What Rear End Will Fit A 1987 Comanche

What are some canceled US military projects?

The Little David siege mortar 1944–45.The US Ordnance Dept. used old large caliber naval guns that were chopped down as mortars to launch new and improved aerial bombs to see how they performed. The bombs kept getting larger so Ordnance had two 36″ mortars made to test the whoppers. The Marines were encountering Jap bunkers that resisted shelling by the big naval guns so the planners thought it may be a good idea to have a giant mortar to shell heavily fortified bunkers that should be encountered in Germany and Japan. Ordnance had their doubts about the practicality of fielding one so used the giant bomb mortar as the first prototype.It had to be mobile then set-up and fired quickly. Ordnance came up with three modified Dragon Wagons to haul the 22′ tube, the 45 ton box base and a load of it’s 3,650 lb. shells.They included a bulldozer and bucket crane to dig the hole for the base. The hole had ramps on both ends so the carrier could drive in, lower the base using built-in hydraulic jacks then drive out with the rear trailer being pulled out. The crew could get it set and ready to fire in 12 hours.The gun had a crew of seven. It took four to unload the shells, three to load one and two to climb inside with hand brushes to clean the rifling after being fired.I assume he’s holding it steady while the tube is slowly elevated so the shell can slide down without hanging up on the rifling. The mortar had a range of up to 6 miles. Ordnance was working on it’s accuracy when Japan surrendered so canceled the project. The two giants with their carriers are on display at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds.

What is the hardest car repair you've done?

With thirty years in the business working full time, it's hard to pick the hardest, so here's one that was simply complex.1940 Ford business coupe. Flathead V8 and a three on the tree. ( Column shift manual transmission).I had worked on this car. Overhauled the distributor, replaced water pumps and motor mounts, yes, the dual water pumps double as motor mounts. So I knew there was some… interesting engineering going on. Had noted that the clutch needed work.Customer drops in for the clutch job. Now, Ford, in their Infinite Wisdom decided to use what we call a torque tube or driveshaft tunnel. This was an iron tube running between the back of the transmission and the front of the differential that contain the drive shaft. Well as any mechanic knows to remove the transmission you have to remove the drive shaft. On this setup remove the drive shaft one had to remove the differential, and the torque tube. Now to get to the part for the torque tube meets the transmission and disassemble that complex mechanism one has to remove the floorboards. To remove the floorboards you remove the seat, carpet, and wooden floorboards which were made from used packing crates that Ford ordered in specific dimensions to fit the car. Neat piece of history there - research it. Now removing the differential and torque tube makes the back end of the car extremely light so I had to lash it down to the Hoist. Then you work your way around the bell housing to get all the bolts out and move the transmission back but not out of the vehicle. It rests on top of the X- member frame. The clutch linkage was a conundrum, the shift linkage not much better. This job involve more head scratching, tool borrowing, and phone calling to old dudes that remembered the old technology. All told I had the car in the shop for a week and a half and spent probably 30 hours on it. But boy was it nice to drive that old V8 3-speed with a properly working clutch when I was done!