T-16 S/N 5399 T.D. 97377 Restoration

[andrew honychurch]

very envious david, mind you there would not be much point in me having bought it as I mine is now in so many pieces it coudl be years before I have something to hang it on!

Just one thing, do you know what the stirrup bracket is bang in the middle of the vehicle in extending down into the driver/gunner compartment? It has always confused me as it looks like it is canted towards the gun port?

[horsa]

Hey Andrew,

That would be for the PIAT when in the "ready" position. The rear mount just in front of the radiator and the front mount is in the front armour near the gunner ports. It swivels out of the way when not needed. They didn't fire from this position but it held the weapon in a convenient place for quick access. Similar to the forward Bren mounts under the sloping front armour.

Has your restoration bogged down? Thought you were making great progress on it.

[andrew honychurch]

Thanks for the informaion on the Piat David. No not really bogged down but the weather has been appalling over here and since most of the work I do is outside in an open barn I have slightly slipped. I also, was trying to time the hull to be welded and then blasted and painted when the weather is a little better. There is so much moisture in the atmosphere at the moment it will be better in the Spring. I am also struggling with the engine shop who are taking out the valves for me and steaming the whole block, honing the bores and putting the valves back. The reason i am not doing them is my Valve grinding machine is 200 miles away at my fathers workshop and that will make doing the tappets rather time consuming. To be honest, with the holidays and weather I have let it slow a bit, but am right back on it today, see my other post!!

[lssah2025]

Glad it all worked out for you Dave.... I have some other news for you, will send you a email offline of a upcoming purchase!!!!!!

[horsa]

Been busy with the day job and tinkering on the jeep during spare time for a WWII vehicle rally we attended last week here in Texas. I could hear the carrier crying for attention and noticed the tracks were looking pretty slack on both sides so decided to address that problem so it would be good to go next time I was able to get it out for a run.

I've had 172 links on the driver side and 173 on the gunner side for the past year and a half. Wanted to have a matching link count on both sides though to make it easier to remember and to see if the vehicle would drive straighter on long flat paths. Old discussions on a Weasel forum always indicated an uneven count would cause a vehicle to need constant adjustment with one tiller bar and that would eventually lead to more wear on brake related parts on the opposite side compared due to steering corrections. Not sure if this is really true but figured it would still be best if I could even them up since both sides needed to be tensioned anyway.

I was able to take up the slack on the driver side using the cam adjusting tool. The gunner side had the extra link removed and only needed minor adjustment with the cam after that. So now I'm running on 172 links on each side. Think 168 is the dead or dying track indicator for a T-16 so I guess I have plenty of life remaining on this set given the limited miles it gets driven per outing.

[andrew honychurch]

Hey well done David, good to see that you are always keeping your beautiful restoration on top form. I am sure that an uneven count would make it drive to one side or another. I cant quite think how that works but it seems to make sense to me, maybe just different reactions to undulations in the road at its simplest would cause a movement to left or right?

What you need is a proper track jack to make the job quicker!

[horsa]

The tool I've always used for the tracks so far is a modern US type that I modified. Had to grind the hooks down quite a bit so they would work with the T-16 carrier track links. It does the job but can be a pain holding it in contact with the track with one hand, while cranking the central nut around with the other until there is enough tension to keep it in place. One shot shows a crescent wrench holding the track up. That was so I could tighten up the track enough to make up for the link I took out. Before getting the track broke, all wrench work had to be done in the limited space underneath the track.

I'm still unsure about the different length tracks causing the vehicle to creep to one side as it drives. Seems like the speed of the turning drive sprocket would be the only factor. If you put the vehicle down on a mile length of flat carrier tracks, it would simply crawl along it if everything was locked to spin each side at the same speed. Sure someone with more mechanical engineering smarts knows the answer for sure.

Still happy to have the same number of links on each side now either way.

And one day I'll hopefully have a proper track jack