Greetings all

in a bout of enthusiasm i purchased a new tank, with  a what looks like 7.1 board but not sure.

then i took the entire tank apart and found not a single ball bearing anywhere, so what does one do you measure the bearings and order a few... dozen.

so what have i learned so far ?

my new tank has 6 road wheels per side, so that's 12 x 2 7x4x2mm  (total 24)
my new tank has 6 idler arms per side, and they use 12 x 2 11x8x2mm  (total 24)
then there is the track tensioner that takes 2 and as there are 2 that's 4 more 7x4x2 (

now does that even sound logical, 52 bearings in the drive/suspension system ? 
is it just me or does that sound like a lot of bearings ?
and that's not including the gearboxes, but i have "metal" (zinc) gears and steel pins so they better last till i can afford new gearboxes or dropkick the tank into the bin.

anyone else ever done this ?

Krijn

Krijn,

Idler arms meaning return roller (???) which most tanks don't usually have bearings for.

Some tanks get away with only a single bearing on each road wheel (rather than one on each side of the roadwheel).

You forgot that you will need two each side for the drive sprocket which is probably the most important ones you can add as it keeps the drive shaft from moving off axle.

Your track tensioner = idler wheel ? Same as road wheel, can get away with one on each idler.

MikeC.

well i was lucky that John had some extra bearings

the Cromwell now has 2 bearings per wheel, 2 in the track tension-er (that is metal) but none on the suspension, it has steel bushings in both gearboxes.
so that was 24 8x5's over 5 road wheels and the track tension-er  in total (6 x 2 x 2)

the other tank... yipes i ordered the wrong size bearings.. but the 2nd tank needs 24 X 7x11x3 for the suspension, and 24 x 4x7x2 for the road wheels (all the "bearings" are plastic) and John didn't have them so we placed an order for 50, just in case (that's 2 x 50 in total) 

all in all a nice adventure and hopefully one that will teach me to take good care of my tanks as replacing all them bearings because of rust/seizure/dirt is NOT my favorite past-time.

And when all my projects are done my King Tiger, Stug 3 , Sherman,and M7 also need bearings.
well at least i won't be bored any time soon.

I replace plastic roadwheels and suspension arms when they wear out and go to metal/bearing style.
I do however replace idler/track adjusters as soon as I can for most plastic hull tanks nowadays.

Greetings
yes i can understand that, as soon as i have some extra cash (win the lottery) i will replace all the plastic track adjusters and suspension arms with metal or stronger ones while i will be getting an all metal tank one day it better have all the blo.dy bearings in it .

makes 3d printing and then building a tank like say the Churchill super expensive.. 22 road wheels per side with 2 bearings  each ..