Biggest Ford I've ever worked on...

[74duster318]

There will be more this weekend.

 

[74duster318]

Started scaling the engine compartment.

And yeah, that's my bitchin' helmet. It blocks out the noise very well, keeps the paint chips off my head, and prevents injury in sudden moments of retardism (haven't had any of those yets). Only reason i'm using it is for the sound blockage. I didn't have any other hearing protection laying around at the time.

Progress was slow the last two days, but it's further than what the pictures show since I didn't take any today. Spent more time working on a snow blower this weekend than the tank, but we're expecting around a foot or more this week.

It'll be another two weeks before further progress is made. I'm going away the next two weekends, and I work all the other days.

 

[chittybangbang]

So what's the history on this m-4? Did this do any combat or was it stateside only

 

[74duster318]

I'm not even sure on it's history. I doubt it's seen combat since most of those that did never made it back to the states. They were either destroyed in combat, or given away to other countries, or just scrapped. It's possible though.

All I know is the story of how it was bought. Somebody after the war was using some Shermans to demolish houses. If you've ever seen the movie "Tank", you'll have an idea of how this was done. He ended up buying a few from the guy back in the day.

It does have bullet impacts on the driver sponson aplique armor plate. They are believed to be someone, probably the previous owner, shooting at the side of it just to screw around. Which is most likely the case because it's a group of impacts. If anybody in the war was shooting a rifle at the side of the tank multiple times over and over, they're asking for death.

It is, however, an early war tank. It has the early turret with only a commander hatch, and the early hull extremely narrow driver and assistant driver hatches. But, so many parts were made at so many different places, that mix master Shermans were as common as mix master M1 Garands. It was hard to find one that was all original from the factory.

I'll start digging into archives and looking up serial numbers to see if anything comes up. I'll be sure to post anything I find.

 

[Hopman]

If you pardon the pun, that thing's built like a tank! Oh wait, it IS a tank!

 

[74duster318]

Finally got the rest of the paint stripped, sanded the whole compartment, and brushed on the first coat of primer. Still mostly wet, obviously.

Now to sand it again, put a second coat of primer on. Then on to that nice bright white paint to give it that fresh-off-the-assembly-line-in-1944 look.

Oh yeah, the clutch housing...which is the only thing still white besides the fighting compartment, will be stripped and painted when we do the fighting compartment.

 

[TheTopher]

This thread is freaking awesome. Keep it up, mate.

 

[r1hatman]

The first ultimate all terrain vehicle! Dude that is awesome! Where did you get a freakin tank? Speaking of which, do you remember that movie with James Garner "Tank"? Is this yours or are you restoring for someone? I probably skimmed over that part. I love the hat BTW I have on similar to it. Ford all day all the way!

 

[74duster318]

Tanks aren't too hard to find for sale, unless they are ww2 era. Even then you can find them once in a while. The problem is that they're expensive. You can't find a ww2 era tank for under 100k right now. Newer stuff is a bit cheaper.

It's not mine, but I work for the guy who owns it. I am restoring it by myself however, and he calls it my project. I call it my baby.

You think this ONE sherman is sweet...we got 6 more... And that's just the shermans. They're in all different degrees of condition.

EDIT: And yes, I have seen the movie tank. I have it too. I mentioned in a previous post that the previous owner in the 70's or so used this tank for the purpose of demolishing houses...much like the way he demolishes the police station in the movie.

 

[bcost882]

....i want a tank. i wonder if the gun club will let you crack off a couple rounds haha.

 

[74duster318]

Interesting topic- Have you worked on the m3 or m5 series of light tanks.I think those were caddy powered?

Here's a pic of our M5.

Sherman update: Second coat of primer is on and drying. Factory white paint is next, but that'll be next weekend. A few coats of that and things will start going back in, a piece at a time.

 

[Mac]

Hey there! Was that main gun "only" a 75mm? I bet there aren't to many around any more that have even shot a M1919-A1 either, maybe door gunner. What is that one powered with anyway? I "remember" that at the start of the war they did run dual Caddy motors thru a hydrostatic trans. Lot of people also don't realise that Caddy had a flathead V-8 also but in a complete different orientation than the Ford. See how the exhaust came up in the middle? First use I remember of ceramic coated exhaust manifolds also. Hydraulic lifters long before Ford had them. I had one of the small ones but it was still 322 ci but had all the torque needed.
Dave

 

[74duster318]

The M5 had a 37mm gun, and had the twin caddy v8's. The Stuart light tanks at the beginning of the war were the M3 and M3A1 and were 7 cylinder radials. The M5 and M5A1 replaced the M3 variants.

The Sherman is the one with the 75mm (like the one i'm restoring in this thread). Later shermans had 76's and 105's.
Like our 76mm M4A1E8...

 

[chittybangbang]

nice! That m-5 needs a hedgerow cutter on the front.The light tanks(M3,M5 an M24) were always my favorites.The later model shermans (m50 or m51) were later sold to Israel and were used into the 70's.At that point they were sherman looking but highly modified-105mm gun and cummins powered.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Hey there! Was that main gun "only" a 75mm? I bet there aren't to many around any more that have even shot a M1919-A1 either, maybe door gunner. What is that one powered with anyway? I "remember" that at the start of the war they did run dual Caddy motors thru a hydrostatic trans. Lot of people also don't realise that Caddy had a flathead V-8 also but in a complete different orientation than the Ford. See how the exhaust came up in the middle? First use I remember of ceramic coated exhaust manifolds also. Hydraulic lifters long before Ford had them. I had one of the small ones but it was still 322 ci but had all the torque needed.
Dave

The brand new Ford 6.7L Powerstroke has the exhaust running to the inside like that. The turbo sits roughly where a carburator normally would.

The M5 had a 37mm gun, and had the twin caddy v8's. The Stuart light tanks at the beginning of the war were the M3 and M3A1 and were 7 cylinder radials. The M5 and M5A1 replaced the M3 variants.

The Sherman is the one with the 75mm (like the one i'm restoring in this thread). Later shermans had 76's and 105's.
Like our 76mm M4A1E8...

I am not a tank mechanic by any means, but are the tracks on backwards?