Firefly tank

[Bob Cohoon]

I read a bit in an M4 manual I am lucky enough to have, and it`s possible they were turning them around. Apparently, if they have a reversible type track,like the steel cleat ones on that one, they can turn them around which will extend the life of tracks with worn guide horns ( where the sprockets bear ).Turning them around gives brand new faces for the sprockets to bear against. They did that both sides at a time, doing half the track at a time, disconnecting and re-connecting below the drive sprocket, 16 " in front of the first bogie. They use another tank to pull the tank, being worked on, forward , and can use the drive sprockets, with a tow cable wound on it with a steel bar as the cross pin in the sprocket, to pull the tracks on when doing the other half of the job. The sprockets can be reversed, too. They say, also, to watch that the track tension doesn`t get too much slack, as this will contribute to throwing a track in tight turns .They probably put wheels in to help, as the steel cleat tracks must be very heavy