Sherman tank Engine comparison: R975 Radial VS Ford GAA v8

Рет қаралды 23,707

Жыл бұрын

Now view this!
The heart of an armored vehicle is the engine. This critical piece controls movement, power, hydraulics, speed, ability to climb hills, and overcome obstacles. If the engine breaks, ideally it should be quick and easy to fix or replace in battlefield conditions.
U.S. Armor used a dizzying array of engines, from radial engines, dual diesel engines, V8 gasoline engines, the crazy but workable five engine multi-bank, etc.
One of the major reasons for this was that production capacity was in many cases directly competing with airplane production, and a variety of types were chosen as a result in order to help hit production quotas, with ~49,000 M4 Sherman's being produced in its many variants, not including the myriad of Tank Destroyers, prime movers, etc.
Join us for a brief video as Sgt. Inge, one of WW2 Armor's tank commanders, talks about the Wright Continental R-975 radial engine and the Ford GAA V8 engine.
That is all.

Пікірлер: 37

@RoboCop-zn8bt 2 ай бұрын

I love them both. I was amphibious assault vehicle crewman in the corps. It had a 903 cubic inch Cummins turbo diesel. Absolute beast of engine but dident said as sweet as these.

@WW2Armor 2 ай бұрын

That's awesome!

@chaseman113 Жыл бұрын

Direct comparison is neat

@treadheadpete4770 Жыл бұрын

Fantastic video, great look at starting up those old beasts!

@WW2Armor Жыл бұрын

Tanks, Pete!

@TheHonarable1 5 ай бұрын

Was hoping to hear the Ford on start up??

@bobkonradi1027 9 ай бұрын

Another problem with a radial engine is, when the oil is draining to the bottom cylinders, it is also fouling the spark plugs, whether or not there is actual hydraulic lock. This turned out to be a real problem in actual combat situations, and tank crews were said to be constantly searching for boxes of spark plugs. This situation is what ultimately led the Army Tank Corps to search for other, more suitable engines such as the Ford GAA, also discussed above. The radial air cooled engine was first proposed for the Sherman tank (and other vehicles) so as to eliminate any potential problems with water leaks, etc, with water cooled engines. Plus it was already developed and in production, so nothing further was needed except to start producing thousands of them.

@alangordon3283 3 ай бұрын

Couldn’t have been a problem seeing as they used it throughout . 🤷‍♂️

@chickenfishhybrid44 2 ай бұрын

I thought the driving factor for using the radial was essentially availability..

@bobkonradi1027 2 ай бұрын

The army started out wanting an air-cooled engine so as to be able to eliminate the radiator. The problem with all radial engines is that oil drains to the bottom cylinders after shut down. Note that all movies of WW2 planes shows the crew "walking the propellor' in reverse before start up, and that's t0 get the oil out of the cylinders. When the earl y Shermans shut down, the spark plugs were fouled and the engine would not run correctly. Shermans with this engine carried 100 spare spark plugs to replace the ones that were fouled. Also, the radials the army started with were 9-cylinder engines, for more power, but the Army Air Force wanted the more powerful engines too, and they made the case for a priority access to the engines. A 7-cylinder radial didn't have enough power for either Shermans or warplanes. That led the tank corps to go to Chrysler and ask them for an engine, and be quick about it. That led to the "multibank" 30-cylinder engine (5 flathead 6's bolted to a common cast iron crankcase, but that was unsatisfactory too. The army then went to Ford, and asked them to come up with something, which led to the GAA V-8.@@chickenfishhybrid44

@bobkonradi1027 2 ай бұрын

@@chickenfishhybrid44 That was a compounding problem, but the plug fouling problem was a serious consideration as well, as indicated by the fact that all Sherman tank crews were told to carry 100 spare plugs at all times. In his book, "Death Traps" Belton Cooper mentions that he had to make several runs to tanks that were broken down, who'd used up their spare 100 spark plugs. Unfortunately, the sand blasting machines for spark plugs were only at his 3rd Armored Division's motor pool.

@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus 5 ай бұрын

As the R975 is a 4 stroke engine, 2 complete rotations is only one compression stroke per cylinder.

@javajohnny7759 Жыл бұрын

Awesome video, thanks!

@WW2Armor Жыл бұрын

Nossir, thank you!

@military-vehicles Жыл бұрын

Great video 👌👍

@WW2Armor Жыл бұрын

Thank you!!

@christophercripps7639 4 ай бұрын

In old films of ground crews you’ll see the crews turning the propellers on many fighters prob for the same reason. A handle shouldn’t be needed ‘cause the prop and reduction gearing gives all the leverage needed. Most or all USN carrier aircraft had radial engines.

@TheAmerican1963 4 ай бұрын

What an awesome video !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

@charliemarlenewuester5261 Жыл бұрын

Sign me up sarge I just wish I would have gotten a chance to actually see these before I move across the country

@matrix04923 11 ай бұрын

great video, also great that you worked on Gates of Hell: Liberation, cant wait to play it. Greetings from Polnad

@WW2Armor 10 ай бұрын

Many thanks! They were great to work with!

@johnedwards1685 3 ай бұрын

That Ford engine is astonishing. But the Chrysler multibank is 5,400lb of whatever it is that you Americans have that produces a Saturn 5, a 747 or an SR71.

@TonboIV 7 ай бұрын

How the hell do you even access the lower spark plugs on a radial engine inside a damn tank hull?

@alexclement7221 3 ай бұрын

What about the other 2 engines used: The Chrysler 30-cyl "Multibank", and the Detroit Diesel "Twin Six"?

@FaustoTheBoozehound 5 ай бұрын

Several German aircraft used inverted V-12s, wonder how many plugs they had to pull to prevent hydrolock

@vumba1331 5 ай бұрын

They had the engines setup so the timing could be manually modified to burn the plugs clean. Plus with liquid cooled engines the tolerances were closer so the seal on the pistons was much better leading to less oil drianing down into the cylinder head area.

@williamstel9330 4 ай бұрын

Do you want to learn a more simple method. Just turn the engine over backwards a couple of revolutions.. that will push anything left in the cylinders out of the exhaust valves. My grandpa told me that he worked for Ford on the Tri Motor aircraft in the early twenties. As well as Al Teague's Speed O Motive streamliner at Bonneville salt flats same process just push the car backwards for a couple of engine revolutions an he was ready to go to the line for a push start.

@FilmArmorerJoeyDillon 5 ай бұрын

anyone want to buy a Continental R-975 engine? It has been sitting outdoors for years, but great display or for rebuild or parts.

@WW2Armor 4 ай бұрын

Hi! Always willing to listen! Email us at info@ww2armor.org! Thanks!

@joeedwards627 Ай бұрын

Yes

@shemreed 7 ай бұрын

The old classic movie Telly Savalas played a lot all of those tanks in movies. I remembered He ordered some soldiers said aww sir when He said go hurry up starting r976 and they said it suck because I has to cranky my ass then he said Shut up!! Let start and go u quitting quacking like damn whore 😂.