M60 repair

[Karl kostman]

Will seriously my friend you have a very COOL retirement going!!! I am envious.
Karl

 

[WillWagner]

Here is a link to a FB page from one of the volunteers pages,

https://www.facebook.com/daniel.enr...45T1GL977iwDRJI7YaXY7ChxBuEJ__HFapGN9_u6Nu35X

 

[Ragnarok]

Here is a link to a FB page from one of the volunteers pages,

https://www.facebook.com/daniel.enr...45T1GL977iwDRJI7YaXY7ChxBuEJ__HFapGN9_u6Nu35X

content unavailable, I think we would all need to send him a friend request to see it

 

[WillWagner]

Umm, leme see if I can find a way to get it from FB

 

[fasttruck]

A M816 should be able to do an engine swap. You will probably have to take and bring the engines to the hull on trailers as I am sure the wrecker will not "walk" with them.

 

[WillWagner]

578 and M62/548 are at the Museum, 578 just needs a look over, it runs and ASFIK, works, never excersized the crane, cables look good. M62 is stuck, tried moving it to get the M60 out, but there are brake issues, this one needs a re spool. Both will not walk the pack, they need to pull and rotate to be able to lift at their "happy" spot.

 

[WillWagner]

Tried to grt thr FB link vid downloaded to my puter, but I aint so smarrrt. Sorry.

Silverstate, there are markings on it, USMC 51505 on both sides of the hull, front and rear, have A15 on the left and 21442 on the right. Any info would be great!

 

[silverstate55]

Hmmm I've never been able to figure out the USMC registration numbers...perhaps there's someone else on here who can enlighten us on those.

Typically the 5-digit registration number would be stencilled on each side sponson box. The letter and double-digit numbers denote the company (USMC tank battalions with M60A1s had 4 line companies, A-D, and an HQ company). The first numeric digit was the platoon within that company and the last numeric digit was the tank number within that platoon. When the M1A1s replaced the M60A1s shortly after Desert Storm, tank platoon shrunk from 5 tanks to 4. My old tank was C31 then C35: Charlie Company, 3rd Platoon, 1st then 5th tank. In Desert Storm we were issued the Israeli-style chevrons, and each company rotated through the four directions of the chevron. We also marked the barrel ends of the main gun for platoons: one black or white/tan stripe around the main gun barrel denoted 1st Platoon, 2 stripes circling was 2nd Platoon, and so on....one horizontal stripe off of the last circling stripe indicated the first tank of that platoon (the platoon leader's tank, aka the LT's tank). I don't recall HQ tank markings (typically only 2 tanks for the company CO & XO; the XO tank would also have an M9 dozer blade on it, aka the "Blade Tank," and those hardly ever ran due to the crews also being admin pogues and "too busy" with admin/office duties to do their tank crewman duties....leaving it to us line guys to get tasked with working on those too, especially during inspections. So during exercises with OPFOR crews, those tanks were the easiest to infiltrate up to & drop CS gas canisters inside....making the crews have to wear gas masks for the entire rest of the exercise).

This is all from 84-92, so my memories have become a bit fuzzy on some of those details. I've never been able to figure out the registration numbers on the sponson boxes, sorry. But it sounds like you have Alpha Company's old tank, 1st Platoon, 5th tank out of 5. Alpha Company for the 1st Tank Battalion did the majority of Floats/WestPacs and amphibious training, so those tanks would probably be the rustiest. Unless that tank was out of the 3rd Tank Battalion's detachment at 29 Palms, then it would be pretty clean rust-wise.

 

[BLK HMMWV]

I dropped by today and saw his handy work up close. real close!! Thanks Will. It was nice of Craig to let me be apart of that.
What was the sucker with the radial he wanted to have you peek at next a Priest ?. Or was that who he suggested you go see.
Keep up the good work.
BH

 

[WillWagner]

I loved your eyes dude! Although I LOVE to work on things, I am hoping I do not have to climb in and out, up and down in THAT vehicle for a bit. It wore me out. The thrill for me is to bring things back to life/running order, using my pea brain instead of the BS troubleshooting that Cummins made me/us do. This "job" is WAY more fulfilling than the everyday stuff I did at Cummins, even though I liked what I did, but as the place evolved from a distributor to the "factory", it started to suck, BIG time.

I have some pics, too tired to post tonite, maybe tomorrow, it is supposed to pour.

Other things in the pipeline, , M3 scout car, one of the last contract Willys USN 2wd jeeps, M578....

Silverstate, thanks for the info! This one is a rust bucket, the throttle issue is directly related to that issue. The other M60 is rust free, but was recovered from Pendelton as was this one. This one is mostly complete, missing the laser sights, flood light controls, the other is pretty much stripped.

