Scammell4199

I like the tractor unit idea, their pretty rare aren't they? and i'm guessing the trailers even more so. Be nice to have a step frame trailer with say a halftrack or something on it. Look forward to seeing it. Richard

Yep, i saw that too going anti-clockwise on the M25, although its actually a Sexton. I'm guessing it yours again Adrian? How do you manage to rope the army into moving your toys around for you? Richard

Nice to see some footage of the 'ol girl suckin' diesel. Looks and sounds fantastic, A&E 2012 is gonna be gooooooood me thinks Richard

Thanks for your comment irmscher. You're right i can't wait to have it done, but at the current rate of progress it will be a few years yet! Richard

Question for those of you with more experience of these things than me. Dad and I just put the two halves of the box together, i put the finest smear of sealant around the join before putting it together and doing the bolts up, and now then output shaft is quite stiff to turn. Everything turned beautifully when it was open, and the input shaft is still as free as it was before. I can't believe that we've compressed one of the bearings! - have we? We did pour a load of the correct oil over everything before putting it together, and it is in one of its neutral positions, so i wonder if the output shaft is still coupled to the majority of the gears inside and its just oil resistance. Thoughts please. Thanks, Richard

Cliff, Unfortunatly its the same weekend as Tankfest, 25 and 26 of June. We have a road run on the Saturday and open up to the public on the Sunday. Richard

Welcome Milman, I live in Bristol during the week, but come from Crewkerne and return home most weekends to work on our small collection of 'toys'. Do you think you could bring your new acquasition to our little show at Hazelbury Mill in June? might be a bit of a squeeze getting in, but we have a guy who brings a Hippo so should be ok. All the best, Richard

Looking good Tomas. Nice to see some more British vehicles. Richard

we're back on track now, the second box is mostly good, with just the needle rollers between the input and top countershafts being U/S, i can't figure for the life of me how they end up in such a state. But all is ok, i will replace the offending bits with parts from box no. 1. Have now stripped box as far as i'm going to, see below and are now on with rebuidling the four shafts ready to put back in. Picture below is the mainshaft in early stages of reassembly. I've just taken delivery of new oil seal for output shaft, and i have to get or make dowel pin for the infamous oil pipe. I'm going to re-insert the plug in the end of the oil pipe and stake it in place. So, fingers crossed, everything is back on track. Richard

Ah, brilliant. I had been keeping an eye on the site, obviously not close enough. Any recommendations on how to do it. I was planning on staying at a city centre hotel not far from Grand Place. Is it easy to get to and park at the Bois Brule etc? Cheers, Richard

Does anyone know if Tanks in Town is on this year and what the dates are? Was hoping to go as a spectator. Cheers, Richard

Took delivery today of second gearbox courtesy of Steve from Rotherham. Have removed the side cover and so far it looks good. Have removed the oil pipe that was offending on the other box, and it has all the correct drillings, but again the plug from the end was not in place and was just loose at the bottom of the hole. Will get it split open next weekend for a closer inspection so, fingers crossed. Richard

It sounds awesome Andy. Wish i was coming to Slab this weekend. Richard

Wouldn't miss it for the world. Scammell won't be making it though. Richard

Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men! Got the offending bearing off today, but gear AQ in the diagram above from the manual doesn't want to come off. It should have a parallel bore and slide off the needle rollers easily, instead it jangles about seemingly jammed on. This is the gear that would have been fed with oil by the absent hole in the top oil baffle pipe, which leads me to think that a groove has been worn in the bore of the gear, and the needles are locking the gear on by getting themselves part way between the new groove in the gear and the groove in the shaft they are supposed to be in. Does that make any sense? And so we are now on the look out for some replacement bits, namely the top countershaft and gear AQ with its rollers and possibly gear AP with its rollers. The bearing surfaces and rollers that form the interface between the top countershaft and primary shaft are very good, so i would hope that some careful use of the micrometer would see us being able to re-use the primary and the needles. Can anyone help with bits? Bernard? Many thanks in advance, Richard

Does anyone know for definate if theres going to be a Tanks in Town 2011 or not? Richard

for anyone interested theres a good picture book on high speed tractors, it covers M2 M4 M5 M6 and M8, and theres some good pictures of M6s on the production line. Details as follows: High Speed Tractor: A Visual History of the US Armys Tracked Artillery Prime Movers Authors: David Doyle and Pat Stansell ISBN: 0-9773781-0-1 Enjoy, Richard

No worries, I sussed it out. Got the box apart, everything seemed ok, until i spotted one of the brass retaining rings on one of the ball races was twisted and mangled, so that will come out and be replaced.

