Yeah, that whole process looks like it was just meant to take fingers and hands away. I wonder if they are former military tank mechanics or just volunteers that are mechanical. I wonder if this was this hard or time consuming for a WWII era tank crew and their mechanics to swap out an entire track or break it and replace several links?
There was something very satisfying about seeing these gentlemen keeping history alive. It's a noble cause and thank God there are folks still interested in this kind of endeavour. WWII tanks still fascinate so many people, history buffs and just regular folks who like machines.
i've replaced tracks similar to this myself, and i can say, they done it the hardest way possible, you open the track, put in a follower link ( a modified link that is very easily removed because it has extra play) then hook the follower link to the new track, jack up the tank and pull the new track on using the old track. simple and quick. takes about 1 hour per track
I am a mexican engineer, all my life I've wanted to work with tanks like Sherman, Hellcat, T-34 and panzers, they have the best job in the world, they do a big work. Congratulations
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Fantastic video - it's wonderful to see so much care being taken of a historic machine. Bravo to you and all your volunteer colleagues. I MUST come to Belgium to see the museum.
The Firefly was an up-gunned built and operated by the British. The breach of its 17-pounder main gun was so large that the radio had to be re-positioned outside the turret. That is the big box attached to the rear of the turret. The 17-pounder was one of the few Allied guns that could effectively destroy the German Panther and Tiger tanks. It was an EXCELLENT gun with tremendous stopping power, although its range fell off fairly dramatically at around 1,700 - 2,000(?) yards or so. The British could never manufacture the Firefly in sufficient numbers, so it was most often used in a tank destroyer role. There might be 1-2 Fireflys attached to a British tank company. Contrary to popular belief, not every German tank was a Panther or Tiger. Many/most were the regular Mark IV tank that be could defeated by a regular Sherman or Cromwell. But when a heavier German tank was encountered the Firefly TD would be called into action to deal with it.
Tom W "There might be 1-2 Fireflys attached to a British tank company" Not quite; it was 1 (later 2) Fireflies equipping every Sherman and Cromwell tank troop (platoon equivalent) from June '44 onward. This means that 1 in 4 tanks in the front-line of Sherman and Cromwell Regiments were Fireflies, not counting the HQ units. By the end of 1944, this had increased to 2 in 4, though by that time the Cromwell units had replaced their Fireflies with (A30) Challenger tanks. The Churchill regiments weren't equipped with Fireflies but, as I understand it, they tended to be supported by Achilles tank destroyer units if German Panzers were in the area. In total, between December 1943 and May 1945, the UK built between 4000 and 5000 tanks and tank destroyers equipped with the QF 17 pdr (including its little brother, the QF 77mm)*. While these numbers aren't earth shattering, they're not that bad either. *This includes the Sherman firefly, the Achilles & Archer tank destroyers, the Challenger tank and the Comet tank.
The QF 17 pounder was adapted from a British anti aircraft gun that could fire to 30,000 feet. Effective range 6.5 miles. They were without a doubt the best tank gun the allies had during WW2 being capable of going through the front glacis plate of a Tiger at up to 1200 yards.
The firefly was used mostly in a overwatch role. The 3 regular 75mm advanced and they the Firefly from a concealed position waited for the enemy to show up. Then the Firefly provided with long range AT fire.
He talked quite a bit about his experiences. We went over to Holland / Germany in 1991. Found the graves of 4 crew in the Reichwald cemetery from an action he was involved in. That's a moment I will never ever forget. His tank was stuck in a small copse and pounded all night by "stonk" everything was blown off the back of the tank by the morning. There's a well used photo of a Sherman called "Shaggy Dog" with a Firefly in the background.Pretty sure the old man is driving. A rare breed !!
My "Old Man" drove a Firefly during the war with the 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards. He's 93 now. Will have to show him this one........no doubt he will have something to say !!. Fascinating, hard to imagine having to do that in the "field".Would love to visit and see her running...Great vid !
Seems to me it would have been a heck of a lot easier to lay the new track, face up, in front of the tank, cut the old track in front of the tank, tie new to old and back the tank to roll the new track around the whole wheel assembly.
IIRC the only time they had to break the track was to replace the drive sprockets or the idler at the rear. They'd just jack the road wheel axles, as needed, to replace those.
NO YOU DON'T, lol...you should attach the new track to the old, and that solves the problem of getting the new one(s) on, 99% of the time. Another thing they should have done was open the track clamp up all the way, to make it easier to hook onto the NEXT track clamp away from the join section. When you pull the track ends together, it gives you much more room to move the last set of track pins around as you need to, and apply the track joiners and clamp bolts. These guys did pretty much everything the hard way...on the second track, did you see the guy with the hammer whacking the idler lift cam wrench (the big mother) and damaging the lifting strap? That strap is now TOAST for serious lifts.....
This video demonstrates why so many armored vehicles were abandoned in the field. Imagine all the non-combat related hand injuries as well for the tank mechanics during the war.
I wish we could get a English interpretation the videos are amazing. You're work on the restoration is some of the best I've ever seen. I would love to visit you guys .
Tough, back-breaking work! Imagine doing this under field conditions! Vehicle track mechanics were some of the biggest guys that I saw in the Army, they had to be tough, strong and possess high endurance.
I read a book about about that mysterious camouflage on the barrel on the firefly, its to conceal its distinctive signature of the over-extended barrel of the 17 pounder gun mount. German tank commanders used to focus more on the fireflies since they're the most potent tank killers that the Allies on the north have at the moment. Even at the game CoH I love them fireflies. Love them dearly
thanks Franz. lots of comments on other ways to do this, but you did it and it looks ready for duty again now with its new boots on. maybe I will visit this winter if open when I am back that way for work. Greeting from sunny Kent in England. All the best sir.
