Early Ford V-8 Club Forum

EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Main Bearing and Rod Stud Castle Nut Pins.

Reply to Discussion | New Discussion << previous || next >>

Posted By Discussion Topic: Main Bearing and Rod Stud Castle Nut Pins.     lazy69ranch 01-27-2015 @ 7:15 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 50 Joined: May 2012 I removed the oil pan from a 59A to inspect the condition of the bearings, etc. and noticed that there are no cotter pins passing through the castle nuts and studs to prevent them from backing off. Should I freak out and then put some pins in or is this common? This message was edited by lazy69ranch on 1-27-15 @ 7:16 PM lawrie 01-27-2015 @ 11:14 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 28 Joined: Oct 2012 If they are torqued up they won't come undone. Lawrie 42wagon 01-28-2015 @ 3:19 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 584 Joined: Oct 2009 If you think that having a belt, plus suspenders, plus a rope to hold your pants up is a good idea by all means put in the cotter pins. Me belief is Henry put holes in for cotter pins for a reason. I don't think it can hurt to put them in and it just may save you from having a loose castle nut bouncing around in the oil pan doing who knows what to your engine. len47merc 01-28-2015 @ 6:02 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1165 Joined: Oct 2013 Assuming you are referring to the connecting rod nuts it is surprising no cotter pins are evident. IMHO for peace of mind I'd not reassemble it without having them installed (according to the '42-'48 Shop Manual part number 352250-S if you can find and prefer NOS). If you are referring to the main bearing cap nuts as well as the oil pump support bolt, safety wire should have been (and should be) used in those locations. Steve This message was edited by len47merc on 1-28-15 @ 4:17 PM Drbrown 01-30-2015 @ 9:52 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 563 Joined: Nov 2013 len47merc: Do you know of any illustrations showing how the mains should be wired ? len47merc 01-31-2015 @ 6:17 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1165 Joined: Oct 2013 On the bottom right of page K-23 of my copy of the '42-'48 Shop Manual (ENGINE AND TUNE-UP section) is Fig. 59 which shows how all the flathead main bearing caps that I have worked on were wired (figure 8 pattern). A 'safety wire' tool works best - be sure to tighten the wire in the direction/on the side that pulls the side of the castle nuts in their 'tightening' direction. If you don't have one they are readily available in acceptable quality, and faily affordably, from Amazon. Steve This message was edited by len47merc on 1-31-15 @ 6:18 AM supereal 01-31-2015 @ 11:53 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 6819 Joined: Oct 2009 Ford used both castle nuts with cotter pins and self locking nuts. If yous don't have the pins, it is likely they are self locking, or whomever last worked on the engine was sloppy. kubes40 01-31-2015 @ 2:07 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 3370 Joined: Oct 2009 RE: Connecting rod and main bearing cap nuts: Often folks misinterpret what a "castle" (slotted hex)nut is vs. a Marsden nut. A slotted hex nut requires a cotter pin. Yes, they are utilized for good reason. Marsden nuts, VERY often found (authentically) in post '42 engines do not require any type of safety wire nor cotter pin. Rebuilding these engines now, I always utilize self locking nuts on the connecting rods which, just as the name implies, do not require any type of wire nor pin. If you have slotted hex nuts, do yourself a favor and install cotter pins. On the main bearing caps I safety wire them as authentic IF slotted nuts were used. But again, if Marsden nuts were originally in there, I simply use them. That number 352250-s mentioned previously is a cotter pin. Why anyone would search out NOS is beyond my imagination. Drbrown 01-31-2015 @ 9:53 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 563 Joined: Nov 2013 len47merc: Thanks, found the diagram in my manual. Saw one of those special wiring pliers on the bay very recently. len47merc 02-01-2015 @ 5:24 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1165 Joined: Oct 2013 Consistent with both supereal's & kubes40's comments, when I opened my '47 59AB I found the connecting rod caps were secured with Marsden nuts, thus no cotter pins. The main bearing caps were castle nuts wired as described. I have seen examples of pre-'46 connecting rods with both Marsen nuts and castle nuts w/pins, so when lazy69ranch mentioned no cotter pins were evident the assumption was his connecting rod caps were secured with castle nuts. Shouldn't have assumed that - good observation by kubes40. The reference to the cotter pin part number was provided as reference only as it is listed in the shop manual and from the number one can find what size and part description the engineers originally intended for the part, which was 'Cotter Pin, Special 7/64" x 11/16"'. Likely be a red herring search if you went after NOS, but at least with the part number you can be certain of the minimum correct size and not over or undersize the pins, if they were required, and lazy69ranch had none to compare with. Steve This message was edited by len47merc on 2-1-15 @ 5:45 AM

<< previous || next >>

NOTE: YOU MUST BE A REGISTERED USER AND BE LOGGED IN TO POST (and reply to) messages in this forum. If you are a first time user, please click the CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT in the masthead above to register and Log In. After that, all you do is LOG IN to enjoy using this site.

DISCLAIMER: The V-8 Club does no independent testing of any of the opinions, thoughts or suggestions presented in the website on the Forum, in the Tech Tips section, or any section. A reader should consider the website to be a forum wherein differing solutions to a particular set of circumstances may be discussed. Ultimately, the selection of an item for an individual's vehicle must be based upon the independent study of the vehicle owner in consultation with people in the hobby and restoration experts.

EFV-8 Club Forum Home | Back to Home Page | Contact the Webmaster

Copyright © 2009 - EFV-8.org
Powered by < CF FORUM > v.2.1