OZM29C

@darth_kitten Just adding more to @Patrick Tiptoncomments. As you are repairing an M29C hull, the upper joint as discussed can be easily hidden. If you look at the attached drawing, I have highlighted the area in question, where the new sheet metal can be grafted into the hull. The weld joint can then be filled using a mig welder and then once the surface has been cleaned and preserved, the upper flange of the track skirt will cover the joint in its entirety. As pointed out by Patrick, one good thing that comes out of this repair method is you can get in to clean and preserve the inaccessible areas behind the angled hull brace. I have attached a number of photos showing how I repaired this area. Note that the sponson forward of the centre bulkhead had to be completely replaced. Keep up the good work. Cheers. Sponson general assembly - Revision 1.pdf

@DonMYou are going to need these when you assemble both Distributor and angle drive back into the cylinder block. BTW, if you divide the dimensions shown on the package by 25.4, that will give you the old imperial decimal dimension. Cheers

@Guido Ferluga The closest match to the male wiper plug is the Cole Hersee 1465 Converter Plug. See Page 119 in the attached catalogue. Unfortunately they are no longer manufactured however they do turn up on ebay from time to time. I have attached a photo showing my wiper motors during repairs. The grey wiper motor has the Cole Hersee 1465 plug fitted and the OD wiper motor has an OEM plug fitted. Good luck. Cheers John W. Cole Hersee MasterCatalog.pdf

@DonM I can see 0.5 in the photo. Just a guess 0.5mm = 0.020"Inches and 1.00mm = 0.040"Inches. Can you measure the diameter of the bore? Seems unusual though that the block has been bored to different sizes but hey, anything is possible.

@darth_kitten Probably not the answer you are looking for but realistically I believe that this is your only option. I am sure that drawings may be available from Studebaker that will cost both time and $$$$$. In order to keep your restoration project moving along, my best advice would be to seek out another weasel where the assembly in question is still in place, can be measured, photographed and reverse engineered in order to fabricate a replacement. Aiming for 100% perfection at times can be an unrealistic and perhaps an unecessary goal.

A bit late I know but I have only just got back to my PC. I would just like to take this opportunity to wish the Weasel fraternity a Very Merry Christmas and a Safe and Prosperous New Year. All the best from down under. Cheers John W. AKA ozm29c

Kind of reinforces my thought that your particular weasel may have gone through a 1950's Ordnance depot rebuild programme. Keep up the good work👍

Weasel sold for 47368 Euros

@M29C3284Thanks for your valuable suggestion. I can confidently say that all suspension bolts and bushings were replaced with NOS parts. I had to replace them all due to severe wear from lack of lubrication. That’s the Achilles heel of a weasel, the constant need to keep the suspension regularly greased.

@Patrick Tipton Bizarre as it might sound, I am going to use a small spirit level and then lay against the outside of the bogey wheels to ensure that the bogey wheels are correctly orientated vertically after I make my shim adjustments. BTW I too am running the LAR tracks.

@Patrick Tipton@M29C3284 Patrick, This topic is reason enough to start a new thread so we don't hijack @darth_kitten's thread. I initially set my weasel up with one thick and one thin shim per bogey arm, similar to what M29C3284 had installed on his weasel. I found that after some testing (Both land and water) that the bogey wheels were pushing the track guides to the outside which in turn was hammering the track guide tops into the track sprocket guide plates. I then fitted 10mm (Approx 3/8"Inch), see attached photo, shims to the bogey arms and this had the reverse effect by pushing the track/guides back to the inside and chaffing the outer side of the track guides. So in my case the sweet spot lies somewhere in between. All of the adjustments were made with the suspension unloaded (weasel lifted off the ground) however the next adjustment I make will be with the suspension under load. Unfortunately I could find little information on this subject in the TM's but hopefully Patrick you may have access to more documentation. I did find a photo in the attached weasel brochure that shows some special tooling/jigs to set the suspension up in the factory. Interesting subject.

@darth_kitten What a fabulous thread to follow. Well done and BZ to your efforts👍👍 I can honestly appreciate the amount of time consuming and tedious work that is involved in bringing a weasel back to life. Could I ask one question? Did you record how many shims were behind the bogey arms as shown in the attached photo? I need a reference point to adjust my bogey arm shims as mine are not quite right.

Just off topic, I restored the Ford GPA that you see with the Halloween pumpkin head at the start of the video. I restored it back in the late 80's early 90's. I sold it back in the late 90's and part of the proceeds were used to fund my Weasel purchase. Mandatory happy snaps attached. The photos show what I started with to restore the GPA. Cost me a carton of beer back then.

Just posting a very recent Video showing some of the action at the recent event that I took the weasel down to. If you look hard enough you can see a few action shots with the weasel in it.

First off, just to clear the air, I am in no way associated with this Auction house or the Vendor in particular. Just putting this out there as a general interest topic. M29C Weasel floater going up for Auction. See the following link; https://military-classic-auction.com/en/homepage/

A few on water happy snaps

Next photo shows the weasel in the street parade

Some action photos of the recent swim in. First photo show our campsite with a small selection of the many vehicles on show

I have brought the weasel down for the Annual Clarence Town Military Vehicle Rally and Amphibious Vehicle swim in. Photos to follow as the event progresses. A friend of mine woke up at 2am on Halloween night and took this photo of weasel which I thought was a great Halloween photo.

@DonM Search for the forum member @Byron and read his adventure and subsequent advice regarding phenolic camshaft timing gears.

@Patrick TiptonThank Patrick 👍 @DonM As promised, photo attached showing the Aluminium Camshaft Timing gear. Once you have removed the cylinder head all will be revealed. In my case there was substantial corrosion evident in a number of cylinders and in way of the valve seats which necessitated the cylinder block being re sleeved back to standard and hardened valve seats installed.

@Patrick Tipton Hopefully this will show the problem Patrick. Cheers

@DonM Well done 👍 refurbishing the engine alone will give you hours of unmitigated fun. Amongst all of the work you have planned to refurbish this engine, can I suggest two extra things borne from both my experience and others? 1. Fit an Aluminium camshaft timing gear 2. Have your crankshaft crack tested by an Automotive engineer @Patrick Tipton Patrick, any idea as to why I can only post piddly max sized 18.55kb photos?

@DonM In my case Don, I just used my engine hoist to roll the hull onto its side. To support the hull I just used some lengths of soft wood timber (Lumber) offcuts. The ultimate way of course is to fabricate a rotisserie.

@DonM The buttons appear to be made from solid metal however looks can be deceiving, they are actually a light gauge pressed steel cap crimped onto a stud. As they have been in place for many years there is a good chance that they could be destroyed in trying to remove them. In my case I just left them be and only replaced the damaged/missing buttons. @Jim Gilmore Jim Gilmore used to make an excellent reproduction button kit in years gone by. According to my records they were $69USD. It might be worth contacting Jim and asking the question if replacement buttons are still available. Having said that a good machinist could reproduce replacement buttons with ease. Cheers