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1944 M4 High Speed Tractors


Jim Clark

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It would be nice to be at Weymouth, we will see what can be done, perhaps it will be a 17 day rebuild like the Sherman in 2004

 

2nd June 2004 in our worksop

 

 

 

19th June 2004 at Weymouth Vererans Parade

 

 

Jim.

 

So really then Jim - Weymouth should be no problem at all then :coffee:

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perhaps it will be a 17 day rebuild like the Sherman in 2004

 

Jim,

 

That´s a record for sure! Worthy of a mention in the Guinness Book of Records, if not a token of appreciation in the shape of a keg of Guinness? :D I´m sure you were thirsty during those 17 days.

 

Keep up the good work, looking forward to seeing your M4 HST restorations.

 

Regards,

Hanno

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Jim,

Do you intend to go down the Multibank powerplant route in the M4A4 in the future or is the Radial their to stay? I was scratching my head when I saw it last year.... then I spotted the old engine in the back of the T :idea:

I am trying to find the photo....

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Sorry for the late response to your many questions by I have been tied up with work for the Stoneleigh show.

 

Was one of the ones that you have importted the one that was on eBay last year at a very low price,yet very complete???

There were quite a few on ebay last year and the yellow HST was one of them.

Jim

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Any ideas what sort of price you'll be looking for on the ones you intend to sell Jim??

 

A restored HST will not be cheap as you can imagine. It will be inline with current tracked/ armour prices. As a guide I believe there is an unrestored HST on Milweb for over 20k you can get some idea from that.

Jim.

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Jim,

Do you intend to go down the Multibank powerplant route in the M4A4 in the future or is the Radial their to stay? I was scratching my head when I saw it last year.... then I spotted the old engine in the back of the T :idea:

I am trying to find the photo....

 

I think the radial will stay for some time as my multibank is in a bad way. I think that Adrian and Carl Brown used parts from many multibank units to make one running engine. It would be nice to restore it to original but for now its ok for me.

Jim.

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A restored HST will not be cheap as you can imagine. It will be inline with current tracked/ armour prices. As a guide I believe there is an unrestored HST on Milweb for over 20k you can get some idea from that.

Jim.

 

Thanks Jim!! I suspected it would be in that order as there is little, if anything, that's got a tick in both the WW2 and Armour boxes that could be construed as "cheap".

 

For a piece of history though I reckon £20k+ unrestored isn't that bad a price!!:):):)

 

(Did you mean this one from MilWeb:

"M4 Allis Chalmers Highspeed tractor - Comes with steel tracks and box for 90mm AA. P.O.R.")

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Yes that was at Welland last year, I went to see traction engines :-)

There maybe a few more photos, but they are with my Dad as I borrowed his camera for the day! (he e-mailed me that photo) I'll have a look next time I visit home, IIRC there wasn't much space to get perspective, parked right in front of the T was an M36 taking the lime light.

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Thanks Jim!! I suspected it would be in that order as there is little, if anything, that's got a tick in both the WW2 and Armour boxes that could be construed as "cheap".

 

For a piece of history though I reckon £20k+ unrestored isn't that bad a price!!:):):)

 

(Did you mean this one from MilWeb:

"M4 Allis Chalmers Highspeed tractor - Comes with steel tracks and box for 90mm AA. P.O.R.")

 

Thats the one.

Jim.

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Yes that was at Welland last year, I went to see traction engines :-)

There maybe a few more photos, but they are with my Dad as I borrowed his camera for the day! (he e-mailed me that photo) I'll have a look next time I visit home, IIRC there wasn't much space to get perspective, parked right in front of the T was an M36 taking the lime light.

 

The M36 belongs to Mike Phelps.

Jim.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Now the snow has gone I have been able to start on the HSTs, I intend to restore the yellow HST as this one although not complete has the best hull. I will use one of the others for the parts that are missing or damaged etc.

First of all I have removed and stripped the engine, it is in good condition apart from the pistons and liners being badly rusted and siezed. This was caused by the previous owner removing the heads and leaving the bores exposed to the elements. As I have some spare engines in perfect condition I will drop one of those in to save time and rebuild this one later. I have found a source for pistons, liners, gaskets, bearings etc so no problem for future rebuilds.

 

waukesha145gzengine001-1.jpg

 

 

waukesha145gzengine004.jpg

 

 

waukesha145gzengine006.jpg

 

 

The carbs were also in poor condition but I have NOS ones to replace them with.

 

waukesha145gzengine011-1.jpg

 

The next job was to strip all the fittings and fixtures from the front of the cab so we can push out the dents in the front panel and roof section before stripping the HST to a bare hull.

 

hst2011.jpg

 

hst2004.jpg

 

hst2003.jpg

 

Behind the front hull section there was a load of dirt and sand etc as I was rakeing it out I found various parts which had dropped through the floor plates including a pair of wiper arms and blades with remains of wrapping still on them.

 

hst2002.jpg

 

hst2005.jpg

 

On further examination of the trannsmission we found that the final drive casting was cracked. I removed the doner tractors front panel to check if it was ok and it is, panic over just a simple swap after checking it over.

 

hst2012.jpg

 

hst2013.jpg

 

I should get a good day on it again tomorrow as the weather looks good so will post more pics then.

 

Jim.

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Looks an interesting job there Jim!! Be great to see when you've finished.

No chance you could salvage the cracked gearbox case by getting it brazed or what ever???

 

Hi Neil, I am sure it can be repaired but because of the time factor I will swap the transmission from the donor HST for now and see about repairing it later.

 

Jim.

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