Yeah, that whole process looks like it was just meant to take fingers and hands away. I wonder if they are former military tank mechanics or just volunteers that are mechanical. I wonder if this was this hard or time consuming for a WWII era tank crew and their mechanics to swap out an entire track or break it and replace several links?
There was something very satisfying about seeing these gentlemen keeping history alive. It's a noble cause and thank God there are folks still interested in this kind of endeavour. WWII tanks still fascinate so many people, history buffs and just regular folks who like machines.
i've replaced tracks similar to this myself, and i can say, they done it the hardest way possible, you open the track, put in a follower link ( a modified link that is very easily removed because it has extra play) then hook the follower link to the new track, jack up the tank and pull the new track on using the old track. simple and quick. takes about 1 hour per track
Fantastic video - it's wonderful to see so much care being taken of a historic machine. Bravo to you and all your volunteer colleagues. I MUST come to Belgium to see the museum.
I am a mexican engineer, all my life I've wanted to work with tanks like Sherman, Hellcat, T-34 and panzers, they have the best job in the world, they do a big work. Congratulations
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The Firefly was an up-gunned built and operated by the British. The breach of its 17-pounder main gun was so large that the radio had to be re-positioned outside the turret. That is the big box attached to the rear of the turret. The 17-pounder was one of the few Allied guns that could effectively destroy the German Panther and Tiger tanks. It was an EXCELLENT gun with tremendous stopping power, although its range fell off fairly dramatically at around 1,700 - 2,000(?) yards or so. The British could never manufacture the Firefly in sufficient numbers, so it was most often used in a tank destroyer role. There might be 1-2 Fireflys attached to a British tank company. Contrary to popular belief, not every German tank was a Panther or Tiger. Many/most were the regular Mark IV tank that be could defeated by a regular Sherman or Cromwell. But when a heavier German tank was encountered the Firefly TD would be called into action to deal with it.
Tom W "There might be 1-2 Fireflys attached to a British tank company" Not quite; it was 1 (later 2) Fireflies equipping every Sherman and Cromwell tank troop (platoon equivalent) from June '44 onward. This means that 1 in 4 tanks in the front-line of Sherman and Cromwell Regiments were Fireflies, not counting the HQ units. By the end of 1944, this had increased to 2 in 4, though by that time the Cromwell units had replaced their Fireflies with (A30) Challenger tanks. The Churchill regiments weren't equipped with Fireflies but, as I understand it, they tended to be supported by Achilles tank destroyer units if German Panzers were in the area. In total, between December 1943 and May 1945, the UK built between 4000 and 5000 tanks and tank destroyers equipped with the QF 17 pdr (including its little brother, the QF 77mm)*. While these numbers aren't earth shattering, they're not that bad either. *This includes the Sherman firefly, the Achilles & Archer tank destroyers, the Challenger tank and the Comet tank.
The QF 17 pounder was adapted from a British anti aircraft gun that could fire to 30,000 feet. Effective range 6.5 miles. They were without a doubt the best tank gun the allies had during WW2 being capable of going through the front glacis plate of a Tiger at up to 1200 yards.
The firefly was used mostly in a overwatch role. The 3 regular 75mm advanced and they the Firefly from a concealed position waited for the enemy to show up. Then the Firefly provided with long range AT fire.
I wish we could get a English interpretation the videos are amazing. You're work on the restoration is some of the best I've ever seen. I would love to visit you guys .
My "Old Man" drove a Firefly during the war with the 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards. He's 93 now. Will have to show him this one........no doubt he will have something to say !!. Fascinating, hard to imagine having to do that in the "field".Would love to visit and see her running...Great vid !
This video demonstrates why so many armored vehicles were abandoned in the field. Imagine all the non-combat related hand injuries as well for the tank mechanics during the war.
thanks Franz. lots of comments on other ways to do this, but you did it and it looks ready for duty again now with its new boots on. maybe I will visit this winter if open when I am back that way for work. Greeting from sunny Kent in England. All the best sir.
Tough, back-breaking work! Imagine doing this under field conditions! Vehicle track mechanics were some of the biggest guys that I saw in the Army, they had to be tough, strong and possess high endurance.
This is how to make a simple job look hard. All you needed to do is link the old to the new and use the drive to pull the new track on as has been said, I am sure before. Just like changing a motorcycle chain. Its a good job you weren't under fire in combat.
On the rare occasions that Firefly crews were properly trained in the best use of that tank/weapon it was a killer. It could knock out any German tank and the German army placed a priority on destroying a Firefly BEFORE taking on any other vehicles. One ex Panzer commander regarded the 17pdr as the British 88 and had no doubts about how dangerous this weapon was in the anti tank role.
