It’s been quite a while since I posted any progress on my half-track and since I’m still crippled up from shoulder surgery and can’t do any real work on it, I thought I’d catch up a little on the pictures of my progress:
Thanks to Mike Breshears/warbirdrestorer, I was able to get most of the missing rear armor and a lot of other parts to get this project off the dime. The only armor pieces he didn’t have that I needed were the ammo locker doors and the top plate across the rear. Paul/superjeep wasn't planning to make them anytime soon, so I made drawings of those parts and had them water-jetted locally. I was amazed at the finish and the fact that they have a tolerance of .005”. They did all the bolt holes as well, although I had to countersink them. I still have to drill holes for the grab handles and the various footman loops on the top rear plate.
Mike also had a perimeter rail that came out of John Kerpa’s half-track, which he was returning to M2 configuration. The rail was in several pieces, but Mike gave me enough parts & pieces to repair it and make it whole again.
I installed a repro pulpit and an original M49 ring. I had to fabricate some of the brackets and re-locate the mount for the pole on the rear of the ring.
Like most pulpit reproductions I’ve seen, the bottom edge over the door was not relieved as the original ones were, preventing the door from opening and closing with the armor in the up position. I cut that relief with a 4” cutoff wheel and used a carbide burr to cut the radius at each end.
I put off the undercarriage as long as I could! I replaced the almost non-existent bogie hubs with good used hubs and installed NOS bogie rollers and bogie frame shafts and new bearings throughout. I used NOS grease seals, which were pretty firm. But after soaking a few weeks in neatsfoot oil they became pliable enough.
I had a heavy friction shop nearby rivet on new brake shoes and turn the rear brake drums. I rebuilt the wheel cylinders and installed new axle seals.
I switched sides on the sprockets to use the new sides of the teeth, replaced the axle bearings and rear idler bearings and put on a set of NOS Israeli tracks.
The new tires came from Summit Racing. They were priced near what Coker Tire was charging for the same tire, but Summit had free shipping and no sales tax. A local tire shop removed the old, rock-hard tires and installed the new tires, tubes and flaps for 40.00 each!
I painted the rear half and the inside of the bed with 33070 OD, which closely matched the paint on the rest of the half-track, and applied the stars and hood numbers using masks from Rick Larson. Hood star yet to go. I have a local sign company making the masks for the bumper numbers and I’ll post those after they’re painted. I decided to mark mine up as from B Company, 56th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division. The 12th AD used various symbols to identify their battalions and I hand-cut the stencil for the symbol here. I’m working with curators from the 12 AD Museum on getting a complete list of those symbols and if I can get it, I’ll post it here in case anyone else is interested in honoring the 12th.
Well, that’s about as far I’ve gotten for now.
As soon as I have both arms again:
- Rebuild or replace the steering box
- Fabricate the rear steps and bumperettes
- Clean, coat and install fuel tanks
- The clutch is still dragging, so I see a transmission/transfer case removal in my future
- Replace the engine oil pan gasket
Many fun and action-packed hours yet to come!
Jon