 

[WillWagner]

I have a Q, if you go back to post 6, pic 4, you will see a tube coming from the turbo outlet, routed fwd, around the intake and they terminate at the air boxes. When the engine runs, there is exhaust noise and heat coming out of them at the front of the engine, but no exhaust. Anyone know what these are for? The TMs we have are Army, not USMC and do not show them. They are on both sides.

 

[silverstate55]

I have a Q, if you go back to post 6, pic 4, you will see a tube coming from the turbo outlet, routed fwd, around the intake and they terminate at the air boxes. When the engine runs, there is exhaust noise and heat coming out of them at the front of the engine, but no exhaust. Anyone know what these are for? The TMs we have are Army, not USMC and do not show them. They are on both sides.

I have to say at the moment, that I don't recall those at all....Rustystud might have a better idea, he was also at Camp Pendleton as a Motor-T mechanic around the same time I was. Sorry Will!

 

[WillWagner]

Last update fro a bit until we address the other issue. Attempted to remove the drilled broken bolts, found that they were helicoiled previously. The bolt wouldn't come out, so I drilled incrementally to the correct size for tapping, was going to run a tap thru the hole and push what was left of the bolt threads out, well as I started to tap, the tap stopped, backed it out and found the reason, the helicoils. Used a pair of needle nose pliers and a pick and pulled the coils out, threasd were clean, ran the fine 3/8 thread chaser in the holes, looked good, so I reamed the holes in the throttle bracket to 3/8 and used 3/8 bolts to anchor it . Got the assembly back on, re installed the filter and fired it, seemed good! Hooked all the linkages up, fired it, idle was high. Adjusted the linkages, idled at a smooth 750 RPM. Buttoned the turret access door up and it was time to move the pig.
We noticed that the LH rear most road wheel was higher than the rest, did not notice if it was this way before we tugged it out of it's resting place. While I was gone, some volunteers came out and lubed the road wheels. We had tried to move the road wheel with a bar, thinking there was a broken torsion bar, but it didn't move. I looked at the ground where it was sitting and saw that the LH track depression was apx 3 feet shorter than the RH side, so it was in this position before we started working on it. We decided to see if it was frozen. Put down a couple of 8x8 boards and drove the tank over them, the road wheel moved up and returned back to the position it was in. We put a 50T jack on the road wheel and a few 2x4s between the track and fender and a 4x6 between the jack and track. The jack pushed the road wheel down and when released, the road wheel came back to its position. I think, judging by all the other goofy things with linkages and other things, that the torsion bar was installed incorrectly. Decided to not drive it around the compound so we just moved it fwd and back a dozen or so times, a few neutral turns, some left-rights going forward and reverse. The barrel travel lock had broken bolts that held it to the deck lid. I d=tried drilling them out, but someone had welded studs to the broken bolts, so, I just drilled new holes and used 3 bolts. The tank ws put back in place with the help of BLKHMMWV. He actually drove it while I was checking out the road wheel issue! The torsion bar issue will be addressed another time, there are a couple of items that need attention for Museum representation next week for a Vet event.

 

[silverstate55]

One note for safety's sake, if you need to slave start (jump start) any armored vehicles, please do NOT place them nose-to-nose...place them 90-degrees opposed (as in an L-shape, or right-angles to each other). If one jumps into gear, you need to allow yourself an escape route if one vehicle lurches forward.

No matter how careful you try to be, things happen...especially with 50- or 60-year old linkages that are rusty, sometimes they jump into gear with nobody putting any pressure on them.

At Camp Pendleton (1st Tank Battalion) we lost a good Corporal that way; for whatever reason, he was in a hurry and brought another tank over and allowed them nose-to-nose while he strung the slave cables into each driver's compartment. During the slave start process, the tank brought over to provide the jump somehow jumped into gear and over-rode the driver's brake application. The Corporal was pinched between both bows, and was alive & talking until the tanks were pulled apart. When the tanks were pulled apart, he was gone.

I didn't ever want to relive anything like that again. Rustystud might have been there at the time too, don't know if he remembers this or not.

So please please please when slave starting tanks, armored vehicles, or any heavy equipment please place them at opposed 90-degree angles; this allows the person stringing slave cables an escape route in case things go wrong.

Will, thanks for this thread, it's nice to see one of my old monsters come back to life! They are quite fun to drive and operate, just not much fun to maintain.

