David Herbert

Refering to the task of making the eyes on the end of the recoil spring, about 17 years ago a vaguely similar spring in the starter pinion of my IH td18 tractor broke its eye. This spring acts as a shock absorber when the pinion engages and takes the full torque of the starter - there is I think a similar one in an International half track. As the tractor needed to be moved and I had nothing to lose I removed the spring, heated the broken end, rolled a new eye while red hot and then let it cool in air. I was not convinced it would work at all but it did and although I now have a new one in the 'stores' the one I repaired is still on the tractor. I would not do this on anything safety critical but it is worth trying and you need to work quickly so that only the eye gets annealed. Actually most small springs are formed cold ( but very quickly - which makes a difference ) but obviously there are limits. Good luck.

David

I am not sure when metric threads became common in Europe. Certainly the major German manufacturers of steam locomotives used whitworth threads into the 1920s - but with metric heads usually of similar size to the heads that we are used to but not the same. Presumably the metric threads that we use (fine, medium and course ) were in use before they were officialy standardised but they were certainly not universal in WW1. In fact pre-metric measurements still pop up in non tech use all over europe. Obviously the Rotherhams of Coventry priming cups is a good clue though !

David

Bob

Thanks but it was the tracked gun tractor that I have on my 'lottery' list.

David

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Another cracking yard is up by Coventry owned by a Marselle de Moulder..(yeah I know...helluva name!).he's a nice fella and I did a lot of deals with him too.....his yard is (or was ... might be long gone now) an absolute treasure trove...mainly big heavy stuff...in particular he had some very big US gun tractors that looked 60s ish to me.QUOTE]

 

Bob

"US gun tractors" - were these big six wheeled trucks or unarmoured tracked vehicles with a typicaly american cargo body for the gun crew and stores and small one man cabs for the driver and co-driver on the front corners with the engine between. Some had an optional bulldozer blade as well. If so they are M8A1/A2 Cargo Tractors many of which got converted into drilling rigs and the like in civvy hands but I had not heard of any in the UK. Has anyone been to this yard recently?

 

David

Further to my comments on Sherman HVSS track and M6 High Speed Tractors it seems that the M6s on rubber chevron track DO indeed use the same track links as HVSS Sherman, M47 etc but with a unique box shaped centre guide similar to the one used by Shermans but rather wider as the M6 has a wider gap between the inner and outer bogie wheels. As these tracks are marginally wider than the original M6 steel chevron tracks a special sprocket hub is required which also carries only two sprocket rings (instead of three of the original design) and is slightly more dished on its outside face than the original.

I can find no photos of M6 HSTs on rubber chevron tracks in service so I would guess that they were only fitted for peacetime use in USA and Germany when it became unacceptable to destroy the roads with steel track.

Also does anyone know which countries received M8 series High Speed Tractors other than Japan and are there any still in Europe that have not been turned into drilling rigs etc.?

David

Like Richard I could not see the red High Speed Tractor behind the Yellow one in Mark's photos in post 19 as an M6. It is in fact one of four prototype T94 Cargo Tractors which were authorised in late 1956, intended as a very heavy artilery tractor, partly replacing the M8A1 or A2 shown in th other photos. Like the M8 it had a Continental flat six air cooled engine as used in the M41, M42, M75, this time a 525hp AOSI 895-3B and an Allison XTG-500-2 transmission but instead of the Walker Buldog running gear of the M8 it used the suspension and tracks from the M47 tank. The track links are interchangeable with those of HVSS Shermans but with a different centre guide. It was built by Allis Chalmers about 1957 and originaly had the single cab that is still on it, then the engine compartment and then a cargo body taking up the rear half of the length of the vehicle rather like the body in the middle of an M8A1. There was a large winch on outrigers in front of the cab, hence the depressed rectangle in the cab front. Overall length was 24' 11", width 10' 10", hight 10' 5". Weight 72000lbs with a 12000lbs load. All this from Fred Crismon's 'US Military Tracked Vehicles' and R.P.Hunnicutt's 'Bradley'. Hate to think what the fuel consumption was when towing !

Please note that the M6 used its own unique design of HVSS and track that was not interchangeable with Sherman or anything else. They fitted a set to a Sherman as an early experiment in improving its suspension but it was not strong enough and could not be fitted with dampers. The M6 track was very unusual as it had a triple sprocket, the centre one driving onto the centre connectors which also carried two guide horns as well.

