Cold_War_Collection

Hi all

its just peened on the other side, and, there is one in the same location on the co-drivers side, pretty close to lifting the cab off, hoping mid week !

thanks for all the feedback !

cheers

Nick

ok,

here is a funny one...whats this little brass "button" peened though the armour on the base of the drivers side window frame ?

anyone ??

and we are doing a full resto, which means, take off everything and make a pile of flat plate !, here is the side of the cab armour off

Its a big list of changes, mods and outright different manufacturing techniques !

The basics are that "officially" the Autocar, DT and White were used by US Forces , and the IH was an "export" type, but, there were lots of the other three types in allied service as well.

one could write a book on it !

well, the HT is coming apart nicely, but we are slowed down by the damaged winch drive shaft , as that's got to come out before the rad is lifted out.

here are a few shots that are not in the blog

I will get a better picture of the spring soon, its clear though that it has "HALF TRACK" painted on the top leaf

Hi All,

so we are two weeks in to our Autocar tear down. here are the "vital's"

Hood Number 40109590, (in Medium Blue)

Data Card 22311

This is an original and unrestored example, so the most interesting thing so far is the hood. White star , surrounded by a hand painted medium blue ring, which was later overpainted with a white ring

I think there is some interesting service history here

we are running a blog for this at

https://cwhvs.blogspot.ca/

so the bulk of the pictures will be on that, but I will post a few here as we go

During the war my Opa was a FOO, in the west first, then , 41 to 45 with Army Group North, and Center, and south depending on requirements of the service . His was a battery of heavy guns , some 21cm, some 24cm morsers. (he fought the land side action at Sevastopol with these)

Early on, they had just the typical FOO detachment, dismounted, but as the war progressed, they started to use a variety of improvised Armoured Vehicles as FOO and C and R , as allied Air Power was becoming a problem as well as Artillery. This was more an issue in the East, as the Russians would expend great amounts of artillery to excavate a FOO det. They used mostly Stug III, modified, with extra rear MG 42's mounted due to Partisan attacks ( he was badly shot up in one of those ambushes in 43, but, survived to return to the fight. They also used Panzer III, with no turret and Halftracks when they could get them. They preferred tank chassis due the proliferation of the 14.5 rifles in the field that could take a half track, but not a tank hull. All these mods were unit level, so it would be difficult to find examples of these that looked the same

he used the smaller type of range finder rather that the large horizontal tube type for ease of use . The bigger one was left at the gun line . By later in the war, Russian tank breakthroughs were becoming common, and therefore they needed these in several locations to engage enemy armor ( funny that, I'm sure the use of the term "enemy armor' seems odd to most of you..) they were placing AT between the 21's , although they did use the 21's in a DF role if needed...made a mess of a T-34....

at the end, they were moving the chassis and barrel wagons for their 21cm guns .... with horses, and once again, he was dismounted as a FOO party fighting rear guard action. it was in one of these , he stayed behind with a 21cm , some support AT and covered his Batteries Retreat and surrender to the US Army in Austria. Opa was a "guest" of the Russians for some years afterwards.

I'll go through some of the pictures and see what's there . My dad (former HJ) also recalls seeing variants of German armor that had been field modified for all kinds of activities as the war came to a close, but he didn't have much time for pictures ....he was a bit busy.

Hi Everyone.

looking for a larger jpeg of the B Bty RHA markings , so we can have it replicated with detail for our Stolly Limber restoration. Just in case, it looks like this

cheers

Nick

CWC Canada

http://www.coldwarcollection.com

Hello !

we are looking at collecting a spare power pack, or B-60 engine for a Mk 2/3 Ferret. This is to be shipped to Canada to the Cold War Historic Vehicle Soc.

(www.coldwarcollection.com)

please let us know if you have, or know of a pack for sale?\

kindest regards

Nick

thecoldwarcollection@gmail.com

Don't read too much into it. If you're willing and able to turn a spanner and do the maintenance, they aren't too bad, as long as you get the fact that it's essentially a heavy truck and a rather complex one at that. If you're confidant that you could maintain a truck, you can manage a Saracen, especially if you understand the fact that it has a lot of things that need checking/maintaining and the fact that things are hard to access. I still have nightmares about topping up my fluid flywheel - especially the bit where the guy helping me do it dropped the special tool (that is supposed to stop things falling into the flywheel housing) into the flywheel housing

 

1) Buy the manuals.

2) Read the manuals.

3) Read the manuals again.

4) Buy good tools.

4a) Especially the special service tools like the fluid flywheel tool and the drain plug tool.

