Can anyone here tell me what these to cylindrical items affixed to the hull of the T-28 are ?
..and why they have been given such a special seat ?

This is a pic from Choko-Panda's build :

http://s6.postimg.org/ydczooech/DSC05490.jpg

I believe those are the wenches ( ah, winch) to pull the sponsons with the outer tracks to the hull.
The motor will be under the armor but the cables get wrapped around those drums to pull the tracks close.

Thanks .
I was seeing definitely something of the sort .

.. I thought they looked liked pulleys .

Now -- I need more understanding of what you have described .

Suggestions on technical references ?

Thanks again

This is a "stowage position " ?
I see no indication of hull penetration and the photos of the real deal -- well - show missing fasteners .

For transportation, the outer set of tracks could be removed and towed behind the T28. When it was desired to reattach the outer set (they weren't driven, but only served to reduce ground pressure), the vehicle would pull up next to the outer track and use the winch to lift and move the track right up against the vehicle in order to be bolted in place. The drum was attached to the drive sprocket of the outer track during transport and was wrapped with a rope. Tightening the rope allowed for slowing of the out track (presumably for steering and to slow the towed track on descents). Some informative photos can be seen here:

http://alliedtanksofworldwarii.devhub.com/blog/655977-t28-super-heavy-tank-in-transport-mode/

P.S. Once you know the purpose, it now makes sense to see that both pulleys would be mounted on the same side of the vehicle - the side on which the last set of outer tracks was reattached. I've seen some builds with one winch on each side, and it's difficult to imagine this occurring in real life.

Ah .
OK .
I get it -- that really helps . Thank you .

That's Krazy

DOG GONE IT! - Dave beat me to the answer, but hey, I'm gonna brag and say that I got there on my own without the help of the internet.



As an ex-Louisvillian, during the course of many visits to the Patton Museum, I have been looking at those two items of kit on the T-28 for over forty-plus years. I always thought they could be windless rope drums but couldn't figure out how they would be employed on this tank.

I had thought maybe they mounted to the drive sprocket of the tank to be used as some form of winch. (Like the windless drum mounted to the front right sprocket of the M-32 recovery vehicle, used to raise the A-frame crane boom.)

Then the other day I saw the photo shown below posted by Keith in his main thread covering the T-28 and finally knew where they were supposed to bolt on.



My good buddy and fellow modeler, Monte Kelch and I figured it out just the other night. Tie two ropes to a following Deuce and Half, wrap them a couple of times around each of these drums mounted one on each side of the aux track set and feed it back to a guy standing in the load box of the Deuce - you will then have a friction braking system. He might kinda look like Ben Hur in the big chariot race but it would work!

Well I guess you don't even need the weight of a truck following behind - just tie the rope off to the body of the track set itself! Any sailor would know all about how to do this!

It certainly makes the vehicle that much more interesting .

The " rods for connecting " and then the curious photo of the exposed running gear all gel'd

Michael,
I posted that pic, It was one I had been looking for for some time it shows how the sprockets were linked together to drive the outer run.
I want to display mine with one side being hoisted up.

Cheers Rob.

Rod - sorry for getting the photo credit wrong.

I knew the drive sprockets had some sort of dog that locked them together so that all four tracks were powered just never saw them separated before.

The minute I saw the bolt pattern on that sprocket I knew where the windless drums bolted but I thought that was going to be on the inside track for use as a winch. Your photo set me straight and put me on the right track. (No pun intended)

Thanks

I would really like to see film of this evolution

Aren't you glad you moved this discussion off to its own thread?

Certainly .
I had no doubt Dmitriy knew exactly what the purpose was - the underastandable language barrier was an issue.

Yup, to steer the towed tracks two men had to walk behind them to pull the ropes and steer the tracks. In addition to use as friction brakes, those spools were wedged between the hull and outer tracks during removal. That was only one of the ridiculous features of this vehicle. The entire outer track removal process was a calamity waiting to happen. If the crew only lost a few fingers, or a hand, or a foot, they'd be lucky. I could see people being crushed by falling track units very easily. Another head-shaker was the tabulation showing 218 lubrication points on the suspension requiring attention. Need or not, it should've been obvious that the weapon was utterly impractical.

KL

Ah - so it really WAS designed to match the German heavies!




(Still looks super-cool though...)

I'm glad that others have corrected my earlier mistake... I said that the outer tracks weren't driven, but of course this is wrong. The drive sproket of the outer track was bolted to the drive sprocket of the inner, thereby powering the outer track. In my defense, the purpose of the outer track was to reduce ground pressure (so I did get this right).

There was a fairly recent issue of "Allied-Axis" with some very nice large-format photos of the T28, including numerous towing shots. Also, there was a somewhat recent issue of AMPS "Boresight" showing the T28 at Ft Knox(?) undergoing restoration prior to being moved to Ft Benning(?). (Sorry that I don't have the issue numbers and probably botched the various Army bases involved, but I'm at work right now.)

Just an opinion; but I don't think the T-28 was intended to stand up to the German "Heavies". The intent of this design was to go up against heavy defensive fortifications as the Allies would eventually be entering into the German homeland.

The Pershing with its' 90mm gun was to be the answer to the big German tanks but of course as we know the production of the Pershing was intentionally delayed.