philm1

Gave the gun cradle a spray of paint which made it look quite good compared with what it was originally.

Elevation gear all back together again and rotates nice and freely. Also gave it a nice new paint job. Now will be put on the shelf waiting for installation back in the turret.

Purchased some new bearings for the elevation gear and hope to get this all back together over Easter. The old bearings were reluctant to come off so my mechanic friend cut the outer race off then put a ring of mig welding around which apparently assists removal. There is no real room to get a puller on but I managed to use a hammer and punch to get one bearing off. The other end where the geared cog was I couldn't get a punch on to it so I put 2 cuts in the bearing case with a dremil and use a cold chisel to separate. Nice new bearing pressed on.

Yes it is but it can do your head in at the time. I've given up on the gun cradle as I'm worried I'll cause damage to the mantlet when all I was trying to achieve was a tidy up and repaint. The recuperator I'll weld the bobbin back on in place.

Thanks. Slowly slowly getting there.

Finished stripping out the turret and gave it a bit of a clean and degreasing.

Unfortunately I can't seem to get the gun cradle to come out. There appears to be an insert that goes into the manlet and I'm sure over time the insert has frozen to the manlet. I have left this for the time being and continued to strip out the turret to have lots of little cleaning projects over winter. Mean while I'll ponder a plan to get the cradle out - no where to really push or pull on it.

Now started on the gun mounting as whilst I would just like to give it a clean up and a new coat of paint I really need to get the Recuperator out as in the deactivation the Bobbin had been cut off on the gunners side. By re attaching the Bobbin I can then refit the Breech. Buffer and expansion tank came out easily. But Cradle won't budge and I don't want to damage it with excessive force. It needs to come out as the recuperator sits below it and won't come out with the cradle in place. I think the insert into the Manlet has frozen so more oil and little heat probably needed. I then removed the Elevating Gear which was full of water and all bearing seized. A rainy day job to strip and rebuild. nice rusty water came out of elevating gear. Seized bearings

I am now starting on the turret whilst the weather is still good so then over winter I can work on the dis assembled components. The elevation gear is seized so I wanted to get the barrel out so I can then remove the cradle etc. Again with the right tools everything went to plan. I had been squirting a rust break free product between the barrel and the manlet for a few weeks. I then applied some heat around the cradle and set up a 10 tonne porta power. With a little pressure and a few whacks with the sledge hammer, a bit more pressure applied, a twist with a massive pipe wrench, more pressure, more whacking, the barrel was out. Tools for the job. Porta Power set up Barrel starting to come out. Barrel out

Sometimes what we think will be a simple task takes a little longer. Mr rust (just like weld) again. Trying to remove the driver's hatch cover but all seized up. Over the last week heated and oiled it plus the trusty hammer but no joy. A client of mine leant me his hydraulic puller which worked a treat. Still took more heat, oil, and hammering but finally let go - with a BANG. A wonderful bit of kit. Slowly coming off.

And also a nice little box.

Some bits out of the turret that I sand blasted and made up some new straps for. What do they do/hold?

Slowly been working my way around the hull drilling out any snapped bolts and re tapping all the threads. Job made easier if you get the initial centre punch dead centre, use sharp drill bits, and slowly increase the drill sizes.

The product is Dinitron and is in a spray can so easy to apply. "Convert Rust Expoxy RC900 - Coverter & Primer". Appears to be good stuff but a little expensive @ NZ$50 a can. We will still apply another undercoat - 2 pack, but at least you can have parts sandblasted and then put back on the shelf ready for final assembly and painting when you are mxing up a batch for a decent paint run.

Very hot here at the moment which makes working in the shed more like a sauna. Played around with the exterior hull warning lights as most of the lens were either broken or missing. Some of the lens holders were also bent and damaged. As soon as you try and remove a bolt it snaps so that was part of the course here but thankfully only one of the lens holders I need to replace. The others I have been able to gently work back into shape then take the wire wheel to clean them out and finsh up by applying a rust preventer and undercoat.

Also finally fitted tracks. We will tension these up once the turret, engine and transmission have been re installed.

I have now stripped down the fire wall and panel between driver and engine ready for sand blasting and re painting.

Thanks Vince, Finally got back to putting the rubber seal in and screwing down the plastic retainer strip. I had applied a small amount of grease to both the turrent ring and inner of the rubber seal and was slightly disappointed how with the seal back in place it did tigthen up my lovely spinning turret ring. Still better than what it was and as I have nothing to compare it with I guess that's how it is.

The next stage was where i wasn't sure how things would go. There were still 2 steel ball bearing guides to go in but these were on top and how I would get them to stay in place? all the steel shims had to be inserted and remain in place whilst the upper half of the ring was put back on. The first steel ball bearing guide tucked nicely behind the ball bearing retainer and kept its position. I tried to position the other to the upper half of the ring but when inverted it wouldn't stay in place. I then decided to insert 4 of the steel dowels that go through the top ring and into the bottom ring. I thought these were probably for locating the correct hole alignment. I had them protruding just enough through the top ring to locate into the bottom ring. This would also hold the 2 halves slightly apart. I then inserted the steel ball bearing guide around but it still didn't really stay in place. Next phase was to put all turret race bolts loosely back in. Then clean up the threads on the bolts that hold the turret to the turret race and also insert these loosely. All the steel shims could then be inserted correctly without fear that when things tightened down they would move. Back to how to get the last of the steel ball bearing guides to place properly. With a small screwdriver I pretty much got it in place. I then lightly tightened down the turret race bolts numbered 1, 7, 13 & 19. To my pleasant suprise everything seemed to be postioning itself as it should so I continued to tighten the remaining bolts, insert the remaining steel dowels and the job is almost complete. I will tighten the bolts down further (I see the turret bolts get tightened to 40 lbf ft) but mindful not to overtighten as it may cause the turret race to stiffen up. It now turns freely with one hand.

Started the reassembly of the turret ring today feeling confident that I knew how it all went back together but apprehensive whether I could get it all to work. Bottom half of ring was installed along with the steel ball bearing guides and graphite grease applied. Next the ball bearing retainer. All the ball bearings greased and inserted in the retainer. Thankfully none was misplaced in the cleaning process or trip home to continue cleaning (fell over in car boot tyre well).

All teeth cleaned now - roughly 226 of them. Time consuming with a steel bristled tooth brush and rag. Also sourced graphite grease to use in re assembly which appears to be the correct grease due to the high bearing load from the turret.

nearly finshed cleaning up all the turrent ring parts so nearly time for re installation. Just need to finsh off some of the many gear teeth which is a mind dulling task. Do a few a day amongst other bits and we will be there.

Hi Doug. yes gear rack cleaning up well. Not sure on grease but would appreciate any feedback before I start reassembly. A maintenance schedule I referred to states 'Turret Raballo Ring" - Ring - Lubricant Solid Film and, Seal (do not overcrease) XG-279 (Nato Code G.403). Not sure what Solid Film Grease is but I'm sure someone out there knows?

Then the start of the cleaning process. Ball bearings first. Plastic ball bearing retainer next Still some cleaning to do but looking better Turret and 2 turret inner race halves to do.

Then became the unknown. I lightly worked my way around the ring splitting the 2 halves. With only one pair of hands I set up the engine lifter to take the weight and slowly the 2 halves separated. Yummy gunky mess but no signs of water ingress. All the shims appeared to be in similar arrangements but to be on the safe side I took them off in number order and placed them on a board. I then removed the first of the steel ball bearing guides and lift the ball bearing race up and removed all the ball bearings.