Halftrack Repair

[WillWagner]

Well, didn't see a halftrack forum, figured this would be the best place to start this.
A guy that knows Craig...the Museum Curator..has a halftrack. An M3A1. A USN Cheif and Mine Man . He drove the Pee Pee out of it. I think a bit of too much driving and not enough maintenence took it's toll on the rt rear idler. The bearing took a dump, cocked the idler and has worn the giudes to a razor sharp state. I have been hired to repair the idler, do the rear brakes, fix a gear oil leak at the rt side drive sprocket..probably a wheel seal, re track it and re install the winch PTO and driveshaft. Should be a fun project, it will put some of the Museum projects on hold for a bit, but this was arranged by Craig and it will be done at his place since he has a f-lift and I don't. I'd like to thank Craig for thinking of me . This will help out due to the taking days off of work w/o pay.
Here are a few starter pics. Some of the halftrack and some of the replacement track and parts. The halftrack is at the Museum, The M725 is almost complete, just gotta set the valves and finish the stenciling then the halftrack will go into the shop and the work can start

 

[BLK HMMWV]

Will
Except for all of the hard work and busted knuckels involved you are a lucky man.
You get to play with all the fun toys ,while somebody pays for all the parts and up keep.
Something tells me there will be trac's in your future. Mine following you around when you do the test drive.

Now if somebody would just get there butt in gear and get that machine shop wired up.

Take lots of pictures
And keep us posted on the rebuild.

BH

 

[NDT]

Make sure you have the volute spring compressor, which is basically a threaded rod that goes into holes under the top return roller. Install the two compressors when the ht is sitting on the ground, so the spring is somewhat compressed. Next use a chain to tie each side of the bogie cluster up, run the chain over the spring trunnion from one cluster to the other, otherwise they will drop down when you jack up the ht. Compress and split the rear idler and the track will be ready to wrestle off.

Get help when man-handling the track! It is very clumsy to fight with by yourself.

 

[WillWagner]

Thanks for the advice NDT. I WILL be using a forklift! That stuff is heavy. The TM from '42 showa a single guy with a 2 x 4 fulcrum lifting the track off!
More pics to follow as I get started on it in a few days.

 

[WillWagner]

Well, it's been more than a few days! What with forklifts needing repair and vacations, a month has passed. It is in the shop and the work has started. The owner got a mess of stuff from Gary Hebding. The stuff it new, but VERY rusty and corroded/erroded. The first thing I did was to take the "new" assembly apart and asess the rust damage. The outside was UGLY! The innards were in good shape, they had a bit of water intrusion, but all things are very useable. I media blasted the components and they cleaned up nicely.

I decided to start with the alleged failed side, which is the passenger side. Got the bogiess caged with some cool little tools that Craig has, lots easier than using chain and turnbucklie like the '42 TM shows! Jacked it up and supported it with a jack stand. With the caging tools installed, there is a mess of slack in the track. Pulled the upper center roller, the rear flange and the track was ready to come off. Came off very easy, just a bit heavy! Walked it off of the drive flange and now it is sitting on the ground! More to follow as the repair progresses

 

[PorscheTech911]

Very cool project! I'll be paying attention to this thread

 

[bigmike]

Will,

You didn't mention this when we talked last time...very cool!!! I've always loved half tracks.

 

[Armada]

Very cool project! I'll be paying attention to this thread

Ditto!! Thanks for the photo documentation, Will. I would love to be there to help.
Love the halftracks. They are my dream restoration.

 

[WillWagner]

Well, had a chance to do a bit more on the track. It is progressing nicely. Pulled some of the parts that were shipped to us to make sure they were still good and correct. The wheel cylinders are new Lockheed units, the hardware for the lower, major adjusters is NOS. The felts are in a wax covered box from the 40's, it IS Christmas time and it is cool opening the boxes Got the passenger side drive apart. All looks good, the wheel cylinders could most likely make it again, but, since I am there, they will be renewed. The lower adjusters were rusted solid in the backing plate and it took a bit of persuasion to get them out. A ball hone was used to clean the bores and the eccentrics were sand blasted as were the wheel cylinder push rods. Thanks to the Museum for letting me use their lifting equipment and space. This stuff is WAY heavier than deuce parts The wheel seal was blown, so i'll take the drum/hub and drive to work and give it a good steam. Hopefully, if it doesn't pour here like the forcasters are guessing, i'll have the passenger side done by this comming week end

 

[WillWagner]

A few more,

 

[WillWagner]

Did a bunch of work yesterday. Didn't take alot of pics 'cause I forgot and was busy. Got the brakes on, re packed the bearings on the drive and idler, got both of them put together and installed. Got the brakes adjusted and track on!
Lemme tell you, that track was a biatch! Took 5 of us to wrestle the big ol rubber band onto the unit. There wasn't enough room for a f-lift so we used a small lift to position it and tankers bars to get it into place. Still have to tension the track, but I was tired and decided to call it a day.

