M8 restoration
 

Hi Colin,

Thanks for the reply. I'm keen to hear all opinions. Do you mean using packing pieces to bridge the gaps and just joining it that way?

Thanks.

Hi Darryl, yes that's what I would do. Your joints would be just as strong after you're finished. I noticed that the original welds look like they're stainless so cutting a complete section out would be considerably harder to do but not impossible. I think you'd be happier with the result if it was original and it's only cut in pieces, not skeletonized.
Colin.

M8 restoration
 

Hi Colin,

Thanks for that.

If we went that way, would we be best to proceed as per the other suggestion of a backing plate of a lighter gauge fitted inside each of those main sponson plates before fitting the small filler pieces?They would be virtually undetectable from the insid and would seem to make the process easier.

If I understand what the engineering guys were thinking, I gather they would torch cut down to the stainless welding to remove the old plates. Would that make sense?

Thanks.

Well, as you have access to overhead gantry and forklift it would be easy to just turn it over for welding both sides. Stainless steel and torches don't go that well together so I would opt out of that one. You can certainly fill some wide gaps with mig and if you have some brass plate 50mm wide or so you can just weld over that and then take it away for some of the other areas that are too small for a fill but too big for straight welding. if you held some pieces of plate behind and had someone mark it with chalk you can then cut some rough fillers with the gas axe and fit and weld them in place. Just by the look at the photo's of what I can see I would estimate 2 days and it would be as good as new.
Colin. :thup:

M8 restoration
 

Hi Colin,

Many thanks for that. Some really good food for thought there. I do like the idea of keeping those side sponsons intact and as original as possible, and that would certainly be a way of doing it.

The only drawback I can see with not removing the side sponson panels is that there is very limited access to the inner parts of channel etc in the hull and actually trying to join those pieces from inside the hull will be very difficult I'd say.

I'll go back to the engineering guys and have a talk about these options. The discussion certainly brought up lots for me to think about.

Thanks all!

M8 restoration
 

Hi Andrew,

Apologies. I must have been replying to the posts from Dave, David and Terry and I completely missed your one. Thanks for the reply. It's interesting that there are a number of thoughts about how best to deal with this. I'm picking that in the hands of a good welder (not me) any one of these options will work.

As I say I'd like to keep it as original as possible but at the same time don't want to have to take out a mortgage to pay someone to do it! That is the benefit of the whole panel replacement approach, that's for sure.

Thanks Andrew. I'll let you know how I get on.

Great Job Darryl
You are building a real fun machine
goes anywhere climbs mountains and is really stable
on the highways and byways
You are doing a more extensive rebuild than I had to but it will be worth it
Just make sure the JXD is a rebuilt and up to snuff
because you will need the rpm and power for a good road trip
I had to redo the engine in the one I doneand it made all the difference between fun and being P*****
Attachment 79344

M8 restoration
 

Hi Stew,

Thanks for that. Wow! A fabulous M20 you have there. I really like the M20's. They are a little more practical than the M8's, I think.

Yes, I will be fully rebuilding the Hercules engine. I have three blocks available so we should be able to get one good out of that lot. I have most of the parts available. Time and money is always a problem though!

M8 restoration
 

Hi all,

A few delays in the workshop so we haven’t been able to confirm a course of action for the hull yet. In the meantime, I’ve been doing a couple of wee jobs.

One of the things I’ve been looking at are the gun parts. I had been offered a few 37mm gun parts but knowing that I already have a few extra gun pieces, I wanted to see exactly what I needed.

The model of gun, turret and mantlet is one where the telescope mount sits on a horizontal post jutting out from one of the gun mounts. Is this the early version?

Not sure whether the photo shows it very well, but there is a ‘plug’ in the breech and some damage to the mount at the breech end which will need to be repaired at some stage. You will also note there are a couple of ‘foreign bodies’ tacked onto the recoil assembly which I’ll remove.

As you can see I have two of the sleighs (tube mounts) that would sit on the recoil system (if I have the terminology correct for both?). The sleighs (?) are shaped slightly differently so which is correct for the gun?

There are also two recoil systems, and two pieces of the gun turret mount. Both of these gun turret mounts have been cut but one is certainly repairable. The other would require some work.

I have three of the left side gun plates.

Not sure whether anyone else could use any of these extra gun bits but I’ll start a separate thread soon for a few surplus parts I have ended up with during the restoration.


I also did some work on the wheels in preparation for the hull when it is eventually in one piece. I have five new bar tread tires and one of the tires on the wheels, although not the same pattern, is in good nick, so that will do until I get the sixth bar tread tire.

A couple of the tires are completely stuffed as you can see. I intend dismantling each combat rim, blasting and painting and the fitting with a new tire. I’ve been able to undo most of the bolts with a big long bar but the odd one might need some heat to get it to budge.

I also noticed one of the wheels is an odd-ball and not the usual combat rim. Can anyone identify this wheel?

Are there any tips for splitting the combat rims?

Many thanks.

M8 restoration
 

More photos.

M8 restoration
 

Hi all,

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post. While we haven’t yet progressed the hull any further, I have managed to progress a few other things.