On the rare occasions that Firefly crews were properly trained in the best use of that tank/weapon it was a killer. It could knock out any German tank and the German army placed a priority on destroying a Firefly BEFORE taking on any other vehicles. One ex Panzer commander regarded the 17pdr as the British 88 and had no doubts about how dangerous this weapon was in the anti tank role.
Actually the 17 pounder has better AT penetration figures that the 88/56 of the Tiger I and sighty worse of the 88/71 of Tiger II. All in a gun that weight half of a 88 and could be mounted on mediun tanks. A lot of bang for the weight.
The perfectionist in me can't help point out they've put Ford and Fisher drive sprockets on a Chrysler built tank, but that takes nothing away from an excellent restoration.
Jay Bluff it was probably like that when they got it thanks to the ease of maintenance compared to other vehicles of the time. Common practice during the war was to replace the entire transmission and final drive assembly if there were issues with it. The procedure would take about two hours.
Did this job on Chieftain several times no power tools and just the crew of four. The forklift delivered the track in sections of six as that was about all we could lift off the pallet between us. The new track was laid out directly in front of the wagon getting harder and harder to lug the links further and further from the drop off point. Once the new track was on we had to split the old into sections of six and load it back on the pallet for the QMs fork lift or Eager Beaver ( yes that really was a thing) all in one day. Back breaking finger wrecking work. 15/19th Hussars
Julian Humphries , the last thing l ever wanted to be was a tank mech , in 1961 . Much to everyones surprise , l volunteered to do the Para . course . Getting away from 7 th Armd. Fallingbostel was worth it . Left 16 Para in 1977 from 3 Para Osnabruck . Best wishes to you and yours .
This makes me appreciate all those times in my youth when I had track chains to guide that new track along instead of almost losing a hand using a tankers bar to guide.
This is how to make a simple job look hard. All you needed to do is link the old to the new and use the drive to pull the new track on as has been said, I am sure before. Just like changing a motorcycle chain. Its a good job you weren't under fire in combat.
Ah yes, breaking track! Lots of fun! At least you are not doing it in the mud, rain or snow! Interesting that the bow gun was welded over on that model of the Sherman.
I think the Sherman tank, best of all tanks were built from these also most namely 50000 piece of all types. The Sherman Firefly is my favorite Sherman, they were able to put the Tigers well. I have a few questions for you. 1 Where is this Fierfly Sherman, in a tank museum or where? 2 Why did the chains replaced, the old chains were damaged? 3 What did you do with the old chains made? 4 Is the one who drove the tanks, a real tank driver or he's just so down? Well I could probably also the increasingly towards the Sherman tanks are built they can each drive.
The tracks can be rebuilt. Needing complete disassembly, inspection of parts, grinding away the defective/worn rubber pads and revulcanizing new ones on each block. Then repaint and lubrication as needed, roll it up and stow it for the next repair.
its very simple tracks are same as chain on your bicycle. After time it becomes worn. Basicly it stretches more and more and becomes too long. if you shorten it it will snap. only option new chain. So here is same stuff.
Or maybe they just did it more often and got better at doing it from repetition. The tools look pretty standard based on things that Chieftain has discussed on his channel some regarding tank maintenance with the bars, wrenches, and sockets. Though maybe this was as time consuming as this shows. It's hard to imagine a crew in the field doing this at all on a timely enough basis that they don't become a sitting duck standing around a disabled tank that some artillerist or tanker isn't going to start trying to kill it from a distance if some infantryman reports a disable tank waiting to be wrecked. I'd guess much of the time you didn't work on a tank until your own infantry had cleared anything in the area that is in visual range.
It was usually dragged away, and temporarily fixed at a forward repair point. If it was just a broken track joiner or shot-away link, they carried spares on the tanks for field fixes....providing they weren't being SHOT at during the moment.
Having served in a tank regiment and changed lots of tracks both on a good surface like the one they had or in the field, you don't do it like that. You use the track rope connected to the track, wrapped around the drive sprocket a few times and then looped over a sprocket horn to wind the track on, you also line the new track up with the old so you can drive straight onto it. I've changed both tracks on the Cheiftain and Challenger 1 tanks including joining up all the new sections and breaking down and pelleting up the old track in under two hours with the only use of a forklift to drop of the pelleted up new track sections and remove the old ones. Mind you they were old guys and maybe hadn't done this before or not for a very long time so they did ok, no one lost any limbs or fingers anyway.....
Phil Staples They are volunteers doing this work. But they say it is a museum restoring these tanks. They might have checked with a professional like you. Looking atbthe V shape of the rubber, I eeven think the put them on the wrong way. Am I correct?
My dad was in a M4. In the last days of the war, they were spearheading through Germany just to gain real estate. Dads tank threw a track, there was no time for repairs, so his tank was pushed off the road to let the column past. The crew stayed with the tank, trying to put the track back on, to no avail. They were able to ride the track like you see in this video. Don’t forget, there was still a war going on. Once off the road and in the woods they used tree branches to camouflage the tank. They stayed on the radio, and alternated between calling for help, and listening to Axis Sally. First, they ran out of gas, running the motor to keep the battery charged, then they killed the battery. They waited for days. Sometime during this, 3 Germans appeared, with hand up, wanting to surrender. Everybody grabbed their weapons, somebody climbed up into the ring mount and trained the .50 cal on the Germans. My dad defused the situation by suggesting that instead of shooting first, they just take their rings and watches, and tell them to keep walking west with their hands up until they reached more Americans. Dad did say that they kept seeing P-47’s flying overhead. On the third day, their lieutenant pulled up in a Jeep, demanding to know, where the hell were you? To which they replied, where the hell were YOU? It turns out the P-47’s were searching for the lost tank, but it was camouflaged, their captain had already written missing in action letters to their families, but hadn’t yet sent it.
