Nothing out in the sand outside the wire???? :D
Take care and be safe, I will keep eyes open for you, Chris

Too bad your not in Kabul.

I could give you the the Grids to find these ones:

http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data...m/PICT0038.JPG

Or, if missiles are more your speed:

http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data...m/PICT0034.JPG

Tsk tsk: those Russian's. You are never to abandon your guns.


There were one or two of those howitzers kicking around KAF, but I guess some of the other collectors must have beat me to them as they are nowhere to be found now. One was sitting just yards from the courier companies shipping outlet as well.

So I have been itching to get at this project. While in Kandahar I managed to spend a little bit of time on ebay and came up with the panoramic scope, the elbow scope, and the qunner's quadrant. I got one small breech part as well.

Once home, I got to the sandblasting and cleaned up the axle, the drums, and the backing plates. All turned out very well. I hammered out the one rusty bearing to try and get a part number, but no luck. I did manage to get some part numbers off the races. A check from the manuals to google gave me several online NSN breakdowns from which I got the commercial numbers for the bearing and races, the wheel seals, along with the thread pitch and size of some of the large nuts used on the gun. I ordered almost all the parts from ebay, where bearings average about $10 each vice the $20-40 you pay now at the jobbers. I even found the brake pivot shafts on ebay for a couple bucks each.

Below are some shots of the progress so far. I do not have brake shoes for it, but have the first drum installed (still waiting for one more bearing) and the pintle bar is also sandblasted waiting it's turn to go on. The middle photo shows just some of the inspector's marks along with the Sorel Industries stamps found on the top of the axle. The pintle has a large nut on it that is 2-1/4 with 12 threads per inch. An internet search found me one for only $17....far cheaper than the $60 it would have cost downtown here. The trail locks on the axle were also sandblasted, disassembled and lubed, with new set screws to keep them on the axle.

If anyone has a spare set of brake shoes for a 105mm kicking around, and has no plans to use them, please give me a shout.

Winter is fast approaching so this is likely just as far as I will get this season....time to prep the outdoor stuff and the yard for what is supposed to be an extra harsh winter.

Do you have a picture or a part number for the break shoes as I got some shoes with some of the iltis parts I purchased and maybe they might fit as I don't know there application.

Below is a scan of the part numbers. The shoe assembly is 2530-00-653-7585. If you can't ID the shoes you have shoot me a pic or a part number and I'll see if I recognize them.

Sorry rob Its not what I have. I remember mine being a little larger but the ones I have are: 2530-00-176-3287.

Dave

That part number is for the M151 family. They will be 10X2 and part number 11660466.

Thanks for that info on them as they were a mystery to me. Its great to know now what they fit as I have 60 of them to get rid of. Sorry I could not help, If they were the same as the MLVW's I got lots of them.

Dave

Another trip to my favorite yard escorting John Bizal netted these 3 shields. The two bottom ones are heading to another MLU member from Alberta, while the top shield is one I wasn't sure I would find. Most of them were disposed of when the howitzers went to the 11-20 tires. This one has a CAR number on it that also does not show on Scotty's list. Not sure if that means that particular gun has long been disposed of or if it was converted to C-3 configuration.

Also managed to find the larger bushing for the towing lunette shaft on the trail. It was laying in a bucket of brass stuff laying in a field.

Made some headway on the gun before the cold weather set in. Here is a shot of the axle and pintle bar together at last. The rubber is the wrong size...the 11.00X20 will have to do until I can figure a way to get some 9.00X20s from Rob Morrison brought out to here.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...etruck0034.jpg
I installed the trails as a temporary measure so I could move the carriage in and out of the shop. It will also give me a chance to work on some of the brackets and clamps over the winter.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...limber0017.jpg
Managed to get the top carriage sandblasted before the snow set in. I aquired the bottom bushing for it, but will have to spin the top bushing on the lathe.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...limber0009.jpg
On one of the last trips of the season to my favorite surplus yard, I found this chest, which was issued to the 105s (and other US howitzers) as a tool box. On the inside lid is a list of the various telescopes and equipment it contained.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...limber0007.jpg
To keep busy I dis-assembled the traverse mechanism. The main shaft was pretty pitted, so I turned it down a fraction of an inch and had to replace a non-standard seal and make a bushing to fit the new diameter shaft. As well, new bearings, bushings and seals were ordered for the remainder of the mechanism.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...limber0008.jpg
Below are the parts waiting re-assembly.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...barrel0003.jpg
As a temporary measure to make up for the barrel, I took an old Leopard barrel (more common than Liberals in this neck of the woods) and cut it in half. I took the heavy end over to a friend's work last Friday after work, and by Saturday night, out came a C1 barrel. As well, 2-1/2 wheel barrows worth of shavings were wheeled out to the metal dumpster.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...barrel0017.jpg
I couldn't wait to see if the barrel was going to fit into the recoil mech. With a little coaxing, in it went.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...barrel0018.jpg
The Lord only knows what our animals must think about us doing this kind of stuff. Here, my dog Brenna (feminine version of "Bren") is looking over the morning's work.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...barrel0024.jpg
This barrel had stayed outdoors for some 25 years or so. As a result, it does not have that shiny bore one would like to see in a barrel. I obviously have some work to do in here. Notice the set back rifling in the barrel swell. This was a design change to stop barrel cracking which was possible on the earlier version of these guns.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...barrel0022.jpg
One will note that the Leopard breech threads were left on the barrel for now. I am still looking for a suitable breech ring for this gun, so in the meantime the extra metal will help compensate for the missing weight of the breech ring and block.

