re rubberered wheels

[ron]

Hi Guys,
Well at last I got the wheels back from the tyre place, they did an excellent job,and I have spent today fitting them to the bogies,
Ron,

[ron]

Just annother shot of the double bogie wheels
will be painted next

[ron]

Last shot, Just fitted this one to see how it looked and then quit for the day,
Ron,

[Jordan Baker]

Those wheels look great. Im rather envious of you.

Now if only somone could find a place in Southern Ontario a whole bunch of use would be set. The old story of everyone knows of a place but can't remember its name or where they are located is starting to bug me.

There must be a place out there.

[alleramilitaria]

what was the unit cost to get them done? it might be worth it to get a pallet or two from here and back. if done that way its not too bad. we have about 20-30 wheels here in texas that need redone.

[ron]

Hi Jordon,
The cost of the ten wheels that I had done paid for the cost of the mould to be made, it took a little bit of talking to get them to make it,but now that they have it they can make as many as they want, I got them re done at a place that re treads tyres for the mining companys, they also do solid tyres for such items as fork lifts. I am sure that if you can get enough genuine starters you should be able to work out a deal with someone,
Regards,
Ron,

[ron]

Hi Dave,
The wheels are first class an excellent job, they are made in a mould and they were doing four a day, when I first spoke to the owner he was going to build them up in layers, but he did say if he could get numbers the mould was the better way to go,after a few questions regarding the cost of the mould he admitted that my order would cover the cost of a mould, I suggested that he have it made as the chances were he would get some more orders once the boys saw what they looked like and I even offered to hand out his business cards at swops, with no gain to me, I just want to keep this hobby going strong,It must be possable in the states to get them done there,
Now the most important thing they cost $308 each the cost was $280 plus 10% gst,, Govt Tax,

If they had been built up in layers they would have had to have been turned in a lathe to get the correct profile, he guarantees they will not come off the wheel
Regards,
Ron

Very Nice Job on the Bogi wheels Ron, may I ask a question, what is the differance between the layerd and molded rubber on the wheel. I just bought a carrier not to long ago and was thinking of rerubbering 1 wheel that has damage to it. Thanks



Dibble

[ron]

Hi Dibble,
No differance really its just easier for the tyre place to do them in a mould when they come out of the mould they are finished, but if built up in layers they must be machined to obtain the correct profile, its all a matter of time,as the cost of the mould was just a little more than the cost of my wheels I covinced him that if he had a mould made in the long run it would pay for itself, this way now if at least have someone willing to do the job,and its great for our hobby, next we need a source of track in Australia, and thats not impossable.
Regards,
Ron

Thanks Ron , I just needed the Extra wheel for a spare, I wanted the carrier to look good with a freshly done carrier wheel.It's kinda hard getting those special hardend Track pins are you having them made? i'm having a few NOS pins shipped down from Canada as I speak, But would like new ones. Thankyou


Regards Dibble

[Tony Smith]

Ron, the ends of your primered spokes look a little blackened. Is this from burning the old rubber off the rim, or is a lot of heat used in moulding the new rubber?

What would be the best way to supply a wheel to the re-rubberers:
1. No rubber and sandblasted, or
2. No rubber and painted, or
3. Leave it as it is and sort out the cosmetics later?

The reason I ask is that the new rubber wouldn't look as new with paint overspray all over it, and sandblasting the new rubber could damage it.

[ron]

Hi Tony,
The best way to go is to just give them the wheels as they are, the spokes were blackened because the heat used in the mould to form the tyre and the heat allows the excess rubber to bleed out, there is really no point in painting them befor they are redone as you said the paint will be burnt off,The other alternative is to remove the rubber your self, but they will not change the price, so you are better off just hading them over the way they are, the job is really first class and they look as new painting them is no real problem just a matter of taking your time,the end result is well worth the effort and cost, particuly if you have good track,

Regards,
Ron

[ron]

Me again Tony, Sorry I did not say that my wheels were sand blasted whilst on the carrier the day that it came in from out west,
Regards,
Ron,

[ron]

Hello Dibble,
Regarding the track pins no I am not having any made at the moment I have no use for them as my track is excellent but it should not be very hard to get them made once you decide on what steel to use, it would be a very easy job to do,
Regards,
Ron,

[ron]

Hi Guys,
Well the wheels are fitted and they look good
Ron

[ron]

This is a shot of the other side, with its first coat of paint, dosent look the best as yet but a couple of more coats and it will look better
Ron,

[ron]

Here is a view of the front of my carrier,I have just fitted the front splasher or mud guard,
Regards,
Ron,

Thanks Ron , I would have to say you have done a Great job and the fastest rebuild i'll never compare too. Let me ask you this, My tracks are all good execpt 5 links that are sized, is it better to heat them up(tracks) or grind and then drill the pins out?

I see its tough getting the paint in those little spots ware the primer is, I did the same thing Primed everything execpt the track 2 coats of primer on the inside and out and 3 coats on her belly and rear plate, I will send pic's soon. GOOD JOB!




Regards Dibble

[ron]

Hello Dibble,
I would suggest that you use gentle heat on the track but dont over do it just heat it up and give it a tap from time to time until you get some movement hold it the vise and just keep working on it once it moves,the pins wont free up but the track will.
I dont think that you would have any hope of drilling the pins out, if you were here I could give you some track to get you set up.
But then I think your track is somewhat different to ours,
Good luck I hope it works out O K for you.
Regards,
Ron.

