...well, they are off, here is the score...

Half Track cost us:

one broken 1/2 drive long "breaker bar"
two 1/2 drive 4 inch extensions
and, a pretty good volume of Oxy / Acyl.!

we got 6 nuts off the hub

fair trade !

note the lock wire on the inner hub plate "push off" bolts. These are a square head

...this Budd's for you...or, you, Kameraden

One of the Society's goals is to present history, unvarnished, with the artifacts speaking with their own "voice" aided by the society's skilled volunteer historians as guides

Although we work in the historical time line of the Cold War, we are going to reach back a moment into the second war, and the opacity of that conflict.

Upon removing the left drive sprocket, with some difficulty ! , we noticed manufacturer marks on the hub nuts, from, arguably, one of the most 'All American" Automotive companies in existence , the Budd Pressed Steel Co. maker of such things today as NASCAR wheels

Budd supported the Allied war effort by manufacturing all kinds of metal products from shell casings, helmets , and pressed metal vehicle stampings.

however, there was another Budd....

the Ambi Budd Presswerke,... in wartime Berlin.

Wikipedia does a great wrap up of it here for us;

"In Germany, Budd worked with Arthur Müller and set up a steel pressing plant as "ABP" (Ambi Budd Presswerke) in the old Rumpler factory and became a successful supplier of pressed-steel components. Budd owned 26% of the Adler stock and were located next door to the German assembly plant for Chrysler.^[1] Budd also supplied bodies for early BMWs as well as German Fords. In 1943, the company had to move production underground due to bomb attacks from the allied air forces. They also made parts for the Focke Wulf fighters. They also made bodies for the Volkswagen Kübelwagen and Schwimmwagen. The Berlin plants were completely destroyed by bombing during WW2. After the war, the Budd plant ended up in the Soviet sector. The machines and tools were dismantled and most of them shipped to the Soviet Union. In the USA, Budd made shell and bomb casings and helmets during the war.
In 1962 they made a prototype called XR-400 powered by a 270 hp (200 kW) V8 engine. However the design was rejected by AMC.
The company merged with Thyssen AG and Krupp AG in 1999 becoming a part of ThyssenKrupp."

One wonders, did this half track, fitted with Budd parts, ever come up against German vehicles, also fitted with Budd parts?

its interesting too, that as ThyssenKrup is a major arms manufacturer in Germany, that Ambi Budd Presswerke still, in a way, carries on

History is filled with such dynamism at times

a note on the hub nuts. Note the LEFT stamping, these indicate a left hand thread, in use on the driver side track drive sprockets. The Hub Studs are also stamped "L"

note the double stamping on one.

front louver detail

Today, we stripped out the armored louver rad cover, its an interesting yet simple design . We added a few pics of the star as well.
They are always referred to as an 18 inch star, but what's noted is the 1/4 overlap in the louvers, and the fact that the star was template spray painted at the time of manufacture, but later repainted by hand later, the paint chips match the white air recognition ring applied before D Day in June of 1944

note the use of open and close push rods on only one side, with simple hole pivots on the other side. For vibration control on the unit, a simple square of rubber has been inserted between the upper armour rails and the side sides

post break wrenching

well, after  needed rest, we are back at it again, this time removing the rear bumper and the badly mangled rear armour section that has experienced all manner of abuse, from a torch, to rust to being pushed by "something big" !
there are six retaining bolts to remove, and the nuts are located under two angle reinforcement brackets that need to be removed first to access....however....its also the perfect place, being located near the track return idler wheel to pack full of mud from a couple of different continents !
so, out comes the helpers again....cut off wheel, and even oxy / acyl cutting torch this time !

note the use of simple spacer plates on the frame to stand the bumper off, one of the reasons the rust was particularly bad in this area. In other parts of the frame, attachments were so tightly fitted, no water ever got between the mating surfaces and the fasteners still were rust free black oxide

Friday Art Shot

Here is a picture of the rear idler, nested inside the front drive sprocket assy.

early Christmas presents !

from Garys Half Tracks ! a selection of "Stocking Stuffers" for the M3

Note the NOS boxes and excellent shape of the parts !

job planning ....

