Canadian C1 105mm Howitzer

[tipdog]

Any updates?

[cmpman]

Not much new on this end. Got some sandblasting and painting done on the front shields. Next I have to remove the sled, cradle and arcs and blast them. After that it will be the trails.
Got a few canvas items to go with the gun, like a cover for the back end.

I'll try and remember to snap some photos today (if it stops raining) and post them on the thread.

[cmpman]

Sandblasting and painting continue. The gun has been stripped back down to the upper carriage so that pieces could be individually sandblasted and painted.


The left and right outer shield brackets had their welds cut, pieces straightened, and re-welded back to straight. As well, the left extension from the upper carriage casting was heated and straightened. The alignment is now correct.


The cradle was disassembled in preparation for sandblasting. It took a little heat to remove some of the screws, but in the end all came out OK.


Here all the upper shields are in place, and the lower shield is ready to go on.


Sandblasting of the cradle and arcs. I use sand which I get from a small pit I dug out in the back 20 acres. I strain the sand through a screen basket, and it shoots flawlessly through my blaster. It certainly keeps the costs down, and with the heat this year, it has not been hard to harvest dry sand.


Some of the markings from the arcs. Arcs were matched sets from the factory, and I had hoped to have a matched set. I even acquired one spare arc from the salvage yard in the hopes of getting lucky, but it was not to be. Turned out I had arcs from set number 4, set number 7, and set number 24. If I get out to the salvage yard this week I may borrow his last pair of arcs in the hopes of matching up a set. As it stands now, I have 3 of the 7 arcs that were out there. 2 more will make 5 out of the 7, so there should be a match there somewhere.




By the time set number 24 was produced, they were also stamping the number on the toothed portion of the arc, where it would not get painted over. I observed this on some later production guns as well.

Painting is going well, so hopefully I should have some more shots in the next few days.

[cmpman]

More photos of the progress.

Back to the sandblast and paint shed. Worked on the equilibrator parts, along with painting the traverse mechanism which I had rebuilt back in the winter.

Here is the assembled equilibrator assembly. Despite the massive pressure it provides when it is compressed on the gun, it does not take a lot of effort to assemble off the gun.

The freshly painted cradle and it's arcs. I engaged in the task of removing the bearings and races for the elevation gear shaft.

I have removed a lot of bearings and races over the years, and take my word for it, these were a bugger. The race on the left bearing is about 7 inches inside the bore of the gearbox, and have almost no lip available to catch with a puller or a drift.

Turns out that the worm shaft and the elevation shafts were also matched sets. Mine, however were not matched.

These will have to wait until the bearings come in. Turns out they are quite expensive, listing at around $200 each. I found them on ebay (where else?) for $60 each, which is more than I usually like to pay for bearings.

Here the cradle is installed back onto the carriage.

I had found the nuts for the arcs a while ago, but now the challenge was to find the slotted washers. Turns out they are the same as the wheel bearing washers on a late 70s chev truck (Dorman part number 618048).

The telescope mount and telescope brackets go on a lot easier on freshly sand blasted material.

After sandblasting the Cdn lid for the telescope storage chest, it was found to have been repaired at one time (mount was installed in the wrong spot?) and the lid was less than perfect.

I decided to remove the little hump, cut the identical hole in the American lid, and rivet the hump onto that lid. It worked out quite well.


I got some parts in today, but still waiting for the two bearings. Guess the elevation mech will have to wait until next week. In the meantime, I still have to sandblast the recoil mech, as well as both trails.

[nickd]

Thanks for posting the pictures of the project! You may consider contacting one of the magazines associated with the hobby and writing an article about your restoration. The article will allow more people to enjoy/learn about your efforts. Great job!

[cmpman]

Still waiting for my two bearings from ebay, so I moved on to trying to install the worm shaft for the elevation gear. I went to put it on and figured out I am missing the two bushings that set the backlash. I figured I would have to make them, so I called it a day and went to my favorite scrapyard instead.

