Re-release of the King Tiger - End 2019

[Scott Boyd]

Found this online

https://blog.tiger-tank.com/tanks/tiger-wheels/

[Nigel Cooper]

a couple of shots of my KT

[Fabian Bekkers]

Kt was taken over by the Americans

[Mike Conley]

Question: Are the new 2019 King Tigers still going to use the brass turret rings or are they going to have the ball bearing rings?

I've just started to build a 2009 King Tiger and am going to order the NEW Motion Pak (with the new style motors) soon and if ball bearing turret rings ARE available I'll order one of those also.

THANKS! Mike (the one in Kentucky!)

[Fabian Bekkers]

Hi Mike my kingtiger is a 2013 model with a brass turret ring

[Adrian Harris]

> if ball bearing turret rings ARE available I'll order one of those also.

You might also need a new turret gear and spacer - have a look at Steve Stuarts retrofit of the lazy-susan to a Tiger I.

It ought to be worth Armortek putting a retrofit kit together for the older KTs, as the lazy-susan bearing must make a significant improvement on the ease of rotation of a turret as heavy as the KT.

Adrian.

[Mike Conley]

Hi Fabian and Adrian!

Yeah, I can tell just how HEAVY this KT turret will be! I was curious IF the ball bearing ring has already been introduced. Since it hasn't, I feel 'sorry' for the traverse motor because this turret is a BEAST! I'll just have to load it up with grease and hope I don't have to turn it much...

Mike (the one in Kentucky)

[Peter Quambusch]

Hi Adrian, Fabian and Mike,

This is my solution to the problem. Installed it in 2011 and had no Problems since.

Cheers

Peter

[Armortek]

Question: Are the new 2019 King Tigers still going to use the brass turret rings or are they going to have the ball bearing rings?

Sorry for the late reply Mike - the 2019 King Tiger has ball bearing rings (similar to the one you have on the M3 Lee -- only a bit bigger !)
Kian

[Mike Conley]

Thanks for the info Kian!

I'll order the ball bearing ring when I order the NEW style Motion Pack (which should be about the first of next week).

I'll just shave off the two 'half moon' areas in the upper hull deck halves until the inner ring has clearance, then drill the holes for the ring and bolt'er on!

And where did you get those ball bearing inserts Peter? THAT looks interesting also.

Thanks Again Kian! Mike (the one in Kentucky!)

****THIS IS ABOUT AN HOUR after my post above and OOHHHH, I don't know about me getting the 2019 ball bearing ring... I started thinking on it and feel that would probably open up a 'Can of Worms' that I hadn't planned on! If the bearing ring is that much larger in diameter then that would change the location of the 2009 traverse motor location! And what Adrian said about the spacing down or up of the drive gear/spacer and maybe needing both new? And a bunch of other perferentials I ain't even thought of yet! I think I'll have another bee.. er, a, ICE COLD BEVERAGE and think about it but I'll probably go with what Peter did and use 12 bearings in the deck.

[Peter Quambusch]

Hi Mike,

I got them from a friend, you owns a tool maker shop. They are heavy duty stainless steel bearings. Not cheap, but worth every penny. I installed them on all my older (pre lazy suzan) AT tanks (Tiger 1, KT, Panther).

Cheers

Peter

[Robert E Morey]

Mike
You can search around but this may work for the ball transfers like Peter used. I have not tried these, but seems like a good option on older models where retrofit of the ball bearing ring would be difficult. The ball is 5/8" and flange about 1" - about the right size if the height would work.
https://www.mcmaster.com/2415t13

Or this, which is described as a press fit (although I don't see what presses where from their drawing)
https://www.mcmaster.com/6421k41

Best regards,
Bob

[Chang]

For Peter's ball bearings solution, I have used it after reading his message back then:
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3936&start=15

1-6Tiger2-633c.jpg (133.71 KiB) Viewed 2360 times

No further modification required.
Regards,
Lerh Chang

[Mike Conley]

Good Morning Peter, Robert, and Chang!!

THANKS for the info! I'm going to go with those 'flanged ball bearing transfer' bearings, just have to figure out the size. As Robert showed, McMaster has some that looks the size. It'll be a while until I get to that part of the build so I'll have a lot of time to figure it out.

THANKS AGAIN! Mike

[Peter Quambusch]

Howdy Mike,

Here are the dimentions of the bearings I used:

Ball bearing dimensions:
Dw (mm): 8
D (mm): 12,6 +-0,055
D1 (mm): 17
h (mm): 4,8 +-0,15
H (mm): 11,2
a (mm): 1,8
b (mm): 3,2
max. load(N): 100
weight(kg): 0,007

Holes in the deck are "press fitt", thus no glue is needed!

Cheers

Peter