Carrier rear view mirror
 

Thanks Ron , very nice MKII Carrier ! Is it Canadian ? Thanks Rob. Will secure roundstock and remedy situation . Cheers !

Yes Robert 44 Mk11*. Same as yours. Done as 'Welsh Guard Stowage' Ron

Carrier horn
 

Very nice Carrier Ron , very nice . Did they all come with the Ford horn ? How is the horn hooked up ? Bracket ? Where is the switch for the driver to operate it ? I have had this Carrier for 4 years now and i still have plenty of questions !

Bren mag leather bag
 

Got this in the mail this morning. It is British, not Canadian. The part number attests to this but what a beauty ! It smells good also. Polished leather ! I admit that the Canadian version his cardboard , fragile and hard to find in good condition. Someone went overboard when this version was designed and ordered . It is so well done that it could be passed for a lady’s handbag . But in wartime ? A disposable item ? Comments welcome.

Over the years I've managed to collect a full contingent of Bren gun mag pouches for my carrier. I'd say these are more like Hog Skin than cow hide? But all war-time dated. Ron

Bren mag bags
 

Thank you Ron . Here we have three different versions . One is pigskin, the other cowhide ( Both British ) and lastly .. drums & trumpets : Real Canadian cardboard ! The question remains , why such expensive material as in the first two examples ? Why not canvas like the utility pouches of the Pat 37 webbing or , like the Canadians did with impregnated rainproofed cardboard ? Guys , any other versions of this Mk II specific piece of kit ?

I see that your cow hide and cardboard versions hinge at the front and with a single strap. I've never seen them before. Ron

I currently have a full set of the single strap bags in my carrier and have previously had several of the double strap leather ones also, which, as has been said are made of thinner leather. My take on why to use such good quality materials is simply to ensure the bags remain rigid. Soft flexible bags such as they would be if made of webbing material would be difficult to clip on to the rails inside the carrier body? Britain had a large leather manufacturing industry at the time but the British military did not use much leather so I guess it made sense to spread the work around the different industries.
What does surprise me is that having made these high quality bags they then made cloth liners to take the Bren magazines, why put one bag inside another?
These liners are now very hard to find and I am still looking for four more if anyone has any? Sorry about the pictures, whichever way around they are on my computer they come out sideways on the post!!

Perhaps the outer pouch was meant to be weatherproof and stayed on the vehicle, and the inner pouch was more of a jump bag, removed and left with the bren when it deployed onto position.

I agree with Rob, I wonder if the inner bag was used on its own when the gun was used in other roles. However if the rigid version was intended to stay in the vehicle, to protect the contents from the weather and damage, one would expect a metal box bolted to the hull. I suppose it is possible that this was just an intermediate solution to the problem, taken over from pre-carrier thinking in the same way that FATs were designed to directly replace horses, with the stores still in a limber, rather than a truck that towed the gun directly.

David

Hi Robert. maybe at post #34 this should have been a new thread so that in future this stuff can be found again. I never replied on the mirror because Ron had it covered.
Great info and pics coming through.

MKII Carrier Bren ammo bags
 

Very interesting my friends Lynn, David , Mike and Ron , Herbert and Rob . Did i forget someone ? I actually started a thread on adding a gas tank and selector to my Carrier but as we go new subjects come up. I have seen canvas dividers actually sewn into the Canadian ammo bag . I have an example somewhere in the Carrier shed and i will take pictures . But a canvas take out for the British leather ( Pig and Cowhide ) that’s a new one on me . Be my guest Lynn and split the thread . Amazing how the more you get to know the Carrier the more you discover .Cheers . Bob

Robert, it is your thread. I was just making a suggestion.
I'll just never be able to find the info in a year or so. :salute:

MODERATOR : Please create new thread titled MKII Carrier Bren mag pouches starting at # 34.