Well that's about all for this month. With the cold weather upon us, painting is out of the question now, so at best things will get a coat of primer and have to wait for the spring for painting. I guess I can use the winter months to keep an eye on ebay for any bits and pieces that might surface. I have actually bought all the bearings and seals along with some minor hardware through ebay and amazon.com. Even with shipping counted into the equation, they are still considerably cheaper than going to the jobbers downtown.

The project has left me with a decent size chunk of Leo barrel, in case anyone needs some for a project. Open to interesting trades.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...barrel0001.jpg

Just how big is your friend's lathe? Sometime in the next decade I will need to work on two blackpowder cannons, and a man with a big lathe is good to know.

The lathes are pretty big. But by the time you transported something like that out here, you would be just as well off having it done where your at. The shop where mine was done would have charged me $90 an hour if I walked in off the street. The actual hours spent on it was approx 18, so it would have run around $1600 plus misc to have it done.

Rob,
The project sure is coming together nicely. Keep up the great work, can`t wait to see it finished.
Doug

It has now been put to bed for the winter, in the hopes that some of the dozen or so missing items will be found in the future. The major items I am looking for include:
Breech ring
Breech block
M4A1 elevation quadrant
Elevation mechanism shafts (rear two and the short one on the forward gearbox)
Rear elevation gearbox cover
Front travel lock latch (located on bracket on front of equalizer bar)
Any leads to finding these items would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the piece as of last August. It didn't fit on my trailer, so I got a trailer plate and towed it to Winnipeg for the military collectors club of Canada convention.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...r/IMG_3871.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...r/IMG_3809.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...r/IMG_3870.jpg

Excellent job you have done there Rob,I bet you are pleased with it.
I have found a few spare bits in the workshop that I dont need so going to sell on so if you have any interest let me know.
There is a Breech lever and pin and damaged parts of the Range quadrant.

Rob..................rnixartillery.

Rob
Definitely interested. I'll shoot you a PM.

Wow.... Nice work Rob.

Thanks Scott, but still a ways to go. I have been accumulating the EIS to go with the gun. I keep missing out on muzzle covers....there were 4 on kijiji in Ottawa last month which I missed at $5 each. I have got the canvas case for the aiming posts on it's way....found them at Numrich for a couple bucks each.

I have a C1 panoramic on it's way from the UK. Plenty of the US M12A7 panormics out there, but not quite as many of the Canadian version.

One thing about artillery, is it seems the parts are either very cheap or very expensive, and most are the latter.

Rob, the canvas case for the aiming posts, is that the vinyl convered M401 that Numrich list on their site? I'm looking for a wartime type canvas one if there is a source..... :thup2:

Yes, it is likely the vinyl. They should be in any day now, I'll show a photo of what shows up. Once I see it I'll decide if I am going to re-make one out of canvas, or live with the vinyl. Vinyl didn't really come into play on the military vehicles until the mid 70s, so it's a little bit out of the time period I am trying to capture with this gun.

While the red/white aiming posts add some nice contrast on the trails, they are supposed to be in their case. I can't imagine that they would last long stowed there in a cross country driving situation. The artillery guys I have talked to say they didn't use any of the trail stowage for the cleaning rods, the trail spike, or the aiming posts as none of them were that secure. Also, the two piece wooden cleaning staves have now been replaced with 3 piece aluminum rods which would not fit into the brackets.

The Gun looks great Rob. You did a quick job of it too...wasn't that complete when we were there and that was only a few weeks prior!
hey also I am in a new BN that is sharing the 15 field Artillary parade hall. there are a few 105's there and a few 25 pounders as well all restored. The 105's have the muzzle flash supressors on them, so may be a later year? I'll look at the plates this Tuesday and get some pic's. The guys that are working on them are reg force so I will ask if they have a few um spares laying around and then try to post some pics of them for you. I have your list so will ask...couldn't hurt right?
Casey

The muzzle brakes are on the C3 version. These were an upgrade on the C1, to extend their life and range. The carriages will be Canadian, but the breech ring and barrel, along with modifications to the upper sled, are European. However, despite the upgrade, the C3 is slated to be leaving the CF in the next year or two. The reserves will be getting the left over LG-1 (French GIAT) from the regular force. Those were purchased as an interim gun back around 2000, and were expected to last about 5 or 10 years.

I would be careful about asking and posting on scrounging gun parts from the military. For some reason the powers that be are not so keen about these kinds of things.

I knew there was a Dutch connection, so I searched for it and found here here http://www.artillery.net/beta/105how/:

In return for the favour of all those CMP trucks you guys left behind in '45!?!

H.

Only problem is that the extra weight and force on the 50 year old carriages is taking it's toll. There was an instance a few years ago in Gagetown where a cradle actually broke in half. Cracking has been found on a few of the cradles now that the techs are looking for it.

The 105s only have a few uses these days: training guns for the artillery school, primary gun for the reserve forces, avalanche control, and ceremonial. Many are now being given out as gate guardians. The shorter range of the 105 round has made it pretty much obsolete in the theater of war.

Happy days. A scrapyard find today netted me 5 of the remaining 9 pieces I need for the gun, as well as a couple pieces that will replace my home made copies.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps7c541a95.jpg