BREN Gun Carrier checklist??

Klunk

Klunk

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Ok...so MAYBE I MIGHT know where there is a BREN gun carrier for sale....maybe

Who knows what to check for on these things (Its supposed to run on the original Ford V8)

Track wear?
Tranny?...crash box or sychro?
Suspension wear?.....drive sprocket wear?

What might it have or be missing?

I have found lots of pics of these things but none showing the internal layout

any help hugely appreciated
 
klunk, maybe contact the dude that owns Rampage Paintball near Millarville, AB.
he has a BGC that he brings out to the local fairs and stuff, although the last time i saw it, it was missing the rubber on a couple of of the idler wheels

it still went pretty fast though...
 
Ask the expert. Contact the military vehicle club in your area.

http://mvpa.org/

Canada

Alberta MVPA ***

President: Al Nickolson - #9848: arnick@telusplanet.net


Newsletter Editor: Jim Neathway - #20733
PO Box 673, Redwater, AB, Canada T0A 2W0

Meetings: Each Saturday at 1200 hours, 14205 118th Ave., Edmonton, AB
 
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Yes, the engine is a flathead 8. It should be the old style with the distributer down in front of the engine rather than the later type with the distributer up top on the front left.
Track: Brand new would have 168 links. As it wears out, you can adjust the front idlers, then remove a couple more links. When the track has had 10 links removed, you have to replace the track. Track and sprockets are replaced as a set.....old track with new sprockets (and vice versa) won't work out. Count the links on the track....if it is down to 158 or less, it will be time for new track soon.
Steering: A bren carrier had two levels of steering. First stage was through a big cam plate which moved the front pair of idlers on each side left and right. This warped the track, causing the vehicle to make a mild turn. Moving the steering wheel further (beyond 90 degrees) caused the appropriate brake to drag or lock, resulting in more steer. On every carrier I ever bought this steering system has been siezed solid, and often the farmer would try and work around that by some inventive method. I have repaired the steering system on some of these vehicles which were buried for 30 years. It is nothing a lot of heat and a lot of sweat won't fix.

New parts are getting far and few between these days. Check out maple leaf up.org forums for more info on these.
I have owned a few of these over the years, and my latest one is in the quonset waiting for the weather to warm up. When they are kitted out, they are like a rolling gunship. The mk1 version has stowage positions for:
-1 Boys anti tank rifle
-2 Bren guns
-a couple Enfields
-A 1" flare gun
-12 cartridges for the flare gun
-A 4" smoke discharger (ross or Enfield action)
-2 smoke grenades for the above
-6 no36M mills bombs
-stowage bins for 4 chests of Bren mags, pouch for 2 Boys mags, and/or lots of small arms ammo.
As well, they can be fitted for the Vickers, the PIAT, various mortars, flamethrower, or to tow light guns. They are a hoot to drive cross country.

Dscf0973.jpg

This was my last carrier, about a decade back. We drove it out, unannounced, to Shilos battle of the bulge match. Turned some heads, believe me.
 
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What would be the "blue book" values of a bren carrier in various condition or state of restoration?
100% 80% %60 %40 20% 0%

Just curious, I have not seen one of these for sale; and if i ever do i just would like to know if I would have to sell my car? house? kidney? all the above? to acquire it?
 
The prices I have seen in the last year or two would suggest that a well restored carrier with 90% or better of it's stowage bins should range from $20-35K. That would be without most of the weaponry of course...the Boys rifle alone could run you $6000 or more these days.
A unrestored, but restorable (usually the upper armor, that is to say, everything above the tracks has been removed) running hull will often see $3000 to 5000 these days. As the steering system is repaired, the armor found and reinstalled, and the vehicle restored, the price will climb accordingly.
As armored vehicles go, the Bren carrier is a favorite of many restorers. It is small enough to fit into a garage, and can be towed on a trailer behind a 3/4 ton. My favorite part is the stories the vehicle brings back from the veterans who used them.
 
dan belisle said:
Just for info you can rebuild the tracks and sprockets, check with your local Cat dealer. - dan
Click to expand...

