M2A1 Restoration

[RocnTJ]

I have an extra tool box door with the latches if you need one.

If shipping is not out of site I will take you up on that offer.    Thanks for all of your help and the pictures.

Tom

[WayOffTrack]

Hi Tom, there are also some shims under the cab bulkhead. If you look closely you can see them in this picture.
Clint

[WayOffTrack]

Do the 2"x2" angles that support the floor extend under the vertical track armor?

Yes they do. I'll see if I can get a picture posted up for it.

Inside to inside of the vertical track armor - I have 45"  the length of the transverse 2"x2-1/8" angle supports under the lower floor - I have 45-1/4".

45.25 is correct for the transverse angle supports. I don't have my vertical track armor mounted right now. I did at one time to help create a jig for fixing my floor but its disassembled again right now.

[WayOffTrack]

Here is another picture that might help.

[WayOffTrack]

[steve-0]

I pilfered this picture from some guy named Steve.  Does this help?

i found that halftrack in Stockton ca and sold it to a guy in canada.
lookin good RocnTJ ..... i looked at the 2 m2 beds i have her to see if i could help you out with some pics but they have mods to them.

[RocnTJ]

Made some good progress this weekend.











I need some help with some more measurements:

What is the distance from the inside verticle face of the left bench to the right bench in other words the width of the walkway?  I am guessing around 22"

What are the dimensions of the access door to the front chain locker?

What are the dimensions of the small fixed piece of the top of the bench on both sides at the rear?  It looks to me that these two pieces are welded to the angle piece that is bolted to the rear verticle armor.

What are the dimensions of the u-shaped support under the front floor plate?   Is it 16 GA or 1/8" ?  Also is that an angle piece supporting the other side of the front floor plate?   

Thanks for the great pictures by the way.  They were very  helpful.

Tom

[WayOffTrack]

What is the distance from the inside verticle face of the left bench to the right bench in other words the width of the walkway?  I am guessing around 22"

Yep 22"

What are the dimensions of the access door to the front chain locker?

19 7/8" by 7"

What are the dimensions of the small fixed piece of the top of the bench on both sides at the rear?  It looks to me that these two pieces are welded to the angle piece that is bolted to the rear verticle armor.

Is this is piece that has the rectangular cutout in it for the fuel line? It is 10" x 5 5/16"

What are the dimensions of the u-shaped support under the front floor plate?

Is it 16 GA or 1/8" ?  Is this the piece the support pole for the ring bolts to?

Also is that an angle piece supporting the other side of the front floor plate?

   

Not sure about this last question.

[RocnTJ]

Quote
What are the dimensions of the u-shaped support under the front floor plate?

Is it 16 GA or 1/8" ?  Is this the piece the support pole for the ring bolts to?  No there are two supports running lengthwise under the front most diamond plate floor plate.   One is u shaped I think and the other is an angle I am guessing 1-1/2" x 1-1/2".  These two pieces support the sides of the front floor plate.

Quote
Also is that an angle piece supporting the other side of the front floor plate?  See Above explanation   

Not sure about this last question.

[RocnTJ]

Thanks for all of your help Wayofftrack,

Sorry to keep asking questions but maybe you could also confirm a couple more dimensions for me:

the floor plate between the two chain lockers  I am guessing 24" by slightly less than 22"
The floor plate behind the rear chain locker - I am guessing 17" by slightly less than 22"

Also if you could let me know what the size of the cutout is where the fuel line goes through the bench top

Your help is greatly appreciated.   

Tom

[WayOffTrack]

Ok i understand what you need now. I'll get the rest of the stuff for you as soon as i can. There is also a reinforcement plate that the pole for the ring mount attaches to. On M2A1 field mods its made out of 3 pieces and bolted to the inside of the vertical track armor then the 3 pieces are welded together. Supposedly factory M2A1's have this made from one piece, which makes sense as then it can be installed without either removing the track armor or the front bulkhead. I'm more than happy to help out. Looks like you are doing really nice work.

[RocnTJ]

As I half watch the Dem convention tonight, I thought I would share a few observations of my half track floor reconstruction project so far.   When I purchased this halftrack - my first, the most intimidating aspect of its restoration was the reconstruction of the rear floor.    I did a lot of reading and research but it was hard to find any good information on the rear floor.   Even most of halftracks that I was able to look at in person had, at best, a cobbled in rear floor section - probably because their owners did not want to pay $7-10K for a new floor and they were unable to find much information on the details of the floor structure to build their own.  The turning point for me was when I was able to look at a mostly original and complete floor section that was removed from the track - thank you Steve A. for that opportunity.

