Track pins

[Maurice Donckers]

Stainless steel is not harder ,it is tougher, it will wear very rapid.
In Holland It is possible to get the right diameter of steel rod with the same outside hardening as orriginal , just cut them with a grinder cutting bench , and weld an end cap on both sides .

[RichardT10829]

would heating normal steel rod up and quenching in oil not harden it ? works on swords

[Maurice Donckers]

It is all not that simpel , you want the inside to be Tough , and the outside hardenned for Wear. But if you heat them just up , and then quench them , they wil deform .
same with track links don`t heat them up cherry hot to get pins out , the links will also change their charackteristics , and wear quicker.
I pressed them one by one out . Had a lot of NOS pins and several failed after some miles , because of the aging of the material . same problem with brake shoe springs they just snap because they get to brittle from aging.

[RichardT10829]

so it needs to be case hardened bar ? wonder how much that would cost.... i agree with using heat on the tracks too its never a good thing. i have been trying to find out what the meterial % is made up from i know it has manganese in there with the steel (track links).
perhaps this is something that we could all get together and try to sort once and for all, after all worn track and pins will effect us all. I know that staman military are producing brand new sherman chevron tracks so surely we could all get together and produce something. i am going to chase up Vickers Armstrongs for any patterns they may have again.

Jon keep us posted on any results you get for material to use as pins.


Rich

[tankbarrell]

Normal, i.e. mild steel does not have enough carbon to be heat treated, that is why case hardening powders are used as these are carbon based.

You can buy a carbon case hardening steel such as EN32 or a nickel chrome moly such as EN24. Both can be heat treated with the EN24 giving a uniform toughness throughout.

As Maurice said, Stainless steel is not very hard but it does have the advantage of work hardening.

[Ron Pier]

During the course of my motorcycle restorations, I invariably have to harden and temper the ends of the clutch push rods. These are made from silver steel, the ends are heated cherry red and quenched, then heated to straw colour and quenched. How would this process relate to track pins? Would silver steel be to costly? Could the process be used on the whole length of the pin? Ron

[RichardT10829]

another thought to consider is are the ends not left soft so they can be peened over ?

i have contacted a local Foundry in Durham about track, about 30mins ago,they have just rang me (bloody prompt excelent service !) they have a partner firm with massive military contracts who state this type of track should not be a problem for them to re produce at reasonable costs, but i wont have a reply until after tuesday as the chap is overseas on business........... as a carrier family we should definately pull together and put an end to this problem.

Nigel may give the acurate figures but iam sure the track usually looses a link every 500 miles, they dont last too long at all.

[Ron Pier]

Not according to the NOS pins I have Richard. One end has a fairly large domed mushroom head. The other end has a hole for a split pin, with washer first of course. Ron

[Hendrik van Oorspronk]

Originally Posted by Maurice Donckers

Stainless steel is not harder ,it is tougher, it will wear very rapid.
In Holland It is possible to get the right diameter of steel rod with the same outside hardening as orriginal , just cut them with a grinder cutting bench , and weld an end cap on both sides .

Hello Maurice, what kind of steel do you use for the trachkpins?
And were do you order it? MCB?

Groeten

Hendrik van Oorspronk