4b) The user handbook lists all of the tools in the standard tool kit in the back. Make sure that you get all of these, at the very least. It mostly lists combination wrenches and box spanners, but I would suggest getting ROE wrenches and sockets instead. Some deep sockets will also prove handy. As yours is a Mk 6, it is probably fitted with the B80 Mk 6A engine which uses UNF threads, in which case you can get away with not having Whitworth tools, although I do run into the occasional Whitworth bolt, usually lurking somewhere in the engine bay, but not on the actual engine. I bought the 25/32 spanner and socket, as per the tool list, but I have never found a need or use for it and it was a pain to find them (my tool shop ended up having to order them in and it took months)! For the bigger sizes (> 1"), get 3/4" drive sockets, as well as a short (~1.5') and long (~2.5') breaker bars and a 3/4" to 1/2" adapter. This allows you to do things like crack your wheel nuts (1 5/16") with the breaker bar and then use a 1/2" ratchet to undo them the rest of the way.

5) Follow the service schedule.

6) Read the manuals again.

 

In between all of those steps, ask questions on HMVF and Facebook.

 

Cheers,

Terry

Sorry for sounding negative,

They are a fun "truck" to work on, and yes, we have done a complete down to the last bolt strip and re-assemble, and had to deal with a blown T Case and cracked engine block to boot, as well as fabricate items such as the wings from scratch, so its more an "insitutional" level restoration. We have solid corperate backers that fund the work, so we can take the time and resources needed / wanted to do a museum level job. Keep in mind that this Mk 6 might...might see 20 hours a year run time once finished. Biggest item for us was the hull repair, which saw the removal of large sections of the outer add on armor to deal with the rust that was essentially breaking the hull apart from the inside, and this was cut away with a circular hand grinder and cut off blade....that was many, many hours right there.

On the whole, it has been a straight forward mechanical job, but only possible with the advice from Terry "read everything many times! from the manuals

have fun, and please feel free to ask anything you like

Cheers

Nick

Looks like a really fun and worthwhile event!

If I can make an observation though? when we carry passengers, we try and do so with the three following safety proceedures;

1) Tailgate closed

2) Safety Strap

3) "NCO" or other resposnible person sitting in rear at tailgate end

much like the process in use by the CF

Not trying to put a downer on what was a great event, and i thank you for all the hard work (and gas!) you put into expanding interest in our hobby.

Cheers

Nick

CWC Canada

I'm from Montreal and my GPW is situated about an hour and a half north of Montreal (familly cottage).

 

During the week, I live in Quebec city, and do the 3.5hr drive each way every weekend to do some wrenchin'

 

Thanks!

All great places to live! very nice on all three accounts. I was posted near Montreal years ago, and as I say to my friends here in Ottawa, the very best thing about Ottawa, is that its close to Montreal

cheers

Nick

HI everybody.

We are going through parts and found two of these. top and bottom pictures. Any ideas?

many thanks

Nick

CWC Canada

Happy to have you in,

there is a pretty good Canadian bunch here, so don't be shy and ask what every you like.

Where in QC are you?

We are based in Ottawa, with operations in Deholm, Quebec as well.

Cheers

Nick

CWC

Canada

I Agree with Terry,

these don't have a solid return on investment as of yet. The trick is to purchace the best condtion unit you can find, buy that with as much of the CES as you can get, and keep it in good shape. A couple went through the Littlefield Collection Auction, and this is a good USA price baseline for armor already on this side of the Atlantic.

We undertook this project as it had been stripped for restoration many years before, then got "back lined" for other projects, and so sat for many years. It was a decision that we better restore it, as it had really no value as she sat. We had much of the NOS parts here, but manged to find a Transfer Case quite easily (ours had broken gear teeth inside)

So, hours into it? Its been a part time effort for basically one person ( that's me) as we have a dozen other MV's to look after, plus other vintage cars here.

A guess of actual time would be in the 1500 hour range at this point, thats roughly 60 hours per month over a 24 month period. I can be very slow with one person doing tasks, depending on the job. Spent many hours for example cutting apart the outer layer of hull, shot spaying and re-welding. Its 99 percent done right now, with just the RFC shroud to be bent up and lights to be wired.

They are a challenge, as any armor is, but a good one that will keep you engaged in the hobby, thats for certain.

Cheers

Nick

CWC

Canada

I'm not in favour of increasing the speed limit, especially for civilian owed tracked vehicles.

 

I'm probably in the minority here but I think an increase in speed of civilian tracked vehicles will eventually result in a fender-bender of some degree and the practice of civilians owning ex-military tracked vehicles could come under scrutiny, with the eventual ban of using them on the road.

 

I can see the logic in the proposal in regard to engine wear and fuel costs but unfortunately we see on a regular basis civilian -owned tracked vehicles on the road with tracks about to fall off and other obvious defects.

 

I'm not saying every tracked vehicle owner is a little, shall we say hap-hazard with their maintenance but they are out there.

