BRDM Driver

I have some lumps of steel like that... 3 house moves... one day their true purpose will be revealed! I wonder how long I will keep old CVRT tracklinks.... Looking forward to the next installment! If you're ever down at the Tank Museum, give us a shout!

Depends how fast you want to go. The other option is go hydraulic motors from an excavator. Much simpler but slow. If Andy Baker can't sort you out for the right price, yet another option is to buy a Samaritan/Spartan sell off the wheels and tracks and anything else you don't need, takeout the running gear and weigh in the hull for scrap. There's also a 432 just come on ebay for a fairly modest amount, at the moment. The Stug builders seem to use 432 running gear. Good power, lower speed compared to CVRT.

What are you planning for transmission and steering? I wondered if you were just going to drop in a complete CVRT engine and running gear? 432 engine and running gear might be bit too big?

Well despite being short changed on one set of track by 2 links, I managed to change both sides in a day, single handed! I followed Terry's plan of taking off 10-12 links at a time as they come off the top of the sprocket. It does take a bit longer but the track is more manageable single handed. First side took 5 hours, but that did include getting all the right tools sorted out and teaching the misses how to drive forward and backward slowly! (her first time even getting in it bless her!) Second side took 2 hours 15 mins! Not too bad. All toes and fingers accounted for. Tips for anyone else doing this, while it's fresh in my mind: The track clamp is a total bas*ard and will drop off at the slightest provocation even when you think it is on tight. Don't leave anything you value under it (feet, hands etc). In fact I ended up chocking it up underneath to keep it in place as I tightened it. It's not only dangerous, as it's heavy, it's really annoying when you get close to getting the links together and it suddenly just drops off and you have to start again. Make sure you have the proper track pin drift holder and 2 drifts. The short one with the head on and the long one that's pointy. Use the pointy one to help align the track bushes when putting the track pins back in. Learn the exact angle you need to flex the links to get the pins in. It's not as much as you think (13 degrees) so if you go too far they will not go in. When bringing the track together with the clamp, don't clamp it too hard. There has to be a gap of about 2mm so the bushes align properly. If a track pin is hard to get in or out, check the track clamp tightness is just right and that the links are not in line (13 degrees kink). You'll need a decent breaker bar to wind in the track clamp. I wouldn't recommend using any sort of power/air tool to do that as you need to feel if the track links are binding. A battery drill with a socket drive on does make taking up the slack quicker. Sometimes the centres of the bushes can be a little proud and will catch on the track links as you bring the links together so you need to get in there and tap them on the edge gently to get the links to come together. Make sure you have a lot of grease. The tensioners take quite a lot to go from empty to half full. Watch your arms/hands when releasing the tensioner ram grease. The ram can stick and then suddenly collapse bringing the top run of track down onto the wheels suddenly. I found some 432 track clamps useful for joining the old track to the new track as they work on either side of the track (pad or horn side) whereas the CVRT clamp only works on the outside (pad side) of the track. So bringing together track that laying flat with it is a PITA. Get at least 6 lengths of 4x2 and stack them three high on either side of the new track horns as you spool the old track off. They will allow the old track to ride over the new track and not get caught up. Otherwise you have to support the old track as it comes off over the sprocket and it gets heavy after 5 links!

So just out of interest how many links should there be on a Scorpion? The old track has 78 and the adjuster was close to end of travel. The new track, which I have just unrolled and checked has only 76 links.... The user manual declines to pick a number due to 'manufacturing tolerances'

Hi Terry, So the new track is joined to the old track on the end that's flat on road. When you drive forward, what do you do with the other split end of the old track? It's going to want to collect at the front if it's still engaged with the sprocket?

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I could only find photos of a track change while the wheels were off... So procedure is: Park with a good 1-2 vehicle lengths of space behind. Split track on one side at front, between bottom of sprocket and road. Drive forward off of track and allow lose track to run back over wheels. Old track will now be behind vehicle. Replace old track with new track. Drive back onto new track until vehicle is back in original position. Use sprocket and rope to winch other end of track back over idler and wheel until it engages with sprocket. Use track clamp to bring ends together and drive in pin. Repeat for other side. Always keep an eye out for mudflaps getting caught up in the track! Does that sound right? Should the track tension be relaxed first?

Passed today. First go was at Babcocks (Abro) carpark and test track and the Abbot (god bless it's little steel tracks) decided to lose reverse half way into the test while nose in against a set of bollards... So thank you, who ever put the gear selector linkage back together without locking tab washers, it was very helpful... NOT! 2 hours of burnt hands eventually managed to get a bit of wire through the selector linkage fork and back off from thebollards, but we had to abandon the test. Got home and found the bolt in the bottom of the hull with a magnet on a stick. Today we did the test out on the open roads and sailed through, no problem. All done within a mile of home. Regarding reversing, the examiner is only looking to make sure you are slow, steady and above all safe. We did explain that under normal circumstances my commander would be checking behind but for the test, I would be using mirrors and checking over my shoulder. He seemed happy with that. The examiner could see that I can do a 3 point turn on the drive without hitting anything and I did another during the test on the road. We also did parking at the side of the road, emergency stop, 2 tee junctions, 2 left hand junctions. Interesting that my usual commander (ex gunnery instructor) is always telling me to 'watch me' not the mirrors when directing me when we are maneuvering where as for the H test you have to drive solo and use mirrors etc which is a no no in the Army. So if you have your own vehicle, the test costs £62 and as long as you don't have a mechanical malfunction, that's it!