I went to the area where his brass salvage was stored, and what do I find but a couple sets of the needed bushings. I also found another end for a 155 cleaning rod, a pair of ends for a 105 cleaning rod, another worm gear (still no set match with my main gears though), and as a bonus a neat old brass fire nozzle I need for another project. Also found a couple of the bearing shims I will need when I set up those two bearings. The hunt was cut short when I lifted up an old barrack box to find the mother of all hornets nests inside. I did not think I could dance so fast across pails of scrap. They were a little agitated so I left the area alone. I think my next visit to there will be after the fall frost.

With the right parts on hand installation of the first shaft was a breeze.

Here i have stowed the one end I need for the cleaning rod into it's holder. Now I have to find a source of 1-1/2" oak dowel to refinish the two rods.

Thats it for now. This week I will start on sandblasting the trails, although it is supposed to be a hot one.

[cmpman]

Well, by starting at 8 in the morning to beat the heat, I was able to get both trails done this week. These are a fairly substantial part, and having them painted really makes the project look like it's making progress. It's been just over a year since I started this project, so it's nice to see light at the end of the tunnel.
Left trail painted.

Left trail installed. Compare with the right trail to see the improvement a little sand and a quart of paint will make. Right trail is about to be removed. I am working alone, so things like the $14 dolly and block of wood really save a hernia.

It takes about two pots of sand to strip one trail. Then it gets dragged out to the sunlight to get any small spots that have been missed. I do not expect to be re-doing this project any time soon, so it might as well be done right the first time.

The right trail is a bit awkward for balance, so the tractor had to be called out to support one end. We have not seen rain here for weeks, but sure enough, just as this was painted, a substantial storm showed on the horizon.

I managed to get it in without damaging the still tacky paint and it's now back on the gun.

Today I will remove the barrel and I have to repair that leaking filler plug on the recoil mechanism before it gets it's new coat of paint.

[cmpman]

As a minor project, I have started to rebuild the cleaning staves. I was lucky in finding two sets of ends, although in reality, only one stave has 2 ends, the long stave only has the female end. To get the old ends off, a punch is used to knock out the two 3/16 brass dowels used to retain the end. It was found that the female end is in fact tapered inside. I found that about a 6 degree taper was right. I do not normally do woodwork, but as it turns out turning wood on a metal lathe is doable. Here are some shots of the first end.



I will update just this post on the rebuild on the two staves, so that anyone else rebuilding them can see the progress without having to jump around. I'll include all measurements. I didn't get the wood I wanted for this project, as the small city nearby does not have a lot of selection. But since these will be more for show than function, it should be OK.

[dwing]

very nice. I have really enjoyed all of the pictures and detail of the project

[cmpman]

I have enjoyed putting them up for view. It's kind of nice to be able to look at the progress and see where I started at last October, and where I am at now.
I still have to repair the leak on the filler plug. I'll likely do it in the morning when my advisor on such matters shows up. I just don't trust myself on a pressurized item like the recoil mech. Once that is done, the recoil mech and the barrel can go back on and it will look like a gun again. After that, the tires will come off again so I can properly blast and paint the rims. Then there is a small pile of little parts that need refinishing and installation.

[cmpman]

We had a long weekend here in Canada, so I managed to get a reasonable amount of C1 work done. It was getting to be time to sandblast and paint the recoil mechanism, but first that leak had to be repaired. It was a leak at the filler plug, and according to weapons techs that I had talked to, it was almost always attributable to a leather washer under the filler plug collar. First the plug is removed (1/2" wrench required) and an oil pricker installed to remove any oil out of the reservoir. After 23 years of leaking, there was not a lot of oil left to drain....maybe a 1/4 of a quart. The oil indicator is in the hole below, and is all the way in, meaning the reservoir is low or empty. When the oil level is correct, it will extend out to the face of the cylinder.

Then there is a small set screw to remove.

With a drag link socket the seat can be removed. I found the seat to be fairly tight and a 3/4 ratchet was used to crack it. After that, it came out almost by hand. A bit more oil will come out at this point.

Below are shown the oil pricker tool, the filler plug, the set screw, and the seat and gasket.

