I’ve not been gone, or forgotten, just caught up in other life things. Here’s the next installment of the conversion saga, which isn’t 2A4-specific but more to correct the chassis equipment to my liking.

The tank came with some nice upgrades from AFV - suspension reinforcement, shafts as well as hull brace. The suspension arms and track tensioner was from Impact, and the tensioner was incompatible with the AFV hull brace(more on that below), so the owner lopped off the front bit. As I had another Leopard 2 with the same hull and tensioner setup, I knew that the AFV tensioner kit would work with their hull brace and set about ordering replacement parts as I like my tank complete.



This is what an unmodified end plate should look like


This was what was done to fit an Impact track tensioner


The reason is because the standard sleeve is too short to accommodate the thicker plate as well as the plastic tub. Thus the left side piece is required.


Some emails and a lengthy wait of two months from AFV in the summer of 2020, (remember COVID brought a lot of freight disruptions even if it was shipped via DHL) and I had my replacement end plates and adapters.


I had a second surprise though, as the adapter I got was intended for older versions of the adapter that had a tapered profile. The AFV tensioner I purchased was improved and had a square profile which I feel provided a more positive interface during installation and reduced chances of stripping the splines during installation. In the end, I resolved the drama by swapping my brand new tensioners with a friend that had the older version.


Home and all together again. Note that the front glacis features a brace that is now restored to tie the front end together.