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16H WD main bearings

Submitted by russ_payne1 on Tue, 09/05/2023
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Thanks to all who contacted me ref Domi 88 advance/retard plea - solved very quickly by keen NOC member, and that engine is almost finished now.

This one is about 16H main bearings - I have two WD engine "projects" on the bench and am struggling to find latest specs for main bearings.  Norvil say "two rollers, one ball race" but the wreckage on the bench from the original engines tells me I need a double ball-race aka 'thrust race' on the drive side (or two in series) and a single roller on the timing side, which makes sense to me.

I also notice that big-end bearings are becoming hard to track down. I'm trying to buy a NOS WD assembly from France, which sounds somewhat desperate to me.  Who in the UK is making them now? 

 

Submitted by neil_wyatt on Wed, 10/05/2023

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I got a new big end bearing for mine from Apha Bearings a couple for years ago.

Submitted by andrew_sharp on Wed, 10/05/2023

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Hello

The parts list says 3 ball bearings i.e. 2 drive side,1 timing side. They probably did that to simplify repair and parts stocks, also I don't suppose they expected them to last 80 years. I recently rebuilt mine and used a roller on the drive side, as per the civilian engines, just because I feel happier with it.

There is a big end for sale on ebay at present that looks like an original

regards Andrew

Submitted by russ_payne1 on Wed, 10/05/2023

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Thanks - yes, the WD version has a double ball-race on the drive side - from the wreckage I see it had two rows in one race, so one physical part, effectively.  I can't find those anywhere, so will simplify to a traditional single ball/single roller set up I think and shim it all to centralise the rod.

 

(and yes, I'm bidding on the EBay big-end!)  

Submitted by richard_payne on Wed, 10/05/2023

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The factory records refer to Hoffmann bearings being specified for the WD16H. They used 3x of the self-aligning variety. This was from initial production in 1936 onwards, at which time engines seem to have been of the same standard as civilian production.

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Submitted by niall_topping on Wed, 10/05/2023

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As far as I know it should  be  a roller on either side plus an extra ball race on the drive side to control the end float.

Submitted by russ_payne1 on Wed, 10/05/2023

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Niall - your suggestion sounds good, as I won't have two thrust races fighting each other, and yet two races  (one ball, one roller)  on the drive side will limit crank bending, which is what I think the original double-bearing config was trying to do.

Submitted by russ_payne1 on Sun, 14/05/2023

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I love the fitting advice David has posted - emery down the mainshaft to make the bearing a light interference.....my father, long since departed, was a master of what he called 'fitting' and would do anything needed to get a decent fit, but he was raised as a teenager in the army in the closing stages of WW2, as a tank/lorry driver & mechanic and later in North Africa a rider of the WD 16H. He was definitely well educated there.  

Is 'fitting' a lost art now(apart from us)? 

 

 


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