A New "Pair of Shoes" for the Queen

[mkoloc]

Been busy with other projects like decorating the house for xmas etc. My replacement shaft arrived yesterday (Thank you Kevin L.) wrapped in its WWII packaging and shiny and new when unwrapped so we threw the bogies back on last night and the new track today. Decided to pull the passenger side track and shot a video of that process to include the tools I used. Took less than 25 minutes start to finish and I will post the video to YouTube once I get it edited. Pulled the drive sprocket and brake drum and will go thru the drum tomorrow. Rear bogie set is not pivoting on its shaft so I will tear that down and free it up before installing the new track.

Also if you'll note in the pics, the support arms on the bogie sets are not free. Had the same issue on the other side. As a result I did not have to chain the bogies up as they stayed locked up when I jacked the track up. Will free them up to before installing track. Pretty sure that my bogies being frozen up on the center shaft on the rear driver side set is what broke that shaft during the picture shoot. Some pics of today's progress:

[mkoloc]

Have more pics to post regards my track replacement and bogie work, but photobucket has been a soup sandwich with all kinds of problems and the site had been down or on and off for the last couple of days... what services do others use or recomend to store your photos for posting to forums? May be time to change it up!

[mkoloc]

Solved regards pics!! Okay tore into the passenger side track and found that like the drivers side the bogies were frozen up.
Center shaft between the bogies, no movement. Arms supporting the bogie center shaft no movement. Again assuming that they worked minimally on the pavement as that is all I've driven her for the few trips I've taken, but as soon as I hit the field for the photo shoot it sheared the center shaft end right off because the bogies could not articulate up and down within the track and were basically frozen in a horizontal plane. Greased the bejesus out of track when I finally got it home but never considered the impact of the bogie support structure sitting in the desert those 50 years. Pics of progress with the bogie motion restored. Will film the install of track tomorrow, Friday schedule permitting.

[mkoloc]

Previous missing images: You can see in the last pic that the rear bogies had moved very little when I removed the track, but the front bogies were frozen up as were all pairs of support arms. I was surprised how nicely the arms came out with just a bit of persuasion. The center shafts were another story. Thankful for oxy/acet torch, bearing pullers and soft copper and brass hammers. Went thru a couple of sets of honing stones on my brake hone setup when cleaning up the shaft bushings.

[Tapper02]

Great Holiday project Mark! Pretty crazy that they stayed locked up like that with all the moving and driving. Glad you caught it though and are going through it all to make it right!

Happy Holidays!

-Tom

[mkoloc]

Tom, Merry Christmas and safe holidays! So miss the beautiful AZ Weather LOL! Julie just finished her graduate program and passed her national boards last weekend. She is already been recruited by two practices and has a pretty full schedule of clients so the move here was worth the A$$Pain regards her career path.

I am excited to complete the track install which occurred today and looking forward to other projects left to finish by spring. Next project is the conduit replacement to include radio and battery cable from the slip-ring to the drivers compartment and battery box and all the required connections. How is your M10 Project coming along? I would love to get you together with a retired Marine LTC who also collects and does a lot of work with the museum at Pendleton. He resides in San Diego and has an outstanding collection of vehicles. Let me know and I'll introduce you via e-mail.

Mark

[Spec4Don]

Mark, hope you can get some help putting a track back on I did once by my self, never doing that again. Be sure to have a couple of 6’prybars. Good luck!

Don G.

[mkoloc]

