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Thanks Blake, I'll use caution then, probably leave it as it is till I have to use it.

I reckon I'm more liable to damage it by over filling that running it low, since the average mileage on the other three I've found is under 200 miles from new.

Got a Parts List, but no manual, unfortunately.

Gordon

Thanks Blake, always good to know.  I can find something locally that will do.

So, just pour it in the fill elbow then?  Take out the rear plug for a level, or just use the fill elbow?

Thanks again.

Gordon

Thanks Matt, I don't think standard bits would help - unless they happen to look like that image above.  I think Gil is short of those conical housings and the driveshaft / sprockets.


On another point, I've pulled the cab and drivers compartment off mine to reveal the differential  I can see a fill / level elbow right front and what could be a level plug slightly lower down at the rear;



There are plugs at the same locations and heights on the other side, without the fill elbow;



... and I think the plug at the top left is just an end cap covering the end of the operating lever shaft.

Since all the remaining T-36s that have speedometers seem to show less than 200 miles, I'm assuming the diff will be fine and just need topped up.  On the assumption that the diff is internally the same as the MG military unit, how much of what lube do I put in the fill elbow?  Do I take a rear plug out and just fill it with gear oil at the front elbow till it comes out the, back, then stick the plug back in?

I have no military manual info for the MG differential, and dont want to do something extra-stupid like put oil in a port that is access for brake band adjustment, or whatever.

Gordon

It turns out that another T-36 with the Cletrac diff is in Polson, Montana, at Gil Mangel's Miracle of America Museum.

Gil is stuck with the restoration of it, as someone took the drive ends off the differential and they got lost.  I still think that the drive outpus from the T-36 diff are pretty much the same as the MG1 and MG2 units, so anyone in the US with a broken differential and a pair of drive ends they are never going to use?



That image is the drive ends on my T-36.  The Parts List does say it is an MG-type differential, so I'm hoping someone here can help.

Gordon
Falkirk
Scotland

Thanks to Matt Rimmer for pointing me at this site.  My T-36 Iron Fireman is supposed to have a Cletrac model MG differential, but the control levers and ratchets don't look anything like Matt's.

Anyone here ever run across another T-36 or know anything about them?

Gordon McMillan

central Scotland