Actually the 17 pounder has better AT penetration figures that the 88/56 of the Tiger I and sighty worse of the 88/71 of Tiger II. All in a gun that weight half of a 88 and could be mounted on mediun tanks. A lot of bang for the weight.
Did this job on Chieftain several times no power tools and just the crew of four. The forklift delivered the track in sections of six as that was about all we could lift off the pallet between us. The new track was laid out directly in front of the wagon getting harder and harder to lug the links further and further from the drop off point. Once the new track was on we had to split the old into sections of six and load it back on the pallet for the QMs fork lift or Eager Beaver ( yes that really was a thing) all in one day. Back breaking finger wrecking work. 15/19th Hussars
Julian Humphries , the last thing l ever wanted to be was a tank mech , in 1961 . Much to everyones surprise , l volunteered to do the Para . course . Getting away from 7 th Armd. Fallingbostel was worth it . Left 16 Para in 1977 from 3 Para Osnabruck . Best wishes to you and yours .
Seems to me it would have been a heck of a lot easier to lay the new track, face up, in front of the tank, cut the old track in front of the tank, tie new to old and back the tank to roll the new track around the whole wheel assembly.
IIRC the only time they had to break the track was to replace the drive sprockets or the idler at the rear. They'd just jack the road wheel axles, as needed, to replace those.
NO YOU DON'T, lol...you should attach the new track to the old, and that solves the problem of getting the new one(s) on, 99% of the time. Another thing they should have done was open the track clamp up all the way, to make it easier to hook onto the NEXT track clamp away from the join section. When you pull the track ends together, it gives you much more room to move the last set of track pins around as you need to, and apply the track joiners and clamp bolts. These guys did pretty much everything the hard way...on the second track, did you see the guy with the hammer whacking the idler lift cam wrench (the big mother) and damaging the lifting strap? That strap is now TOAST for serious lifts.....
The perfectionist in me can't help point out they've put Ford and Fisher drive sprockets on a Chrysler built tank, but that takes nothing away from an excellent restoration.
Jay Bluff it was probably like that when they got it thanks to the ease of maintenance compared to other vehicles of the time. Common practice during the war was to replace the entire transmission and final drive assembly if there were issues with it. The procedure would take about two hours.
I read a book about about that mysterious camouflage on the barrel on the firefly, its to conceal its distinctive signature of the over-extended barrel of the 17 pounder gun mount. German tank commanders used to focus more on the fireflies since they're the most potent tank killers that the Allies on the north have at the moment. Even at the game CoH I love them fireflies. Love them dearly
They made a bit of a pigs ear changing the tracks,but it looked liked they have never done it before,so credit due where it belongs! I bet all the old tankies watching were cringing?
Ah yes, breaking track! Lots of fun! At least you are not doing it in the mud, rain or snow! Interesting that the bow gun was welded over on that model of the Sherman.
Or maybe they just did it more often and got better at doing it from repetition. The tools look pretty standard based on things that Chieftain has discussed on his channel some regarding tank maintenance with the bars, wrenches, and sockets. Though maybe this was as time consuming as this shows. It's hard to imagine a crew in the field doing this at all on a timely enough basis that they don't become a sitting duck standing around a disabled tank that some artillerist or tanker isn't going to start trying to kill it from a distance if some infantryman reports a disable tank waiting to be wrecked. I'd guess much of the time you didn't work on a tank until your own infantry had cleared anything in the area that is in visual range.
It was usually dragged away, and temporarily fixed at a forward repair point. If it was just a broken track joiner or shot-away link, they carried spares on the tanks for field fixes....providing they weren't being SHOT at during the moment.
Having served in a tank regiment and changed lots of tracks both on a good surface like the one they had or in the field, you don't do it like that. You use the track rope connected to the track, wrapped around the drive sprocket a few times and then looped over a sprocket horn to wind the track on, you also line the new track up with the old so you can drive straight onto it. I've changed both tracks on the Cheiftain and Challenger 1 tanks including joining up all the new sections and breaking down and pelleting up the old track in under two hours with the only use of a forklift to drop of the pelleted up new track sections and remove the old ones. Mind you they were old guys and maybe hadn't done this before or not for a very long time so they did ok, no one lost any limbs or fingers anyway.....
Phil Staples They are volunteers doing this work. But they say it is a museum restoring these tanks. They might have checked with a professional like you. Looking atbthe V shape of the rubber, I eeven think the put them on the wrong way. Am I correct?
