Just picked these up on TBay. I am pouring bearings for my me and my fathers cars and who knows who eles! Lol! I have a slight understanding on how they work but was looking for more info if one would be kind enough to shed more light. I know that you check the straightness of the rod, what are the steps. Any help or correction is appreciated. Thanks Matt
Mathew, There is one piece missing that you will need. It is the gauge for testing the twist and bend in the connecting rods. It is know as the "sea lion" due to its shape. It somewhat resembles a "sea lion" Both of these tools you bought,are the same thing. The mandrel (round rod bar) is what you clamp the big end of the rod around. Then you will set the gauge (sea lion) on top of the wrist pin in the connecting rod. There are indicator points on the gauge that will touch the machined areas of the main casting. if the rod is twisted or bent only one of the indicators will touch, if it is straight both indicators will touch. I am not at home at this time to take a photo of my gauge (sea lion). Maybe someone will post a photo of one. Once you see the gauge it is pretty self explanatory. These tools are heavy built, so you can bend and straighten the rods while they are on the mandrel. You probably do not need both of the tools unless you want to "machine" one of the mandrels for "undersize rods". The mandrels are nearly always "standard". I saw one set of mandrels for the different undersizes but was unsure if it was a factory item or a shop made set. Nice tool to have. I had it in my "watching" and was the one who posted the question.. and I did not need another one. Good luck with it ..
Does anybody have a "spider" or "sea lion" that they might want to sale?
Wilson never made any under size mandrels for the Rod Alingers, they all were for standard rods.
If you had a bad crank, you bought a new crank and Rods from Ford.
You can not machine the Mandrels as they are hardened, you would have to grind them.
The small Alinger is for Model T standard only, and the large Machine will do Fordson, V-8's, B's, A's, and T's if you have the mandrels, and Indicator's.
I have had about 30 of those machines, you should have them tested for trueness, as cast will change.
Herm.
Bump
Mathew, here are a few pics of my gauge. My gauge had been broken. I re calibrated it so it works fine. Most shop tools can be "self calibrated" if you just think about how to do it. Maybe someone will have one or you could make one yourself from a V-block.
Does anyone have an extra "sea lion" they would sale Matt to complete his set? He will be using them.