Return rollers

[Manny Leung]

Hi all, has anybody discovered that the track horns would hit the return rollers axel when riding over them instead of the track riding over the tyres.i am worried about the wear on the axels as the track horns acts like a blade cutting into them.

[Mark Russell]

Yes I noticed this the other day. Even with the tyres on the track horns hit the inside of the return rollers rather than sitting on the tyres?

[John Clarke]

And I thought it was the sprockets clattering.

This is why I love the Forum so much.

Think on the bright side,

It could be a positive way to loose some weight off those lovely tracks or do we need thicker tyres?

Who's going to be the first on the grinder this week?
and I don't mean Larry Grayson

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[John chamney]

Surely this would have been picked up on the prototype and the one they have just made out of the box for a customer ? Or has something changed ?

[John Clarke]

The simplest way to solve the problem would be to take about 2 mm+ off the idler wheel internal boss diameter, but it would weaken the wheel strength a little, otherwise grinding the tracks is the other possible step, a larger tyre might do the trick but would look a little even more out of spec than original.
Got to think positive on this one guys.

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[John Clarke]

I'm now thinking about a possible wheel sleeve upgrade. The tyre would certainly except it.

[John Clarke]

Thought long and hard, two cans of Xmas Cider later,
(and I can think of some one who's more upset than I )

There is only one solution that's simple.

(A cunning plan)

It involves a Black and Decker workmate, a ruler and pencil, an angle grinder, a few slitting disks and a steady hand.

Lob off 3mm off the track link horn (184), unless someone has a better idea?

I think I need another can of cider and some cheesy munchies, and wait to see what sparks fly.

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[John chamney]

Have to excuse me on this one , this is the first armortek kit I have made , shouldn’t armortek be Re machining the track links so they are the correct size as they are better equipped ?

[John Clarke]

Armortek will have sold 9200 track links minimum with 50 tanks, + extra's sold,if there all the same, an extremely expensive task with postage inclusive.
Maybe modified return rollers might solve the problem or thicker tyres, but none of that will float well. I've not seen this situation before. Half of my tracks links have been made up, others will be in the same boat or further on.
I only see one simple solution at the moment.

[John chamney]

Agree with what was said earlier in that thicker rubber won’t look right. Bet the people that have these tracks assembled and even fitted to the tanks are now checking to see how they run , fortunately for me I haven’t assembled any yet , unfortunately I don’t have a grinder . Can’t make my mind up if the tracks are cast steel or iron , look more like iron to me , either way they aren’t going to be kind to the aluminium

[Youngjae Bae]

I checked the return roller and track horn after the last test drive. A collision between the horn and roller connections caused U-shaped wear on the connection of the return roller, but it is unlikely to cause any further problems in operating without significant wear depth.



Youngjae

[John Clarke]

Brilliant post Youngiae, nice one, I'm sure most Chieftain builders will be pleased to see that there's little loss on the return rollers once they have been "run in" for a while. I think it was more surprising and unexpected that it hadn't been picked up earlier, at least there are two easy options now.
There's always a solution with Chieftain, even if it does include the chainsaw effect

[John chamney]

Allowing the chainsaw affect means the horn will be through to the steel shaft ! The horn leaves a gap of approx 2mm away from the wheel when it hits the aluminium, I make the aluminium approx 2mm thick at that point !

[Richard Goodwin]

Looking at this from a different angle, the lip on the return roller is acting like a spacer and once the return rollers are secured with loctite on the shaft, have served their purpose? Not ideal obviously........the torque of the motors has obviously overcome; perhaps a little grinding paste may help to bed in!

[John chamney]

Allowing something to wear something away until it fits doesn’t sound like a good option to me , and could potentially lead to another problem, think I will wait for Armrotek to return from there holiday and see what they propose