Main bearing shell modification to reduce end play

1903bluepill · Dec 28, 2011

I"m restoring a 1918 Cleveland Tractor mod H
crawler engine and want to reduce my .030
crankshaft end play to .002. Since NOS bearings
are non existent my thoughts are to build up the
forward shell flange of the front bearing as it is
the most worn. The wear is coming from contact
with the rear of the gear on the nose of the
crank.
I plan to turn down an existing bronze thrust
washer to the correct dimensions, cut it in half,
pin the halves(brass pins)on the flange faces, and
then ever so gingerly spot weld them at the edges
for added strength-of course being careful not to
heat the shell up and melt the babbitt.
Any of you folks ever done this before? Is there
any easier fix? What are your thoughts?

Paul from MI · Dec 28, 2011

The face of the crank gear on my Allis B and the crank face were worn and would have resulted in excess end play, even with new bearings. We machined the gear flat and reinstalled it, then remacined the crank face and the shoulder that positions the gear. Problem solved. Maybe something similar would work for you. A spacer could be made to fit between the gear and bearing and trapped to turn with the crank. If all else fails there are guy that can re-babbit your old bearing shells. Lots of ways, just plain machine work.

george md · Dec 28, 2011

I have several ideas , don't know which would

work best. Most need more words than I care to

type. Question - is the crank gear removable ?

If so why cut the thrust washer in half ?

Continental uses 2 full round washers ,one front

and one back of front main. Back has notch in

od for a brass dowell in the main cap . Front

is pinned to the upper (block) , but requires

crank gear to be pulled out the thickness of

the washer to remove the crank.

I have built several engines with bearings

from other things because there are no parts

available.

Send me an email with a phone # and I'll

call you .

george

1903bluepill · Dec 29, 2011

Paul-thanks for the advice. I tried to pull the gear off earlier-it wouldn't come. I figured at that point repairing bronze was the easier way.
All the wear from thrust comes from the front. There is no wear on the back of the rear main.
I suspect that because of the large pulley on the crank end (wide leather belt goes from there to another large pulley on the water pump) and the even larger "power pulley" connected to that via a shaft that goes under the radiator tank. Possibly this tractor years ago saw lots of use powering other equipment

Bob Huntress · Dec 29, 2011

When I first joined the Navy it was already 1990, but they still taught making babbitt bearing from a sheet, complete with a cool B&W video. Mind you, every engine I rebuilt I used manufactured bearing, but for some reason, the Navy was still teaching how to make babbitt bearings. I'm guessing that in 1918 there weren't making bearing sets for engine rebuilding. I looked online for sheet babbitt for sale, but I am guessing that it is becoming rare, probably because of the lead.

Bob Huntress · Dec 29, 2011

To be honest, I'ld think they would have made thrust bearings, but you could get some babbit from Rotometals and do some casting and machining. A friend that is older says that is where people get Babbitt these days. BTW, babbitt doesn't actually come in sheets most of the time. We just had a few babbitt hammers that looked liked the heads were rolled from a sheet.

1903bluepill · Dec 29, 2011

Thanks for the babbitt info. I had originally looked at having them re poured but the excessively worn area is the brass backing/shell flange which controls the endplay. I have another worn set of bearings which I may send out for re babbitting later. Anybody out there know of someone who does it for a reasonable price?
Thanks

ShadetreeRet · Dec 29, 2011

Concerning your question about re-babbiting, EGGE machine co. offers that among their many services. Check out their website at www.egge.com.

Slowpoke · Jan 8, 2012

Try over on the stationary engine board. Most of the old one lugers use babbit bearings.

Main bearing shell modification to reduce end play

1903bluepill

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Paul from MI

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george md

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1903bluepill

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Bob Huntress

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Bob Huntress

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1903bluepill

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ShadetreeRet

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Slowpoke

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