Border Raiding

[colin jones]

a few more for your interest
Colin.

[ron]

Hi Colin,
Third pic is very interesting showing differant wheels on the double bogies also the track is not Aust track, the wheel leaning next to the carrier seems narrow, in fact I reckon its the one that I picked up and put down again a couple of months ago, By the way if it is ,that one it measured two and a half inches across the ruber , the same as the ones fitted to that Marmon conversion that I recoved last year, more to ponder,and although my wheels did not have rubber this one does,so now whats the answer?did we make narrow wheels here? if so why?
Regards, Ron

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by colin jones

a few more for your interest
Colin.

Colin,

On the third picture, is that two aluminium turret baskets for the tanks, on the truck?

[colin jones]

Yes richard they are the turret baskets and how lucky am I to have them. It would be so hard to find information if I had to replicate one. I will take a lot of pics before I start any restoration on this piece of history. It would be a crime to let the poor thing just sit an rott in to the ground. It is already under cover in a shed.



Ron, I will measure the wheels today and put my findings on MLU tonight. as you say it is all very interesting.
Colin.

[Justin Pollard]

Hello Colin,
what a top haul of carriers,well done.take that scrappies!.

[Lynn Eades]

check out this pic. already from this forum. specifically the track.
The light tank wheels have flat spokes, just like the skinny English wheels, but in fact are the same width as the Aust. wheels. the light tank track,is fully pinned, with no lead plug required.

[Treadhead]

I really do have too much time on my hands

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Lynn Eades

check out this pic. already from this forum. specifically the track.
The light tank wheels have flat spokes, just like the skinny English wheels, but in fact are the same width as the Aust. wheels. the light tank track,is fully pinned, with no lead plug required.

A detail from the pic I posted in the "Aust tanks 1937" thread, the track on the Puckapunyal Vickers, DD^276, has Aust "lead plug" track links. Might this have been an Aust Army change for compatibility with LP carriers, or has it been done during the (Aust Army) Museum restoration using what was available?

[Lynn Eades]

I have no idea really. The last thing I want to do is start another myth, because there are enough of them around already. What I believe, is that the Vickers light tank had wide track/wheels, and when Australia decided to build LP1 carriers, they adopted that option, and stuck with it. I guess the lead plug, has to be an Aust. idea. Maybe someone has the info to confirm or reject it. Maybe it was a Vickers Carden Loyd initiative. The only Vickers Light Tank, that I have seen in the flesh is the one in Pucka

[colin jones]

Here's some pics of the track thats on the tank. I have shown the vickers track which measures 70MM at the bottom between the horns and our track which is 85MM between the horns. Now this is not to say that the track I have is original but I hope it is. A few other pics as well.
Colin.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by colin jones

a few more for your interest
Colin.

Awesome.

[colin jones]

Here's a few more pics of the mechs. Just about all the running gear is there and afcourse condition is unknown at this stage. But it is under cover and I will get to it in good time. Must finish the mortar carrier first.
Colin.

[Rob Dyba]

I have got a lot of info from here http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/
I was under the understanding that the lead plugs were particular to the Australian & carried over the Tasman to the NZ carriers, bieng a more cost effective way of manufacture compared to the "english" pins. I was also of the belief that the local pattern track was based on light tank track, however if the track on this vehicle is correct, and I would assume it is, then that would explain Ron's narrow spoked wheels, local carrier wheels machined down to suit "Vickers" narrow track when "English" wheels were not available locally. Probably the engineering required to change the drive sprocket & track adjuster wheels on the rear to suit local track was more effort than skimming a few wheel castings at manufacture, so was the easy way to go. I don't believe english type track was ever foundered locally, LP1's also using the "wide" track. Colin can you get a width measurment of the road wheels on Vickers, so we can compare them to Ron's wheels please??? I think they will match.

Rob

[ron]

Morning Rob,
Thanks for your reply regarding the narrow wheels,I agree with what you have said, I was down in Victoria a couple of months ago to pick up my Met gas carrier,and called to see John, I checked out Colins Vickers tank at the time,I think the track on it is original, the wheels are narrow I picked up a spare narrow wheel next to the remains of a carrier and ran the tape measure over it for width. the rubber was complete in fact it was as good as new but the rubber was hard as you would expect it measured (One Inch less ) than the standard Aust wheels although it was the standard H pattern,The Marmon Herrington carrier that I recoved last year had these wheels but the rubber was gone,someone had suggested this was done by the saw mill owner when the conversion was done after the war ,My question is why would you bother tirning down australian wheels to fit British track when Aust track and wheels were all over the place on top of this there were no Laths or mills on the property to do this type of work, which also requires a fair amount of skil I also picked up a couple of spare British type narrow wheels that were lying on the ground I think what Rob has said is true it seems that Aust either cast some narrow wheels the question is why? or as he said turned some down ? By the way those Marmon parts are looking for a good home if any one needs them,
Regards Ron

[ron]

Hi All
Almost forgot to tell you that the track on the Marmon Herrington carrier conversion was the double ended British type track not that unusual for the time its been over 50 years since the conversion was done,and just think if you can source Marmon Herrington complete drive lines,a small thing like British double ended pin track would have been not a problem, the track was useless and is long gone now, if you check my carrier country pics you can see it,its very important to keep an open mind on these things Colin and a few other guys have proved this,its all out there you just have to look out side the square,,
Best Regards,
Ron

[Lynn Eades]

with all due respect I think your headed in the wrong direction.
That Tank Colin has, has the wrong track fitted to it.
It appears easy to do.Jeff Plowman here in N.Z. owned an LP2A with English track fitted on its original wheels. It chews things up a bit, but it works after a fashion.
You must have seen enough "boch ups" in the bush in the past to know that our fathers did stuff that we wouldn't put up with now.
I'm hope Richard can square this away ,by telling us about the difference in width between the Vickers Light Tank track,and English Carrier track.

Colin. I see the oil filler cap on your engine is very much the same style as the English fuel tank caps in carriers.