OZM29C

This was in Holland but I believe that the float gear was removed and parted out

I just have this one listed as the National Military History Centre.

Located in Australia. Not restored and it does have a rear float tank.

Located in Canada

Located in Europe. An interesting modification made to the weasel, a propeller.

@Patrick Tipton Patrick, just a suggestion; Can we make this thread a sticky in the hope that members can post photos of floaters that they know of so that we can get a better indication of the true numbers still out there. I will attach a few photos of the floaters that I have in my records to start the ball rolling. I don't think for privacy reasons that we should post owners names, just a country will do.

@Reamer Patrick @Patrick Tipton is your learned manuals scholar who I am sure can clarify if this is a typo. Bracket A in the attachment in my previous reply goes adjacent to the rear of the spring on the drivers side and correspondingly the bracket marked C goes on the passenger side. Your previous photos show the two hull mounting holes on each side where these brackets should attach. Bracket C as photographed in your on line manual acts as a stop if the idler arm spring should compress to such an extremity. Normally a gap of about 8mm (5/16th"Inch) is required between the top of the spring and the bracket. Hope this make sense.

Photo taken from his FB blog with the comment; Tantalising Weasel band mould progress.

@Reamer Equidistant spacing for a 56 track is 57.15mm (2.250"Inches)

@Reamer My picture below tells the story plus here is an extract from the manual.

@Reamer Ron, I would like to offer my opinion on whether to restore or not to restore an M29C with its float tanks. First off, nice find, they are still out there. Please post more photos. What you have there is a great starting point with some of the 'Floater Jewellery' still there however, there is some hard to find hardware missing; namely Track aprons, track apron braces, track apron/rear float tank mounting brackets, track apron hinge pins, track apron to front float tank mounting brackets, the complete rudder assembly which includes the steerer, rudder cables, rudder cable guide tubes, rudder cable tube mounting brackets, Stretcher pockets. I can't see if the capstan winch and winch drive assembly is in place. Anyhow you get the picture. Head on over to my restoration blog and you can see the myriad of parts necessary to restore a floater. There is a inordinate amount of sheet metal work involved to make these vehicles watertight and I can guarantee that bottoms of your float tanks will have a significant amount of corrosion evident. If not on the outside then definitely on the inside. Having said all that, nothing surpasses the thrill of launching and driving a weasel in the water. Maybe I should be more honest in saying 'willing a weasel through the water' 😂 Good luck with your endeavour. https://forum.portrayalpress.com/topic/85-m29c-7333-restoration-blog/#comment-580

Another quick update. The drivers side track is back on and tensioned up ready to go. I have assembled the passenger side donor idler arm and almost have it installed back on the replacement axle cross tube. One small hold up was that I found one of the wheel bearing locknuts had a split?????? Not sure why I missed it when I first assembled the idler arm wheel. Anyway a quick dash over the weasel parts graveyard and another locknut was found. The plan is to have the passenger side track back in place so that I can test the weasel tomorrow before packing it for Clarence Town (Flyer attached).

@Patrick Tipton Yes Patrick, that they are. When doing a task on the weasel nowadays, I tend to apply more 'Thinking Time' to the job at hand rather than diving straight into it. As an example I forgot to mention that I refitted the drivers side track last night and by using a number of ratchet straps and a pry bar, the track went back on with little extreme effort. Today's lunchtimes effort is pictured below. The donor passengers side idler arm resplendent in a coat of etch primer paint after being glass bead blasted.

Now for yesterdays instalment. After steam cleaning the donor passenger side idler arm I found that one of the bushings was long departed this earth and the other was well worn. With time in short supply as I am taking the Weasel to an Amphibious vehicle meet at the end of this month, I decided to retrofit the bushings from the bent idler arm into the donor. This entailed machining a tool to both drive out and install the bushings. Nothing complicated there (see photo) but without it and the fragile/thin walled bushings, the job could have been a disaster. Contrary to what I thought was a past owner drilling through the spring locating holes in the idler arm, I found that the donor arm was through drilled as well so I am sure this is factory. I again machined a steel plug to both stop the lubricating grease oozing out under the spring and perhaps stop water from getting inside.

Time for an update. On the weekend I went out with expectations that it would be a simple job to install the replacement front axle cross tube back into the hull. How wrong I was, it was a tedious all day slog to get it back in. The bores in the axle retaining flanges were too small for the replacement tube and I had to hand fit the flanges to the replacement axle all the while shaking my head at the ridiculously tight tolerances used to retain the axle into the hull. After the axle was in place I then had to refit the axle flanges back into place, a job for a qualified contortionist. I had to make a small concession though. OEM axle flange retaining bolts are inserted from the outside of the hull and the nut and washer secures the bolt from the inside of the hull. In my case I could just manage with the help of both my 6'4" son and a long bar to insert the bolts from the inside of the hull placing the nuts and washers on the outside. I also used a shorter bolt (3/8" UNC x 1") which both allowed for service in a harsh environment and the nut/washer left a flush fit with the bolt. I forgot to mention that I have used liberal quantities of anti-sieze lubricant and Alumilastic compound. I then wrapped up the day and reinstalled the drivers side idler arm/spring assembly.

