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THIOKOL 601 RESTORE

no he speaks for himself, lives on an Island in Mich. not far from the border to Canada. I will not give out his personal on here, Just like I will not give out yours. you have to respect that..........:flowers:

But of course... :flowers:
Although... I live under a stone... nothing as sexy as a water-secured compound! :glare:
 
Great work Weatherby........................... is it ready yet ! Ive found the biggest brush pile around for the test drive. you did say I get to drive it right? you have pictures of it looking pretty now you can have pictures of it being used. free of charge. :brows:

northern states supply ( my bolt supplier ) priced the bolts for reference
5/16 grade 8 fine thread 2" yellow zinc. 13.73/100
nyloc 5/16 nut NF 3.995/100 yellow zinc

Wellllllllll I guess you can drive it, BUT that brush pile has to be a pussy willow brush pile WITH the new, tender, very soft buds still on the branch:glare:
Hey thanks for that info on those fasteners, That is "roughly" the same price I have been getting, but because this place (Mid-State bolt & screw) here in Mich. had such an over supply of them (bolts) and I was buying close to 1300 of them, he sold them to for 9.33 each and the nyloc nuts for 3.33. Now I'm trying to figure out if $6.37 per foot of 4 ply belt is in the ball park, What do you think?
 
Weatherby,

Thanks for the reply. Not to bombard you with questions, but why Grade 8 bolts instead of Grade 5? My (admittedly limited) knowledge of bolts is that Grade 8 bolts have higher tensile strength than Grade 5, but they are slightly more brittle.

If you are using them to attach grousers to rubber belting, their high tensile strength capabilities won't be utilized. I would think the weak point would be the belts and that they would give way well before a Grade 5 bolt would fail.

Totally different topic. I'm curious if you've ever been to the USAF museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in (or near) Dayton, OH? IMHO it's probably the best aviation museum in the US, far better than the Smithsonian, (though I haven't been there since they opened the annex at Dulles).

I would think the USAF museum would love to acquire your Thiokol 601. They have some beautifully restored aircraft and the quality of your restoration is equal to what they have been doing. My recollection is that the museum has very little in terms of that portion of the USAF's history.

Blackfoot Tucker....you are exactly correct on the grade 8 vs grade 5 and I feel the same way about your theory, but there are several reasons why I went with what I did, the biggest reason is because that's what the factory used, and I'm trying to stay as close to original as possible with every thing the factory did/used. Then there is the issue of the plating (yellow zinc) is one of the best corrosion resistant plating against rust, and as I understand you can't get a grade 5 plated in yellow zinc, and that "might" be why Thiokol used grade 8 not so much for all that strength but for the plating also. I thought about using Stainless Steel BUT cost was a BIG factor with that many bolts, nearly 4 to 5 times as much per bolt vs grade 8, and then there is the issue of "galling" with Stainless Steel. When a SS bolt & a SS nut of that size and larger are tighten, in most cases you cant ever get them un-screwed if you should ever need to.
I have heard allot about WP AFB and always wanted to go down and see it but never have YET. Like you say I've heard it's an amazing place.
What Mainer says about Thiokol and the AF. is pretty much "spot on" he knows his Thiokol history:thumb:
 
Hey, weatherby, found your tow vehicle! :thumb:

Man, would that pair ever be a sweet display at a show!! :w00t2:

Ed%20M37%20C.jpg
 
Hello folks,

It has been awhile.

Weatherby,

You should be given the nickname, of Michigan's Michelangelo! :myopinion:
As your 601 project, has turned into a master piece! :respect:
 
HEA......GRIZCTY you have never seen me paint! "But" some of those High Priced paintings I've seen Michelangelo paint, didn't look like he could paint ether.......:wink: However thanks for those complements anyway:thumb:
I have been working on building a die to press out new replacement backing plates for the tracks, it is turning out to be "much" more complicated than I thought it would have been to make such a simple looking part. I have been able to get them very close, but not EXACT, at least not with any kind of repeatability. However I think I finally, after about 4 major changes in the die design, I think I have it dialed in and it is far more complected of a die than I started with. I've learned allot about pressing out a part when you have to build your own die. There are allot of factors that need to be considered that I never realized when that press makes that stroke. I'm also VERY lucky because I have the privilege to use some very accurate & expensive machinery that I DON'T own, like a CNC mill and other mills & surface grinders, without that privilege this would not be possible for me. Or maybe I should say, when this die is done, I will owe some of my buddies BIG TIME. In the meantime I have gotten all the grousers blasted, and I will be coating them with Por-15. I have the new belting it is a three (3) ply belt, and I had stainless steel lasing installed on the ends, they are not the same that the factory used, because the belt expert guys say this style of lasing is SO MUCH better. Also got my front seat frames blasted & painted.
 

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Hey, weatherby, can you get that machine ready, hunting season is just about to start in Alaska and we can ship it up there for a test run. just remember to mount a bench seat on top and couple of gun racks too.
we might need a winch, and a wood stove in the back, so just poke the stove pipe out the top and we will hang our wet gloves on to dry. on the way back from Alaska we can run it over to Mainer so he can have a ride.
just to keep him happy.:whistling:
 
Hey, weatherby, can you get that machine ready, hunting season is just about to start in Alaska and we can ship it up there for a test run. just remember to mount a bench seat on top and couple of gun racks too.
we might need a winch, and a wood stove in the back, so just poke the stove pipe out the top and we will hang our wet gloves on to dry.
<snip>

:slap:

Waddaya think this is, a www.mn-outdoors.com rig??




