Legacy U-Boat Shell Removal

Theres a little bell that has to be removed by the gas tank.. After that if its not free theres 2 screws under the gas tank... That is how my U.P. was anyways hope this helps..

I ruined one of mine taking it apart because the smoke unit had died and shorted out a board.  What people say about disassembling it is true. 

In my case the problem came from there.  The body had warped since manufacturer and when the shell came off it was hog-backed about 3/8 inch and the two sides pinched together in the middle.  I broke the shell trying to get it to fit back on. 

Solution: I bought another rather than try to get just the shell. 

That bell is made of brass and just seems to turn. In my first attempt I did remove the gas tank/speaker enclosure and there were two openings where there should have been screws but there were none.

I've been able to lift up the front of the center section so I doubt if the bell or anything else except the two screws in the back and the tabs on the center section are holding it in place.

What did you have to do to remove the shell?

How do you take off the bell. Mine just turns but does not appear to release. Also it is a very tight fit between the edge of the bell and the edge of the frame.

I don't recall that well - nothing stands out in memory as different from other diesels I've taken apart, and everything said by  As I recall there were screws at the end corners where there normally are, and then I had to remove the fuel tank and there were one or two screws under that, too. I don't recall anything about a bell I had to remove, but maybe.  I do recall that because of the aforesaid warping, the shell was clamped down on the chassis like a vice and had to be worked lose. If the shell had not been warped it would have gone smoothly and I would have remembered almost nothing about it.

The shell on my U-boats appears to be in pieces, not one single piece.

The shell has parts, but the lower portion is, or at least was before I broke it, a single piece the whole length of the body, with an upper portion that fitted on.

I'd love to see one of these off.  I guess I'm just going to have to "bite the bullet" one of these days and take the shell off one of them.

I don't know what's hard about it either yet.  However, with the several threads on issues taking the shell off, I figure to learn from other folks mistakes.

It is a two piece shell. The cab is separate from the center portion and the rear where the removable hatch is located.

When I get back from Duck I'll get working on it then.

How do you get the bell off?