..... I've changed tracks on M60-A1 tanks ... I did three of the four positions, as a crew member... All but tank commander... Jan '72 - Dec '74 ... AIT was in Fort Knox... Got sent to Bamberg Germany in the 2/2 Armored Cavalry Regiment, H-Co, tank H-34 ... We did Border duty and patrol near Colberg, watching East German troops, as they watched us ... ... Wasn't until later in life, that I realized, those were the best years of my life ..... Toujours Pret 🇺🇸 🪖
I have never done track replacement myself, and it’s a great video and a good crew. But in my humble opinion they should have hooked up the rope and rolled the end of the track onto the last wheel and start pulling the rope to make the track go over the support wheels on top as soon as the tank clears the old track, instead of waiting for the tank to reach the end of the new track and try to reverse it to use the sprocket wheel to get the track on.
Wonderful, Frans ! I've got a great passion for WWII, specially in Bastogne. I'm the author of AIRBORNE 44 comic strip and your 2 videos are very interesting. I shared one of mine, in HD, made on 14 et 15 december 2013. You'll find it under tags "Nuts Days 2013", "Jarbinet". However, yours are most acute and it's a pleasure to learn how lives a Sherman in a garage ;-). Thanks a lot. Philippe
wauw dit is geweldig... en dan nog op eigen bodem! :) ik zou het uitermate geweldig vinden om dit een in het echt mee te maken, of hieraan te helpen! ;)
I think the Sherman tank, best of all tanks were built from these also most namely 50000 piece of all types. The Sherman Firefly is my favorite Sherman, they were able to put the Tigers well. I have a few questions for you. 1 Where is this Fierfly Sherman, in a tank museum or where? 2 Why did the chains replaced, the old chains were damaged? 3 What did you do with the old chains made? 4 Is the one who drove the tanks, a real tank driver or he's just so down? Well I could probably also the increasingly towards the Sherman tanks are built they can each drive.
The tracks can be rebuilt. Needing complete disassembly, inspection of parts, grinding away the defective/worn rubber pads and revulcanizing new ones on each block. Then repaint and lubrication as needed, roll it up and stow it for the next repair.
its very simple tracks are same as chain on your bicycle. After time it becomes worn. Basicly it stretches more and more and becomes too long. if you shorten it it will snap. only option new chain. So here is same stuff.
My dad was in a M4. In the last days of the war, they were spearheading through Germany just to gain real estate. Dads tank threw a track, there was no time for repairs, so his tank was pushed off the road to let the column past. The crew stayed with the tank, trying to put the track back on, to no avail. They were able to ride the track like you see in this video. Don’t forget, there was still a war going on. Once off the road and in the woods they used tree branches to camouflage the tank. They stayed on the radio, and alternated between calling for help, and listening to Axis Sally. First, they ran out of gas, running the motor to keep the battery charged, then they killed the battery. They waited for days. Sometime during this, 3 Germans appeared, with hand up, wanting to surrender. Everybody grabbed their weapons, somebody climbed up into the ring mount and trained the .50 cal on the Germans. My dad defused the situation by suggesting that instead of shooting first, they just take their rings and watches, and tell them to keep walking west with their hands up until they reached more Americans. Dad did say that they kept seeing P-47’s flying overhead. On the third day, their lieutenant pulled up in a Jeep, demanding to know, where the hell were you? To which they replied, where the hell were YOU? It turns out the P-47’s were searching for the lost tank, but it was camouflaged, their captain had already written missing in action letters to their families, but hadn’t yet sent it.
A lot of things could have happened while they were trying to fix the tank. Enemy snipers and friendly fire from the P-47's I'm sure was on their minds . Hard to focus on repairing the tank when a war is going on all around you . Lucky for you he got through it alright or you wouldn't be here today
I love how the British were able to turn the Sherman- a entry-level medium tank only fit to fight Panzer IVs, and turned it into a deadly tank destroyer. The American's best version of the Sherman was the Jumbo with the 76mm, something that could take a few hits and do a lot of damage, but not as much as the 17-pounder
The 17 pounder was the only Allied gun landed on "D day" that could penetrate front armor of the Panther and Tiger 1 from 1,000 yards or less, on Aug 1944 the U.S. Army tested both the Brit 17 lbs and the 76mm guns on three capture Panthers outside Paris, the Brit 17 lbs penetrated all three Panthers, the U.S. 76mm failed to penetrate any of the three
Theres definitely a lot of trial and error in this video. Changing track on modern American tanks today is still very similar! When they lined-up the new right-side track in front of the old, and drove forward on to the new track, they ran into problems. They tried wood blocks; however, the easiest way is to align the new and old tracks as closely as possible, as if they were a single, continuous track. Then, just drive foward onto the new track.