 

Obviously the same applies for wheeled vehicles too but if there is a prang with a tracked vehicle, it always makes the news in a big way.

 

I say the easier it is to stay under the radar of the authorities the better off we will be.

 

Markheliops

Agreed, the shop I used to work at had two Leopard A1's in, one for scrapping, one for rebuild. after flipping over at speed after tossing track. 50 tons plus will filp like a jeep when the correct physics is applied. and speed does this very well.

Having tossed a track at speed (Canadian M113 MTVL w / Rise 3 Upgrade), I can tell you its quite the experince. I was driving on a closed test course ashphalt road when the left side blew a track pin and unspooled of the rear idler, was running about 55 mph. Now, it takes alot of nerve NOT to touch anything when that happens, such as brakes or steering until you slow to a stop. in traffic, well, at that speed, bad things would have ensued.

regardless of speed, know what to do if you blow a track off. This is vital.

off road, sure, do what you like, its your neck, in traffic on public roads? well...as been said...you will be on the 6 pm news....

quick question. do you know, right now, if the track tension of your vehicle, along with pin and pad (if fitted) of your track is good?, idlers and final drive?

This is how I look at Safety around MV's (and much of everything else I do...)

"There are no experts, only serious students"

if you look at it that way, you take the view that you are always learning, and don't get too comfortable.

cheers

Nick

CWC Canada

1. Use ground guides

2. Use ground guides

3. Use ground guides

4. Use ground guides

5. Use gr.....

YES!

One if not THE most important.

There was a certain Sherman that backed over a linesman truck in a town near here. Yes, they had a guide, but just the one at the front. Truck drove up on the opposite side of the Forward GG, therefore...crunch.

I find that heavy armor used by the military always uses two GG's

Nothing moves around here unless we have GG's, we even have a writen policy for it in our operations maunal.

Nick

CWC Canada

There's an old saying where I come from... "Take care not to run over the farmer's dog..."

I don't even want to know....

To add to a very good list.

a) make sure you have liability insurance, for those in and around your Vehicles.

b) If carring people, conduct a suitable "crew" briefing before anyone goes near it. Focus on safe egress, such as in case of fire.

c) Clothing. As "snag free" as possible, and fire resistant ( more cotton....less poly.)

d) Intercom system, at the very least between driver and CC.

e) Checklists (I'm an ex-military pilot...these are hard wired to my brain) . checklists are great for all postions, regardless of your background with armor.

f) Checklists again, pre start walk around and systems checks.

g) if in doubt...dont.

have an armor day!

cheers

Nick

CWC Canada

Hi Robin,

not sure what vehicle you are doing this on, but have a look at an old 5/4 ton chevy, on the drivers side of the engine bay, you will see a batt. master there. If you are up here next week, Ed's salvage yarrd on Dwyer Hill rd. has a couple of these that are being parted out.

cheers

Nick

The one Nic mentions "at his parents gas station" is not for sale.

 

The owner is on here as "mwarrior" or something similar, he used to live in Toronto but has relocated. His name is Gagan and he is a fairly decent chap just a bit pushed for time and space.

 

His one came from A & S in the UK.

 

I was supposed to go visit it at again at Christmas but the day ran short and night time in an arctic climate are not the best times to go crawling around armoured vehicles.

 

Hopefully he is going to build a "shed" of some kind for it.

 

Robin

apologies for the error...seems that there are a few folks locally talking it up that it's up for sale

cheers

Nick

Great, thank you. PM me contact info for the seller if you have it!

ok,

I'll see what i can dig up

Cheers

Nick

Thanks everyone for their help. I was invited to put in a bid exceeding the other bidder, which I did, but the seller insisted on giving the other bidder last look. I now learned the other bidder bumped up my bid and was awarded the Saracen. So it wasn't meant to be, though I sure feel used.

 

I will keep hunting...

Hi,

You know, there is one up here near Ottawa, Ont. Canada. It belongs to a young man who is tinkering with it at his parents gas station. Its a Mk 5. Robin, who is on the forum knows more about it I think. I don't know if its for sale, but I could try and find out more about it if you like.?

Cheers

Nick

CWC Canada

just testing ...it seems to work ok

 

Nitromors Paint & Varnish Remover

note! the cap of the canister would appear to be the same kind of black plastic

 

ttfn

pekka

 

....Robin ! it works on ferrets too:trustme:[ATTACH=CONFIG]101919[/ATTACH]

...yes....but the paint is the only stuff holding it in one piece !!!:nut:

Nick

Robin. Once 'cleaned' are they to be repainted (MoD) or are they 'green' enough?

 

If so, is there a suitable plastic primer?

Good Question,

Robin, when you are up here, we can go and see our body and paint men about primers and paint for these if needed, they are pro's at plastic painting.

cheers

Nick