T16 T101331 restoration

[eddy8men]

hi david
thanks for the offer of the brackets but like you said i'm glad i don't need them as i'm sure the shipping would have made my eyes water.

i didn't know that t16 idler wheels were 19" i had assumed that the americans would use their production prowess and fit 20" to keep things standardised, by the way does anyone know why the idler is 19" and not 20" ?

for what it's worth unless i can find 2x19" i'll fit normal road wheels, if i hit any probs i'll let you all know

[Lynn Eades]

Its just that the rubber is thinner,(the wheel is the same as the 20" ones) and basically its about keeping the track on. Under side load the thicker rubber would allow the track to tip over more, making the track more likely to fall off. I haven't read this anywhere. It's just my reasoning.
The manuals won't tell you why. Just that it is.
You could have the rubber turned down in a lathe, to make a slightly damaged 20" into a good 19" wheel.

[horsa]

Turning down damaged road wheels to make good iders was my thinking as well since they are harder to source.

The road wheel tyres are marked 20 x 3 and the idlers are marked 19 x 3 for both Firestone and Goodyear. There are also unbranded tyres so at least one other company made them during the war.

[eddy8men]

managed to pick up a nice suspension unit from a chap who replied to a message on another forum. we got chatting and it turned out he used to own my centaur that i sold on to kevin. it's a small world !

rickwedlockt16.jpg

[kevin powles]

Rick, David visited here also, very nice chap, my five year old son Sasha got on well with him and invited him to his birthday party. I think these tankie people are all alike

kev.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by eddy8men

managed to pick up a nice suspension unit from a chap who replied to a message on another forum. we got chatting and it turned out he used to own my centaur that i sold on to kevin. it's a small world !

It's a small world indeed - from your clues I deduct he's a good friend of mine (he's on MLU as well) and many years ago I was standing next to your bogie unit.

About time we meet in person too one day, Rick. Meanwhile: keep up the good work!

[eddy8men]

hanno your name also came up in that conversation, (in a good way of course )
i too look forward to meeting you one day, maybe even war and peace this year. if you are going it won't be hard to find me i'll be the guy with a big smile on his face driving a cromwell.

all the best

rick

[eddy8men]

managed to do a little bit more on the carrier last week. the under side is now de-rusted and painted and although it's no big achievement it's really nice to see a bit of green on it at long last. the 2 left hand suspension assemblies have been removed for blasting and painting, i was worried that i would be in for a fight trying to get them off but they slipped off as if they were fitted yesterday.
the axle will need to be stripped down and de-rusted for although it was a new assembly it wasn't filled with oil so there is surface corrosion from condensation but at least the pinion backlash will still be factory set so it's just a case of wire brush then fill with gear oil.
i had the controls professionally rebuilt and i'm pleased with the result, to be honest i doubt i could have set them up properly myself as the linkage is quite complicated and the tolerances don't allow for guestimating.
i hope to get it looking something like with the tracks on by the end of the month but then again i am a little over optimistic at times .

18 march13 010.jpg 18 march13 012.jpg 18 march13 016.jpg