One thing that I discovered was that the M2 floor drawings shown elswhere on this site are really accurate for the 16 GA sheetmetal pieces of the floor.   All they are missing are the structural components and the floor plates and bench tops.    I will try to share what I did in these areas to hopefully help someone else down the road.  Contrary to what many of half track suppliers tell you the floor structure is relatively easy to build if you have basic metal working skills and tools.   The heaviest metal in the floor section is 1/8" and only about a third of the pieces are longer than 4'.  I have an old Whitney combination brake that I bought used on Craigs list that I used to bend many of the pieces.

First off there are three angle pieces that support the bottom of the floor structure.  These are 1/8" x 2" x 2-1/8" formed angles 45-1/4" long.   Since these will not be seen in the completed floor I cheated and used 2" x 2" x 1/8" angle iron - so far it looks like this should not be an issue other than not matching the original exactly.  these can be seen in the next picture.



One mounts on either side of the rear chain locker and the third one mounts at the rear of the front chain locker.  The front two of these can be seen in the next photo.   I have temporarily bolted the chain lockers to these angles so that I can get everything fabbed and fitted and then I will weld them together to match the originals.



The next important piece is the cross support at the rear of the front platform.  This can be seen in the next picture:



This piece was an 1/8" x 1-1/2" x 2" angle 44-7/8"  long.   This piece also has the ends formed in with a hole that bolts to the vertical track armor.  Again since this piece is not exposed in the final product I cheated and used a 2" x 2" x 1/8" angle iron for this piece and I welded a 1/8" x 2" x 2" plate on each end.   So far this seems to be working fine.   It can be seen in the following picture:



The next two major supports are the two angles that bolt to the vertical side armor at the base of the floor under the benches.   These two pieces are 1-1/2" x 1-3/4" x 1/8" formed angle approximately 78" long.  I again cheated here to save a few bucks and used 1-1/2" x 2" x 1/8" angle iron.   This should be a little stronger and and so far has not created any problems.  These can be seen in the next two pictures:





The right side of an original piece can be seen in the following photo:



The final structural pieces that I will discuss tonight are the two longitudinal pieces that run on top of the vertical bench faces.   These pieces are 1-1/8" x 1-1/8" x 1/8" formed angle that are approximately 98" long and run the entire length of the rear compartment.   I formed these pieces to match the originals exactly since they will be very visible.  These pieces are notched to go over the angle supporting the front platform and the lip of the sheet metal at the front cab bulkhead.

That reminds me that the M2A1 halftrack in the Littlefield Collection which is widely photographed in many references has a very inaccurate reproduction rear floor assembly.  This caused me much confusion in my original planning as I was using photos of this track to plan my floor assembly.   Hence I have not been too worried about substituting a few pieces here and there that are not all that obvious.    It is doubtful that my track will ever be a museum piece so if my floor is 95% accurate I will be happy.  You can see these pieces in the above pictures being held in place with the orange c-clamps and below in the original floor running lengthwise above the two grab bars.



That is it for now.  

[spec4don]

Tom, great job on the floor so far, I'm debating on weather I want to attempt an M2 when I'm done with the M3. Although I'm going to build a wheel vehicle next I think. Looking forward to TP in April. We need to think about another get together.

Don G.

[WayOffTrack]

Hi Tom,
I'll try and get the rest of what you need this afternoon. I think you are doing a great job this should be a good thread for anyone else that needs to build one.
clint

[WayOffTrack]

What are the dimensions of the u-shaped support under the front floor plate?

1" x 2.75" x 1/8" but if 16ga is slightly thicker it could be that too. It is only on the drivers side and has a hole towards the rear that an antenna pole slides thru. In the bottom of the chain locker box is a receiver for the antenna pole.

The square opening for the fuel line is 2" and set in 1" from the outside edge.

the other is an angle I am guessing 1-1/2" x 1-1/2".  

 

 This is correct.

The floor plate between the two chain lockers  is 21 3/4" x 24 5/16".

The floor plate behind the rear chain locker  is 21 3/4" x 16 13/16"