 

[silverstate55]

We noticed that the LH rear most road wheel was higher than the rest, did not notice if it was this way before we tugged it out of it's resting place. While I was gone, some volunteers came out and lubed the road wheels. We had tried to move the road wheel with a bar, thinking there was a broken torsion bar, but it didn't move. I looked at the ground where it was sitting and saw that the LH track depression was apx 3 feet shorter than the RH side, so it was in this position before we started working on it. We decided to see if it was frozen. Put down a couple of 8x8 boards and drove the tank over them, the road wheel moved up and returned back to the position it was in. We put a 50T jack on the road wheel and a few 2x4s between the track and fender and a 4x6 between the jack and track. The jack pushed the road wheel down and when released, the road wheel came back to its position. I think, judging by all the other goofy things with linkages and other things, that the torsion bar was installed incorrectly. Decided to not drive it around the compound so we just moved it fwd and back a dozen or so times, a few neutral turns, some left-rights going forward and reverse. The barrel travel lock had broken bolts that held it to the deck lid. I d=tried drilling them out, but someone had welded studs to the broken bolts, so, I just drilled new holes and used 3 bolts. The tank ws put back in place with the help of BLKHMMWV. He actually drove it while I was checking out the road wheel issue! The torsion bar issue will be addressed another time, there are a couple of items that need attention for Museum representation next week for a Vet event.

The torsion bar may well be clocked incorrectly; the TMs should show the proper procedure to ensure that the torsion bar is clocked properly (there should be some tic marks to line up in road wheel arm housing). To remove the torsion bar, remove the inspection cover on the opposite side, and have 2 men standing by: one to hold the tanker's bar against the end of the torsion bar, and one with a BFH providing motivation & encouragement to the tanker's bar. This should drive the torsion bar out.

It was not uncommon for the rear torsion bars to break and puncture the fuel cells. Did I mention already how much of a pain it is to remove a damaged/punctured fuel cell?

Please keep up the good work, there aren't enough M60a1s left around, especially one in operating condition.

 

[Guyfang]

One note for safety's sake, if you need to slave start (jump start) any armored vehicles, please do NOT place them nose-to-nose...place them 90-degrees opposed (as in an L-shape, or right-angles to each other). If one jumps into gear, you need to allow yourself an escape route if one vehicle lurches forward.

No matter how careful you try to be, things happen...especially with 50- or 60-year old linkages that are rusty, sometimes they jump into gear with nobody putting any pressure on them.

At Camp Pendleton (1st Tank Battalion) we lost a good Corporal that way; for whatever reason, he was in a hurry and brought another tank over and allowed them nose-to-nose while he strung the slave cables into each driver's compartment. During the slave start process, the tank brought over to provide the jump somehow jumped into gear and over-rode the driver's brake application. The Corporal was pinched between both bows, and was alive & talking until the tanks were pulled apart. When the tanks were pulled apart, he was gone.

I didn't ever want to relive anything like that again. Rustystud might have been there at the time too, don't know if he remembers this or not.

So please please please when slave starting tanks, armored vehicles, or any heavy equipment please place them at opposed 90-degree angles; this allows the person stringing slave cables an escape route in case things go wrong.

Will, thanks for this thread, it's nice to see one of my old monsters come back to life! They are quite fun to drive and operate, just not much fun to maintain.

Indeed. Anytime starting a tracked vehicle, is a good time to be to the side, and not in front or rear. This happened here in Bamberg, in the late 70's. The tank ( M60-A3 Rise) was at the wash rack, and when the driver started it up, the tank jumped in gear and pinned a young man between the bow and a concrete wall. It was the same deal. He was alive until they backed the tank away. It was right across the road from the dispensary. He never had a chance.

 

[silverstate55]

Indeed. Anytime starting a tracked vehicle, is a good time to be to the side, and not in front or rear. This happened here in Bamberg, in the late 70's. The tank ( M60-A3 Rise) was at the wash rack, and when the driver started it up, the tank jumped in gear and pinned a young man between the bow and a concrete wall. It was the same deal. He was alive until they backed the tank away. It was right across the road from the dispensary. He never had a chance.

Yes sir, good advice there.

Here's a couple of drawings I made up to illustrate the recommended positioning while slave starting armored/tracked vehicles:

 

[WillWagner]

We don't keep batteries in vehicles, so when we start anything, except mules, it always has someone in the seat, brakes applied and we announce we are going to fire and wait for replies. We are small, but very safe. All that are there are friends, it would suck to loose a friend just because someone got in a hurry.

I heard a rumor that Edwards has 3 M60s, all running and driven alot. Heard they are used for targeting and heat signature dialing in.

Anyone got a line on gun mantlet/gunshield cover and smoke grenade tube covers?

We have two searchlights for the M60s. We put one on the tank with the brake issue, gonna tackle that soon, and hopefully we will get the other one on this one as well as all the ammo boxes, antennas, etc.

 

[WillWagner]

OK, I found out today that I can post on YT directly from my phone! Here is a vid when I fired the pack on the ground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXF1jZj5Zm0

 

[SCM35A2]

Subscribed & awesome collection!