This is not what anyone wants to see when they look at their tank! Wednesday, we were having trouble when driving the tank in 2nd gear, if you turned right it would often lock up on you and you would be stuck there turning until you backed up a short distance. We came to realize a loud thunk from the right front bogey wheel that would only happen before and after this phenomenon.
Much to our dismay, but as we had assumed, both bearings were wiped right out, most likely due to the fact that these are the only 2 sets of bogeys out of 12 that don't have any grease fittings, and at high speed the bogey wheel was jamming sideways and not allowing the track to turn. We discovered this of course after disconnecting the track and jacking up the right side of the PPT.
Luckily, the bearings were just 1" inside and 2" outside, and our local auto parts store had them in stock, so we pulled it all the way apart.
You can see what was left of the two ball bearings, seized right to the shaft.
When we put it all back together, we reinforced the track with some conveyor belt rubber, since the connection point was pretty weak.
Today we sprayed down the crossmembers that would be exposed under the tank with rubberized undercoating, and put the marine grade plywood floor in.
We also began machining the steering levers, and debating the interior design. I threw up the white flag today and admitted that this is going to have to be a one man show.
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