We didn't have much time to work on the tank towards the end of the week, but here are a few videos of what we ended up with. We did get it steering right AND left, and put a much smaller 3" pulley on the engine to slow it down, which worked beautifully. I shot these videos of my dad driving it around, working the steering free. Due to the lack of a brake on the transmission pulley, we have been using our boots to stop it to prevent it from grinding. As you will hear, that doesn't always work! But, it climbs well, so well that it will climb until it bottoms itself out, and it does real well going across the snow.

It's Alive!

Well, large scale tank production was put on hold today, due to the need to do some actual work. However, last night my dad rigged up an idler pulley to keep tension on the drive belt, and started on finding a good place to tuck the battery. We did work on the tank for about an hour and a half this afternoon, as I was anxious to at least see if it was capable of moving under its own power. We rigged used a makeshift fuel tank, rigged up a clutch lever on the ldler arm, and rigged up a tiller for steering. Looking and handling much like some form of land boat, it was finally time to see if we were as smart as we thought we were.

I was 90% sure it would drive with little or no problem, but it was the steering I was worried about because of how frozen up the brakes and throwout bearings had been. We fired up the engine, and to out amazement, it drove. It also steered. Right. After several minutes of playing with clutching techniques, which gear was which, and using my hand on the governor arm to control the engine speed we were...driving in circles! But, driving in circles is better than not driving at all! I think after a little work freeing up the lefthand throwout bearing it will be steering no problem. The only other thing we need to change is the engine pulley. It is gear a little high for a tank, and stalls out if you don't give it enough throttle at first. Putting a smaller pulley on the engine should solve that problem.

At least we can prove it runs!

The only known video in existence of my PPT/tank driving. Hopefully more tomorrow!

Progress Is Being Made

Today started off with me finishing freeing up the steering, giving the transmission one more cleaning, and putting it back in the PPT. Steve and I then pulled the Kohler out of the Simplicity.

After a few mock up attempts, we came up with a way to mount the engine on top of the transmission using some scrap metal. This is where we ran into an issue I had sort of expected to run into. By flipping the PPT around and make the front the back and vice versa, we needed to find a way to turn the engine around so that we didn't end up like a Polish Army tank, with one speed forward and two speeds reverse.

The nice thing about the Kohler Magnum horizontal shaft engines is that you can take power off the flywheel by attaching a coupler into already drilled holes in the flywheel. This makes the drive belt turn clockwise as opposed to counter clockwise if we had used the crankshaft side of the engine. This also leaves the crankshaft available for another trick we have up our sleeves.

We then welded the engine mount together, managing to only ignite the waste oil tank one time, but some quick footwork on my dad's part solved that problem.

Steve and I then aligned and squared up the engine before my dad laid the final beads. This thing will run tomorrow, and possibly even drive.

Ripping and Tearing

Well I started today fully expecting to have the steering and drive system of the tank in working order. Silly me. First thing first I pulled the cover off the gearbox, expecting to find sludge, rust, and metal shavings. Much to my surprise, all we found were some little worn gears, an intact chain, and no metal splinters whatsoever.

There were about 5 ounces of water and three ounces of oil/sludge in the very bottom of the gearbox, but that was easily turkey-bastered out.

We put two full tubes of 00 grease, some 90 weight oil, and a full can of silicone grease inside, smeared it all around, and then I sealed it up with silicone gasket.

Then the brains of the operation, Steve realized that by pulling eight bolts and undoing the chains from the drive sprockets, we could pull the entire drive system out of the PPT, which left us with an empty PPT shell. This made cleaning out the inside of the PPT, and the inside of the drive much easier.

Then I could resist the temptation no longer. I took the seat that will soon be my driver's seat, put it inside, and tried it on for size. Something tells me I might have to shorten that seat up, or find a new one! My dad is insistent that we will not be able to make this a two man tank, but I am convinced we can make it happen!

I put the drive on my lift, and began freeing up the three brakes (one main brake, and one on either track for steering) and continued to clean the never engine crud out of every crevice. Steve and I then brought in my engine and gas tank donor, a 20 year old Simplicity commercial mower with a 20hp Kohler opposed twin cylinder engine with hopes of getting it running. A little carb cleaner, a battery boost, and a few carburetor adjustments later and we were in business. At this point it was 5 o'clock, and we retired for the evening, and some blueberry pancakes and sausage. More will surely ensue tomorrow.