A lot of things could have happened while they were trying to fix the tank. Enemy snipers and friendly fire from the P-47's I'm sure was on their minds . Hard to focus on repairing the tank when a war is going on all around you . Lucky for you he got through it alright or you wouldn't be here today
Wow! I never knew that. Thanks for the added info. Sorry for the late reply. Not to sound rude or anything, but I'm curious. Did the blast from the gun like blown your Old Man's eardrum?
잠시 멍때리고 차마시며 보면 좋은 영상 ㅋ 꽉 조여진 나사하나 풀려고 고무망치로 때릴줄알았는데 나사의 기름칠하고 나무토막끼워 유압기중기로 살며시풀고 또 다른 나사안빠져 절단하고 인간의 지능이란 참.. 탱크가 새로운 괘도에 올라탈때 잘 안끼워져 여러시도를 하는것이 인상적임ㅋ 그런데 한짝끼우고 다시 한짝 키우구나 또 어느나라든 아저씨들 맨손으로 작업하네ㅎㅎ;
Would love to hear some stories from your old man. But I find it risky to open-up some bad/sad buried memories that he doesn't want to mention. Hope you can place it in the internet forum or sumthing and paste me a link if you can.
Wonderful, Frans ! I've got a great passion for WWII, specially in Bastogne. I'm the author of AIRBORNE 44 comic strip and your 2 videos are very interesting. I shared one of mine, in HD, made on 14 et 15 december 2013. You'll find it under tags "Nuts Days 2013", "Jarbinet". However, yours are most acute and it's a pleasure to learn how lives a Sherman in a garage ;-). Thanks a lot. Philippe
Theres definitely a lot of trial and error in this video. Changing track on modern American tanks today is still very similar! When they lined-up the new right-side track in front of the old, and drove forward on to the new track, they ran into problems. They tried wood blocks; however, the easiest way is to align the new and old tracks as closely as possible, as if they were a single, continuous track. Then, just drive foward onto the new track.
Nice restoration . But German engineering of wheels, sprockets and caterpillars were very much better ... At 11' , not the same caterpillar on right and left side 😉
@@jansolo55 Later WWII German tanks were very much over engineered in the suspension, try changing a wheel bearing on a Tiger or Panther, VVSS were much easier to maintain, T34 even simpler
@@UPTHETOWN thankfully !! because Tiger tanks 1 and 2 were much heavier and less easy to move than Sherman 😉 T34 was a very simply, light and powerful machine . German engineers have studied on the T34 to design their Panther...
The 17 pounder was the only Allied gun landed on "D day" that could penetrate front armor of the Panther and Tiger 1 from 1,000 yards or less, on Aug 1944 the U.S. Army tested both the Brit 17 lbs and the 76mm guns on three capture Panthers outside Paris, the Brit 17 lbs penetrated all three Panthers, the U.S. 76mm failed to penetrate any of the three
wauw dit is geweldig... en dan nog op eigen bodem! :) ik zou het uitermate geweldig vinden om dit een in het echt mee te maken, of hieraan te helpen! ;)
I have never done track replacement myself, and it’s a great video and a good crew. But in my humble opinion they should have hooked up the rope and rolled the end of the track onto the last wheel and start pulling the rope to make the track go over the support wheels on top as soon as the tank clears the old track, instead of waiting for the tank to reach the end of the new track and try to reverse it to use the sprocket wheel to get the track on.
there are 3 different kinds of sherman firelfies sherman firefly vc: hull of a m4a4 sherman firefly ic: hull of a m4a1 sherman firefly ic hybrid: hull of a m4a1 but it has extra armour plating welded on the bottom front.
you're right, I forgot it was composite, but i was just mentioning the fisical diferences. btw i've seen you before in other comment sections like one with the top 10 tank destroyers.well i think it was you.
Sometimes they had a "Can" to simulate a muzzle break before the wave pattern to try and give the impression it was a 75. It was the only answer to the German armour and made a bang like the "Crack of Doom" as one officer observed. Pa has been slightly deaf in his right ear ever since ! There was an action in Lingevres where I think it was a trooper McKillop from A sqd 4/7th killed 4 Panthers,proved the guns capability.Not until the 90mm Pershing arrived was there any other alternative.
They made a bit of a pigs ear changing the tracks,but it looked liked they have never done it before,so credit due where it belongs! I bet all the old tankies watching were cringing?
I love how the British were able to turn the Sherman- a entry-level medium tank only fit to fight Panzer IVs, and turned it into a deadly tank destroyer. The American's best version of the Sherman was the Jumbo with the 76mm, something that could take a few hits and do a lot of damage, but not as much as the 17-pounder
So how did they do this with the Germans shooting at them? No angle grinders or fork lifts in WW2 battlefields but they rescued many tanks to reuse. My dad was in the 13th RHA that advance through Holland with Cromwell tanks. They avoided the larger Germans tanks so he came home.
..... I've changed tracks on M60-A1 tanks ... I did three of the four positions, as a crew member... All but tank commander... Jan '72 - Dec '74 ... AIT was in Fort Knox... Got sent to Bamberg Germany in the 2/2 Armored Cavalry Regiment, H-Co, tank H-34 ... We did Border duty and patrol near Colberg, watching East German troops, as they watched us ... ... Wasn't until later in life, that I realized, those were the best years of my life ..... Toujours Pret 🇺🇸 🪖
The Sherman Firefly is a Britisch Sherman convertion with a 17 Pounder gun, this is the only type Shirman that can engaged German Tiger tanks with any succes.
looks like they waited too late to use the rope trick, if they had started to use it just after the last bogie wheel on the rear it would have worked out better I think. You could also do it in reverse using the drive sprocket to pull the track on while a few guys tug on it with a rope to keep it from binding. but man its always nice to see these old tanks running. thanks for the vid.