Don, had my brothers help and it took less than an hour.. editing footage of both removal and install to post on YouTube.
My steps used for install :
1. Remove support roller to gain more slack (You'll need it to slip the track over the idler sprocket)
2. Used my engine hoist and one chain wrapped around the track to lift the front of the track up to just above the height of the drive sprocket. Why kill yourself trying to lift the track up. MAKE SURE YOUR TRACK IS FACING THE CORRECT DIRECTION REGARDS YOUR CENTER GUIDES. FAT END OF GUIDES ALWAYS FACING THE FRONT OF THE TRACK!
3. Slid a 2"x6"x4' under the track but above the drive sprocket as a lever and used it to slide the track onto the sprocket after unhooking the chain from my engine hoist. I did this with my brothers help as an extra set of hands is helpful. This method of sliding the track onto the sprocket was accomplished with a set of pry bars in a 1942 military training film where two soldiers remount a thrown track in 9 minutes from start to finish. Of course in that film they are using the old style tensioner on the idle sprocket.
4. Maneuver the track up over the center guide on the drive sprocket using pry bar and dropped it into position with the teeth.
5. Slid the track under both sets of bogies and positioned the center guides between the bogies.
6. Dropped the track down until the bogies were sitting down on the track. Then used a pry bar on the front spocket to move any slack in the track along the top of the track by pulling/turning the sprocket to the rear.
7. Using two pry bars and some body weight, push the track over the rear idle hub and unto the rear idle sprocket. Once you get it started over the sprocket you can then physically push ( I sat on the ground and used my legs) the track onto the sprocket until the center guides are seated against the idle sprocket face.
8. Install your support roller. I used my 2x6 to hold the track up while my brother slid the support roller into place.
9. Install the outer flange onto your idle sprocket.
10. Drink a well deserved brew!

Videos to be published as soon as I finish editing them.

[8683jb]

It looks fantastic! Nice job!

[mkoloc]

Working on the front end now. Drivers side complete: Axle, Hub and Brakes/Brake Lines torn down and rebuilt. Also replaced the rubber boot w/zipper on backside of hub/knuckle. That turned out to be the most challenging part of the restoration! Needed a another set of hands to get the boot on regards stretching the smaller diameter over the hub. Also found that the wire loops that lock the rubber to the hub are a B-Kitty to get pulled back together over the rubber to install the two locking nuts. Once you get a nut started the rubber pulls down and the wire ends pull together nicely. It does look good as the driver side boot was all but gone. I trimmed up the zipper tabs after install as they are a bit long. Also touched up the yellow paint around the grease zerks and touched up the red paint on the shock absorber and the steering box fill nuts. Removed the inner armor on the engine compartment to gat at lines wire harness etc. and landed up pulling my generator to make more room. Going to fabricate all new brake lines for the front clip, as they are a bit pitted bit not holed. Made new brake lines for the back of the track on that portion of rebuild

Starting on passenger side. The rubber boot on this side is still intact but cracked and the rubber has really hardened up.
Some pics of progress:

[8683jb]

Looking nice! I'm right behind you on the boots Mark. Mine are pretty shot too.

[mkoloc]

Opened my other seal and the zipper is rusted up and not useable . Package must have been compromised back in the day. Its a Talon zipper which is still made today, so going to head over the the local fabric store and get a new one. It's just sewn onto the rubber, so will just rip the stitches and sew the new one on.

[mkoloc]

I will post my track videos NLT Friday 10 Jan. Never have made a video, had to find editing software, learn to use said software and then figure out how to convert to an acceptable format … rebuilding my bogies was easier .. If it was a PowerPoint presentation I could knock that out in my sleep, but video production is a little outside my current skill set. Working to improve my" Needs Improvement" AAR. In addition, I am revamping my YouTube account as I did not initially set it up to share videos etc.. Friday is
V-Day!

Mark

[GPW1263]

I'm a little concerned about what I'm seeing for lubricant in that steering knuckle. Note that the grease has been thrown outward to the casing wall where it just sits...away from the very thing it's supposed to be lubricating. To be fair, I've been hearing GAA this thing and GAA that thing and GAA the other thing but if that is GAA, it's not getting to the work surfaces that need to be lubricated. I know this isn't a race car we're talking about but...dang!

Your thoughts?

Cheers,
TJ

PS Looking forward to your videos.

[mkoloc]

TJ, no concerns on my end. The knuckle was packed solid with both old and newer grease. The old GAA had hardened up considerably and was not allowing the new grease to circulate as it should and may account for the pattern your observing. I don't quite see any real pattern just a lot of old grease with the axle pulled :-)I have put very few miles on this old girl since its recovery from Africa but did ensure that the zerk fittings were all replaced and of course lubrication of same. I also noted that the bronze bushing that sits in the housing while worn a bit, was worn evenly without any discernable damage. I use a very good bearing grease when I reassemble the axle and bearings. I'll provide pics of ggst product on my next post.