Hope this helps.

David

Steve,

Thanks for your input. The M40 shown on p18 of W&T15 and captioned as a sherman is the one in Battlesbury Bowl, a natural arena used as a demo stadium by the army. When I went there about six months after the mag was printed and it had recently been cut up and removed. The bovy one sat on top of a hill about 3miles east and was in much the same condition then as now.

Alan,

Thanks for your photos - they do indeed show no markings ! I am glad the Woolwich one is now indoors, when I saw it last it looked very sorry for itself and had had a hole cut in the side so people could look into the drivers position.

David

Thanks very much for looking guys, I suspect that it died and was used to make one out of two. I had already found that not having the army reg nomber or the chassis no. ment that the Champ register could not help but I hoped that it might still be arround.

Thanks again

David

Hi John,

I know that you secretly enjoyed the attention, anyway you healed up so don't complain. Thanks for replying and nice to be in touch again !

David

Thanks Steve,

Yes but only the book, not the real photo which presumably is rather better resolution.

Hi Steve, I assume that you are Mr. O..... we havn't spoken for years ! I havn't so much been out in the wilderness but in a different meadow that isn't in cyberspace.

Best wishes David

Does anyone know if Austin Champ RRF 887G still exists ? It was my first car, bought for scrap in 1974ish for £60 and driven home illegally, sorted out and used as day to day transport for a couple of years and then sold in reasionable but not restored condition. At that time I lived in Maidenhead, Berks.

I have no idea of its serial or army nos. but it was a FFW with a two speed generator. I don't even have a photo of it !

I used to commute weekly from Maidenhead to Sandbach in Cheshire (120m) and back and it never failed me but you could never describe the brakes as good ! It did 16 mpg regardless of road conditions but petrol was 25p/gallon then = 5.4p/lr ! Mind you I was only earning £21 / week after tax. I never found it a roof so it got a bit cold in winter but I was tougher then.

I was very fond of it so if anyone knows of it please respond.

Thanks, David

Hi Bob, so did I !

Good set of pictures of Warcop, much better than mine, those were the days !

What spolling

David

Having been heavily involved with getting Duxford's M40 going when it arrived at Duxford, I have an interest in their use by the British Army. As far as I can tell we had 27 in total, received as mutual aid in 1954 and nombered:

70BA00 to 70BA04

70BA10

70BA11

93BA39 to 93BA58

This is from Geoff Fletcher's excellent article on p56 of Windscreen mag no.116. That article gives the unit that some of them served with but I would like to find where they all served and what became of them all. I have no details of the US nos. or the shop nos. of any of them. Does anyone have photos of them in British service?

Does anyone have photos of the M40 that was aquired by the East of England tank museum when it was at Bassingbourne near Cambridge or before it was filled with concrete at Stamford. Why did it go to Bassingbourne - an RAF station ?

I know of two destroyed on Salisbury plain - one in battlesbury bowl the other recently recovered by Bovy. Also the wreck that was on Sennybridge and now in a private collection. Does anyone have the nombers of these three or the one in Woolwich or know of any others in the UK ?

Lastly does anyone have TM9-747 or Ord9-G232 (or any other relevant publications) to spare?

David

I have been involved with WW2 tanks for many years now and in my conversations with Adrian Barrell and Hanno Spoelstra they keep refering to realy good threads on HMVF so I have had to move reluctantly into the 21st century and join the HMVF and MLU. Unfortunatly my computer skills are rubbish so please don't expect anything complicated from me but I know that there are people out there interested in all sorts of obscure stuff and I need to talk to them !

I have owned the remains of a very late Ram tank for longer than I care to admit with the intention of restoring it as a Command/OP version. The project was stalled by my divorce some time ago and then other pressures but I have been collecting parts and information and have been goaded into returning to it by Carl Brown's restoration of a Ram Kangaroo for a customer. This has shown up how much I don't know of the interior of the C/OP so if anyone has detailed information please get in touch. I am particularly looking for the Parts list suppliment for the Ram C/OP.

I have also been in love with the M40 155mm GMC since being heavily involved with getting Duxford's one going and am looking for anything relating to its use by the British army. Please see my post in 'Tracked Vehicles'.

Best wishes to old friends and new

David