Odd bogie wheel arm

[M29C3284]

I was cleaning some of the suspension parts for my weasel when I noticed one of the bogie wheel arms wasn't the same as the rest.

Anybody seen this type before? 

[D.R.H.]

That is interesting. I saw a video on YouTube that involved Weasels and their development. Close to end of the of the video I saw a Weasel that WAS NOT like the rest. It had three sets of transverse leaf springs, not four. I wasn't sure what I had seen and had to 'rewind' the clip and pause the video to comprehend what I just overlooked at first glance. Perhaps this part belongs to it?  

Here is the video, and the "ODD" Weasel is seen at the 9:33 minute mark. 

 

[M29C3284]

Interesting it looks like some sort of hybrid between a T24 and a T15.

I'm leaning towards thinking that this could be one of those Swedish made replacement parts for the weasel. They where used quite hard by the different forestry companies back in the day, and parts where not that easy to come by.  

[Jim Gilmore]

What you are looking at on 9.33 minutes in on the film is Studebaker Test Weasel # 13.

This was the first T-24 prototype. It had six bogie wheels per side and the right side top of the hull had a flat area to hold skis like the T-15.

The six bogie wheels caused "nosing" of the vehicle at speed so an additional set of wheels were added when the vehicle was rebuilt. The flat area on the top of the hull was also deleted.

 

Jim Gilmore

[D.R.H.]

I had noticed Jim, that the Weasel with 12 bogey wheels per side mimicked what I described as the 'see-saw' effect due to how centered the middle leaf spring was. One would get rather Sea-Sick from that constant up and down motion, I would think.