FAT Fast 17 pounder recovery

[Gunner]

Greetings Robs and other 17 pounder aficionados:

The 30 RCA gun is part way through tear down with success achieved last week in pressing out the breech operating cross shaft. Tomorrow night we tackle pushing the breech block out.

The biggest headache is removing the elevating mechanism shaft (number 37 in the parts diagram you posted Rob F). The gear has rusted to the shaft. Any suggestions on removing it without causing more damage?

I'll try to post photos of the gun so far.

Rob Nixon- I notice your breech operating lever is missing the top six inches or so. If you need it copied I can see if my welder chap can make it for you.

Cheers and Ubique! Mike

[rnixartillery]

Hi Mike,

How are things with you ? The elevation shaft that runs through the front of the saddle takes a bit of gentle persuasion . I assume the elevation works so it turns inside the Tube ? I have removed two of these shafts in the past and neither were easy, plenty of heat required !

Thanks for the offer of the hand grip but I have one just not got round to fitting it.

Rob.................rnixartillery.

[Gunner]

Hi Rob: I'm well but up way past my bedtime. I'm hoping to pay another visit soon but cannot decide if I will come for the D Day show or the Market Garden show later on. I have an invitation from Mike either way. We have to get a contingent of you Britons over here to see us Colonials and our toys!

The gear is frozen into the wide spot in the support tube due to an accumulation of sand, rust, pine needles and other grunge. I hope to free it to rotate before trying to pull the shaft. Can't see how to heat the gear evenly in that wide spot unless I can get the beast to rotate. Another little headache is the odd two bolts holding the traverse handwheel box to the gun. These are the two with slots in them and almost no exposed head go get a socket onto. Ahh the joys of rusty old cannon!

Cheers and Ubique! Mike

[rnixartillery]

apologies for interrupting your thread Rob but I guess the more information available publicly is always a good thing for our exclusive club !

Mike ,attached are a few pics of the last one I removed, as you can see the gun had been well looked after by the previous owner.
It would be best to get the shaft turning first and remove the gear box to eliminate any unseen obstructions.

Rob...............rnixartillery.

Ps ,I would love to come over and check out the kit you Guys have ,my only fear is that I wont want to go home !

[Gunner]

Exactly what I needed, Rob, thanks! The photos confirmed what I thought and I should be able to report success after tonight. The previous owner certainly did look after that gun... very nice condition! Cheers! Mike

[Rob Fast]

this thread is all about the guts of the big 17! Cheers Rob

[Gunner]

Success! With the help of your photos, Rob N, and a bodged pulling tool, we pulled the elevating cross shaft out on Thurs night. The gear wheel was a bitch until we figured out the little removable bar in the arc support! The elevating arc and the elevating gear both are missing a tooth where someone tried to cut away the monument welds. Same for the traverse arc and gear except the traverse gear is worse and is missing three teeth. Hopefully our welder can build up the missing teeth and we can hand cut them back to true.

Took a first stab at pushing the block down. Framed the breech ring with massive 10 inch "I" beams and one inch threaded rods. The 20 ton jack then groaned and nothing moved. We will try some heat along with the jack next week. Last major moving parts to free up are the spades. Then its cleaning and polishing time in order to reassemble the beastie.

Missing bits: we are pretty complete except for some odds and ends. The mops and bags would be nice. We have a panoramic sight for the 25 pounder which can be shared by the 17 but they were only used for indirect fire anyway. We have a six pounder direct fire telescope which fits the 17 pr mount but has the wrong graticle pattern. We need a set of cleaning staves. We have lots for the 105 C3 so we can fake it for now! The funny bill hooked machetes seem to be quite hard to find in Canada and our rivet counters are trying to find a T handle shovel as they don't believe me when I tell them that the Canadian army used both the T and the D handles!

Ubique! Mike