Finally the Project Begins

Well, it's been 284 days since I brought my PPT home, but who's counting right? We've had a few weeks of no snowstorms, so at the Emporium we are enjoying the roughly two weeks of down time we get a year. Today I took the tractor and cleared myself a path out to my PPT to bring it in out of the snow bank. When we put it on a pallet in the spring, it looked like this:

It looked very similar today, besides being under about a foot of snow. I pulled it out, and up to my bay door, and got to work. Steve and I pulled the hood off, yanked the wiring harness out, and pulled what was left of the seat out. We then used the tractor to bring it into my bay and put it on the lift. Here is where the real surgery began. I pulled the engine, amazed that not a single bolt snapped as rusted as they were. My dad and I then used the cutting torches and die grinder to remove the gas tank and what was left of the rotten floor. After messing around with it for a few minutes, we were amazed to see that if we put it in forward or reverse and turned the pulley on the gearbox, it actually moved, and surprisingly smoothly. We put it up in the air, and again to our amazement found that all the bogey wheels were free. There was a lot of dirt, ice, and just plain sludge around the two brakes that act as the steering, so we pushed it outside and pressure washed the engine and drive compartment out. After pushing it back on the lift to continue to unthaw over the weekend, we spent a significant amount of time looking it all over, trying to figure out exactly how this will work. Of course, only time will surely tell.

My Dad pressure washing out the engine and drive compartment.

Me cleaning out around the gearbox.

The gearbox and brakes. The PPT is steered by a brake on either track. This area was the front of the PPT, but is now the back of the tank.

A Little Bit of Background

So, here it is. Everyone has their own list of goals they want to achieve. Some people want to skydive, some want to sail around the world, and some want to climb Mount Everest. My goal could also be considered a hobby. I want to build a tank. Not scuba tank, not oil tank, not oxygen tank. Tracked tank.

Tanks have always fascinated me, and my first choice of jobs when I joined the Marine Corps was tanks, but there were no openings at that time. Nevertheless, I still enjoy them, and I want to own one. Surprisingly there is a market for tanks, and if you have the $150,000 or more you can easily buy one. I don't, so I can't. I do work in a shop however, where there are plenty of parts, tools, and years of mechanical experience to build a scaled down mock tank. And that is exactly what I plan on doing, and documenting here for the entire information super highway to access. If they care.

About a year and a half ago I started to seriously think about how to build my tank. I came up with plenty of designs that were easy in my mind, but not so much in reality. I needed a good place to start from. That was when I first discovered a machine that was little known to most, but if I could find one would be a perfect place to start. That machine was the PasseParTout. French for "Go Anywhere," the PasseParTout (or PPT as I will refer to it from here on out) is a tracked ATV that was produced in Quebec in the 1960s and 1970s.

Aside from a few minor details, a PPT would be easily and perfectly converted into a tank. They used a two stroke engine, mostly Arctic Cat, and were truly a go anywhere machine. Whereas most tanks are not powered by two stroke engines, this would be changed to a four stroke (which conveniently is what I have access to in the lawn and garden world.) The engines in tanks are mounted in the rear, where most PPTs are front mounted. So, I concluded that if I could find a beat up PPT with a bad engine, it would suit my needs perfectly. To craigslist I went, searching non-stop for that perfect deal. PPTs were rare enough already, finding one with a blown engine seemed near impossible. Not to mention that worn out PPTs that hardly run sell for $1500 or more.

Then in May, I found Frank's posting: Passepartout $150. That was all I needed to see, nevermind that it was in Amenia, New York. After several emails back and forth, my brother Sean and I left one morning with the shop flatbed pickup, headed for exactly what I wanted: a PPT with a blown engine. It was about four hours out and back, but it was well worth it. The PPT had been sitting for about 15 years, given to Frank by a neighbor that was moving and didn't want to haul a hunk of scrap with a blown engine with him. Always intending to fix it up, Frank never got the time. Enter me.

My PPT on the flatbed the day we brought it home.

We put it on a pallet, and buried it out back to wait for winter and a slower time of year.