Decommissioned Challenger 2 - do they fall apart?

[challenger01]

Hello! I'm afraid I'm new to the world of military vehicles but I am working on a project involving a decommissioned Challenger 2 and have a query that I hope someone can help me with! 

I've been told that the Challenger 2 is designed to keep moving and if it is stationary for a long period of time (i.e. it's been decommissioned and perhaps is being shown in an exhibition or similar) then it will start to fail and fall apart. Is this correct? If so, does this literally mean that parts of the vehicle will start to fall off? I want to try and understand the risks of this and if they need to be monitored in order to be safe?

Sorry if this is a stupid question! Thanks in advance for any help.

[Ex-boy]

On 23 May 2019 at 2:02 PM, challenger01 said:

Hello! I'm afraid I'm new to the world of military vehicles but I am working on a project involving a decommissioned Challenger 2 and have a query that I hope someone can help me with! 

I've been told that the Challenger 2 is designed to keep moving and if it is stationary for a long period of time (i.e. it's been decommissioned and perhaps is being shown in an exhibition or similar) then it will start to fail and fall apart. Is this correct? If so, does this literally mean that parts of the vehicle will start to fall off? I want to try and understand the risks of this and if they need to be monitored in order to be safe?

Sorry if this is a stupid question! Thanks in advance for any help.

Sorry to see no one has answered your question, so I will show willing, even though I am pretty ignorant on Chall 2. 

Like any vehicle that is laid up for a length of time, seals dry up, moving parts tend to get stuck  and fabrics, plastics and rubber items may perish, so everything will need to be inspected before being put into use. I don't believe anything will drop off or fail in any way differently from other vehicles but maybe a Challenger expert will see this and tell us different.

Good luck with it come what may.

Regards, Steve.

[Hannover]

Sorry I've only just seen this. Can only re-iterate what Ex-boy has posted. I expect the lack of replies simply means that no one knows.

However in an attempt to help why don't you contact the Tank Museum at Bovington for their thoughts and advice. They have the experience and the actual vehicles so if anyone has any thing that would help they probably do.

Good luck.

[sirhc]

I can’t see why they would be more prone to ‘falling apart’ than any other armoured vehicle. The MoD keeps a lot of vehicles, including Challenger 2, in storage and I’m pretty sure they don’t have to go around picking up bits that keep falling off?

[johnwardle]

Nothing has fallen off any Challenger 2s that have been on display at shows that I have been involved with.

 I find it a bit odd that someone with little experience of military vehicles is involved in a project on a Challenger 2 I am also surprised that there are decommissioned Challenger 2s out there.

[winchman]

I feel its the same as another vehicle best used

[Surveyor]

On 6/24/2019 at 8:25 AM, sirhc said:

I can’t see why they would be more prone to ‘falling apart’ than any other armoured vehicle. The MoD keeps a lot of vehicles, including Challenger 2, in storage and I’m pretty sure they don’t have to go around picking up bits that keep falling off?

If it's like the records on my land rover they get serviced every six months in storage until "cast" 

[john1950]

Where is a decommisioned Challenger 2 in civy hands? I think there may be 2 Challenger 1s with civy involvment/ownership. If it is metal it is prone to corrosion if untreated. Aluminium if it is in contact with the earth slowly degrades back to Bauxite. Parts usually come adrift if they become unfastened or come into contact with something that does not give, or perhaps an explosive force. I think there are only three scorces Challengers could come from,BAE, the M.O.D and  Jordan.

Edited June 28, 2019 by john1950
correction

[Richard Farrant]

There is a Mark IV tank standing in our town, it has been in the same place for 100 years, never seen any bits falling off in all the years I have known it. Must have been made better than a Challenger 🙄

[ruxy]

The Ashford tank did internally mutate a sub-station !

[Richard Farrant]

47 minutes ago, ruxy said:

The Ashford tank did internally mutate a sub-station !

Yes I am fully aware of that as I have been inside it, but it has not actually ‘fallen apart’.

[Pzkpfw-e]

Been sat for 65 years, mind you, it is Russian.

[john1950]

Vickers Scotswood and its later incarnations had various vehicles on the block at the gate. I remember a field gun an Abbot, and a Cheiftain, I think that was on the gate of a metal recycler in Newcastle for a time.

Edited June 28, 2019 by john1950
addition

[Barrym]

There is a prototype Chally 2 in Challenger Plaza outside the Discovery Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne. I visited recently and this veh has been here approx 5  years and is starting to look a bit rough, there is a few plants starting to grow out of its nooks and crannies.

[john1950]

It has been some time since I visited the Discovery Museum, I must have another look. It was not there last time I went. Thats one any more?