Per nulla semplice sostituire i cingoli. Io però lo avrei fatto raccogliere subito anche il primo. Domanda : si può utilizzare il tutto facendo lavorare la trasmissione solamente da un lato ? Come per sterzare ?
A great upload. Imagine having to do this with the Tiger I. Due to the width of their tracks, a narrower version was used when they traveled by rail. Once disembarked, the wider combat tracks would need to be put on.
Frans - thank you, I will read it with interest. I do note it has a 1988 publ date, which predates many declassified Soviet docs. Will try to find some of my references, though I don't know if you read Russian ( I'm a Ukrajnian-American, Russian is not a problem for me)
lijkt mij wel plezant voor aan te werken, kan je als student (op vrijwillige basis) met degelijke kennis over voertuigen uit WO2 in aanmerking komen om mee te werken aan zo'n beesten?
Meewerken kan gemakkelijk eens ge lid bent van de vw tankmuseum, maar nu is het wel zo dat het materiaal WO II in Bastogne staat en er ook daar aan gewerkt word. Op Gunfire in Brasschaat werken we nu voornamelijk aan voertuigen uit de periode Koude Oorlog. meer informatie op belgian-tankmuseum.be/index.php/nl/lid-worden Eens ge een lidkaart hebt kunt ge U aanmelden als vrijwilliger in Brasschaat of Bastogne.
Somehow, no one lost any body parts in the process.
TAOFLEDERMAUS, I'll bet someone lost their ass paying for those tracks! Or at least an arm and a leg!
Yeah, that whole process looks like it was just meant to take fingers and hands away. I wonder if they are former military tank mechanics or just volunteers that are mechanical. I wonder if this was this hard or time consuming for a WWII era tank crew and their mechanics to swap out an entire track or break it and replace several links?
@@kentvesser9484 they are belgians and as a dutchman that says enough
I assume you send off the old tracks to get re-rubbered
They are not unsafe I am not sure what you are whining about. Thousands of soldiers did the same procedure during war time in dirt/sand and mud....
its amazing to learn how these tracks are changed... i am grateful to see this sherman kept alive and well taken care of... thanks to the crew!!
There was something very satisfying about seeing these gentlemen keeping history alive. It's a noble cause and thank God there are folks still interested in this kind of endeavour. WWII tanks still fascinate so many people, history buffs and just regular folks who like machines.
My wife’s father was a gunner in a Sherman Tank, so this to us is a real treat to watch. Thanks.
I can assure you that stuff is no treat to do.
i've replaced tracks similar to this myself, and i can say, they done it the hardest way possible, you open the track, put in a follower link ( a modified link that is very easily removed because it has extra play) then hook the follower link to the new track, jack up the tank and pull the new track on using the old track. simple and quick. takes about 1 hour per track
I am a mexican engineer, all my life I've wanted to work with tanks like Sherman, Hellcat, T-34 and panzers, they have the best job in the world, they do a big work.
Congratulations
Don't Mexican Army have tanks? you can work for companies that maintains tanks for Mexican Army.
mexico does not have an mbt
MBT maintenance in South Korea
ruclips.net/video/x0Ei5hdaLOw/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/wUgFZ691kCE/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/EL-ISV2YcMM/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/DQx2M_ksjvk/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/XC_o9N4YSik/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/PIfwKSta-lc/видео.html
I hear North Korea is looking for engineers.?
Paraguay still has M3 stuarts,and M4 Shermans in service...Uruguay still has M24 Chaffees
Thank you for showing this it just goes to show how much hard work goes into taking off and putting on new tracks, not a easy job but well done guys.
This 17 Pounder tank helped save the Allies. Thank you for the upload.
Fantastic video - it's wonderful to see so much care being taken of a historic machine. Bravo to you and all your volunteer colleagues. I MUST come to Belgium to see the museum.
The Firefly was an up-gunned built and operated by the British. The breach of its 17-pounder main gun was so large that the radio had to be re-positioned outside the turret. That is the big box attached to the rear of the turret. The 17-pounder was one of the few Allied guns that could effectively destroy the German Panther and Tiger tanks. It was an EXCELLENT gun with tremendous stopping power, although its range fell off fairly dramatically at around 1,700 - 2,000(?) yards or so.
The British could never manufacture the Firefly in sufficient numbers, so it was most often used in a tank destroyer role. There might be 1-2 Fireflys attached to a British tank company. Contrary to popular belief, not every German tank was a Panther or Tiger. Many/most were the regular Mark IV tank that be could defeated by a regular Sherman or Cromwell. But when a heavier German tank was encountered the Firefly TD would be called into action to deal with it.
Tom W "There might be 1-2 Fireflys attached to a British tank company"
Not quite; it was 1 (later 2) Fireflies equipping every Sherman and Cromwell tank troop (platoon equivalent) from June '44 onward. This means that 1 in 4 tanks in the front-line of Sherman and Cromwell Regiments were Fireflies, not counting the HQ units. By the end of 1944, this had increased to 2 in 4, though by that time the Cromwell units had replaced their Fireflies with (A30) Challenger tanks.
The Churchill regiments weren't equipped with Fireflies but, as I understand it, they tended to be supported by Achilles tank destroyer units if German Panzers were in the area.
In total, between December 1943 and May 1945, the UK built between 4000 and 5000 tanks and tank destroyers equipped with the QF 17 pdr (including its little brother, the QF 77mm)*. While these numbers aren't earth shattering, they're not that bad either.
