Carrier Track Variations

[rob love]

Here are a couple of shots showing the shorter Swiss pin and a regular Cdn pin. The track link is the regular width Canadian type.

[Lynn Eades]

Thank you Rob.
So it looks like the Swiss shaved 1/4 inch off each end of the std track.
Those track pins would go well in Australia, I'd think. Just need to cut them down? (for the lead plug track)

As an aside. I read that in 1939 England, the track links were hardened to reduce wear and in the pin hardening process the ends of the pins were copper plated to prevent those parts of the pin from being affected by the hardening.

[rob love]

I had hoped to get enough of those pins to do a complete track, but the seller's price on them was something like $3 each in USD. The first batch I bought I got for a deal at the end of a show, and got 100 or so. I think I got another 60 at another show. So I have enough to repair one side of a track. My current track is well worn, but I have another set or two in the yard, so no rush to install these pins.

[Jack Geratic]

Will there be any discussion here about the bogie and sprocket dimensions, or would it require a separate thread?

[Lynn Eades]

Jack what do you need to know on the sprockets? It might be better to start a new thread.

[Jack Geratic]

Hello again Lynn

For sprockets I would like to know for certain if the diameter is the same for the carrier and the Vickers LT VIB. Don't have a measurement for either but hubs are certainly different in detail.

[Lynn Eades]

Hi Jack, I don't know, but Colin J. in Adelaide would surely be able to answer that.
The common models (1941 to 45 U.C.) of the British and Canadian and Australian carriers all have a 35 tooth sprocket and mount on the same p.c.d. on 18 bolts. The Australian sprocket has a shoulder on each side and so is thicker on the mounting face. The interchanging of such means that the foreign sprocket would run on a different centerline (in relation to the bogie wheel centers) (about an 1/8")
Some people do this without worrying about it. I don't know what the long term result would be. Later sprockets changed to try to stop track wear. A sprocket was judged worn out when a section of 1 7/16" bar stock would fit between the teeth (and I suppose contacting the base or root of the sprocket)

Bogie wheels:
A Canadian or British U.C (and prior models) had a bogie wheel, the cast steel rim being 3.0 inches wide. With the Rubber they totaled 20 inches in diameter. The front wheel varied, but was nominally 19 inches in diameter. (the steel wheel remained the same as on the other wheel stations) This 19 inches varied, I have one in good condition clearly marked Dia 18.375"
It looks like the tyres reduce in width from the wheel at a 20 degree angle each side.

The Earlier Vickers Light Tanks used these same wheels, but with the advent of the Mk VIB, the wheels went out to the 3.5 inch width, that the Australians later adopted for the LP1 and later the LP2 and LP2a.