QQ: Ball bearings for Tamiya M4 Sherman.

[DRAGONWAGON]

Hi all,

A QQ for the Sherman builders out here: Are there any aftermarket ball bearings available for the return rollers of stated kit? I know, and already have,the roadwheel bearings, but I tried to get my hands on a set to replace the kit's MR1 brass bushings.

Thanks for looking, John.

[Dietrich]

Hi John,
Sorry I am not a Sherman man but if you can measure the internal diameter of the rod that the return wheel spins on then it may be possible to find some miniature bearing that will do the job. These rollers are very small so,I would expect that the whole return roller would have to be replaced with the bearing ,but you could possibly glue just the outer wheel 'face' to the outside of the bearing to make it look the part.
Alb.

[sassgrunt]

Hi John. I agree that the idler wheel is one that really needs bearings. Mitosal makes a set of idler mounts for the Tamiya kit. (They used to sell it as a set with their metal idler wheels, but now are willing to just sell the mount). A link to it is here: http://www.mitosal.com/16T019.htm As you can see, it comes with an axle and bearings. It's a simple bolt-up in place of the Tamiya part. And, since that part of the Tamiya hull is pretty weak and wants to flex under load, I cut apart the unneeded stock Tamiya idler mount and used the flat portion (that has the two holes) on the inside of the Mitosal mount for strength. Cheaper than buying an aftermarket brace.

I forgot to mention that you can remove the stock Tamiya idler wheels by grabbing ahold of the center cap and twisting. It will come off the same way whether it's an older plastic hub or a newer metal one. The holes in the Tamiya idler are 8.5mm on the outer wheel and 5mm on the inner wheel. The bearings that come with the Impact idler mount are 9mm with a flange. I had no trouble drilling out the Tamiya idler holes for 9mm. You could save yourself the trouble by just buying their wheels, but I don't think the wheel itself need to be metal for durability

-Mike

[DRAGONWAGON]

Thanks a lot for the input guys....