Challenger 2. Operation Telic.

[Meter rat]

And its latest breakage.

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A broke drive sprocket. Fix one problem and create another. Another broken bit has been temporarily placed back in place. This model is definitely a workshop Queen.

[tankme]

I could say something about British vehicles...but I'll keep it to myself...

[HERMAN BIX]

Ooooohhhhh that’s going to bring the pitchforks out !!

I feel that some of the components on our models are of wildly variable quality. The difference in the same brands product qualities seems to be different.
Could just have been a Monday morning sprocket.

[Meter rat]

I could say something about British vehicles...but I'll keep it to myself...

Harsh! But fair.

[Meter rat]

Ever started a job, then regretted it? Last night was that day. Whilst reading the many posts about upgrading the suspension on the first and last road wheel to help with keeping metal tracks in place, decided to tackle the bast@#£d Challenger. I had ordered some upgraded suspension arms and it turned out there was enough to do the T72, Abrams, and Challenger. The T72 went a doddle. I just put one on the last road wheel and one on the front road wheel. I might need to revisit this as it is a bit hard. The Abrams, again a doddle. This time the two last road wheels were fitted with the springs ( one on the softer setting) and the first road wheel. All new spring washers were installed to stop things coming undone. These two took about an hour and a half. The bast@£#d Challenger (known from now on a BC) would not play ball. Ended up taking out the gear boxes and drilling new holes for the springs to sit in to get the right tension and to stop the springs coming out of the swing arms. Four hours over two evenings. Any way now done, so need to find time to take it for a run. Hopefully all the time spent will cure the tracks heading issues. This along with new spring washes, and a small dab of PVA on the screws. One adjuster on the idler wheel is still a bit loose so may give problems. Who knows with the BC.

[HERMAN BIX]

Seems like a normal day in the life of an H/L owner to me !!
Key is the thing is going to be better than is was before the effort.

[Meter rat]

Took out the Challenger over some difficult terrain this afternoon. Only started throwing the left track after an hour. It was run over sand, grass, mud, stones, and water. Now in for track tightening. I may have a faulty connection somewhere, possibly the main switch, as it exhibited a tendency to turn off in some instances on starting up.

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No breakages, just some tightening of the tracks, as the left side was starting to come off towards the end of the run.

[Meter rat]

The ongoing saga continues. After breaking the other rear drive sprocket, a pair of Abrams were fitted temporarily but tracks coming off was still a major problem. A complete strip down was required. That’s what I did. I found, half the lawn, and sand, compressed into the wheels and sprockets.

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Neat little grass donut.

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Continued.

[Meter rat]

Also found were seized track adjusters and bearings.

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This required some serious removal etiquette using junior hacksaws and drill to remove the bolt head.

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Pondering over a glass of red wine. I decided to replace as much as I could with 4mm stainless steel bolts. So every thing was drilled out to 4mm.

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Continues.

[Meter rat]

A frame was made to stop the chassis from flexing, and new bearing were installed, where required, and new rear sprockets fitted. These were filled with resin to stop a repeat of the failure of the previous sprockets.

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New red motors were also installed, and the track reinstated. Previously the tracks were tight, but now they would not go on. Links two had been removed from each track to get the correct tension. Now I needed to add two links back in. A first I thought the sprockets might be bigger, they certainly looked it. But comparing them with old one the were the same size.
I can only assume that the chassis was flexing, before the tension was being put on the idlers, and by adding the frame it has stopped this.
A quick test in the garden last night seems to show an improvement and our rather steep piece of long grass was take at a fair lick, where as before it would struggle to get up. It also turned without shedding the track. It still managed to build up a fair amount of grass , which it seems to rip out, so 20 minutes was spent cleaning it. Hopefully I will get to test it properly over the weekend.