Not sure what a cat dealer has to do with any of this. Can you explain further?

There are some guys who have replaced the track pins to get a second life out of the track. Some have even bored out the shoes to go to oversize pins, and get rid of the elongated holes that result from wear. But the one guy that was making new pins ($5 ea and you needed around 330 of them to repair two track assemblies) has ceased making any and is sold out. Pins were case hardened, so simply inserting drill stock or round stock will not do.

There is also a set of CAD drawings kicking about for the sprockets, but as I posted earlier, new sprockets with worn track don't mesh properly.

It used to be you would simply buy a parts carrier for a couple hundred $$ and salvage the track off of that. But these days, the parts carriers are getting far and few between, and with the price of scrap, along with the high values guys seem to draw from the internet (after all, if a restored one is worth $25K, then a pile of residue must be worth 10K) the parts carriers are getting far and few between.

Here is my latest carrier; a work in progress.
DSCF0057-2.jpg
 
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If the engine is good and the track still has life, then 5K wouldn't be too bad a price. Those flathead fords cost a fortune to rebuild these days. Expect $2500 easy if you simply drop the motor off at your local jobber. If the carrier you are looking at has the upper armor, then 8-12K would be more like it. Things like the grenade boxes and the various storage bins are available repro now from midwest military. Not cheap, but good reproductions. Things like gas tanks will have to be fabricated from scratch if yours are toast.

Do you know if the carrier is a mk1 or a mk2? Easy way to tell is if it's a mk1, the top edge of the armor will be flat; if it's mk2 it will have a rolled piece of steel along the top.
If the armor is missing, you will be able to tell by whether there are 2 10X10" holes in the rear hull plate, one on either side of the input to the diff. The mk2 was meant to be more amphibious, and deleted these holes.

Get us some pics. If you want an honest assessment of what you have found, you can PM me.
 
Colin said:
There is a hull for sale in Clinton, upper armour gone for 2,000
Click to expand...

attachment.php


Is it the one that is shown in the link above? If so, it has some fairly heavy modification to the front steering system, and, while it was claimed to be running when parked, that was quite some time ago. The price on this one seems to vary, from 2K to 3K to where the seller was thinking about going up to 5K.

Actually, if it was closer, and the track still had life to it, I would buy it just for the engine and the track. It is a mk2, as can be seen by the armor with the rolled lip on top.
 
stencollector said:
Not sure what a cat dealer has to do with any of this. Can you explain further?

There are some guys who have replaced the track pins to get a second life out of the track. Some have even bored out the shoes to go to oversize pins, and get rid of the elongated holes that result from wear. But the one guy that was making new pins ($5 ea and you needed around 330 of them to repair two track assemblies) has ceased making any and is sold out. Pins were case hardened, so simply inserting drill stock or round stock will not do.

There is also a set of CAD drawings kicking about for the sprockets, but as I posted earlier, new sprockets with worn track don't mesh properly.

It used to be you would simply buy a parts carrier for a couple hundred $$ and salvage the track off of that. But these days, the parts carriers are getting far and few between, and with the price of scrap, along with the high values guys seem to draw from the internet (after all, if a restored one is worth $25K, then a pile of residue must be worth 10K) the parts carriers are getting far and few between.

Here is my latest carrier; a work in progress.
DSCF0057-2.jpg
Click to expand...

Cat dealers usually (not all of them though, hence the "check with" part) have track rebuilding capability. They can weld up and remachine all the links and sprockets, repair/rebuild pads, etc. Some other HD equipment shops do the same thing, so it's probably worth checking with a few for price comparison. I did all this as an apprentice many years ago (even redid all the suspension and track on a US military half track one time), it's not rocket science. - dan
 
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