Putting the pistons in the blocks

I went up to the museum Dec. 29th and got to see the new 25 ton GE delivered the next morning. It was kind of a day that you know was too cold to be out for long but you cant leave because it was so interesting.
After checking the fit on the rods one last time I went in the freight house and put the piston pins in connecting the pistons and the connecting rods. I put each piston/rod in the vice and put the new rings on the pistons. I had made a ring compressor for 6 3/4 pistons,from sheet metal and used a large vice grip to compress the rings. I was able to get the pistons in the blocks. It felt good to get that done.

Fitting Rods to the Crankshaft

To fit the connecting rods to the crankshaft, I turn the bare crank over using a tire iron in the teeth of the ring gear. When a journal is just past TDC I take the nuts off the connecting rod and remove the rod cap making sure the insert bearings and shims do not fall out. I put the top half of the rod though the hole in the top of the crankcase and reach through the hand hole on the side of the crankcase and put the cap on the rod. I hold the rod cap on with one hand from the top and reach through the side hand hole and put the nuts on the con rod bolts. This is not fun and a strech since the side hand holes are down in the loco frame. I reach down through the side hole and tighten the rod nuts with a 1/2 inch ratchet wrench inside the crankcase. After torqueing the nuts if the rod is too tight I have to take it out and add a shim. If its too loose I remove a shim. Do that 2 or 3 times on each con rod until the rod turn freely with no other play. It took a day and a half to shim the rods the first time. I took the rods home and decided that a couple inserts were rough and that there were better ones. I swicthed out the rough shells. I spent another day sitting on the crankcase fitting the rods. I took them home again and noticed a few of the shells moved laterally when the caps were bolted in place. I didnt want any shells moving when we were assembling the engine or running it. I did some research and decided to mount them in place using high temperature bearing mount. I used Locktite 620. After mounting the inserts I spent another day checking all the rods in the crankcase. They had changed a little bit and I had to shim two rods.

Insert Bearings

I spent most of the fall of 2008 fitting the connecting rod bearings to the crankshaft. I coud not find new bearings from the major manufacturers, Clevite and Federal Mogul. I would like to have a new set of bearings (number 12 187). The ID is 3.5 inches and they are about 3 and 1/4 inches wide. I bought brass shim stock, 7 thousands of an inch thick and cut 30 shims. To make the bolt holes in the shim without tearing them up, I clamped the shim in between 2 halves of the connecting rod and drilled though the bolt holes in the rod.. The design of the bearings is different from the babbited rods that I have worked with. To fit these bearings correctly the insert shells would be fit to a 3.5 inch mock up journal. Then the rod cap shimmed to fit the journal. I collected all the inserts that I could find from the 2 engines. Four of five sets of shells were destoyed from overheating and when the Whitcomb engine siezed. I matched up the remaining bearing shells by striations in the inside and outside of the shells. After pushing the pistons out of the blocks I numbered the rods and pistons trying to keep the pistons in the same holes that they came out of. I put the bearings in the rods and number the shells to match the rods.

Pictures from Dave at Shasta Cascade R. P. S.

All the copper oil lines were removed from the LeRoi sometime in the distant past. There were at least 6 fittings on the crankcase and I didnt know what they attached to. I knew there were a few Whitcombs in museums around the country but I didnt know which ones still had the LeRoi RX1S 6 cylinder engine in them. I put some pictures of our engine on the Yahoo group 'Rail critters and asked for information about the engine. Dave Jungkeit answered right away and voluteered to take pictures of the engine at the Shasta Cascade Rail Preservation Society in California. Dave sent pictures which were a great help to me. I uploaded them to my Picasa album 'Shasta Cascade'. To get there click on the picture in the slide show near the top of this page. Thanks Dave.

Crankshaft Journals

When we removed the front block and 2 stuck pistons, I looked inside the crankcase and saw a shiny surface. I thought 'Oh this is good' but it turns out that what I saw was the back side of the insert bearing. It was siezed and stuck to the crankshaft. The bearing side was black and motled. I worried about the main bearings but after all the stuck cylinders were removed the crankshaft turned. I used a 4.5 inch angle grinder with a wire wheel to clean up the hardened journal surfaces. Some journals were discolored but they cleaned up and look like they will work. Where the connecting rod bolted to the journal there are 2 small lines etched in each journal. I believe from acid in the oil. I felt it with my fingers and it felt rough. I used a ball grinding stone on a cordless drill and polished the rough spots. My friend Bob told me that he had sucessfully rebuilt John Deere tractors with etch lines in the journals.