Nice restoration . But German engineering of wheels, sprockets and caterpillars were very much better ... At 11' , not the same caterpillar on right and left side 😉
@@jansolo55 Later WWII German tanks were very much over engineered in the suspension, try changing a wheel bearing on a Tiger or Panther, VVSS were much easier to maintain, T34 even simpler
@@UPTHETOWN thankfully !! because Tiger tanks 1 and 2 were much heavier and less easy to move than Sherman 😉 T34 was a very simply, light and powerful machine . German engineers have studied on the T34 to design their Panther...
Per nulla semplice sostituire i cingoli. Io però lo avrei fatto raccogliere subito anche il primo. Domanda : si può utilizzare il tutto facendo lavorare la trasmissione solamente da un lato ? Come per sterzare ?
Reading a lot of nonsense here... Please provide references if you think Tiger/T34 kill ratio was 10 to 1. Oper Citadel (Kursk): Germans 2700 tanks, Soviets 3600 (that's 3:4 ratio for the mathematically challenged , not even 1.5-1, let only 2-1 or 5-1 or over nonsense) Tanks lost: Germans 1900, Soviets 2400 (rough figures) I realize there weren't that many Tigers, but how the hell does one justify these absurd kill ratios? Anecdotes don't count- there is for ex. a T34 that took out 3 Tigers after Kursk, near Poland. I'm sure some German aces had high kills, but overall this is an absurd claim
A lot of those puffed up claims slyly lumped in the early war loss ratios, I think. There's been a lot of that kind of thing in favor of the Germans over the years. You would think they'd won the war.
Neat work, but around here, I just take my Sherman to Discount Tire. Free balancing, and they rotate the tracks every 8K miles for free, lol 16:36 - Ooh, don't drag chains or slings!
The video was good.! but guys you spent a lot of time moving the tank back and fort. i myself change tracks on dozers. you just clip the new boots to the old one and let the sprocket pull it you can also do the replacement on both sprocket at the same time.I know that you are being cautious not to damage the tank you have my respect for that. I hope you find my comment as an advice not an insult.
Wow! I never knew that. Thanks for the added info. Sorry for the late reply. Not to sound rude or anything, but I'm curious. Did the blast from the gun like blown your Old Man's eardrum?
the us army could have had the firefly system but it was the old not made here philosophy that presented that. I like the way these guys are working out things here.
Good video, However, It is Extremely dangerous to put blocking material on top of a jack! Always "crib" a jack up to the object to be lifted/moved. Trust me on this, 35 years as a house mover, Gary
잠시 멍때리고 차마시며 보면 좋은 영상 ㅋ 꽉 조여진 나사하나 풀려고 고무망치로 때릴줄알았는데 나사의 기름칠하고 나무토막끼워 유압기중기로 살며시풀고 또 다른 나사안빠져 절단하고 인간의 지능이란 참.. 탱크가 새로운 괘도에 올라탈때 잘 안끼워져 여러시도를 하는것이 인상적임ㅋ 그런데 한짝끼우고 다시 한짝 키우구나 또 어느나라든 아저씨들 맨손으로 작업하네ㅎㅎ;
Heh, just a US tank with a British anti tank gun in place of the stub cannon it normally used, these were taken more seriously as a threat then the standard Sherman by the panther and tank destroyers as they could actually penetrate their armor at long range.
Искал русский комментарий, где кто-нибудь научил бы их менять гусянки, используя старую для протяжки через катки.. Но не нашел.. По всей видимости, этим русским буду я :-) И да, теперь я понимаю почему они проиграли войну.
Ну это Шерман, американский танк. На тигре с заменой гусли они бы "трахались" сильно больше. А на видео меняли гусли всё-таки люди, так скажем, далёкие до военного дела. Это как я понял, вообще работники этого танкового музея, и им "на скорость" менять гусеницы ни к чему.
Their mistake was allowing the road wheels to fall off the tread. They should've pulled the new tread right up to the end of the old one, would've made the process a lot easier. And, they should've used to drive sprocket to lift the new tread into place instead of pulling it from the back. A couple guys lift the end of the tread over the sprocket so the teeth engage, and kick it into reverse. It would've pulled the tread up and they could've used some shims to guide it over the return rollers, all the way back, and attach the ends. They did this the hardest way possible.
Try this in the field, four guys, a new track and no power tools or other vehicles to help. This crew got it done but sort of backwards, break the track using track jacks, run the tank off the track and back it onto the new track using the sprocket to pull it on. Not a lot of fun but a good crew can get it done in less than two hours.
gotta agree connect the new to the old, drive it forward onto the new let the old come round until its all off then disconnect... no pissballing around job done. Bet an old tanker would tell them that! pull the old track off forward with the fork life that way it pulls the new track on at the same time.