*This includes the Sherman firefly, the Achilles & Archer tank destroyers, the Challenger tank and the Comet tank.
Tom W Sherman Fireflys where snipers, 1500 is good for all tanks 2000 is like a Tank sniper
The QF 17 pounder was adapted from a British anti aircraft gun that could fire to 30,000 feet. Effective range 6.5 miles. They were without a doubt the best tank gun the allies had during WW2 being capable of going through the front glacis plate of a Tiger at up to 1200 yards.
or Mark 3
The firefly was used mostly in a overwatch role. The 3 regular 75mm advanced and they the Firefly from a concealed position waited for the enemy to show up. Then the Firefly provided with long range AT fire.
Ah yes, I see it is. What a wonderful job you all have done. The exhibits are amazing.
He talked quite a bit about his experiences. We went over to Holland / Germany in 1991. Found the graves of 4 crew in the Reichwald cemetery from an action he was involved in. That's a moment I will never ever forget. His tank was stuck in a small copse and pounded all night by "stonk" everything was blown off the back of the tank by the morning. There's a well used photo of a Sherman called "Shaggy Dog" with a Firefly in the background.Pretty sure the old man is driving. A rare breed !!
My "Old Man" drove a Firefly during the war with the 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards. He's 93 now. Will have to show him this one........no doubt he will have something to say !!. Fascinating, hard to imagine having to do that in the "field".Would love to visit and see her running...Great vid !
Makes my back hurt just watching! Keep history alive, good job.
perfect,now i know how to change my tank tracks
Seems to me it would have been a heck of a lot easier to lay the new track, face up, in front of the tank, cut the old track in front of the tank, tie new to old and back the tank to roll the new track around the whole wheel assembly.
mglmouser they may have needed to replace or repair the road wheels or the drive wheels which can’t be done when the tracks are on
IIRC the only time they had to break the track was to replace the drive sprockets or the idler at the rear.
They'd just jack the road wheel axles, as needed, to replace those.
NO YOU DON'T, lol...you should attach the new track to the old, and that solves the problem of getting the new one(s) on, 99% of the time.
Another thing they should have done was open the track clamp up all the way, to make it easier to hook onto the NEXT track clamp away from the join section. When you pull the track ends together, it gives you much more room to move the last set of track pins around as you need to, and apply the track joiners and clamp bolts.
These guys did pretty much everything the hard way...on the second track, did you see the guy with the hammer whacking the idler lift cam wrench (the big mother) and damaging the lifting strap? That strap is now TOAST for serious lifts.....
i dont think they love it. Just tracks needs to be replaced end of story
This video demonstrates why so many armored vehicles were abandoned in the field. Imagine all the non-combat related hand injuries as well for the tank mechanics during the war.
My father was a Sherman tank commander in the New Zealand Division in Italy, 1944/45. This would have brought back memories for him.
I wish we could get a English interpretation the videos are amazing. You're work on the restoration is some of the best I've ever seen. I would love to visit you guys .
what do you say to that
ruclips.net/video/ZCx0O301DeE/видео.html
Interessant om te zien hoe dat in zijn werk gaat. Heb ooit zelf een Sherman zien rijden tijdens Nuts in Bastogne, jaren geleden. Thanks!
Excellent video!
Tough, back-breaking work! Imagine doing this under field conditions! Vehicle track mechanics were some of the biggest guys that I saw in the Army, they had to be tough, strong and possess high endurance.
I read a book about about that mysterious camouflage on the barrel on the firefly, its to conceal its distinctive signature of the over-extended barrel of the 17 pounder gun mount. German tank commanders used to focus more on the fireflies since they're the most potent tank killers that the Allies on the north have at the moment. Even at the game CoH I love them fireflies. Love them dearly
What's amazing to think about is Tank Mechanics doing this in the Field, during the War, and in the Rain and Mud.
In a life or death situation with eminent threats, they had to have a smoother progression for sure. I would hope!
thanks Franz. lots of comments on other ways to do this, but you did it and it looks ready for duty again now with its new boots on. maybe I will visit this winter if open when I am back that way for work. Greeting from sunny Kent in England. All the best sir.
Frans not Franz sorry.
i have been in the army and honestly I have never seen anyone changing a track this way!!!!
You guys are amazing hard working and dedicated..
On the rare occasions that Firefly crews were properly trained in the best use of that tank/weapon it was a killer. It could knock out any German tank and the German army placed a priority on destroying a Firefly BEFORE taking on any other vehicles. One ex Panzer commander regarded the 17pdr as the British 88 and had no doubts about how dangerous this weapon was in the anti tank role.
Actually the 17 pounder has better AT penetration figures that the 88/56 of the Tiger I and sighty worse of the 88/71 of Tiger II. All in a gun that weight half of a 88 and could be mounted on mediun tanks. A lot of bang for the weight.
The perfectionist in me can't help point out they've put Ford and Fisher drive sprockets on a Chrysler built tank, but that takes nothing away from an excellent restoration.
+Jay Bluff You there! Here's your rivet counter award for the day! :P
Jay Bluff it was probably like that when they got it thanks to the ease of maintenance compared to other vehicles of the time. Common practice during the war was to replace the entire transmission and final drive assembly if there were issues with it. The procedure would take about two hours.
@the machinist He put Henry Ford on the map, Johanson that is!
Likely happened in the field anyway.
Chrysler multi bank engine in it?
Jullie doen geweldig werk, prachtig exemplaar. En dan ook nog eens een Firely!
Mooi filmpje!
