new member

[Carroll Porter]

Hi all, just a quick post to introduce myself. My username is me, I live in the central part of Vermont, work as a school bus driver 9 months a year and work part-time at a tool rental store as a tool repair tech.

I wish to thank the administrator for accepting my request for membership. The reason I requested membership is it looks very promising that there are members here that can help identify a tracked vehicle that I have. It was powered by a V8 Ford flathead, 4 speed gearbox, and looks like a tank with the top cut off at the height of the tracks. Rumor was that it was used for skidding logs. I bought it when I was 17 but haven't had much luck with a positive identification. I'll get some pics and try to post them this weekend.

Thanks, and have a great weekend

Carroll

[RichardT10829]

sounds like a carrier to me hahahaha mine was the same, does it have tillers or a steering wheel ? the trick is to identify which type of carrier it is Welcome to the forum buddy

http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/sh...ad.php?t=12053

this was mine when i got it.

[David Ellery]

Gidday Carrol, You've come to the right place to identify what you have, and also this forum is an excellent place to find out the history, details etc for your vehicle. Look forward to your pics and future updates. Cheers David.

[lynx42]

Hi Carroll ,
Welcome to MLU. You have come to the right place to find information and help. The people on MLU are a great bunch and if you get a chance to meet any of them, take it. Photos are of course a great bonus and it is easy to attach them for all to see,
Regards Rick.

[Marc van Aalderen]

Hello Carroll,

Welcome from the Netherlands. All the knowledge you'll ever need about Carriers is in the heads of the Forum members. I've joined over a year ago and am still amazed at what our friends here know!

Cheers,

Marc

[Carroll Porter]

It sure is a sad looking beast.

[Aidan]

hydralic Brakes?, Cool. Aidan

[RichardT10829]

Nice one. looks like a Canadian Built Universal Carrier Mk1. a good start of a project there too sprockets and road wheels look ok on the side we can see a bit life left in them yet

[Lynn Eades]

Hi Carroll, can you post some pics of the inside rear? Thanks.

[greg egretz]

Hi every body from Greg Egretz just letting you know who i'am i live Stanwell Central Queensland, Australia and a member of Remlr and the 1st Central Queensland Light Horse we have two LP2a Bren Gun Carriers ,1951 Mk 2c Ferret Scout Car and other equipment see you later
Light Horse bren Gun

Light Horse horse Ferret

One of our projects a Ford Canada Blitz

My 1963 2A L/R Ambulance post pics of RAAF Cj3B jeep And other Vehicles later

One of our Light Horse Brens Flexing it's Tracks

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Aidan

hydralic Brakes?, Cool. Aidan

Looks to me like the tiller steering is hooked to the master cylinders..
No universal carrier had tiller steering..that I knew about..
Home made steering and braking application by some backyard mechanic..
Interesting none the less..
Get the manuals from Grant Bowker..once you figure what you have..but with the riveted hull and the three bogies..looks Canadian Universal Carrier....
What I can see looks pretty good.
Well worth saving..
Welcome to the forum..

[Carroll Porter]

Alex, the tiller steering is connected to the master cylinders. It's the same configuration as I got it, but the wood that the hydraulics and the levers was mounted to rotted out, and I replaced the wood with a scrap of angle iron, and replaced the master cylinders with current parts readily available. I mentioned before that I got this when I was 17. I fitted working brakes to it in my early 20's, and used it around the farm here enough to know that it was a lot of fun to play with. I didn't have much in resources for flat head Ford parts at the time, had a couple different engines in it, really didn't have any luck keeping it going so I sort of put it on the back burner hoping that someday that I'd run across information on the origin and use of this orphaned "tank". It was so exciting to run across this forum a couple weeks ago, brought a whole new spectrum to light and a rekindled interest to continue this project and bring it back to life in a near to original condition, which it rightly deserves. I'm 58 now, be 59 if I make it half way through September which I plan on doing, at least that's the plan.

Looking at some of the pics posted, I was intrigued with the steering wheel. On the other hand, the levers don't seem to be backyard built, and they both have a grease fitting on them common to the rest of vehicle. The lever to the left of the shifter, the one that looks like the angle set lever on a horse drawn harrow, is connected to the track warp cam. This also has always appeared to be factory equipment. The one that has had me baffled is the idler wheels, or track adjusting wheels, are cast iron spoke with steel clad wood filler where the rubber is on the road wheels. It didn't dawn on me until I came upon this forum, that they undoubtedly used to be rubber, were chewed off while beating the crap out of it logging, and some clever entrepeneur replaced the rubber with oak, put a steel tire on it , and it was off to the races.

Lynn, I'll post pics of every square inch of this if it were any help to anyone, or will help someone with a clue to it's positive identification.

Thanks in advance for the valuable information, and thanks for all the reading I stole while waiting to get approval to become a member.



Carroll

[maple_leaf_eh]

You have a piece of Vermont Yankee ingenuity that would make any engineer proud? No armour to keep the weight down. Ditch the wheel for tiller bars that any cat-skinner would recognize. Install available parts when unavailable ones break down. Keep swapping out engines when the old one installed dies. Rebuild rubber wheels with wood and steel. Putting authentics parts back on will be a real challenge. I really don't know if there are many Carriers left in nearby Quebec.

(By the way, do all Vermonters pronounce 'cows' to sound like 'k-ews'?)

[Lynn Eades]

Here are some pictures. I am sorry I cannot credit the photo of the gearbox. It belongs to the guy in the U.K. with the Bren for sale. If you want any other pics posted, just sing out.