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Old 23-12-18, 20:15
Big D Big D is offline
Darryl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Posts: 653
Default M8 restoration

Hi all,

Here are a few photos of what I’ve been working on over the last week.

Thanks to Willy for confirming the black rubber type spacers are the correct one for the headlights. These spacers do have a slot in the middle for the top rim of the headlight sleeve to fit into. When fitted on the sleeves, they need a bit of downward pressure into the hole in the hull so that the brass bush in the handle hole can be pushed through to lock the sleeve in place.

I have the fuel pump and fuel lines fitted in the front of the hull now. The line in the foreground of the photo would normally be at the very front of the hull but it seemed to fit nicely as I have it so I left it at that. I used a bit of thread sealant on all the connections so hopefully all will be well with them.

The reassembly of the intermediate and rear axles is progressing. I’m now at the stage of making up the fixed brake lines for the axles. I have no templates so I am working off photos and the plans from the parts manual to do these.

Does anyone have any axle brake T connections spare that they would be prepared to part with? I have fitted four of the six required but the other two I have are both used and have damaged threads. Originals seem to be very hard to find. Can anyone assist please?

What is the easiest way to install the intermediate and rear axle? The manual says that the back of the vehicle needs to be lifted to a height to get the two axles under it. I guess then it is just a matter of aligning the ends of the leaf springs with the two openings on each of the axles.

My plan was to get the boys in the engineering workshop next door to bring in their truck and hiab crane. We’ll lift the front of the hull and then fit the front wheels to the front axle. Then we can lift the rear of the hull enough so that I can roll the intermediate and rear axles under the hull.

Once the rear leaf spring ends are in the slots on the axles, will the weight of the hull settle enough on the axles to stop them moving around, or will I need to get the torque rods locked in straight away?

There is not a lot of information in the manuals about the torque rods in the manuals, and how they are fitted and adjusted. Has anyone got any first-hand experience with these? Are the top ones adjusted simply to keep the alignment of the axles correct?

I’ve noticed that the handbrake cable is a real bugger to fit into place on the hull side. The cable comes down tube in the side of the hull and has to make an almost 90 degree turn to go into the mount on the hull. The cable is quite stiff so getting it to slide down the tube and then sideways into the mount is not easy. Does anyone have any bright ideas on this? My one is just into the mount but it really needs to go in about another ¾ inch.

That is all.

Merry Xmas.
Attached Thumbnails
20181220_141441.jpg   20181222_163006.jpg   20181222_175234.jpg   M8 brake T connections - Copy.jpg   20181220_141750.jpg  

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Cheers,

Darryl Lennane

1943 Willys MB
1941 Willys MBT Trailer
1941 Australian LP2A Machine Gun Carrier
1943 White M3A1AOP Scout Car
1944 Ford M8 Armoured Car
1945 Ford M20 Armoured Car
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