FAT Fast 17 pounder recovery

[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

[rnixartillery]

The Hard work does pay off in the end ! The correct direct fire sight is the No 51 Telescope, I may have a spare if I look through my shelves but do you have the case ? this is the hard bit !
I have a stock of Bill hooks and mop bags so if you need these parts let me know.

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

[Gunner]

Hi Rob:

Can you give me an idea of the cost for two mops in bags and one billhook and an estimate for shipping (our postal code is K0A 2EO). I'll have to go to the unit museum committee for approval. Can you give me a price on a 25 pounder ram as well. The RSM wants one to make into a trophy!

Cheers and Ubique! Mike