:whistling:
 
Hey, weatherby, can you get that machine ready, hunting season is just about to start in Alaska and we can ship it up there for a test run. just remember to mount a bench seat on top and couple of gun racks too.
we might need a winch, and a wood stove in the back, so just poke the stove pipe out the top and we will hang our wet gloves on to dry. on the way back from Alaska we can run it over to Mainer so he can have a ride.
just to keep him happy.:whistling:

Yes....I know I know, I can feel the hunting season coming on soon also and I'm trying to hurry, BUT I prefer a leaky,hard starting,and goes out in the middle of the night fuel oil stove instead of the wood stove, It just reminds of deer camp in the good O'l days, and I still gotta knock out a couple of windows on each side and replace them with some louvered crank-out ones.....we kinda like to stick the 30-06 out from the "inside" of moving vehicles here in da u.p. preferably after dark:wink:
 
Weatherby,

If you don't mind me asking.
Were did you buy the new tracking, and how much was it?
Could not see if it already has bolt holes it it yet or not.

Another question.

Are you planning on selling, your "old" parts.:whistling:
Backing plates etc. also those "not so perfect brake lines".:beatdeadhorse5:

Just thought I would ask...:hammer: LOL
 
Hey, weatherby, can you get that machine ready, hunting season is just about to start in Alaska and we can ship it up there for a test run. just remember to mount a bench seat on top and couple of gun racks too.
we might need a winch, and a wood stove in the back, so just poke the stove pipe out the top and we will hang our wet gloves on to dry. on the way back from Alaska we can run it over to Mainer so he can have a ride.
just to keep him happy.:whistling:

Hey Boggie,

Sounds like you have hunted here before. :gun2_smi: LOL
Hunting season Alaskan style, has ALL ready started!

The grand-kids are heading up this weekend, for a ride on the "track rig".
You betcha, they ride up top.(old Blazer seat)
I told them ONLY, after their dad replaces the master cylinder!
And air up the tires. (still have not found replacements)
 
Weatherby,

If you don't mind me asking.
Were did you buy the new tracking, and how much was it?
Could not see if it already has bolt holes it it yet or not.

Another question.

Are you planning on selling, your "old" parts.:whistling:
Backing plates etc. also those "not so perfect brake lines".:beatdeadhorse5:

Just thought I would ask...:hammer: LOL

That belting was $6.00 and change per foot at 10&1/8" wide and 299" long x four, the lacing was "I think" about $80.00 in stainless x4. The belting has no holes, I will do that. I bought it from a belting manufacturing co. in Dearborn Michigan.
I will NEVER EVER sell those brake lines no matter how much you guys beg me to, not even for a million bucks.......Well OK OK maybe for a million bucks but not a penny less:glare:
 
I found the pictures I took in Newberry of the 601 you are restoring. I don't have a scaner. If you want to send me your address I can mail them to you.
 
I've been working on the tracks and building a die to make the backing plates for the last several weeks now, very tedious & time consuming work. A Buddie of mine (Bill) helped with figuring the spacing and marking the belting for the grousers, I could not stay bent over for any length of time to do the measuring & marking, so I "really" appreciated that help, he also was a BIG help in getting my backing plate die made (he is a journeymen toolmaker for General Motors). Hunting season opened here in upper Mich. so I took all my track material up to my house up there, so in the evenings I can work on drilling all those holes in the belting and the backing plate material and do some bird hunting during the day. Next week I will head back down state where I work on the cat and that's where I will press out the backing plates "after" the holes are drilled in them. As you can see in the pics, I made a jig to drill the holes in the belting and the aluminum backing plate material.
 

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Looking good!:pee_smilie:

Might want to think about putting a patent, on that jig & die.:idea:
Could help on defraying some of your expenses.:biggrin:
 
I'd rather see someone sell them to recover their development costs... share the passion for restoration... besides, I'd hate to see the financial 'benefits' after legal fees for pursuit of patent infringement. ;)
So, how much per thousand? ;) (I can see a white padded room reserved with Weatherby's name on the room plate if he takes that one).
 
I'd rather see someone sell them to recover their development costs... share the passion for restoration... besides, I'd hate to see the financial 'benefits' after legal fees for pursuit of patent infringement. ;)
So, how much per thousand? ;) (I can see a white padded room reserved with Weatherby's name on the room plate if he takes that one).

Grizty......I think Mainer might be rite, Because the "team" of physiotherapists that my wife hired after "as she puts it" (I started acting a little strange) says I shouldn't be drilling any more holes for a while, AND I have to ware this bicycle helmet during the day for the next week or so just in case I might get the urge to bang my head against hard objects..... So give me a couple of weeks to get better and then we'll talk about it again, because I also heard them tell my wife NOT to let me make ANY decisions for a while, or until they ween me off of the sedatives that they have me taking every time I start to wake up:sleep:
 
I finished pressing out all the new backing plates. In the first and second pic, it shows the left plate as being a new one, the middle one is a new one that has been bead blasted, and the right one is a original one that has been bead blasted. I bead blasted all the new ones to give to give them a "dull" (or mat finish) look. I also have all the grousers re-coated with Por-15.
 

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:smile:The pictures and the parts book went out today priority mail. Sorry I didn't get it out sooner but nite shift on the RR is murder.
 
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