What I did was cut a second thin leather gasket to sit underneath the original one. Here they are ready to go back in.

At this point the oil reservoir must be replenished. I knew I had an old can of the MIL-5606G hydraulic oil somewhere (the older spec 515 type would be ok too) and sure enough a 10 year old can was found. To replenish it, the oil gun is disassembled at the top, the tool filled with oil, and the tool re-assembled.

The brass tip cover is removed to drain any air out.

The tool is then threaded into the filler port. As the gun is inserted into the filler hole a last squirt is done to remove any air from the tip. The handle is turned to force the oil in. The first 3 fills went in easy (one hand to install) but the fourth one got tight, and required two hands.

By the fifth fill of the tool, the indicator was coming out and was fully out before the tool was empty. There is no indicator for overfull so you have to stop when the indicator is flush with the face of the head.

The filler plug is then re-installed. Now it was time to move the recoil to the shed and sandblast it. This took a little longer than some of the other pieces because of all the angles. Below is the blasted assembly.

And painted. I am happy to report that there is no evidence of leakage from the filler plug onto my new paint, so it looks like the problem was solved.

Barrel put back onto the recoil, recoil back onto the cradle, and the travel lock installed with the erar of the equilabrator in place.

Well, that's where it sits now. In the next few days I will lift the barrel up as far as it takes to hook the equilabrator up to the upper carriage bracket. Apparently my bearings for the elevation are waiting at the border so I can move onto that later in the week. It is all small stuff now, although I still have a want list that needs to be filled before completion of the project.

[cmpman]

Well I made some good progress over the last few days, but unfortunately got so wrapped up in the work that I did not take photos. The big job was installing the recouperator mechanism beneath the cradle. To do that I had to use my engine crane to bring the gun up to maximum elevation. I was able to get the pins in place but had to use a smaller dia pin initially on the front end. I lowered the gun, installed a block of 4X4 into the springs to shorten the total length, then re-elevated the gun until I could get the proper pin in place. I am glad that job is done with no injuries. The barrel can now be raised and lowered by hand, which will have to do for now until I can get my elevation mechanism completed.

The remaining parts were quickly sandblasted and painted, then installed. I also straightened out a very bent brass mount for the control quadrant. I still need the M4A1, but by installing the bracket, I am able to install the M23 mount with the elbow telescope and instrument light in place.



I also began installing the various markings to the gun. Here are some shots of the almost finished product.



I also received a M21 lighting chest in the mail yesterday. This is the box which stores the aiming post lamps, the instrument lights, and some spare batteries and lenses.


Bearings are now in for the elevation gear, and I was fitting them tonight. I'll hopefully get it installed in the next day or two, then I have to finish up those cleaning rods. After that, I can start a renewed search for the last of the remaing parts. The list is getting reasonably short.

[tipdog]

Bump for an update?

[jdmcm]

That is just awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cmpman]

Not a lot to update on. I took it to it's first public display last month: a military collector's convention about 120 miles away. I went to load it onto the trailer the day before only to find it is about 3" too wide to fit between the trailers wheel wells. So I ran down to the local motor vehicle license office and registered and insured it as a home-built trailer. The plate was hung on a bracket I added to the towing lights (which hang off the barrel) and a couple reflectors added to the assembly to make it legal. Took it down the transcanada highway behind my white 3/4 ton Dodge. I kept the speed to between 80-90kmh since there is no suspension on these guns, and the highway is not in the best of shape. Last thing the gun (nor I for that matter) needed was another rollover. Gun towed great and without incident. It did get a couple thumbs up on the way.

Anyway, here are some shots taken by a friend (Ed J.) during the show.






I still have a short list of items needed to complete this project. The items are:
Breech ring (cut is OK)
3 of the elevation shafts
the bronze catch for the travel lock (located on the equalizer bar)
a M4A1 quadrant
The two caps where the traverse mechanism attaches to the upper carriage bracket.

In the meantime, she can sit in the shed and I am moving on to other projects. It took me under a year to get this thing to this stage, but if it has to wait a couple more years to come together so be it. At least it is displayable as it is.