Up-armored M-10 and M- 36 tank destroyers: how much is too much?

[yulzari]

Tomo

These M36/M4 hybrids. Did they have the powered traverse of the M4 or the hand traverse of the M36?

The M36 had Russian T55 engines. Were any M4s so updated?

Were any ex British Achilles 17 pounder M10s? The British used these as self propelled anti tank guns like the Valentine Archer. I know the Achilles all had to be given back the the US after the war like the M4s.

 

[tomo pauk]

The M-36B1 ('hybrid') was received from USA as-is, ie. it was not some kind of Yu modification. From what I can read at the article, only the M-36B2 (hull of M-10A1) were modified by adding the Soviet diesel engine. The M-18s were also updated like that.
The modification of the M4 was a failure, it was being tested with Yu copies of the V2 engines (as those used in T-34 and derivatives). It was being tried from 1964 , and terminated in 1966. Minister of defense said that M4s are to be used as-is, later eventually their parts to be used in M-36s, those regarded as more useful AFVs.
M4 with V2 engine:

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/9302/m441.jpg

There were no Achiles in ex-Yu, not that I know about them.

 

[Shortround6]

When re-powering things like tanks you have to take the transmissions/steering gear into account.

The V-8 Gas engine in the Sherman was good for about 450hp at 2600rpm. The diesel in the T-34 was good for about 500hp at 1800rpm. The power sounds like a good match but but it practice there are at least 2 sources of trouble.

1. The Max governed speed of the gas engine is 2800rpm which equals about 26-29mph in high gear. The diesel doesn't turn as fast which means that unless you replace the final drive gears top speed will be limited to around 20-22mph?

2. The max torque of the gas engine (an 18 liter engine) is 950ft lbs at 2100rpm. The diesel is making about 1460ft lbs at 1800rpm (and perhaps a bit more lower?). Gears and gear shafts don't really care about horsepower, they do care ( are affected by) torque. Increasing the torque the gears and gear shafts have to handle by over 50% is going to lead to a lot of blown transmissions.