> I'm a little hesistant to tighten the tracks too tight as this will prematurely stretch the links and wear the pins even faster.
I can understand your reluctance but I do think you'll find the tank runs better with tighter tracks. I also found it stopped the tracks sticking to the sprockets and being dragged upwards in front of the first road wheel.
The M4A3 instructions for track tension says to tighten the tracks until there is 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch clearance between the track and a straightedge lying between the centre and rear support rollers. That's a maximum of 1/8" in our scale
> It will also make the whole system less able to tolerate any debris, dirt or rocks on the links.
Given the solid track tread and idler construction, I found my Sherman tended to crush most thing which got into the tracks
> Seems like some kind of a stop or limit would be better?
The only way I can see of doing that would be to run a length of threaded rod through the volute spring and into a tapped hole in the top of the bogie housing. You would have to have some slack under the radius arm though, in order to allow it some movement.
> I wonder if the real tanks had this problem?
There's certainly lots of photos of crews putting the tracks back on
> didn't the proto have working motors?
Like all good maintenance crews, they were removed before the tank was abandoned.
> Or perhaps they got ruined in the rain?
The turret traverse and gun elevation motors were both still in the tank when I collected it and, apart from a mild dusting of oxide, both motors are still fully operational
Adrian.