Weasel track repair

[ozm29c]

David,
Is the "weasel Track" that is supporting your Carrier track being set aside for your next project
Cheers
John W.
PS Your carrier is an 110% restoration effort. Well done

[horsa]

Hey John,

The tracks in that shot are the mid-production pattern Weasel tracks that had rubber cable on the outer edge as opposed to the later style with a rectangular band with cables inside.

Our M29C had the later style tracks on it until my brother threw one off playing Dukes of Hazard with the vehicle. It has taken awhile but I've completely rebuilt the earlier set of track in that shot and planned to get them mounted onto the vehicle. Problem is that pattern requires the earlier and slightly smaller diameter drive and idler wheels which I still need to source.

Shot attached of the tracks for reference even though it is off-topic.

[ozm29c]

David,
Cool I see that you have the Snake river track belts. I have opted to repair my tracks using the same method. I also see that you have the weasel owners universal tool kit A large angle grinder and air chisel.
Fellows I do apologise for hijacking this thread but track repairs/restoration (for whatever vehicle) do present their own unique problems and I find it really interesting to see how restorers overcome their track problems.
Cheers
John Wilson

[horsa]

Didn't know there were many Weasels in OZ....

Yep. the bands are what Tom provides along with backing plates. Took a really long time to tear the old tracks completely apart and then to wire wheel them on the inner side. Primed and then painted them a semi-flat black to complement the new rubber color. Then bolted everything up with stainless steel button head socket bolts that I was able to source here in Austin, Texas.

Assembly really took little time at all using an impact driver. Probably was less than an hour per band and there are eight between the two tracks. I'd be done with the project if I had researched the driver and idler issue prior to reverting to the earlier pattern tracks. Our later pattern tracks that were busted had a long life and were without road pads and most of the metal central blades on the outer side were rubbed down for the most part. So we really had no choice on doing a complete restoration on the earlier set that you saw in the rolled up shot. They still had original bands but 70 years of corrosion meant the cables wouldn't have lasted long so wouldn't have been worth installing as they were.

But I'll get it sorted out. More or less a back burner project now that we are entering summer here. The weasel lives down in south Texas and is used as a ranch run-about since it can maneuver over deep mud and cattle and hog wallows without getting stuck. Plus it can't get a flat.

Shots attached show my father driving with my wife and kids in the back. Name on the side is Pickle Boat. The nose art is a pickle with a "Tommy" helmet standing in a row boat with a Vickers mounted up front.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by ozm29c

Fellows I do apologise for hijacking this thread but track repairs/restoration (for whatever vehicle) do present their own unique problems and I find it really interesting to see how restorers overcome their track problems.

John,

No problem, I moved the relevant posts into a separate thread.

HTH,
Hanno
Forum moderator

[Lynn Eades]

Maybe you can do the same where we have hijacked Davids T16 thread, discussing Phillips Scout carrier...... and then delete this post. Thanks.

[ozm29c]

Hanno,
thanks for allowing this thread to continue as a separate discussion.
David,
I am led to believe that the outer band on the track is used to stabilise the grouser plate. There should not be any difference between the early and later outer bands. If you are running a 56 grouser track the outside daimeter of your sprocket drive wheel should be about 298mm. When the track was reduced to 55 grousers the outside diameter of the sprocket drive wheel was increased to 304mm. So it depends on how many grousers in your track as to what the diameter of your drive wheel should be. The change has to do with the timing of your sprocket teeth to your grouser plates as the distance between the grouser plates was increased from 57.15mm (track pitch of 114.3) between centres to 60mm + 57.15mm(track pitch = 117.1mm). The other critical dimension to consider is the height your sprocket drive wheel is offset from the grouser plate. The original inner band measured about 25.4mm thick but Toms inner bands (like mine) are only 20mm thick. This means that the drive tooth is engaging the grouser plate by another 4.5mm. From the feedback I get from Tom this does not appear to present any timing problems.
That's about all for now.
Cheers
John Wilson