Crankshaft Straightening: An Easier Way!

July/August 2001
James Windle 
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4001 Foxrun Road Powhatan, Virginia 23139-4833

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During the winter months here in the East, the weather is not severe, but usually just uncomfortably raw and wet with an occasional short-lived snow for excitement. We are very fortunate to have as a friend and member of the Rockville Field Day Of The Past, Mr. Bill Hoitt, who hosts an informal workshop in one of his warehouses in Richmond during the winter months to keep us acquainted and tinkering with our engines. Some of us bring project engines along, those that have been unusually difficult to figure out or ones that just have too much compression to roll over and adjust by ourselves at home. Having the group of guys together makes it more of an event to get an engine going anyway. Many folks come to watch or just to eat and talk engines. We all pitch in a couple dollars and Bill sends out for food, and some how there is always a surprise cake or pie that appears on the table, too. Our children often come along as well, to sit on their adopted grandpa's knee for the day and enjoy antics of teasing with Ernie and Ralph Unterzuber.

On one of these special occasions, I brought along my project, a 2 HP Domestic engine with a bent shaft on one side that caused the flywheel to wobble in and out at least a quarter of an inch. This wobble was awfully distracting at a show! Well, if you are fortunate enough to have met Mr. Leo Korb at some of the eastern shows, you know well he enjoys a challenge and can't stand to see an engine that doesn't runor worse yet one running poorly! I phoned Leo the night before to see if he was willing to look at my problem and he wasted no time gathering jacks and dial indicators needed the next day for this new challenge. Leo has done this before, so for him it was old hat, I'm sure.

The next day, Saturday, we all met at Bill Hoitt's building, and everyone gathered around for the new crankshaft lesson. We first took the engine off the wagon and set it on the concrete floor beneath the loading dock door. A flat steel plate was placed on top of the bearing and a four-by-four timber was cut and driven tight between the flat plate on the bearing and the concrete lintel over the door. Everything was locked in place now.

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