Quick question. I'm in the process of spliting the box, and the manual says theres two bolts inside the box. Are they accessed through the side cover on the off-side? I thought i'd ask before going to the effort of turning the thing over and then finding they're not there. Cheers, Richard

The tracks look most un-characteristicly german

Thats a very good point. Right, thats that idea aborted then. I'm gonna have a good poke around see if i can find the hole at the weekend, it must be there somewhere and i didn't really look too hard when i took it out. I'll come back to you if i'm unlucky. In the meantime, anyone know where i can get handbrake linings? I've emailed Chelsea Frictions, but haven't heard anything back yet. Cheers

Yeah, the oil oozing out the gap between the pipe and shaft was something that hadn't occured to me - d'oh. With that in mind i had a thought about improving the oil flow between the pipe and shaft thus aiding lubrication and cooling, see what you think of this - I thought about machining a tiny flat down the length of the pipe from the front end cross-drilling to somewhere coincident with the rearmost bearing and in line with the cross-drillings, probably only about 0.25mm off the full diameter. This would introduce oil between the pipe and shaft, without resulting in a drop in pressure because the limiting factor on that is the gap between pipe and shaft and the length between the front most cross-drilling and the end of the pipe. Comments any. Cheers, Richard

Thanks for that Bernard. I've read your box rebuild, everything certainly points towards having to split the box. But i still wonder why there isn't two holes and also if the end is plugged how is the last dog clutch on the top countershft lubricated? the cross-section suggests that oil is meant to come out the end of the pipe, down to the end of the top countershaft and out through the cross-drilling inline with said dog clutch. Neither the pipe or the plug have any signs of "staking" to hold it in position. There is some sign of heat discolouration, and i notice that mine has a similar wear pattern to where yours is worn between the two cross drillings. I presume the pipe should be parallel, since it just sits in a drilled and probably reamed hole. I'll take another look in the morning, see if there is another cross-hole which has been blocked with debris. Watch this space. Cheers, Richard

Been working on the gearbox and stumbled on a problem i'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on. We were hoping to not have to strip the whole thing and having had the side cover off, everything looks pretty good inside. Planned on removing most of the external bits and pieces for cleaning to clean out oil pipes, sort the "gummed-up" PTO unit and un-sieze the handbrake etc. Got everything off the back of the box which reveals the view below. What you're looking at is the pipe which runs inside the top countershaft and lubricates all the needle roller bearings via cross-drillings in the pipe and the top countershaft itself. According to the manual there should be two cross-drillings and then the oil carries on down the top countershaft and through a final cross-drilling into the last set of needle rollers. I wanted to get the pipe out to replace the dowel pin which is there to stop the pipe from turning, and which can be seen bent in the photo above. Heres where the peculiarities start. I managed to pull the pipe out and..... 1) theres only one cross drilling when the manual clearly shows 2. 2) the end of the pipe has an internal thread, which i can't see in the cross section in the manual. 3) most strangly, there was a length of studding the same thread as that in the end of the pipe about 1/2" long just slopping around inside the top countershaft. I can't understand why this would be there, looking at the cross section in the manual, if this had been installed in the end of the pipe the last set of needle rollers wouldn't recieve its lubrication. Below are photos of the pipe with the length of studding, and an end view of the pipe showing the bent dowel pin. Below i've included a scan of the manual showing a cross-section of the box. The pipe in question can be seen running most of the length of the top countershaft, in the top right corner of the view. We have a few theories and ideas, but any suggestions on whats going on and what route to take from here are much appreciated. Cheers, Richard

its looking great. Planning on coming down for the AWDC weekend to hear it run. Can we just turn up as viewing public? Richard