...or, how to pull a track while working alone!

After looking at the original half track removal procedure, that took almost the whole crew, I stumbled on a 2nd war film of two men doing a track pull...so I figured if its two guys in the field, I can manage with just me in the shop
after finding I didn't have a big enough wrench for slack the primary track spring....I figured I would kick back and look at the issue, so with a cable come along to pull up the bogies, and jack her up, I had just enough slack to loosen the idler wheel !

and with some grunting and a big bar, off it comes !

note the wear on the drive sprocket, and the rigging of the cable come along on the bogie frame to pull up the spring , an idea from Mr Paul Isaacs , who is an integral part of the CWHVS team

..Winter is coming !

....yes, that well worn phrase, but for us, it means the final empty out of the hanger, storing all the loose "extras" that pile up over the year, and parking up the fleet. In some cases, they will not be restarted until march, but many will continue to be run up and used through the winter. We have one day left of above 0 C weather before it gets cold and snow starts to pile up in earnest , so , a fleet run up was in order...well, except our CVR(T) which took the opportunity  to shell out her fuel pump...but, with a little help from our AMPT, we got her positioned for the winter !

so, that was Friday and today !

I'm sure the Sugga and Pinz felt right at home in the snow, but we left the Stolly and Saracen tucked in and we ran them up in situ

due for an "adjustment" !

so, with the M3 reduced to a roller chassis ( we know this , as we had to move it today to take delivery of a BFAC (Big F...Air Compressor! which will be a great help in the next stages ), so it does indeed roll on her tracks

Many thanks to Star Motors Mercedes Benz of Ottawa for the donation of this pre-loved piece of gear, by the way !

We are now preparing to get the old track off, and have found some great old films of this being done in the field, so are at least positive about how to do it...we just don't think the adjusters are quite ready as they have a few years of accumulated...well...everything on em....so, we shall pray to the gods of WD-40, heat and BIG wrenches

In theory, its easy, block the bogie wheels from descending while jacking the M3 up ( metal wedge or cable strap , put on jack stands, back off track tension and then unbolt the outer half of the rear idler....then just roll the track off the front drive sprocket.....yep...easy

we will keep you posted as we prepare this next adventure in half track life !

idler support and tracking stay, at rear of hull

this adjuster works on the other side of the track spring. this must be loosened off to slack the track

Horizontal track tensioning spring and adjuster shaft

rear idler wheel pivot shaft and retaining nut, inside rear frame rail

thems the brakes .part 2 !

All the brake lines are off the hull, and we have left the flex lines on the front axel, as we will be doing that as a separate system resto.

the first picture is all of the hard lines in an M3 ! the two on the right is from the master, back, and the left is all of the front . Most are in perfect shape with zero rust, so we may reuse the bulk of the lines

the other shots are detail of routing in the front under the rad, with biggest line, being the one from the drivers side, to the passenger side front in a big "C" shape. Unfortunately, this is the only line with surface rust, and therefore will be replicated to ensure a safe hydraulic system

making the big bits, into small bits...

The strategy the Society uses when performing major restorations is to strip a hull, or take it down to a frame, removing major components or systems as larger units. Once that is done,  then, we take those units down into smaller parts for sorting, cataloguing and evaluation

this way, we can get down into the project "quickly"..and evaluate cost estimates if we come across something major. An example of this is the Societies Mk 6 Alvis Saracen, which we discovered , had major corrosion issues between the original hull plates, and the add on armour that was an upgrade against AP rounds. This added much to the cost of the restoration, as we needed to remove and later re-weld, large sections of the outer hull! By doing a fast strip down, we spotted this early in the process, and could make allowances for time ....and of course $$$!

With the M3 , things are moving in the same fashion, and we are now taking the larger sections, stripping them down, and boxing them by system for later resto as we move along . some areas are still stubborn...see drilling !, others yield great discoveries that just are not found any longer, such as the Hull Plate Hardness Testing and armour batch lot numbers. This set of numbers is located under the Cowl armour, where the windshield frame attaches to the cab, the instrument cluster and wires box hid this from view until it was removed !

We love the fact that although she's almost 100% stripped, we still find surprizes like this !