Groeten uit Noord Nederland
Did this job on Chieftain several times no power tools and just the crew of four. The forklift delivered the track in sections of six as that was about all we could lift off the pallet between us. The new track was laid out directly in front of the wagon getting harder and harder to lug the links further and further from the drop off point. Once the new track was on we had to split the old into sections of six and load it back on the pallet for the QMs fork lift or Eager Beaver ( yes that really was a thing) all in one day. Back breaking finger wrecking work. 15/19th Hussars
Julian Humphries , the last thing l ever wanted to be was a tank mech , in 1961 . Much to everyones surprise , l volunteered to do the Para . course . Getting away from 7 th Armd. Fallingbostel was worth it . Left 16 Para in 1977 from 3 Para Osnabruck . Best wishes to you and yours .
This makes me appreciate all those times in my youth when I had track chains to guide that new track along instead of almost losing a hand using a tankers bar to guide.
Amazing difficult job, that through most jobs learned by trial and error, but succeeded in the end. Great work!
Nice new set of tires for that Firefly :)
This is how to make a simple job look hard. All you needed to do is link the old to the new and use the drive to pull the new track on as has been said, I am sure before. Just like changing a motorcycle chain. Its a good job you weren't under fire in combat.
Ah yes, breaking track! Lots of fun! At least you are not doing it in the mud, rain or snow! Interesting that the bow gun was welded over on that model of the Sherman.
All fireflies are like that. They used the bow gunners place for storing extra ammunition as the shells were so large.
Veddy Interesting.....
First time I've ever seen tracks up close. Good job.
Great video. Never seen one on the tracks being changed before. Thanks very much.
They seem to have gotten the track replacement technique down by the second one. Like anything else, the more you do it the fast and better you get.
I think the Sherman tank, best of all tanks were built from these also most namely 50000 piece of all types. The Sherman Firefly is my favorite Sherman, they were able to put the Tigers well.
I have a few questions for you.
1 Where is this Fierfly Sherman, in a tank museum or where?
2 Why did the chains replaced, the old chains were damaged?
3 What did you do with the old chains made?
4 Is the one who drove the tanks, a real tank driver or he's just so down? Well I could probably also the increasingly towards the Sherman tanks are built they can each drive.
1 This Sherman is from the Belgian Tank Museum.
2 Worn
3 Back in the warehouse
4 All theat peapple are volontaires
The tracks can be rebuilt.
Needing complete disassembly, inspection of parts, grinding away the defective/worn rubber pads and revulcanizing new ones on each block.
Then repaint and lubrication as needed, roll it up and stow it for the next repair.
its very simple tracks are same as chain on your bicycle. After time it becomes worn. Basicly it stretches more and more and becomes too long. if you shorten it it will snap. only option new chain. So here is same stuff.
I can't imagine doing this in the field. I'll bet they had a lot of special tools for this operation back in the day.
Or maybe they just did it more often and got better at doing it from repetition. The tools look pretty standard based on things that Chieftain has discussed on his channel some regarding tank maintenance with the bars, wrenches, and sockets. Though maybe this was as time consuming as this shows. It's hard to imagine a crew in the field doing this at all on a timely enough basis that they don't become a sitting duck standing around a disabled tank that some artillerist or tanker isn't going to start trying to kill it from a distance if some infantryman reports a disable tank waiting to be wrecked. I'd guess much of the time you didn't work on a tank until your own infantry had cleared anything in the area that is in visual range.
what a fascinating video and process, One wonders how such a complex things was done in the field in battle!
Well, it wasn't done IN battle.
It was usually dragged away, and temporarily fixed at a forward repair point.
If it was just a broken track joiner or shot-away link, they carried spares on the tanks for field fixes....providing they weren't being SHOT at during the moment.
Are those tracks World War II , Japanese or Israeli replacement , or total reproduction new ? Great Video !
Having served in a tank regiment and changed lots of tracks both on a good surface like the one they had or in the field, you don't do it like that. You use the track rope connected to the track, wrapped around the drive sprocket a few times and then looped over a sprocket horn to wind the track on, you also line the new track up with the old so you can drive straight onto it. I've changed both tracks on the Cheiftain and Challenger 1 tanks including joining up all the new sections and breaking down and pelleting up the old track in under two hours with the only use of a forklift to drop of the pelleted up new track sections and remove the old ones. Mind you they were old guys and maybe hadn't done this before or not for a very long time so they did ok, no one lost any limbs or fingers anyway.....
Phil Staples They are volunteers doing this work. But they say it is a museum restoring these tanks. They might have checked with a professional like you. Looking atbthe V shape of the rubber, I eeven think the put them on the wrong way. Am I correct?
It gives you some appreciation of what it must have been like in wartime.
I can't imagine what it must of been like to have to work on a tank out in the field while a war was going on.
My dad was in a M4. In the last days of the war, they were spearheading through Germany just to gain real estate. Dads tank threw a track, there was no time for repairs, so his tank was pushed off the road to let the column past. The crew stayed with the tank, trying to put the track back on, to no avail. They were able to ride the track like you see in this video. Don’t forget, there was still a war going on. Once off the road and in the woods they used tree branches to camouflage the tank. They stayed on the radio, and alternated between calling for help, and listening to Axis Sally. First, they ran out of gas, running the motor to keep the battery charged, then they killed the battery. They waited for days. Sometime during this, 3 Germans appeared, with hand up, wanting to surrender. Everybody grabbed their weapons, somebody climbed up into the ring mount and trained the .50 cal on the Germans. My dad defused the situation by suggesting that instead of shooting first, they just take their rings and watches, and tell them to keep walking west with their hands up until they reached more Americans. Dad did say that they kept seeing P-47’s flying overhead. On the third day, their lieutenant pulled up in a Jeep, demanding to know, where the hell were you? To which they replied, where the hell were YOU? It turns out the P-47’s were searching for the lost tank, but it was camouflaged, their captain had already written missing in action letters to their families, but hadn’t yet sent it.
