Why Was This WWII Transmission Installed Like This? | Wespe Final Assembly

This week we reach a major milestone in the restoration of our WWII German Wespe self-propelled gun — installing the transmission and final drives back into the hull. But as the drivetrain goes in, we uncover something unexpected. The original packing used to align the transmission appears excessive, and the mounting bolts are far too short — only engaging a few threads. A setup like this would have caused serious issues in service. So what happened? Was it a field repair? A factory mistake? Or something else entirely? Steve and the team work through the installation and try to make sense of a configuration that simply doesn’t add up.