Thank you for the answer. It doesn't sound like fun, but for once, it might be an interesting experience...

Steve's forgotten the wonderful world of track jacks. A track jack is a pair or clamps that grab two adjoining end connectors. As the pair of jacks are tightened, it squeezes the ends of the track shoes together. Once the ends are at the proper distance, the end connectors are hammered on with a 10 lb sledge hammer. Once the end connectors and center guide are in place, wedge bolts are added to the end connectors to keep them on the ends of the track blocks.

Changing a road wheel is fairly simple (relative term). A device called a "dog bone" is placed on the end of the road wheel arm and the end hooked onto one of the inside end connectors. The vehicle rolls forward a foot or so and the dog bone lifts the road wheel arm off of the ground. This raises the road wheel up off of the track surface. The road wheel bolts are removed (takes a lot of effort) and the road wheel changed. The tank is then rolled forward or backward to release the dog bone.

OK, time for a "Dumb Grumpy Question"...
I take it the road wheels come off the same as dual wheels on a truck, but do you change the both of them at the same time, or just the worn/damaged one? While on a roll for "really dumb grumpy questions".... do the replacements come all set up for replacement, or do you need to pack and install the bearing also?

Carl I like your little piggy.....

No bearings on the road wheels, those are in the spindle in which the wheels mount onto. It is like changing a spare tire on a car, except that they are doubled. One faces inward and one outward. You only replace the damaged/worn road wheel. Not much different from putting on road wheels on an old Tamiya motorized kit.

General rule of thumb is that 50% of the rubber should be gone or a chunk of rubber is missing the entire width of the road wheel before it needs to be replaced.

Thanks Robin.....

And how mobile is a tank with one (or both) tracks are disabled?
(I was really stunned to learn, by the way, that the whole thing is moved by one wheel per side. Doesn't it put too much strain on the tracks to have a strong pulling force on one end, and one end only?)

This December I was visiting an armor-collection in Hungary - mostly Russian cold war stuff (trench-diggers, intercontinental ballistic missles, etc). If interested I could make a photo collection online.

A tank with one track off will only be able to travel in a straight line, and for only a short while. A thrown track can shear the drive sprocket off and then you have a much bigger problem than just reattaching the track.

Thrown track is sort of like getting a flat tire on your car, easy fix with the right tools and normal conditions.

Shearing the sprocket is like having the entire wheel of your car come off. Not an easy task in any conditions.

Tank Carl and Crockett,

How I too remember the "good ol' days" in the FRG. I was there from 77 - 80 with the 1st Bn, 16th In,1st Div Forward.

My worst was at Hohenfels in February 78. We managed to throw a track in the middle of a slush puddle in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night. Lots of frozen feet and hands that night.

As I remember, we never managed to throw a track in a decent area during day-light hours. It was either always at night or in the middle of the worst terrain around.

I was lucky during my time on M1A1's in the National Guard, and only had to break track once in OSUT. Nice level concrete slab, nice weather, and no worries about mud. I did see a couple of sheared sprockets and a few tracks thrown under less than ideal conditions. Luckily never my vehicle though.

Thanks Rob for adding the track jack section to my spiel. We used them to put the track back on, but as I said we usually skipped it breaking the track. We had a big old boy who could whack em (end connectors) off with one blow after the bar was set. I think we changed road wheels only one or maybe two times my enitre 3 years.

Ahh yes, Hohenfels, Wildflicken and Graf, how I long for the memories of being tail end charlie on the tank trail at Graf in summer, remember the Graf dust guys?
The coldest winter I ever experienced was early summer at Wildflicken. And of course, sneaking out the back gate at Graf to buy a case of flippies while waiting for table 8?

Steve

I was at the other end....Baumholder. Probably the same snow you saw we also got. We too were up an a mountain of sorts. My Battalion got repositioned PCS to Wildflicken (we called it Chickin-Lickin) at the end of 79. I was short so I didn't get to go....awwwwwwwwwww. I remember siting up for 2 days pulling fog watch at table 8. They were working on Table 9 at the time and we went to that range (after finally gettig to qualify)and sat for 3 days in the fog. The pisser....we went back to main, washed the tanks for the ride on the trains to home and all the other sorted stuff. No sooner finished than we were called to go back to range 9. Typical Army...they had 2 other platoons sitting there and recalled us. Of course fog resettled in by the time we got there, we sat 4 hours and returned back to main....oh yes wash rack again.

I gotta say, as someone who never served and has never even seen a real tank up close, let alone been in one, this has been a really cool thread to read.

I love military hardware and history, always have, but my experience with AFVs will likely always be in 1/35 or 1/16 scale. It lends a little perspective and the fascination level just goes up to hear those who have experineced it in 1/1!

Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories!

Eric

PS, now that the weather is cooperating here in VA, I'll be heading up to Aberdeen in a few weeks to remedy that "never seen one close up" thing

Didn't get to Graf much with the Infantry. Spent most of our time at Hohenfels, and Stetten. But the one or two times I did get there, I was always amazed at how you could be up to your butt in mud and choking to death on the Graf dust.

Anybody remember running "Short track" when you busted a torsion bar? Did that once. Talk about a steering challange!!

Dave

Wow, this thread sure did bring back memories! I was fortunate enough to never throw one, but knew a bunch of guys who did. Pretty easy to do in the desert with the M1A1. I have a photo of a crew fixing a track, I'll have to find it and post it. The driver was paying penance by doing pushups...it would make a pretty good dio.

I was assigned to 2/3 ACR in Ft. Bliss just after they transitioned to the A1 (1986). Depot was having a hard time understanding how we could be throwing so many tracks, so they tapped our company to show them how. I knew the driver on the test. Our maneuver area around the post was pretty green for a desert, and full of these little hillocks - sand piles, really. About as big as the tank, and usually with enough room between them to drive through. A careless driver could catch the tail end of the tank on one of these things as he went around it, and the soft dirt would basically lift the track right off the sprocket.

Anyway this guy asked if he was going to have to help put the track back on. When told 'no', he parked right on the top of one of these dirt piles, put the tank in neutral steer, and gave it the gas. Pop-pop-pop-bang! Threw both sides immediately. He turned off the engine, got out of the tank, and said "Y'all have fun!"

Man, that was HARSH!!! :-)

Dan,

Sounds like we ate the same desert sand together. I was in 1st. Squadron from 1985 till 1990. I was a commo dog in HHT 1/3 and D Co. 1/3. I remember making out transision from the 60's to the M1A1. Was hung over like all hell trying to change out radios in 15 tanks. The good times!

Jim Johnson
Soldotna, Alaska

Hey James - sounds like it. Unfortunately my time there soured me on re-upping. Golf Troop's CO was an uncaring bastige and Top was a psychopath.

Juarez - now THERE was fun times!