carrier wheels question
 

Hello
I'm looking for spare wheels for my canadian MKI carrier,

my question , are the english , canadian, early an late wheel or T16 wheel interchangeable?


Regards Sylvain

Hello Sylvain,

English and Canadian wheels are interchangeable but I believe that T16 like Windsor wheels have slightly wider rims. They will fit but will rub on the horns of the track and may cause damage.

Cheers Stephen

Hello stephen
thank you for your help , :)
no problem between the different hub seal types?
Last question , what about the loyd wheels?
I often see wheels here in Normandy but they are sometimes hard to recognize after a farm live.

regards
Sylvain

T16 have smaller dia. bearings.

Hello Sylvain,

I have not heard of any problems of different seals, you will probably need to replace them anyhow. Sorry I have not had any dealings with Loyd carriers but am sure that one of the other lads can help. If you often see wheels over there and they have good rubber on them I would always suggest picking.

Cheers Stephen

Loyd, can / Brit universals, bren, scout et al, all have same width wheels, as for T16’s but as Lynn has stated the bearing OD’s are different on T16 wheels (I am led to believe)

I installed some T-16 wheels onto a Cdn universal carrier at work. It did require replacement of the bearings to the carrier bearings, and of course the seals and spacers were different, but overall it was doable. Quite frankly, I think you really should replace the bearings anyway, as it is rare to have bearings that are still serviceable. I never realized how much wear was on carrier bearings until I put new bearings into an return roller. The difference in play is amazing...from lots to none.

Hello
Thank you all for your answers :)

I will try to pickup some wheels in this case, good news!

Best regards from France
Sylvain

Hello
By the way I have seen some brass bushing insted of the ball bearings on some wheels , what about this type of wheels?

Rergards
Sylvain

I have seen brass on low speed items like artillery carriages or horse drawn wagons, but not for use with motorized vehicles. I cannot imagine those lasting very long, no matter how much you grease them. China makes the bearings these days, and they can be found for reasonable money if you search a bit.

Hello
OK ROB this wheel with brass busching where probably carrier modify wheel for post war use.

regards
Sylvain

Not post war. SOME carriers came off the production line with bronze bushes. It was because of bearing shortages. I believe it worked o.k. but I like Rob am sceptical about the life expectancy.
A regular greasing regime would have been strongly applied. I believe the the Bronze bush was directly replaceable by a ball bearing. The caution being that if the wheel had wear in it, that the wheel would have been scrap.
O.k. I have now gone to the manuals.
The Canadian manual does not mention them, so I assume the Canadians never suffered the shortage. The British manuals do show them but say that the bushes have to be replaced with ball bearings when the carrier comes in for overhaul. This is stated in a Jan 43 Chilwell 63/63 Wksp instruction manual.
Rob the bushes were directly interchangeable with bearings. They were burnished and intricately made with eliptical lube grooves etc and the bushes extended into the wheel center (more surface area on the axle)

On that note, (a side note): Some people talk about Loyd axles and U.C. axles however the Canadian wksp manual states that the double threaded axles superseded the earlier one thread / flanged axle.

Well I have been schooled today...cannot believe they were that desperate. I cannot fathom a very long life to such a setup.

Would it have rubbed the wheel or turned on the shaft? Or both?
Having seen bushing type setups on M113 support arms and M35 (MLVW) trunnions, the wear on the shaft was always present.

I often wondered about those, I have both types on the Loyd. When you think about it the double threaded type make a lot of sense as you can drift them out from either end and they can be manufactured from bar stock rather than special forgings which would be good in the production environment.

As for bronze bushed carrier wheels, I rebuilt eight for the Loyd and six of the ones I found to rebuild had bushes installed. I did keep one for posterity on the garage shelf. Again, there must have been a bottle neck in bearing supply so it was a case of short term bushes and maintaining carrier production or halting the production lines....which wouldn't really have been an option!

With all the ships being sunk in the Atlantic, my guess, there was more than a small box of bearings that went to the bottom.
I spoke to an Aussie today who said he bought an Aust. carrier that was entirely bronze bushed.

Out of interest, I've been watching the restoration of these WW1 period vehicles by a couple of friends. Both these types had bronze bush wheel bearings and you can imagine the heavy mileage of the bus at least. Ron

Interesting Wheel
 

Bought these spare wheels a short time ago and have just got around to cleaning up. Not only are they both solid bushes but one has both part numbers TL17 and TL94 cast into it. I am in two minds as to weather to leave the bushes in or change them for ball baring's as I would like keep as original as poss. I know there is a mod stating to change them when serviced but as there is hardly any ware and I do not intended too retake northern Europe in the next couple of years, is there any necessity to change. Any thoughts?
Cheers Stephen

Hi Stephen,
As you are probably unlikely to go ploughing through mud and sand and will only do minimal mileage as well as keeping them well greased, then go ahead and use the bushed wheels.
My thoughts!

regards, Richard

Thanks Richard, that's what I thought. I have only managed about 200 yards in the last year. Cheers Stephen

They should cope with double that!
Regular greasing is the thing, as Richard said, and it gives you time to round up some bearings at a better price.

Thanks Lynn. 400 yards, I better take a packed lunch. Cheers Stephen

If i could have found it, i would have clicked the "like" button. :)

Not just me who has trouble then.

On a more serious note, the sealing systems were pretty successful. I've never heard of issues with them. This probably transferred to the bushed wheels as well.
By contrast, it was known that a new engine in the desert was toast in about 2000 miles.
My experience has been that the (ball) bearings have been absolutely worn out, or still in good condition (having either been worked to death or laid around for 70 years)

Unfortunately the seals seam a bit too far gone so will have to replace them. The large outer one seems to be felt and the smaller leather so will see what I can find.

Yes Stephen, they came with either cork or felt. Talk to Ben H. about get cork ones cut. I am using some from him. They are working well.
The later one is a nice set up. You can probably do the felt outer as a cut straight strip and just feed it in and cut to length.........or get felt circles cut, maybe from the same source?

Thanks Lynn, will look into that. I do have some thick felt somewhere that I was going to try, I have had it stored away for 35+ years just incase I needed it for something. If it it is not suitable I'll ask Ben. Thanks for your help, Stephen.