Jump to content

Rock Island Arsenal M4 handcart


robinb
 Share

Recommended Posts

Built in 1938 originally as an M4 Machinegun Cart, then converted by the Army to an M3 Utility Cart by removing the number 4 from the data plate and stamping a 3 in its place. Currently undergoing restoration in my shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MVC-072S.JPG

MVC-073S.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Disassembled the wheel bearings and cleaned them inside and out, sort of. They will get a more thorough cleaning soon. I was amazed at how many parts made up the wheel bearings. I'll post more detailed photos later.

 

MVC-071S.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BILL THE PATCH

I know of about three to four of those rock island arsenal carts. There at a boy scout camp here in the Adirondacks, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw them. The scout use them to haul wood out the woods. And there all in pretty good shape. My sons are out of scouts now, but there still there.

 

Sent from my XT1031 using Tapatalk

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Robinb,

 

You will need to paint the little oval on the side of the tire flat red this was done to the military motorcycle tires on all the firestone (same tire here) was done to indicated made for war production only so if these tires end up on a civilian motorcycle on the street of the USA during WWII this showed they were stolen from war production plant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hbtcoveralls

Robinb,

 

You will need to paint the little oval on the side of the tire flat red this was done to the military motorcycle tires on all the firestone (same tire here) was done to indicated made for war production only so if these tires end up on a civilian motorcycle on the street of the USA during WWII this showed they were stolen from war production plant.

the red oval actually denoted synthetic compound tires which required different handling than the normal rubber tires. Some tires had the synthetic compound also as part of the red dot (S-2, S-3, S-4 etc). Motorcycle tires would have been S-2.

Tom Bowers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Took the bearings apart to clean and grease them. Wow! What a lot of parts. This is the outside bearing so only half of the assembly is pictured. The inner bearing is the large castellated assembly in the top left corner of the first picture. It's pretty much the same inside as all those parts pictured.

MVC-036S.JPG

MVC-037S.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...