M3 Halftrack Restoration

[SPCWarning]

Subscribed! I got halfway thru this thread and had to dry the drool from my keyboard (see pic). This is awesome! Beautiful job and awesome shop!
opcorn:
Jimmy

 

[Dirt71]

Got the bogie's assembled, hope to get the one track on tomorrow. I can't do anything with the other side until my boss get's the other shaft out.

 

[Wolfen]

 

[yd328]

Nice work, you're moving right along.
If you're talking about the shaft for the spring perch I used an air hammer and penetrating oil to work the shaft back and forth until it finally slid out.

Gary

 

[Danger Ranger]

Just hurry up with the dang thing!!! Hahahaha! No really, just keep chugging along, it all looks like it is doing great. We want more, we want more....

 

[Dirt71]

Cleaned up the new track's today and installed the one side

 

[battlecr]

Nice Job on the halftrack. I'm not going down quite as far as you on mine. I believe mine went through a rebuild in 1955.

Don G.

 

[Dirt71]

I did'nt plan on going this far also, but was glad I did when I found the two pivot point's on both side's were rusted solid. Also finding the broken spring's made it worth the effort.

 

[lindyp38]

picked up the right tool for the job today. It just clear's the light's by about an 1" the chainfall belonged to my brother (3ton) it should handle any of it just fine.

where did u get that portable overhead crane...?

 

[M215]

Hey Dirt71,
Check your rear idler axles / pivots for excessive wear. Ours where worn to the point that it allowed the rear idlers to "toe" in. The outer halves of our rear idler sprockets were almost worn through buy the track center guides. I was able to find replacements for everything since ours were junk. Normally there is two grease zerks per pivot, I installed four on each one to improve greasing since the pivot does not fully rotate. The volute spring perch / crab assembly are usually rusted solid. After replacing ours I installed a grease zerk between the volute springs to allow greasing of the center pin. I even added grease zerks to each of the 8 bogie support arms. These require drilling two holes at 90 degrees of each other since the bearing point is at the top of the arm. It was fun since they are hardened steel. These vehicles have already survived 70 years, hopefully these efforts will prolong the life of these irreplaceable parts.
Your M3 looks great, thank you for saving a piece of American history.
Karl

 

[col.halftrack]

Ok,
Wow a really great thread! I cannot believe it took me this long to find it. David this is one great M3 project. I am trying to do a couple halftracks this year and not sure if I will go this far down or not on both. Did you and Clint make repros of the M3 pedestal mount crossmember. I would like to get several made.
All the Best
Kevin Lockwood

 

[Dirt71]

Ok,
Wow a really great thread! I cannot believe it took me this long to find it. David this is one great M3 project. I am trying to do a couple halftracks this year and not sure if I will go this far down or not on both. Did you and Clint make repros of the M3 pedestal mount crossmember. I would like to get several made.
All the Best
Kevin Lockwood

Yes, Clint came up my place a couple of week's ago and took my pedestal mount and a couple other piece's to use as pattern's. His fab guy I understand is having some health issue's, but is working on the piece's.

 

[battlecr]

Dirt finally got a chance go through your whole thread, wow nice work. Your doing a great job. You were right about your frame it is in sad shape. I had an extra frame that I got with my Diamond T it was an A=car frame but even with having to shorten the frame back up my original frame was in better shape.

I wish I had the finances to buy new bogie wheels right now but that will be another purchase. I just priced bearings for the rear axle. O-w-w. I've got my sprockets and idlers at the sand blasters right now.

So hopefully the brakes get done next week I should finish rebuilding the hydro=vac this weekend.

Half trackks are cool

Don G.

 

[Jesse6325]

Beautiful machine and incredibly well done restoration!

 

[steve1973]

Dirt,
WOW! You have done an outstanding job. It gives me a better idea on what to expect when I tear mine down. I'm working with Don G. getting his M3 back into shape. I've learned a lot working on his so when I get mine bake in my shop I will know what to do. Isn't that how it's susposed to work? Although Don is not going to tear his down as far as you did but I'm going to. Might as well get it don now rather than latter, right? I'm also learning that having the right tools for the job really helps. I to have a gantry crane and it has helped us out quite a bit. Again, looking forward to reading your posts.

Side note - I'm new to this site and have noticed that you can subscribe to this thread. How, or is it automatic like on the G503 site?

Steve A.

 

[Danger Ranger]

When you post in a thread, there is an automatic subscription. You can unsubscribe in thread tools if you want. Play around with the site to get a feel for it. Welcome aboard.


The truck is looking great Dirt, keep it up, inquiring minds are expecting an update soon....

 

[suntzu]

Looks great David I love it. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

[Dirt71]

Finally got the right side put together.

 

[Dirt71]

Also hung my new exhaust. Kevin Lockwood does a really nice job on the repro. It fit very nicely.

 

[Danger Ranger]

Wow, everything looks great as usual. Just a stand-up job. Keep going, the snowball is getting smaller now....lol.