T-16 S/N 5399 T.D. 97377 Restoration

[andrew honychurch]

thats awsome David. really cool . All I can say is "only in America"! we would be hunted down, and arrested and the key would be thrown away if we ever tried that in the UK. I love it. The old boy that used to own my Daimler Armoured Car once fired it with a blank loaded 2 pdr, and an hour later the Superintendant of the local police arrived and gave the old soldier a bit of lecture which resulted in him taking the breech block off and its never seen the light of day since. Although he still has it!!

[Ron Pier]

Andrew! You mean you bought an armoured car with the breech block missing? You were seen off:
The breech block on my 2 pounder field gun was got at with a cutting torch on the firing surface for the deac certificate. But at least it still looks the part. As you say....."Only in America"

Ron

[shaun]

well my DAC is on my RFD, and we had a real blast with it at the Victory show, we got off 10 rounds of blank through the 2pdr - so its not "only in America". OK now back to carriers ! he he he he

[horsa]

We are pretty fortunate here in the USA to still be able to own live machine guns, mortars and artillery pieces. Anti-gun organizations are always trying to change this though and they also have a dislike of armoured vehicles being privately owned.

It’s nice to be able to restore these weapons related items while we can though. They go with the carriers and help to round out the presentation while preserving the history. Course like the carriers, there are few lightweight parts. Makes it a real challenge when it comes time to cleaning it after a weekend of live firing.

[horsa]

I'm always on the lookout for strategic spare parts for the carrier. Recently came across what I believe to be replacement axle shafts for the front idler wheel brackets. I've not found any reference to them being an individual part in the T-16 manuals but they look exactly the same as what I have on my carrier.

These are still in the wartime packing wax for the most part. Wondering if anyone has ever seen something like this for the T-16 or other variations within the Universal Carrier family of vehicles since it was probably interchangeable.

[Ben]

Yes they look like spare shafts for the front idler mount. I had to press one out and replace with a better one. Mine had a part number on the larger inboard end. Handy spares but they can be a job to press in/out.

Ben

[andrew honychurch]

hi David, and Ben. Seasons Greetings to you both and best wishes for 2012. I had bto say that I have not seen these parts around but I would imagine that they are serviceable items. It would seem a waste to throw away the whole front idler if there was a fault on the shaft. Short of a collision though I cannot think of a reason that you will need one!! Lets hope there are no collisions.