Thank you so much for the quick reply! It runs great!! Looks new inside with all ammo compartments stocked with ammo links in plastic and cosmoline. All of the straps are present ect. I did drive it yesterday and it was great. The only problems I experienced were the vehicle would not shift out of gear once in gear even when clutch was depressed. I had to shut down, go to neutral and restart and then shift into reverse. Steering was fine after I let the vehicle run for a few minutes, if I attempted to drive to soon steering was poor. I kept hearing an air pop off valve which led me to guess that the clutch and steering may be air operated but I am now thinking that it is probably hydraulic.
I did follow the start up procedure and pre-lubed the engine, we had a poorly photo copied picture of the gauges and switches and a start-up check off.
The owner of this is an 18 year old girl who is very enthusiastic about tracked vehicles but is still learning basic mechanics. So it has kind of fallen into my lap and I am not complaining at all but I have only worked on jeeps, M-37 and farm tractors, the latter of which may be the best experience because it is my feeling the the Soviets designed things to be maintained with the same skill level a farmer would have working on his equipment.
Thanks again,
Cheers
No worries
The air system - you will (should) occasionally hear the off-load valve on the compressor popping off when the system is at maximum pressure. You may also hear a hiss from the control valves down by your left knee as they do leak slightly. There is a pneumatic release for the gears - used if you stall it in gear as it is a right pig to release then. I used to hit the e-start button to bump it until the gears released till I found out about this release.
I'd check out the hydraulics and the clutch adjustment going by the symptoms you are describing.
Steering should be good from the moment you start up. If you have to wait a while then you have an issue there too. I think this is hydraulic - not sure right now - so a check of the seals might be worthwhile. Soviet era oil seals left a bit to be desired. If you don't know - the lever on the left of the column is the high/low range gear selector. If it is in the low setting then the steeering will only work on full lock there is no progressive steering in low range.
Do you have the start-up instructions for cold weather too, using the on-board pre-heater???
They are one of the easiest things to work on in the armoured world. Lift up the front deck and you have excellent access to the rear of the I/P, the drive train and the back of the engine. You also have good access through the small top hatch for the fuel regulator and the louvre cables whilst access to the front and side of the engine is via the internal hatches. With a crane you can remove the upper deck and have almost unrestricted access to anything.
Once the deck is up - if ours is like mine - the engine bay is almost a work of art as everything is colour coded (thus conscript proof). We had the decks up at W&P last year and could not believe the crowds that gathered around just to look inside.
Interior lights - switches are individual to each of the dome lights - 1 by the commanders seat, 1 in the turret and 1 by each rear door. The driver has a switch on the I/P to turn on the night lights for the I/P. All crew members should ideally be carrying the rectangular torches that clip onto a uniform button.
If you can get hold of the weapons - 14.5mmm KVPT for the main and 7.62mm PKT for the co-axial - the firing circuits in the turret should be live as is the NBC system and the smoke discharger (neat diesel into the exhaust - only use with a hot engine and running at 2,000 rpm+). The fume extractors/cartridge deflectors in the troop compartment are designed for the Czech Vz-58 and will not fit an AK properly. Same for the collets in the firing ports.
Once you have it running as it should it is incredibly fast and agile for the size. It can give a CVR(T) a run for it's money off-road as the long low hull "flattens" out the rumps better than the short, narrow CVR(T) hull. And for an e-stop the brakes should be capable of standing it on its nose such that the front glacis place is parallel with the ground momentarily!
Oh yes - if you value your hearing - use Soviet crew helmets - they really are very good!
