Patrick Tipton
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Posts posted by Patrick Tipton
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36 minutes ago, D.R.H. said:
Stand fast men, more to come.
Stock up on shielding gas. Onward!
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@OZM29CIndeed but....given the fun of working on a Weasel motor inside of the Weasel and the general frustration of engine troubles....I think it was worth it.
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6 minutes ago, OZM29C said:
As you know there is not much to be see of the engine when its tucked away down in the lower hull.
Don't you hate that🤣 All of that money and beautiful work and no one else gets to enjoy it!
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Pulling a Weasel engine is loads of fun! All Weasel engines should have the T24xxx numbers and they were sequential, although we don't see a lot of "matching" numbers. That should be a late '44/early '45 M29C engine. There are casting codes on the block too....we can dial in the casting date if you will grab a picture.
Most of the late rebuild engines didn't see that much use.....depending on your budget and your desires, you might get a little lucky.
Cheers!
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The vibration is happening because the base of the track guides is rubbing on the bogeys and the idler/drive wheels. The tracks, even a little loose, are super hard to make skip so I think the timing is OK.
The largest conveyor belt I could get is about 5/8" thick....the original French connector sections are a solid 1"......and kept the track guide base/flange away from the bogeys etc. From speaking with the conveyor belt company, they want a 24" diameter wheel (drive) on the next sized (7/8") belt....and are concerned that the 12'D wheels on our Weasels would cause the belts to fail prematurely...so they sold me the 5/8" material. I thought the bases would just clear...they don't.
So I am mulling this over....I regard all of this as a success - I have learned a great deal about Weasel track function. These tracks run and there are several approaches that could make them run better....so
I just received quotes for raw materials to make my own.....I may just jump of the cliff here John and try to build a lighter and hopefully better system. I am contemplating 6061 AL....a single wide 5/8" band and using the track guides as a connection point for a doubled set of "teeth"...so they will function as both the centering guide and also the engagement point for drives. I am working on my drawings....will send you pictures soon.
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First tests....the tracks are working...but not quite correctly. More to follow after more tests.
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Greetings - which one are you looking for? The T24/M29 or the M29C - I don't have an extra, but they are out there....
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7 hours ago, Mike B said:
Looks great Patrick, I have a couple questions, what thickness of belting did you use, and how did you lace the belts, connecting end to end.
I have a couple of French tracks we are rebuilding; one set we are rebuilding just like the factory (major pain in the ass) the other set we want to do just what you have done. Again looks great.
The largest belting I could find is right at 3/4" thick - I don't see any real issues with that thickness provided that I got the overall length correct. Will know shortly!
I found a company that would make me a continuous belt - so they are made one piece and cured together. I am told by the salesman that they will not/can not come apart - we shall see on that one too!
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2 hours ago, Pips_Blaauw said:
Amazing Patrick! Very curious to the driving experience... How are you planning the solution for roadpads?
Greetings!
Thank you - excited to run them too!
I have a couple of ideas for road pads. For me, this Weasel will mostly be run on my property (dirt/grass/snow/some rocks) so I don't absolutely have to have them. I am thinking that I could take some form of synthetic rubber and make roughly 4" x 4" x 2 blocks, then run them over a table saw in the middle to allow them to flex. I could carriage bolt (recessed hole) them to the grousers...maybe even every other set of tracks......-
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One track down, one to go.
Lots of work, but I think they are going to work great. They are definitely lighter than the original WW2 tracks. I think they may have a little less surface area and right now no road pads, but....I think they will be incredibly durable. Running report soon.
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English courtesy of Google Translate:
Hello everyone, I bought an M29 in perfect condition except for the engine which is not original; I am looking for a 6-170 Studbacker engine in perfect condition with its box. there is one for sale in DEMING, do you know a mechanic in the area who could see it and assess the restoration? in Korea some WEASEL would have been equipped with Volvo engine, is this correct? a big thank you in advance for your responses
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I think we would all love it. The original tracks have a couple of pieces and so far everyone says they would be too expensive to produce. Go for it! If we could make tracks for around $5-7k....we would see a lot more Weasel interest.
Cheers, Patrick
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7 hours ago, 42rocker said:
Can't wait to see more. Go Patrick Go!!!!
I'm at that stage. Somewhat, have all of the grousers stripped and ready to clean. Guess I need to start in with the wire wheel next. Was thinking about parking after that, but your painting with that flex seal is an interesting idea. Like I said GO PATRICK!!!!
Stay Safe Everyone.
Later 42rocker
I like that parkerizing idea Tim! HMMMMMM!