 

[lacoda56]

Lookin' good! Makes me want to start working on mine, but it's under a foot and a half of snow out in the yard so I think I'll be happy with looking at your progress!

 

[WillWagner]

Did a bit more work a week or so ago...I got busy planing a dez trip for New Years!
Got the track tensioned and got the track turned around so the drivers side can be worked on.
Went through the process again of raising it, removing the tension from the track, pulling the track, removing the axle and drum and pulling the rear idler apart. This side was messed up. The trailing brake shoe was rusted solid so the leading shoe was doing all the work. When it was pulled apart, the lining fell off of the shoe and the rivits fell to the ground...lucky they were brass, no drum damage! Two lug nuts were stripped, the studs will need replacing, they are the same as late style trailer studs so parts will be a non issue. The lower adjusters were rusted solid in the backing plate and it took a hot wrench to break them loose and get them out of the backing plates. All the brake stuff will be easy, just a bit of cleaning and it will be OK. The rear idler was in good shape, not too worn, but will be replaced with a better used set of outer and inner wheels. The rear idler shaft...that's a different story.
The idler end is worn heavily. The shaft OD is 2.740 in. The idler end...closest to the frame, is worn on the leadind edge to 2.705 in and the outer end...the side the track idler pulls on is worn to 2.721 in. The ID of the idler pivot is worn .050 on both sides. There is well over 100 thousandths wear combined on the idler end.
I called Gary Hebding, he has them made when he needs them. I think what we will do here is remove the stub axle from the frame and have it welded then machined to the correct OD and all will be good.
Attached are a few pics of the Museums "Human Crane" Arron. He in an ex CFL player. He is one big, strong guy! He and his wifie just had their first wee one! He is like 6'8" and his wife is 5'0! They had a healthy baby girl! In the pics he looks angry...he's not, he's one of the coolest guys i've had the pleasure of meeting!!

 

[WillWagner]

More

 

[mooresM35A2]

man i would love to work on a project like that

 

[WillWagner]

It's been a bit. We stopped work after the rear was done to do some environmental stuff at the Museum, do some scrapping, etc. Drove it back up to the shop and proceded to tear into the front. Someone had been in it, it had a home made gasket for the outer cover..nuttin wrong with that, it works! However, the prior repairing location failed to put a gasket between the hub and drive flange...oops, full of rust! All the bearings and races are junk. Found them locally so not a big deal, just $. After the front was disassembled and we were at a stopping point, we decided to do the radiator. Took the top armor off, removed the shroud and pulled the radiator. The owner has a NOS unit but I will still pressure test it 'cause I don't wanna have to this twice! Did I mention that armor is HEAVY! Well, that's it for this week. Next weekend I should have the radiator back in and the M/C on it, maybe the brakes bled....maybe?

A big thanks to Danny at the Museum, couldn't have done it alone! Also , again, to Craig for allowing me to use his stuff and space...thanks man!

 

[WillWagner]

Ran into a snafu with the brakes. Upon further inspection, I found that the bottom of the shoes are worn into the rivits. They will need replacement...parts ordered! I took the backing plate and other parts to work, gave them a good steam cleaning and yesterday gave them a coat of paint. It rained, was 90 degrees and the humidity was way high, so, the paint didn't wana dry too well. I didn't put the backing plate back on. I did get the new brake hoses on both sides so the radiator can be put back in and the M/C out of it though. It was kind of a short day, I had to take one of my daughters to a party sao not much got done. Next week!

 

[halftrackjack]

dont spend to much on brake parts.

all brake related topics

 

[WillWagner]

HOLY CRAP! I forgot to finish this thread. I have the rest of the pictures somewhere, saved them to either a flash drive or a CD, I am looking for them.

But, ended up getting a replacement idler shaft to replace the worn one, replaced the inner idler and bearings. The front went together flawlessly, installed the M/C and the brakes were great. The NOS radiator was good, installed it and ended up installing the winch PTO and shaft so it worked. Did some minor engine work, just snugging things up and radiator/coolant plumbing, snugged up chassis components, The owner liked to drive it but absolutely zero maintenance. We drove it 20 miles down Rosemead Bl and delivered it to Jim.

I kept a log of everything I did, how long it took as well as the pictures. I gave Jim a set and I have a set somewhere. As soon as I find the pictures, I'll post them up here. It was a fun project. I suspect a few more projects like this are in my future with retirement coming soon.

A quick edit, Don't know if the track is still up and running, Jim's health wasn't too good at the time of delivery. I think it is still sitting in the back yard. We heard from him occasionally but in the past couple of years, not so much.

 

[BLK HMMWV]

I'm hoping it's the M60 soon before I'm too old to climb up and down in it.