Crossed Again
Finished making the support brackets for the crosshead and front brake hangers. I will provide pictures soon. After I completed that portion I thought things would finally be moving along. I was anxious to start on the valve gear, so the next step was to mount the crosshead slide on the newly made support bracket. Then the old saying rose it's head... Something about taking one step forward and 3 back.
As I attempted to install the crosshead slides (which connect to the rear cylinder head and the support bracket), I found out that the front connecting rods stick out 1/8" into the path of the crosshead slide. What a depressing moment. I had visions of ripping everything apart and starting from scratch. After a couple days of deep thought I finally came up with a quick and relatively easy solution. Basically, what I did was modify the connecting rods, pins and the method I connect them to the drivers. It took a bit of work (like pressing the axles and pins off the drivers, re-machining the pins, drivers and connecting rods, etc.) After it was all done, it all worked fine and looked great.
After that, I started to complete the job of installing the crosshead slide bars. Problem #2... I couldn't get them to slide without binding when attached to the rear cylinder head cover. Shims didn't help either. I realized that the method I used for connecting the piston rod to the piston and crosshead had contributed to this problem. Basically, the movement of the rod was not parallel to the slide. Being that the slide is an alligator type, this made it more critical than a 2 bar slide. So, now I am remaking the piston rods, pistons and re-machining the crossheads. I am using a taper on the crosshead end, will press the rod into the crosshead and use a taper pin to secure. I previously threaded the rod into the crosshead and piston. Improper alignment of the threading process caused most of the problems. On the piston side, I am using a taper and will press the rod onto the piston. I am using a 5/16" nut to secure the rod to the piston....
Finally got the kinks out of the crosshead assemblies. They look nice and work real smooooooth.