I thought now that I have good access to the axles, I might as well start getting those ready in preparation for the hull being completed. Call me soft, but I decided to get the aid of a local tyre company to assist with the tyre removal. I managed to undo all but a couple of the bolts on the combat rims and took the first 3 wheels to the tyre firm. The tyre company looked at them and said that two of the wheels had solid rubber inserts in them while the third had a tube. They were initially a bit reluctant to have a go at them but once I explained the design they decided to try the one with the tube and then do the others.

They pressed the first tyre off (the one with the tube) and once they saw the combat rim design, they pressed the others off. The one with the star shaped damage was particularly tight. Two of the three had the very thick rubber inner run-flat. I was cringing at the thought of the bill but I was pleasantly surprised to see they charged me $100 for the three wheels. I think it was $100 well spent!

Interestingly, these 3 wheels all appear slightly different. I wonder how many are actually M8 and perhaps some are perhaps halftrack instead. The height of the wheels on two of them are different to the other, as you can see from the photos. What is the deciding factor on whether they will fit the M8? is it the inner diameter or is it the depth/height? I’ve tried an M8 brake drum in all three and there seems plenty of clearance. Mind you, I tried the same drum on one of my scout car combat rims and this seems to fit in there as well.

I’ll drop the other three wheels to the tyre company next week and once the tyres are removed, get all wheels to the sandblaster for painting before I put the new tyres on.

The photos show the flare box, breech shield, more map clips, and the handbrake assembly cleaned up. The steering box and steering wheel are all ready to install. The propellor shafts and pillow block are done. What is the small propeller shaft? It looks like White Scout car to me. I cleaned it up anyway.

M8 restoration
 

The rest of the photos.

Hi Darryl, on prop shafts:
1, g/box to t/fer case
2. t/fer case to 1st rear axle.
3. t/fer case to pillow block
4. pillow block to 2nd rear axle
5. t/fer case to front axle
6. pto to winch? (I can't remember if it has a winch)
Does that help?

M8 restoration
 

Hi Lynn

Thanks for the reply. No winch on this and the more I look at that wee propellor shaft, the more it looks like the one on my scout car. It might have been an extra that 'slipped into' the container!

The short drive shaft just above the pillow block looks very much like the jack shaft that goes between the gearbox and transfer case on a CCKW. The DUKW uses two of them because of the water propellor transfer case.

David

Stew...thanks for the memories.....
 

That picture of Dr. Bill and a younger you with dark hair.....

Probably 1982..... while driving from the Smith & Stone plant on a lunch break I spotted that vehicle.... you were in the process of removing the heavy engine cover/doors. I stopped and we chatted briefly and you gave me the directions to Dr. Bill's house........ and I bought one of his books and was too dumb to ask him to authograph it........ he helped me identify the cab 11 I had purchased back in Fall of 1979.

It was all your fault..... that's what I told my wife.

Cheers

M8 restoration
 

Dave,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, it could well be GMC. Ill store it away for the moment.

Bob,

Glad to hear the thread resulted in a chance to reminisce!

M8 restoration
 

Hi all,

It’s been a while since I last posted so I thought I would provide an update on this project.

A lot of my time of late of late has been devoted to my White Scout car restoration. It has just come back from blasting and painting and I’ve been busy making up a new wiring loom for it.

Work on the M8 has continued in the background. I have the five combat rims blasted and primed with new tires on them. The sixth rim is still in Belgium coming over with some other parts.

The ongoing clean-up of parts has continued. I sourced some complete NOS turret hold down roller assemblies and these required lots of cleaning.

I have started work on the axles and plan to strip these, replace the damaged backplates and drum and get them blasted and primed and then reassembled.

The bogie assemblies on the hull don’t look bad. I had initially thought they were seized up but I figure with some light disassembly and some grease in the right places, they will be good to go.

The turret ring gear has shrunk and is damaged in two places so we are getting two sections water jet cut and they will be spliced into the ring gear and it all joined up.

We have gone to a Plan B with the hull welding. The guys in the engineering workshop have removed what was left of the sponsons on the rear hull piece only by way of carbon-arc air gouging. The removal of these pieces looks like it will give sufficient access to the main inner sections of the chassis/hull so that decent repair welds can be done on both sides.

The inner channelling for the cabling etc in the sponsons was stitch welded on both sides and so was a bit hard to get out. These were obviously put in place before the sponsons were fitted when the vehicles were manufactured. New pieces will be folded and welded into place to replace these.

The plan is that the guys will do a vertical cut from top plate to bottom plate on the end of the side sponson plates on the front hull pieces. Once the inner chassis/hull sections are joined they will cut pieces to fit the gap between that vertical cut on the front hull piece to the end of the sponson box on the rear hull piece, replicating the original welding.

Of course, we’ll need to fit the repaired ring gear in the hull first before that is all finalised!

If anyone can help, I am still on the lookout for some measurements of the mine racks please. I have the length of the rack but I need to know the width of the rack mount for both the lower and upper parts of the mount. That is, the distance from the point the mine rack is joined to the hull, and the folded corners of the upper and lower rack mounts. Could anyone give me these measurements please?