Thanks Ron Again, Will do a little heating of the tracks. It did look like a big job drilling out the pins. One question your track links are Bigger than the Canadian or British tracks? Gee I wonder what the differance would be. I need to get or make a set of the Brake adjusting Blocks , seems my brake pedal stays down when you depress it, and when you depress it the Emergancy Brake moves also. I did see on the "Year of the Carrier" Video a guy mentioning hidralic brakes, I wonder what they might have looked like. Thanks again




Regards


DIBBLE

[Pedr]

G'day Dibble

In answer to your first question; Yes, Australian track is bigger than British and therefore other track.

The distance between the "Alligator" spines is greater and the spines themselves are higher.

Fitting British track to an Australian carrier has catastropic consequences for your road wheels.

As I am sure that fitting Australian track to a British or other carrier would also produce dire results - most likely the track would throw at that point constantly as it would become loose as it passed the Australian sections.

I was involved in the restoration of the South Australian Military vehicle museum's carrier that Bob Moseley did most of the work on.

To unseize the track we used oxy-acet. and a pnuematic hammer. Heating each link then driving them whilst still warm with the hammer, back and forth, until the pins came completely out. Heating this way also removes any traces of the lead plug that may be in the locking grove.

Then each pin was linished on a wire-wheel.

Any cracked or worn links were built up with cast iron welding rods in an arc welder.

Once all of the links had been broken they were assessed as to their condition and graded into piles ( good, fair, bad, unusable ) Fortunately someone had sourced a few more links than required and we had some backup track to use the link from.

In reassembly, one link was taken and fitted in sequence ( obviously discarding the unusable track ) So I think in this case it was 1 good, 1 bad, 1 good, 1 fair, 1 good. we made up sections of 11 links then lay them all out on a large piece of flat floor. The most critical thing is to get both tracks equal in length. So sections were joined and unjoined if neccessary until the tracks were even.

They were then rolled and layed on their side plug side up and once again, the oxy was wheeled out, and lead-tin ( I think they were 60/40 ) soldering rods were melted into the pin hole. Once it hit the cold pin end and the track it sets making a track plug that completely fills the area, but just to be sure we slightly overfilled the hole so that it formed a nice meniscus bead on top of the link and this too was allowed to cool before being peaned with a decent hammer into the hole further.

The result of all of this work was track that performed extremely well at Corowa 2005. In fact, coincidently, on the YOTC DVD, just as John Belfield speaks about 60 year old track, and driving on rusted ol' track, the carrier with the completely reworked track from SA is shown.

As for the Hydraulic braking system on Aussie carriers... it was limited to one model that didn't have displacement steering. So it is infact skid steer like one of those small bobcat loaders. Apparently it did not receive rave reveiw in its time as the vehicle used brakes for steering and stoping, therefore wore through them at a much higher rate...unless only one side works and you can only turn one way....like Bob Moseley and his mates at Corowa '05. hehehe

Picture is of braking mechanism on Australian MGC Local Pattern No 1 hull no. 0005

Pedr.

[Pedr]

The "One Way" gang, makes it's get-away, strangely only turning left on their way out of town.

The Sheriff's were completely baffled and soon lost their trail.

Hehehe

Pic from YOTC, thanks to Keith www.oldcmp.net

Pedr

Thanks Pedr for that information, I have put my tracks in 20 link sections and All sections are good, But like I said 5 links in the last batch were sized, I did do what ron say's and It work OK, a little heat and a little bang. I just don't want to break a tooth on the sprocket if I reassemble those links back on. Being cautious I guess.
In the Video YOTC I like that older Gentlmans explaination of staring up the carrier with rusted tracks after sitting for a number of years. Really Great. And a word to the wise he said if you have a restored vehicle store it in a shed not out on the front lawn Again thanks for the info on the Tracks .

Regards

Dibble

[Tony Smith]

I wonder if you could treat the seized links with Bob's Caustic bath method, with or without the electric current. Just sit them in a caustic solution for a week or three? Better than risking the heat treatment on the pins, or cracking a link with a smack from a hammer.

You know something Tony I was thinking of that last sunday, as searching the MLU I did see some home made operation Jordan Baker did , But was that just for surface rust?, maybe soaking in bath Acid or penetrating oil? My God its only 5 links should be fine.

Thier always has to be something, never fails, like the last bolt never seems to come out


Thanks



Dibble

[Tony Smith]

Originally posted by Dibble
One question your track links are Bigger than the Canadian or British tracks? Gee I wonder what the differance would be. DIBBLE

More of a different design than a size issue. The English / Canadian track uses pins with large rivet heads located by a split pin, while the Australian track uses blind pin holes located by a lead plug.

[Tony Smith]

Another difference is the width of the road wheels. The Aust wheels are 3 1/2 in wide and the Brit/Cdn are 2 1/2 in.

[Tony Smith]

Originally posted by Pedr
Fitting British track to an Australian carrier has catastropic consequences for your road wheels.
Pedr.

The wide Aust wheel rides up on the guide horns and doesn't sit fully in the Brit/Cdn track:

[Tony Smith]

Originally posted by Pedr
As I am sure that fitting Australian track to a British or other carrier would also produce dire results - most likely the track would throw at that point constantly as it would become loose as it passed the Australian sections.

Pedr.

The Brit/Cdn wheel doesn't come close to fitting the Aust track. I'd imagine any delicate steering manovres would be out of the question!

[alleramilitaria]

HEY TONEY, NICE PILE OF PARTS THERE
CHRISTMAS IS COMMING AND I NEED A LP CARRIER