A lot of things could have happened while they were trying to fix the tank. Enemy snipers and friendly fire from the P-47's I'm sure was on their minds . Hard to focus on repairing the tank when a war is going on all around you . Lucky for you he got through it alright or you wouldn't be here today
Wow! I never knew that. Thanks for the added info. Sorry for the late reply. Not to sound rude or anything, but I'm curious. Did the blast from the gun like blown your Old Man's eardrum?
잠시 멍때리고 차마시며 보면 좋은 영상 ㅋ 꽉 조여진 나사하나 풀려고 고무망치로 때릴줄알았는데 나사의 기름칠하고 나무토막끼워 유압기중기로 살며시풀고 또 다른 나사안빠져 절단하고 인간의 지능이란 참..
탱크가 새로운 괘도에 올라탈때 잘 안끼워져 여러시도를 하는것이 인상적임ㅋ 그런데 한짝끼우고 다시 한짝 키우구나 또 어느나라든 아저씨들 맨손으로 작업하네ㅎㅎ;
17:16 How exactly common twisted wrists are with that crowbar?
And....no fingers were lost...amazing
I like the camo on the barrel making it look like a standard 76mm.
75?
@@randymagnum143 75mm. yes
Looks better than it was when out of the factory during the war :-)
This Germans are Good. 😄😄😄😄😄😄
@@bluemarshall6180 Pretty sure they are dutch.
When I was a child, I liked making plastic model of this tank very much, from Tokyo
are those rubberized tracks at the end? nice!
There´s not much left on the rubberblocks, but there a overhauled ones ! And had I waited long enough I´d seen them !!
The Baby's got some new shoes. I wonder what do you do with the old track?
Take apart, rebuild, re-vulcanize new pads, and reassemble.
This is fantastic! I so want to visit this place!
Great work. Hope to see Little John at the next Tanks in Town.
+Alain Le Pape That is a decission for the Belgian Military Museum, but if not, You can find him at Bastogne, ... Heinz Baracks.
+Frans Geens Thanks for the answer!
Smooth and subtle, a good wack makes everything working !
Like the watch maker said, don't force it, use a larger hammer.
Incidentally, largest I've ever used weighed 50 pounds......great for whacking.
Would love to hear some stories from your old man. But I find it risky to open-up some bad/sad buried memories that he doesn't want to mention. Hope you can place it in the internet forum or sumthing and paste me a link if you can.
Wonderful, Frans ! I've got a great passion for WWII, specially in Bastogne. I'm the author of AIRBORNE 44 comic strip and your 2 videos are very interesting. I shared one of mine, in HD, made on 14 et 15 december 2013. You'll find it under tags "Nuts Days 2013", "Jarbinet". However, yours are most acute and it's a pleasure to learn how lives a Sherman in a garage ;-).
Thanks a lot.
Philippe
Je crois que j'ai lu une de tes BD.
I'm a ex tankie on chieftain and challenger main battle tanks yes they got there in the end but they made hard work of that
One hell of an alignment job!
last translation: "hey guys, we put it on backwards"
Theres definitely a lot of trial and error in this video. Changing track on modern American tanks today is still very similar!
When they lined-up the new right-side track in front of the old, and drove forward on to the new track, they ran into problems. They tried wood blocks; however, the easiest way is to align the new and old tracks as closely as possible, as if they were a single, continuous track. Then, just drive foward onto the new track.
Nice restoration . But German engineering of wheels, sprockets and caterpillars were very much better ... At 11' , not the same caterpillar on right and left side 😉
just a question, why not use the old track to pull the new track into position?
@@Uts9000 Exactly
@@jansolo55 Later WWII German tanks were very much over engineered in the suspension, try changing a wheel bearing on a Tiger or Panther, VVSS were much easier to maintain, T34 even simpler
@@UPTHETOWN thankfully !! because Tiger tanks 1 and 2 were much heavier and less easy to move than Sherman 😉
T34 was a very simply, light and powerful machine . German engineers have studied on the T34 to design their Panther...
You get a good workout wrenching on that tank!
I think its awesome to watch maintenance on old tanks! But how these men did this job with no gloves is beyond me haha
The 17 pounder was the only Allied gun landed on "D day" that could penetrate front armor of the Panther and Tiger 1 from 1,000 yards or less, on Aug 1944 the U.S. Army tested both the Brit 17 lbs and the 76mm guns on three capture Panthers outside Paris, the Brit 17 lbs penetrated all three Panthers, the U.S. 76mm failed to penetrate any of the three
Ike even made a comment on that. Saying he was mislead about the 76mm performance by them.
Clever mechanics. It was fun to watch them problem solve. Was it this hard back in the day?
wauw dit is geweldig... en dan nog op eigen bodem! :) ik zou het uitermate geweldig vinden om dit een in het echt mee te maken, of hieraan te helpen! ;)
Dat kan door lid te worden van de vzw Tankmuseum, meer info op www.belgian-tankmuseum.be/index.php/nl/
ik zal zeker eens een kijkje nemen! dank voor de info
Thanks for this very nice video. Who supplied the new tank treds?
Someone said the Dutch are doing rebuilts.
I know you can also get new production treads for M-10 half tracks.
Sadly they seem to be T 48, not the T 62 used originally by the Firefly Vc.
Where did you get your new rubbers on the tracks?
My Favourite Tank! 👍😁👍
I have never done track replacement myself, and it’s a great video and a good crew. But in my humble opinion they should have hooked up the rope and rolled the end of the track onto the last wheel and start pulling the rope to make the track go over the support wheels on top as soon as the tank clears the old track, instead of waiting for the tank to reach the end of the new track and try to reverse it to use the sprocket wheel to get the track on.
what kind of tanks do these guys have? i saw a leopard 1 in the background......whatever the case, i want to work there....