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With a Weasel, a search would not accomplish anything as they are not titled and registered, at least in the US.
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I finally finished disassembling the tracks. What a project! I ended up trying that crazy product called "Flex Seal to cover the bottoms of the grousers....I may put a little on the ground side too although it won't last long. I wire wheeled the grousers first but am not going crazy here. The stuff appears reasonably durable - first coat. I will pick up more tomorrow and get these nicely coated and paint the remaining 80 or so. I then need to drill about 1000 holes in the conveyor belting and bolt these bad boys together. My goal is to have these on the machine in 2 weeks. We shall see.
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I just bought a G503 grille anti-chafe strip from Farrel Fox. He is on Facebook or ping me if you need his contact information. The material is exactly the same as what was used on the Weasel to cushion the windshield against the brush guard when the windshield is laying forward. The only "issue" is the split rivets are a little short, but they can be made to work. Based on what I have seen in factory/field photos, the strips received a coat of paint - white/OD after installation. I am going for the Joseph and His Coat of Many Colors look for this particular machine so I like the contrast.
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@42rocker You are a better man than I recycling that stuff. I can't do it. I am going to have these guys apart by tomorrow and then its time to start making a jig and drilling holes in rubber. Wooo Hooo!😂 But since I broke a grouser a couple of days ago, I can either remove a track, repair a grouser and reinstall the track....or I can push and finish this set and install them.......seems like the better plan.
Cheers!
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19 hours ago, Beepbeep said:
It wasn't very much though and the four of them have still come in under £140 so not too bad.
Not bad....I will have hours in the repairs and even though my shop rate is cheap 😂....I bet it takes me 4-6 hours to fix these things. Learning process!
P.S. I broke a grouser playing hard with the Weasel yesterday. So....time to really step up the game on the French track repair. I took another 12 grousers apart...35 to go....8 x 55 holes to drill....X 2...so 880 holes plus bolts, washers and nuts.....
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As many of you know, I bought an M29 a while back. It is in very original condition and is the 2nd or 3rd production M29 made. I have done a lot of mechanical work to it - rebuilt engine, transmission and final drive. It has new sprockets - not happy with them by the way. I am also about to put a set of rebanded French tracks on it. It has become my learning machine and is starting to drive and steer great.
Over the weekend, I decided to do a little work on it since it looks pretty bad. I went ahead and reinstalled the brush guard, fixed some rust on the very nice windshield and started straightening the coaming a little. I have a really bad bomb box for it - decided to "upgrade" to a new panel for the time being. I also took apart another 20 or so grousers - what a pain but I am about 70 in so should be able to start bolting these on to my new bands soon.
This machine will get a full restoration at some point. Mostly it needs repairs to the front and underneath the gas tank - otherwise, just a lot of dents!
In the meantime, I sure am having fun with it. So much fun, in fact, that I ran over a GoPro that fell off doing donuts in a very wet field.
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3 hours ago, Beepbeep said:
@Patrick TiptonI was also told that there are welding rods available with various hardness ratings so in theory it may be possible to repair the sprocket teeth. Weasel ownership really is a learning curve isn't it?
Indeed - a big learning curve. One of the reasons I started the site and really appreciate folks who take the time to share what they are doing - like you! Hopefully we don't all have to make the same mistakes.
There is definitely hard facing arc welding rod that people use to resurface anvils and the like. My new sprockets are wearing enough that I am going to need to build up the teeth again. Not that big of a deal....weld then and shape them, but we should not be having to do this! I could have done the same thing with the original sprockets and saved myself $800 and a bunch of time drilling out rivets!
Oh well....onward!
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Happens to me every time. Thought - "fix this"....next thought...."its fine - we don't have time". Result - 15 minute fix becomes 5 hour project.@Larry Mass🤣
I sent you another note - you need to get connected with Charlie S - who has a very nice T15 and can help you sort this out.
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Larry - send me your cell via PM and I will text you Charlie S's number - he has a nicely restored T15.....and will help you with the pictures.
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7 hours ago, Beepbeep said:
Well I've solved my problem, I hope! I couldn't find anyone that flame hardens but I found a local company that will carburise the sprockets to the hardness that I want and at a very reasonable price, so reasonable that I wonder why the manufacturer doesn't harden them as standard.
They should - mine are wearing badly!
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Sounds good - you guys are doing nice work on those. I am planning on getting the remaining grousers free this weekend. I am going to start banding mine up - we shall see how it works!
Engine Serial Number.
in Headquarters
Posted
All we need - X is 1944, 4/17 - so April 17, 1944 is when that block was cast.
Cheers!