New Brake parts

I got both brake cylinder pistons freed up. One of the return springs was broken into many pieces. I called Westinghouse Air Brake. Sadly it took 3 or 4 calls and return calls to find someone at WABTEC to research our brake piston cup and spring. Finally I got to Michelle in Chicago who found the part numbers for our 8 inch cylinder. The bad news was that there was a minimum order of 12 pieces at 60 dollars a piece. I called Bill at Pittsburgh Air brake. He pretty much fixed us up with 2 new piston cups and a spring. I made 4 each, eleven inch flange gaskets from a 12 x 24 sheets of neoprene from McMaster Carr company.

Brake cylinders

Hank went up to the museum with me and we took the brake cylinders apart. I did not know how they worked or if they would come apart, but there were unions on the air line pipe fittings and a row of bolts at each end so we took them apart. Both brke piston rods were rusted and stuck. A lot of water and rust came out of the cylinders. One side we had to put a wood 4x4 on the piston and hammer it out. We were able to get the ends off the cylinder and the pistons and push rods out from around the brake rigging. The cylinders were cleaned up with 4.5 angle grinder with a wire wheel and greased. The return springs springs inside the cylinders were broken. The options are to get new springs and rubber parts or whole new generic replacement cylinders. The cost of the new cylinders ranged from 800 to 1000 dollars. We plan to fill some of the pits in the cylinders with epoxy and get new cups and springs. The cups are 85 dollars and the springs 35 dollars. All will be packed in air brake grease.

Best blocks and pistons

Many of my friends have farm workshops and work on trucks, tractors or 7.5 in trains as a hobby. One of my friends Hank said he would like to see the museum and agreed to help fix up the whitcomb. We took all the remaining pistons, blocks, and heads up to the frieght house. We worked to loosen the bolts on the hood and radiator that have to come off next spring. Many of them broke off and were replaced with new ones. We honed the cylinders on the three best blocks. One block needed new studs. We installed them. The best blocks and pistons and rods are being cleaned, polished and fitted. The next day we wire brushed and painted 6 engine hand hole covers.

Modifing Aluminum piston to fit older style con rod

The pistons and connecting rods were different in the two engines. The engine from the locomotive was 10 years older and had cast iron pistons. The donated engine had aluminum pistons. I was not able to get all the old pistons out and decided to go with the aluminum pistons. Trouble was there were only 5 connecting rods for the newer pistons. I had to modify an aluminum piston to work with one old style connecting rod. Bronze bushings were made and pressed into the piston so the piston pin could pivot in the piston.

The pistons are pushed out

I took Whitcomb block (cyl 5-6) and 2 blocks from the spare engine to J&M welding in Rock Creek Ohio. Joe used a 100 ton press to push out 4 stuck pistons. The newer Aluminum pistons seem to stick tighter than the cast iron ones. Then my friend Al and I chiseled the rings out of the pistons. The three best blocks were degreased and honed with a glaze breaker. The two best blocks are in fine shape. The third best block has a few small pits in the cylinder but is serviceable.

Disc clutch

After the torque converter there is a single plate clutch operated by a foot pedal. The foot pedal controls an air cylinder. When the foot pedal is pushed down it puts air into the cylinder and disengages the clutch. A large spring returns the cylinder and engages the clutch. The clutch did not move under air pressure. I tried to move the cylinder with a large bar. The cylinder was rusted stuck. I took the cylinder out of the loco and took it home. I hooked the cylinder up to the winch on a tow truck and put some tension on it. after 4 days it broke loose.
With the linkage disengaged, the clutch plate was stuck between the flywheel and the pressure plate. I worked on that for a couple days. I finally got the clutch adjuster freed up and the with the adjuster backed off the clutch plate freed up.