Bren mag bags
 

Here are a few more pictures of the Bren mag bags . The Canadian version ( credit to Terry W for this particular example ) has a short and a long canvas strap . The short on is to grab by hand and the long is to shoulder the bag thus you can carry a few around your neck/ shoulders . That would indicate to me they were meant to be taken out of the vehicle altogether. The British version it seems had an internal canvas bag with a shoulder strap . The leather bag would i presume stay with the Carrier .

MkII Carrier Bren Gun mag pouches
 

Inside the Canadian waterproofed cardboard mag box.No dividers . I do not know of a removable canvas pouch that would fit inside. Anyone else with info ?

mirror stems for MkII
 

Hi all. Here is the result for the MkII mirror stems primed and ready for black matte paint. I Actually went to see a blacksmith who had round stock in stock . He heated the end and flattened it then punched the holes for the bolts . Nice experience. It seems that’s how it was done in the day . Thanks for the advice Rob and Michael .

Homemade Carrier track jack
 

Friends, while waiting for my gas tank i continued working on a few odds and ends to improve the Carrier. The mirror stems are painted and installed . The B set antenna base ( No8) came back from England and Richie did a great job in restoring it. It looks NOS. Kudos Richie. In these pictures you will recognize ( well some of you will from prior service ) a M113 APC track jack . I grinded the ends of the claws to fit Carrier tracks and voilà ! My very own homemade Carrier track jack that i can actually use in the field without fear of it breaking or of losing it .

Track jack
 

Another shot of the homemade new and improved track jack at the other business end .

Final coat of matte black paint on mirror stem
 

My source tells me they were painted black . So here it is . My new mirror stem for the MkII Carrier made of steel round stock with one end heated and flattened.

Why 2 holes?


Never mind....brain fart. I am too used to mk1 carriers. Roberts is correct for Cdn carriers.

Robert has obviously gone for this type mirror arm. The book is for 'British Carriers' I don't know if the Canadian carriers had the same thing? But mine came with a separate mounting plate. Ron

My Carrier which like Ron's is a Canadian No2 MK2* and has a mirror stalk the same as Roberts new ones rather than with an adjustable mount that Ron's has! I am not surprised that they differ. A friend of mine has a Carrier again a Canadian No2 MK2* with a build date only 5 months different from mine but we constantly notice numerous differences between them. I think these may be due partly to the evolution of parts sourced at the different build times and partly to changes made in service when items have been replaced by what was available.

Mirror stem
 

Thanks Rob, Ron & Mike . All good info. According to my knowledgeable source , the stem is 10” overall and the rod bearing the mirror is 6.5 “ long. I’ve made mine a bit longer c’ause i play in traffic with my Carrier and i wanted to see over the entire width of the road behind me . I have to deal with logging and wood chip trucks on my nearby playground and they go really fast .

mirror stem
 

I hope this picture posts better. It does .

MkII Carrier specific coolant recovery tank
 

Thanks to my good friend SuperDave , i am now the owner of a good core to work with. This tank configuration is specific to the MkII Carrier . Two brackets on top with the vent and one on the bottom with the inlet .I have already located the holes in the division wall.

While the configuration is specific the tank itself is common to all Fords of the era. These tanks were used (with specific bracket configurations for..) on Cab 11/12, Cab 13 and Lynx as well as carriers.

You might be able to source a better tank from another vehicle and re-rivet your carrier brackets on to it.

Just for the general info, here is an original NOS MkI UC mirror arm.
Sorry, I have cut the top off in the photo. The shaft is plain to the top, as seen.

Got my new gas tank ( a 800 Km drive but made a vacation out of it ) . The fuel pick - up and screen are there . Very happy with my new «*tank*» . Very complete , only missing the 6 V electric sender everything else is there with all MKII Canadian part numbers. Original paint. Both vents, brass cap with retainer , Inside baffles .Last picture is the sump or drain and we see part of the screen from the fuel pick up line . Nice find. Thanks for the heads up George ( Brengunman ) from Saskatchewan and Grant Bowker for posting the link.

that seem like a big ride but hey who what is good good luck with your project :)