Video taken at the Belgian Vehicules Restoration Center at Bastogne, part of the Royal Belgian Military Museum.
Excellent ! Thanks for posting.
there are 3 different kinds of sherman firelfies
sherman firefly vc: hull of a m4a4
sherman firefly ic: hull of a m4a1
sherman firefly ic hybrid: hull of a m4a1 but it has extra armour plating welded on the bottom front.
Well close. IC has the hull of an M4.
IC Hybrid is a M4 composite.
you're right, I forgot it was composite, but i was just mentioning the fisical diferences.
btw i've seen you before in other comment sections like one with the top 10 tank destroyers.well i think it was you.
Mooi om te zien......even wat anders dan een fietsketting!
Sometimes they had a "Can" to simulate a muzzle break before the wave pattern to try and give the impression it was a 75. It was the only answer to the German armour and made a bang like the "Crack of Doom" as one officer observed. Pa has been slightly deaf in his right ear ever since ! There was an action in Lingevres where I think it was a trooper McKillop from A sqd 4/7th killed 4 Panthers,proved the guns capability.Not until the 90mm Pershing arrived was there any other alternative.
McKillop CK Henry, Harris, all shot and detroyed multiple panthers in a single action.
Did you go to Big O tires for those tracks
Where did they even find that new M4 Sherman track and rubber pads?
They made a bit of a pigs ear changing the tracks,but it looked liked they have never done it before,so credit due where it belongs! I bet all the old tankies watching were cringing?
I love how the British were able to turn the Sherman- a entry-level medium tank only fit to fight Panzer IVs, and turned it into a deadly tank destroyer.
The American's best version of the Sherman was the Jumbo with the 76mm, something that could take a few hits and do a lot of damage, but not as much as the 17-pounder
Fancy Joltik what about the M4a3e8
Fire Power701 i think he forgot to say
The differences we're minimal actually. There wasn't much a 17 pounder could do that a 76mm m1 couldn't... Hence why the US chose not to use them
So how did they do this with the Germans shooting at them? No angle grinders or fork lifts in WW2 battlefields but they rescued many tanks to reuse. My dad was in the 13th RHA that advance through Holland with Cromwell tanks. They avoided the larger Germans tanks so he came home.
..... I've changed tracks on M60-A1 tanks ... I did three of the four positions, as a crew member... All but tank commander... Jan '72 - Dec '74 ... AIT was in Fort Knox... Got sent to Bamberg Germany in the 2/2 Armored Cavalry Regiment, H-Co, tank H-34 ...
We did Border duty and patrol near Colberg, watching East German troops, as they watched us ...
... Wasn't until later in life, that I realized, those were the best years of my life ..... Toujours Pret 🇺🇸 🪖
Thank you for making this video, it is very interesting indeed. Fantastic effort.
Why not connect new track to the old track when walking it off?
The Sherman Firefly is a Britisch Sherman convertion with a 17 Pounder gun, this is the only type Shirman that can engaged German Tiger tanks with any succes.
The 76mm could too, with rare HVAP ammo.
looks like they waited too late to use the rope trick, if they had started to use it just after the last bogie wheel on the rear it would have worked out better I think. You could also do it in reverse using the drive sprocket to pull the track on while a few guys tug on it with a rope to keep it from binding. but man its always nice to see these old tanks running. thanks for the vid.
Per nulla semplice sostituire i cingoli. Io però lo avrei fatto raccogliere subito anche il primo.
Domanda : si può utilizzare il tutto facendo lavorare la trasmissione solamente da un lato ? Come per sterzare ?
why dont they just attach a link from the old track to the new track and as they drive off of the old track, they pull the new track on?
My question was why they change the tracks? the old seens perfect.
Because the rubber is absolutely shagged, and presumably so are the bushes.
Why the track change? Were they going to parade it?
A great upload. Imagine having to do this with the Tiger I. Due to the width of their tracks, a narrower version was used when they traveled by rail. Once disembarked, the wider combat tracks would need to be put on.
20 tiger's get off the flat beds and have to change out tracks because you leave the rail head complete pain in the ###
Frans - thank you, I will read it with interest. I do note it has a 1988 publ date, which predates many declassified Soviet docs. Will try to find some of my references, though I don't know if you read Russian ( I'm a Ukrajnian-American, Russian is not a problem for me)
Gregoryt700 I am Belgian, read Dutch, English, German and French ... that is all.
I cant think how this was in that time in a combat zone.
The engineers in those days were younger, probably stronger, almost certainly faster, and definately well motivated.
Is that a leo1 with a ru251 turret in the background in 6:35?
Just an early _Leopard 1._
Is this the museum in Bastogne?
Y en plena guerra mundial, sin maquinaria moderna y en medio del conflicto como hacían para cambiarlas?
lijkt mij wel plezant voor aan te werken, kan je als student (op vrijwillige basis) met degelijke kennis over voertuigen uit WO2 in aanmerking komen om mee te werken aan zo'n beesten?
Meewerken kan gemakkelijk eens ge lid bent van de vw tankmuseum, maar nu is het wel zo dat het materiaal WO II in Bastogne staat en er ook daar aan gewerkt word.
Op Gunfire in Brasschaat werken we nu voornamelijk aan voertuigen uit de periode Koude Oorlog.
meer informatie op belgian-tankmuseum.be/index.php/nl/lid-worden
Eens ge een lidkaart hebt kunt ge U aanmelden als vrijwilliger in Brasschaat of Bastogne.
Can you buy these new chains or have you renewed an old chain?