I’m looking for the following parts if anyone has any spares:

* Tool locker lids
* Exhaust elbow
* 1 x turret support roller bearing
* Covers for instrument lights on instrument panel
* Protectoscopes
* Engine oil breather

Thanks.

M8 restoration
 

Here are the hull photos.

M8 restoration
 

The last lot of hull photos.

M8 restoration
 

Hi all,

Here are a few more pictures showing some more work on the hull.

The ring gear is in its jig just awaiting the water cut parts to be produced which will be spliced into it.

The vertical cuts have been done on the sponson sides on the front part of the hull. This has given good access to the internals and all the rough edges have been tidied up ready for the two pieces to be mated together.

New pieces of plate are being cut to replace the section cut off from the sponsons on both sides of the rear hull piece.

The bolted pieces of steel shown have been put in place to enable the hull to be quickly brought back into the roughly correct position once the ring gear is ready to go back in.

Progress….

M8 restoration
 

The ring gear photos.

M8 restoration
 

A few photos of some parts being cleaned and repaired.

M8 restoration
 

Hi all,

Just a few new pictures of some more work on the hull.

The new sections of the turret ring gear have been water cut and are ready to be spliced into the ring. That water cutting is impressive. The replacement panels for those cut off the rear hull pieces have also been prepared.

I hadn't noticed it until now but I am missing a U bolt off the rear springs. Does anyone happen to have one of these spare?

M8 restoration
 

Hi all,

Slow progress continues with this. Along with cleaning up the brake parts I have been working on the first axle and getting it ready for blasting and paint.

After a long battle with getting the three countersunk slot screws holding the brake drum out, I now have one hub apart and stripped.

I am still working on the other one. This side had no drum and no axle fitted and has been exposed to the elements so the hub locking nut is completely frozen. It is work in progress....

I am also removing the torque rods so that I can eventually fit the new torque rod ends I have. How do you guys normally remove these torque rod ends from the pins on the axle? They are too big for any of the pullers I have so I am looking into buying a hydraulic puller of maybe 5 ton?

Does anyone have any experience with these hydraulic pullers in this application? Will 5 ton cut it?

Something I noticed today was that the two sets of turret seat mounts I have are two different lengths. One set is 3 “ shorter than the other. Was this a change made when the armoured floor was fitted?

Hi Darryl, are you removing the backing plates to get at them?
5 ton probably won't do it, but who knows. As a rule a nice clean taper releases easiest. Are the joints scrap? if you can get some weight behind them and then give them a good clout on the side, they just might pop off?

M8 restoration
 

Hi Lynn,

Thanks for the reply. Not sure which backing plates you are referring to though?

Yes, the existing joints are scrap. I have NOS ones to replace them, so basically just need to get them off. I was just looking for a subtle way to do it!

I've been lubricating the tapered pins they are mounted on for the last couple of weeks. I've given the joints a wee bit of a 'tap' with a hammer but I guess a cold chisel and a bloody big hammer on the torque rod ends would be worth a go.

M8 restoration
 

Hi all,

I’ve gradually been working away on this first axle. I think I probably picked the worst one to work on first so that is not a bad thing as this one has been a challenge from time to time. Hopefully the other two aren't as bad!

I got the other hub locking nut off. I had to use a grinder to cut a notch into the top of the nut and then I was able to use a cold chisel and a big hammer on the nut.

I eventually got the torque rod ends off. A 5 ton puller didn’t do the job and I’m not sure that a 10 ton would have done it either. All the puller does is pull the torque rod end outer sleeve over the top of the rubber surrounding the inner bush but it won’t actually pull the bush off the pin.

Cutting the outer part of the torque rod end seemed to be the best way to go. This leaves the inner bush stuck to the pin but I couldn’t see another option. I was able to remove some of these inner bushes by cutting a notch in the bush and then striking them with a cold chisel. Others were completely frozen onto the pin and had to be cut off with a cut off disc.

I was unable to remove the pinion yoke in situ so I went ahead and split the diff in the meantime. As you can see, there was a fair bit of junk in there. I figure the fact that one axle had been removed from the axle housing and the axle housing being left in the elements has allowed the dirt and moisture to get into the diff housing. Thus, the dirty mess inside when I opened it up.

I’ve done a strip down of the parts and given them an initial clean-up and I don’t think this diff shows signs of much use at all. There is a slight amount of pitting here and there from the moisture in the axle but overall a lot better than I expected when I first saw inside the diff housing.

I will replace the bearings and the axle housing inner oil seals and I’ll also take the diff parts to the blasters and explore the option of glass blasting to clean them up. I gather this is the preferred way to clean up these parts.

Once I have the pinion assembly out I’ll put it in the press and remove the yoke that way (hopefully). I’ll then replace the bearings on that assembly.

I’ve already dropped off the brake drums and backplates to the blasters and once I have the bearing cones out of the diff housings, I’ll get them off to the blasters as well for a clean up.

M8 restoration
 

More pictures.

Have you tried molasses bath to clean some of these parts rather than blasting them?

Tim