While I have this front cross tube axle assembly apart I took the opportunity to repair an annoying problem with the drivers side idler arm. Unbeknown to me at the time, a past nameless person carelessly drilled through the spring bolt locating hole. Annoyingly, every time I greased the idler arm, grease would flow out from under the spring and in turn I don't think the idler arm bushings were properly lubricated. I machined and installed a small press fit plug into the idler arm spring pad which will finally resolve this problem. Happy snaps better tell the story.

Thanks Patrick @Patrick Tipton On top of my original spare idler arms, I also have another set of idler arms that are definitely of unknown condition. My next challenge will be to try and remove the near new Caterpillar Hub seal from the bent stub axle and transfer the seal to the replacement stub axle. Photo attached showing the Cat hub seal in question although what's pictured went on the rear. If I damage the hub seals then I will be fitting an alternative seal to the Cat 2B-0632 seal as I priced them here in oz today at the outrageous price of $515AUD ($354USD)each. Must be gold plated nowadays?????? I will fit an alternative Federal Mogul Nationa Oil Seal 365008 that are available locally at $38AUD ($26USD) each. Federal Mogul National Oil Seals - Hub Seal Alternative.docx

@darth_kittenI hate to be the bearer of bad news as after removing my front axle cross tube, I set it up in my lathe and found that it is straight as a arrow. What I did not expect was that the stub axle on the passenger side front idler arm was bent backwards. See the attached photo. Apologies for the photo quality as I needed three hands to hold the camera, the square and take the picture. However you can see the bend. This would explain why my weasel has been a dog to drive a straight track from day one. I purchased the idler arms as 'Reconditioned' parts. I guess with a restoration, you win some and lose others. The idler arms were a loss. Fortunately I kept the idler arms that came off my weasel originally so fingers crossed they are not bent as well.

@Jorrit Bakker Happy snaps will follow as I do the job. Having said that, I only installed the front axle cross tube in the hull 4 years ago (using lots of anti-seize) so hopefully it won't be too much of a challenge this time.

@DonM You can be proud of your son👍 Out of curiosity, you said that the rear main oil seal was tight. What type of crank is fitted to your engine? The attached photo shows the early crankshaft with a reverse helix machined into the journal (and no seal) and the other in the photo is the later crankshaft.

Yes @Patrick Tipton Patrick, I did indeed read through the manual TM 9-1825B plus the Jeep TM and the Weasel TM 9-1772A. Unfortunately no matter what adjustments I made to the regulator, they amounted to no improvement whatsoever.

As reported in a previous post I found that my Weasel has a bent front axle cross tube. I am now in the throws of replacing the bent cross tube as I need to have the weasel ready for the Clarence Town Amphibious vehicle swim in at the end of this month. Removing the tracks to give access to the idler arms etc was actually not as strenuous as I thought. Just needed some thinking time. The other essential tool to help get the idler arms off was my '15 minute spanner'. Named so, as it took just 15 minutes to make. Works a treat. I am also in the process of cleaning and preparing the NOS front axle cross tube. I have removed the cosmoline, steam cleaned it and then set it up in the lathe in order to polish the journals. The axle came out of a parts stash recovered from Antarctica in the early 90's. Anyway more of this post to come.

First let me say that I am not associated in any way with Joe's Motor Pool or its vendors. A bit off topic but some reference to a weasel here. I am returning my Ford Gpw back to a running condition and one of the last task was to set the electrical system back to work. As I have a 12V system I had set aside a spare 12V regulator taken off a Weasel many years ago. I fitted this regulator and started the engine to find the Amp gauge going off the scale. The headlights were like spotlights in brightness. Put my multimeter on to find that the system was charging 18Volts. After doing all of the usual checks I decided to open the regulator and found that someone had been there before. To make a long story short no amount of adjustment and the usual points gap cleaning and checks would coax this regulator to charge normally. It was either 0V or 18V. Not having another spare regulator I purchased a JMP solid state repo replacement regulator. The only adjustment for this regulator is to make sure that the little internal toggle switch is switched to the 12V setting. Put it on the Jeep, started it up with fingers crossed and voila, it worked perfectly. So for a Jeep or Weasel, the JMP regulator might be a worthwhile consideration. PS @Patrick Tipton Patrick I did read the manuals highlighted in your Portrayal Press Video😀

I painted my engine in an off the shelf Pewter Grey colour but unfortunately as its a locally made product, it won't be available overseas. It does have a blue-grey sheen to the colour shade.