Shane,
Excellent info! Thanks.
Jim Davis
1974 TR6
Fort Collins, Colorado
-----Original Message-----
From: Shane Ingate [mailto:madmax_xx@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2002 11:56 AM
To: 6 Pack
Subject: Pinning thrust washers
All,
Some of you may recall an earlier request of mine; I had heard rumors that
someone was producing a combined thrust washer/big-end bearing that would
solve the problem of thrust washers dropping into the pan.
Alas, I have not turned anything up, though I have found several vendors in
the UK that sell "up-rated" thrust washers (presumably made of a different
material.
Scott Heins here in the USA sells thrust washers made of a bronze-alloy,
which is supposedly better than the stock alloy-on-steel. See his write-up
at http://users.arczip.com/zntech/thrust_washer.html.
I did find an interesting website by Fred Griffiths, who wrote an excellent
article on pinning another thrust washer to the Spitfire 1500 bearing caps.
His article is at:
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Speedway/1080/thrustwasherinstall.html
One advantage of this technique (aside from preventing the thrust washer
from falling out) is that the crank will then bear against a full circle of
thrust bearing surface (like 99% of all other motors). Why Triumph decided
to use just half the bearing surface is beyond me. That gets put into the
stoopid category of why Triumph contracted to Lucas for its electrics (low
bid?). Fred's article makes complete sense to me, and I will probably do
that in my current motor build-up.
For the TR6 novice or those new to the 6-Pack list, thrust washers are a
semicircular washer about 2.5" in diameter that fit at the ends of the
crankshaft, and minimize longitudinal movement of the crank as the clutch is
actuated. With time, the washers wear, and can fall into the oil pan. When
that happens, the crank can then ride directly on the block, causing
considerable damage. The solution is regular careful checking that the
crank freeplay is within the 0.006"-0.014" tolerance. This is easy to do
and instructions how, as well as what to do if the freeplay is excessive,
can be found at: http://triumph.hottr6.com/tr6bearings.html
Shane Ingate in Maryland
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