Older Britains models (In particular the Volvo BM 2654)

[Janval]

I'm building/planning several of these, it's looking quite well so far but.. Does anyone know how the front axle can be dismantled without making a mess? It might be the same kind of method as with any other older Britains model perhaps? I kind of decided to modify the existing one, but I would really like to put it a donor axle!

The chassis itself seems to be welded together, so replacing the steering will prove difficult I guess but worth a shot, might even drop the working steering if need be. FYI the rear wheels are a nightmare to get off as well but got those sorted luckily 

[mb86]

11 hours ago, Janval said:

I'm building/planning several of these, it's looking quite well so far but.. Does anyone know how the front axle can be dismantled without making a mess? It might be the same kind of method as with any other older Britains model perhaps? I kind of decided to modify the existing one, but I would really like to put it a donor axle!

The chassis itself seems to be welded together, so replacing the steering will prove difficult I guess but worth a shot, might even drop the working steering if need be. FYI the rear wheels are a nightmare to get off as well but got those sorted luckily 

Are the two halves of the skid unit not riveted together then Jan? If you are putting another axle on could the existing one be chopped off at the pivot then fit a new one to suit the new axle? Don't have one of these models so I'm just guessing really. 

[Tractorman810]

the chassis are not welded as such, they have 2/3 pressed joints on the inside, if your just removing the axel then i would say just cut the piviot pin and drop it away, get a multi tool blade in there as its pretty tight for a hack saw blade  , you can pop the chassis but if you just do one end its easy to bend one side as you prise it aprat to remove the pins , which makes rejoining a bit harder diecast metal omce stressed can break when bending it back . it could leave a gap between the halfs where it wont bend back to 

[Janval]

Thanks for replying, much appreciated! I was considering just cutting the pin that holds the axle. Hoped it could be saved though, but seems like the best option is to get rid of it and make something else to hold a new axle then! 

[b_emmons]

I use a dermal and grind/cut the pivot pin head off when I can see it, that way the pin can sometimes be reused to align the new axle

[Janval]

I ended up cutting the whole thing of the chassis, so now theres only the bit of the pin residing inside the chassis itself left. I'll try to figure out how to work around this! Sadly I discovered afterwards that any new axle (from UH or Britains) would likely raise the front of the tractor slightly more than the rear (with new wheels fitted), also I found out that I wanted to re-use the original Volvo rims, so a new axle wouldn't really be all that necessary  Good thing I have three of them planned out, the other two will probably have original axles!

[mb86]

Ahh the joys of conversions.  There will be a set of wheels out there that will fit perfectly, it's just finding them that's the problem. 

[Dave R]

Hi, when I did mine I found it was easier to drill out the rivet heads, then drill down thru' the pegs to use small self tapping screws to re-attach the skid halves together. Hope this helps for future conversions.

Regards Dave