Anyone got a good source for FV430 series drivers periscope and commanders periscopes? (that don't cost a mint!) To go in an Abbot.

I'm after 9m113, not 9m111 but I will ask them what they can get... I have one launch tube and it is deactivated so poses no problems if someone wants to inspect it. Technically these are not reloadable and therefore are spent ammo, but if you managed to find a live missile to put in it, I doubt you would worry about finding a used tube!

For basic ANR intercom, can the audio socket on the IB2 be used to plug in a full headset or do you have to have two crew boxes?

My understanding was that it's anything manufactured in Russia regardless of where it's sold? I read that Kalashnikov solved the problem by setting up a plant in the US! I am looking for 9m113 missile launch tubes in particular. Easy to get in Ukraine for example, no idea if they can be imported. One dealer told me that it would be breaking the sanctions and therefore not allowed.

Anyone have the lowdown on this? I assume this is due to sanctions against Russia. Does this apply to anything military made in Russia, even if sold from another country? Does it only apply to current military issue hardware or even to stuff from WWII?

Just made a small batch of fibreglass 105 FD HE shells for my Abbot. Anyone interested in these for their Abbots?

Abbot is fine on the road! Yes I know that as Driver I take all responsibility but the commander has a much better all round view - except when pulling out at junctions and definitely a better view of whats going on behind!

Well my H qualified commander will be there as I am driving the Abbot to the test site!

Well I had a chat with the examiner and he didn't 'think' a small mini digger was suitable. So I will be using the Abbot. Regarding rear visibility, he just wants to see me use mirrors and common sense combined with a slow and careful manoeuvering. I did explain that I would normally always have a commander in the turret to check behind and for traffic that's too close when out on the road.

Interesting! Was it on road?

I was under the impression that doing the H test on a mini digger was no longer an option. I've never seen a road legal mini digger either? (no indicators/lights/number plate/not registered etc) I do actually have a small mini digger... Scorpion is off the road for the rest of this year, so Abbot it is!

Any pointers for doing the H test? 1: Handbrake on when stopping at a stop sign. 2: Remember to cancel indicators. One question regarding reversing. I will be doing the test in an Abbot that has no visibility directly behind. Guidance book says it is ok to stand up to look before reversing, but in my case I would have to climb up on the turret! Should I ask for a 'banksman' or rely on a reversing camera or actually get up out of the drivers compartment to look? Under normal circumstances I would rely on a commander to check.

Hi Terry, Thanks for this info. So to confirm, when you say idle screw, are we talking about the throttle stop screw ?(item 9 in the J60 EMER s572 fig36) And when you say mixture screw, you are talking about slow running adjustment screw? (item 8 in the J60 EMER s572 fig37) I'll give this a go tomorrow... I really should cut a panel out of the firewall to make carb fiddling easier....

I had an issue a couple of days ago after the run back from Tankfest. Engine was hot and when maneuvering to get back into the garage (a bit of fwd/rev), the gearbox started making a very loud rattly groaning noise. It sounded like something not meshing fully. It only did this in forward and only at higher rpm above 1500-2000. As we had another vehicle to collect, I shuffled her into the garage slowly and returned to check again today. No problems found today on a quick road run. I did notice the the idle speed was very high with the hot engine, probably well past 750rpm, maybe 900rpm. I guess this was engaging the clutch and maybe the fwd/rev dog clutch wasn't quite home? Anyway, I have put the problem down to being hot and having idle set too high. Today I set the throttle stop screw to give a warm engine idle of 650rpm. Any slower and the ignition light starts to flicker and the idle gets a little rough. So to my question! I noticed that the clutch drum was stationary when idling as expected. BUT if I move the direction lever to mid way (so not engaged at all) the clutch drum spins. Once this happens it becomes impossible to get the direction lever engaged as the dog clutches wont work while rotating. I know CVRT's can sometimes be difficult when moving from fwd to rev and back sometimes and the only way to avoid grinding the dog clutch is to turn off and back on again. So should the clutch spin up on idle if you're not quick enough moving from fwd to rev ? If not, why is it spinning? Idle still to high? EMER says 500-600 and I have measured it accurately at 610-648. This may be a non-issue but it does explain why it's sometimes impossible to change from fwd to rev. Clearly the drag of the gearbox is enough to stop it, even when in neutral, so it's not fully engaging. Any ideas welcome!

Brilliant, many thanks!

I've found that my indicator switch has gradually gone from non cancelling to almost instant cancelling! Is there any adjustment on these?

Very nice! The elevation gear was missing when I got my Scorp, but fortunately I found a replacement eventually.