RL pinion shaft bushing

[rudy]

hay,
Need help with a 35-36 RL pinion shaft bushing. anybody know were to get a oversize helix reamer? think I need . 879 and will have the taper ground,( thought of using a brake hone and working the front and back and blend the taper) any help appreciated. anybody got a oil dig. of oil flow???? I dident get that far yet. Thanks

[Mike L]

I've done a few VL's with the same style bushing, and I'm just honing them with a straight Sunnen hone with .002" and they work fine. Just give it that .002" clearance, true flywheels, and assemble cases, and just make sure the wheels spin free. If they're a little tight, put some bluing on the bushing and loosen up the tight spots.

[rudy]

Thank you,
I need to make a tool to do a lot of RL and VLs , I am not a motor builter but a toolroom machinest.
does amy
body have the right tool, right now I work were we can make a tool the tenth .0001 tool thanks cool site ,

[Mike L]

If your talking about making a reamer for this bushing think about doing it so it would be piloted off the sprocket side bushing to match up mismatched cases. If you can do this I'd be interested in one.

[Johnny]

Rudy,
The factory specs call for 0.002" clearance at the outboard end of the bushing and 0.0045" at the inboard end. I don't know if 0.002" clearance along the entire bushing would create too much drag or not.
I talked to reamer manufacturers about moifying a standard reamer and about making a custom tapered reamer, but never got any further than that. Mike L is right though, the reamer needs to be piloted off the sprocket shaft bushing.
I have new old stock pinion shafts and bushings if you need dimensions. The bushings were made with a straight bore quite a bit under sized and should be reamed.
Another option is to machine the bushing with the correct taper then hone to fit, but that would take a skilled machinist.
If you end up making the reamers, I would also be interested in one.
BTW, what do you mean "a lot of RL & VL's"??? Sounds like you've been busy collecting more.
Johnny

[rudy]

sorry about the spelling on my last post (bottom of the class of 76), we killed a case of cold ones talking about the pilot,,It dont matter to me if we make a pliot or not, what I need to know if the Vl shaft is .875 dia.( I got all the NOS RL stuff), got a lead on a oversize helx reemer, and work with some of the most skilled old guys around, As for the taper bushing is it to control oil( more to the rods?) Thanks guys

[Mike L]

The VL pinion shaft measures 1". I tend to believe the original specs of .0045 inboard clearance was because they had no real way of piloting the pinion bushing with the sprocket side. The original tapered reamers I've heard of for this process were not piloted. The VL's I've done, I start out with .0005" clearance on the pinion bushing, assemble the case halves with trued flywheels and see if it spins free. So far the ones I've done were smoooth at that .0005" clearance, then I just open them up to the .002" clearance. These all were matched set cases though, not sure how it will be if they weren't matched. I'll soon find out 'cause I have a '36 VLH that are mismatched cases.

[koanes]

Not sure of the year change, but there are two versions of the VL pinion bushing. I thought the earlier version required the taper to allow for better oil supply. The later type was designed to oil much better, with gravity feed holes from the gear case. I measured the bushing in a set of NOS cases, 34 if I recall correctly and found no taper in the bushing. Also, it is possible to hone in a taper with a sunnen type precision hone, but you need a mandrel with two stones as the single stone mandrel will catch the oiling slot and chip the stone on the leading edge, the stone fragments will gouge the bushing. In addition, if you are going to use a pilot, it would be wise to consider the pinion bushing in the cam cover, line reaming from the sprocket shaft race will not guarranty proper alignment of the flywheel assembly to the cover and you will have to open the cover bushing up to get free turning. Mix and match on cases and cover can turn this into a nightmare. The pinion shaft cover bushing location is critical, to ensure proper gear lash from pinion gear to drive cam.

[Steve Slocombe]

I've got what may be an original VL tapered bushing reamer. It came from Carson Little, in Lynchburg VA, when he tossed his old VL tools in a crate of stuff I bought from him before he died. On the other hand, it may just be a worn 1" reamer. It is not set up for a pilot. My repro bushings are taper bored, but probably still need cleaning up after installation. I'm not sure there are two kinds of VL bushing on the timer side. I think the plain ones are meant to have their oil drain holes drilled after installation.

[rudy]

bushing

we are going to ream stright .002 over and try a lap for the taper.