Torque converter

Locomotives need a way to apply power to a load (of cars), exerting a force on the load until the rolling friction is broken and the cars start to move. You dont want to do this by 'slipping the clutch'. In our Whitcomb gas mechanical loco the power is exerted through a torque converter. Whitcomb called it Hydro-Motive. I so fortunate to get a copy of the operation instructions for the Twin disc torque converter. The torque converter is basically two fined plates which operate in oil. The instructions recommend light turbine oil or 10 wt oil. I am planning on using 10 wt. hydralic oil. Our model is a 24 HU-00 which takes 18 gals of oil. The book says to fill it until oil comes out of the fluid over flow level hole. Apply a small amount of lubricant through the fittings every 50 hours. I wonder when that was last done ? I hope that the seals are still good after 67 years.

Good neighbors

The pistons in both engines were stuck. I called Bill R. at Cliffstar about pushing the pistons out with a hydraulic press. Bill said that Cliffstar would help us anyway he could. I took the blocks over to Cliffstar and they put them in the press. They were able to get two pistons out. Two need a bigger press. Thanks Bill and his excellent mechanics.

Fill the crankcase

There is a big cast iron strainer basket in the bottom of the crankcase. Somehow this got broken on the locomotive. One of the first things that I did when I started on the rebuild was to take the good basket out of the spare crankcase. Over the years the copper screen that surrounds the basket deteriorated probably because of acidic conditions in the crankcase. New screen was found and wrapped around the basket. When I went to put the basket in I found that the copper pipe to the oil pump was split. Whether that was what caused the engine to sieze or whether that happened after the engine siezed, I dont know. I spent a whole day just removing the good pipe and oil pump from the spare crankcase and installing the good pipe and new basket in the Whitcomb crankcase. I began to wonder, could the oil pump pull up the new oil when the copper pipe to the strainer basket had air in it. I thought of a way to prime the oil pump and fill the pipe with oil. I stuck a piece of plastic tubing up through the strainer into the pipe. It was downhill to the oil pump. I forced oil in the tube and filled the pipe with oil. I filled the crankcase with 15W40 oil and Lucas oil stabilizer.

In January 2008 I went to the museum with the idea of getting 4 pistons out of blocks. I have freed up several stuck engines by using a hardwood dowel and pushing down on alternate pistons. My friend Al and I had found some hardwood logs about the right size to fit in the cylinders. I laid the block on the floor and put a 6.5 inch log in the cylinder and hit it with a sledge hammer. Ray helped me. Only one piston would budge. We agreed the rest would have to be pushed out on a hydraulic press. I took the pistons to Al's house to soak in solvent. After 3 or 4 days in the solvent we tried to get the rings loosened up on the pistons. We started tapping gently on the rings after a half hour it was obvious the only way to get them out to break them out with a cold chisel. It was a tough job and even cleaning the groves was tough. The good news is we had 2 good pistons.
I got prices on piston rings from several auto parts stores in my area. Prices varied from 21 to 27 dollars per ring. the 6 cylinder engine takes 24 rings. Quite a bit of money. I called Hastings Piston Ring company in Hastings Mich. I talked to a technical specialist named Dawn. Dawn gave me a special price for the museum. Ray gave me the OK to buy the rings. Al and I put the new rings on 2 of the 6 pistons.

update on the cylinder heads

The Leroi engine has 6 cylinders, with the blocks cast in pairs. There are 3 blocks and 3 heads, with over head valves. In November 2007 Ray, James, and Jerod helped me load 3 heads in the trunk of my car. I took the 3 heads home and took the valves out of the heads. There were different style valves, different springs, and different conditions from useless to excellent. This is evidence of past maintenance and limited availability of parts. One head was excellent. The seats in the head were excellent and the valves were excellent. I ground the valves, reassembled and painted it. The other 2 heads were pretty rough so I took all 3 back to the museum hoping to find 2 more excellent heads. There were no heads any better in the freight house, so again I came home with the 3 next best heads. I took the bare heads to Jeff Gardner at Gardner competition engines. Jeff is a friend of mine and agreed to grind the valve seats in the 3 heads as a contribution to the museum. THANKS JEFF. The valves are over 8 inches long and were too big for anybody's valve grinding machines. I called my friend George. George has a machine shop in his garage and builds 7.5 inch locomotives, steam, gas and electric. George put the valves in the lathe and a small grinder on he tool holder. He resurfaced the best 8 valves. Eight were needed and we used the best 8. The rest of the valves from 2 other heads are too rough to be used. As it turned out 2 of the heads from Jeff were in better shape. Out of the Whitcomb parts in the freight house we were able to rebuild 3 heads required for the engine.

