Restoration of Hull 731- Carrier, MG (Aust) Mortar Carrying

[Darrin Wright]

Work this weekend was a catch up on numerous small jobs that had been left for later- whatever the reason, it was very satisfying to get them done.
Last weekend I had purchased more bolts, this enabled me to paint them for fitment. I also painted the LHR suspension unit and some smaller parts.

I finally installed the last oil cooler mounting bracket, cut the mounting bolt to a suitable length and now all done up tight.
Painted & cut to length the 2 underside of hull bolts that hold/secure the RHR suspension unit in. Early hulls had these 2 bolts and later they were discontinued. Trap for your players when dismantling and removing the suspension unit from the hull.

Painted and fitted the large wing nut for the Vickers gun shield.

Painted and fitted the coolant overflow pipe bolts, this is now all secure and installed the way it should be.

Painted the LH brake linkage pivot post that was riveted to the floor over the Christmas break. Found and test fitted the linkage pivots that mount to the post.

Disassembled a steering column and removed the mounting plate that holds the lower bearing. Removed the bolt at the base of the steering column that engages with the linkages, who knew this was screwed in? Tried everything else (apart from breaking it). Will get new item machined up in the next 2 weeks. The pic showing this apart has a yellow arrow, this is pointing to a thin sheetmetal dust/water cover that may have protected the bearing- anyone have a better pic of this or dimensions?

Cut out a pivot post from the rusted drivers floor plate, this will be a sample to assist in two new items being made so that I can weld them onto the new drivers floor plate (already laser cut).

I also managed to fix the ride on mower and cut some lawn.