Armortek

Can anyone explain the purpose of jacking up a road wheel

Roadwheels carry the weight of the tank and are susceptible to damage. Add the odd anti-tank mine and crews needed the wherewithal to replace a damaged or worn wheel. Many modern tanks have rubber outer rims to improve the ride but are susceptible to damage. Under certain conditions, on some tanks, crews may have to lift a rear road wheel to allow them to split the track on uneven ground.

I am surprised to see that Stephen did not mention that Chiefy, Chally 1 & 2 used a jacking strut. Simple metal plate that at the top end went under the axle arm, two "fingers" at the bottom end engaged with slots in the track links. Move the tank slightly and the road wheel lifted up clear of the track allowing replacement.

Kent Wiik wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 07, 2020 9:10 am

Hi all,
Here are some nice ”jack in action” pics, enjoy.
Kind regards
Kent

Those are great pictures, thanks for posting them!

John Wiggins wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 07, 2020 2:47 pm

Meanwhile on the allied side of the fence......
John

Interesting picture, my first thought was that a jacking block would probably improve things...
But on second thought they probably dug in the jack to get it low enough so it fits underneath the bogey...

Manny Leung wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 07, 2020 3:31 pm

Can anyone explain the purpose of jacking up a road wheel

What I meant was what this chap is trying to do by jacking the wheel itself

It might be to get the tracks lined up again, if the wheel has jumped the horns, or it might just be a staged photo.

Adrian.

Interesting feature of this picture; The chap jacking the Panther D road wheel is using a 10 tonne jack this was not issued to Panther which means that this must be in a Werkstatt Zug as opposed to general maintenance

Manny,
Don't know whats happening in the pictuture but....., Pathers had a fixing on the back of each swing arm and a corresponding threaded hole in the underside of the pannier above it. With the wheel jacked up as in the picture, a special strap was used to tie the swing arm to to the underside of the pannier. With the strap inplace and jack released, the swing arm and wheel were suspended above the track, allowing the road wheels to be removed.
David