The Air system

The Leroi engine has a seventh cylinder That acts as an air compressor. Because I overhauled the brake controller and installed new copper air lines to the new air gauge, I asked James if he would run air to the air tanks and see what happened. One snowy day in early March, James got the air compressor out and put 30 pounds of air in the locomotives air tanks. James found a few air leaks with his hearing and feeling with his hands. A few joints were tightened up and the system held air pretty well. We worked the brake handle. The red needle in the air guage showed air pressure in the brake cylinders. Working the clutch pedal sounded like it was doing something but the clutch cylinder seems to be stuck. The brake cylinders that move the shoes are stuck also; But it was thrilling to see something operational on the loco after 40 years of not running.

Feb 2008 update

After Ray and I removed the last engine block, the crankshaft turned a little bit. My goal at the end of stage 1 was to turn the engine (just a crankshft now) over with the starters. The main bearings have to be dry of oil. I want to get some oil to them. I took empty 2 liter Pepsi bottles and hooked plastic oil lines to them. I connected the lines to the oil fittings on the side of the engine. The oil went in the motor, Im not sure that it got to the main bearings.
Other things that got done were that I found an 2 and 5/8 inch ammeter that fit in the dash (it is separate and larger than the dash gauges). I ran 10ga wire from the battery to the ammeter. I got 2 battery cables from the freight house and put them through the dash. The ends need drilled for a larger hole. I used some 3/8 copper tubing from the freight house and flared the ends and connected the air pressure gauge to the main tank. James is going to check for leaks in the air system in the spring. The starter switch on the dash was wired to the starter solinoids. I used the extension cord from the frieght house and used my 4.5 inch electric grinder to remove the old rusted off headlihgt bolt. I got an old 11 inch headlight and put a 12v sealed beam lamp in it. A row of light switches that I thought was OK turned out to be rusted to pieces. I got new toggle switches to replace them.

Hood Lock Rods

I thought it was a good idea to have some way to lock the engine bay access doors on the side of the hood. I decided to put 3 eye bolts on each side of the hood and make a piece of pipe that would go through the eye bolts with a lock on one end. This pipe blocks the engine bay access doors from opening. I looked at many eye bolts trying to find ones that were not too large and not too small. I finally decided on an eye with a 3/8 threaded bolt on it.I was thinking of drilling 3 holes on each side of the hood for the eyes As it turns out there was a 3/8 bolt holding the hood together close to the spot that wanted the eyes. I removed the 3/8 bolts and substituted the eye bolts. I bought 2 pieces of 3/8 pipe and had them cut and threaded at 8 foot 4 in. I flattened one end of the pipe and drilled a hole for the lock. James found 2 locks at the station that I can use. I know that we are going to have a bunch of money in the motor and lot of hours of hard work. I feel better already that the engine bay is locked up.

Starting Motors

The 1500 cu LeRoi engine has two 12 volt electric starting motors. The motors are about a third larger than typical tractor starting motor. The distance between the mounting holes is 5 inches, normal tractor motors is 3.5 in. Originally we could not find any staarting motors from the locomotive or the spare engine. I took measurments from the mounting holes and searched electric motor rebuilders. I had no luck. Ray contacted Roger and he said he had 2 good starters. I got one rebuilt starter from Roger and a box of starter parts. I made another starter from the parts. I had to have some bushings machined to match one starter to the Leroi engine. The Delco number on the older starter is 412. The delco number on the newer starter is 1109889. They are clockwise rotation, 12 tooth, direct drive starters. I believe a brand new updated starter could be found for about $ 200. I contacted several after market starter manufacturers listed on the internet but they could not cross reference our Delco numbers and were not willing to open boxes and check measurements against my list. One starter bolted right in and the other has some clearence problems. I may have to re-orient the case at a later date.