Hi all;

We are doing in-depth maintenance on an old tender that we have.

What is the diameter of hole that should be drilled for brake pins? What is the diameter of these pins? I'd assume that one would want a shake fit, but without too much lost motion.

I have measured some holes, and all come in the range of about 1.1" to 1.3". All of the pins are worn, so that is not much help, either.

I understand that there are AAR specs for all of this. Can anyone point me to it?

Apologies for the most likely wrong terminology.

John Stewart
Ottawa.

luigi@mainframe.dgrc.crc.ca

The usual way to deal with worn brake-rigging pins and bushings is to equip yourself with the catalogs of suppliers of hardened pins and bushings, and hope that you find something that will fit your brake rigging without too much welding and reaming. If I remember correctly the principle suppliers are ExCellO, Hamady, and Power Parts, with considerable price differences on some items. There may be local and Canadian suppliers, too. In my experience off-the-shelf parts could be found for about three quarters of the applications on passenger cars, with maybe less luck on old steam engines.

Aarne Frobom
The Steam Railroading Institute
P. O. Box 665
Owosso, MI 48867-0665

froboma@mdot.state.mi.us

>If I remember correctly the
> principle suppliers are ExCellO, Hamady, and
> Power Parts, with considerable price
> differences on some items. There may be
> local and Canadian suppliers, too. In my
> experience off-the-shelf parts could be
> found for about three quarters of the
> applications on passenger cars, with maybe
> less luck on old steam engines.

> Aarne Frobom
> The Steam Railroading Institute
> P. O. Box 665
> Owosso, MI 48867-0665

Boise Locomotive, through it's subsidiary Power Parts, bought out X-Cell-0 about 6 years ago, and immediately dumped all the drawings, catalogs and specifications for steam loco-related pins and bushings. Thus, giving them an XLO part number didn't do any good at all; you had to supply them with a drawing or with full dimensions and specs, then they'd custom make an excellent quality pin or bushing for you at a VERY high price. Now it should be a subsidiary of Wabtech, but there have been so many corporate changes and selloffs I'm not sure anymore.

The other company is Hadady, which advertises in the trade press.

Don't overlook outfits like Caterpillar and other machinery makers. Their products use a lot of hardened pins and bushings, and some may be near duplicates of the sizes you need.

Old tenders don't have bushings. Drill the mild steel levers 1 1/16" for 1" pins. The holes in the levers and rods can be built up with weld and bored to 1 1/16" on a mill or ground out with a die grinder until the 1" pin slips in. This is very low-tech.

STEAMRR@MASHELL.COM

> Boise Locomotive, through it's subsidiary
> Power Parts, bought out X-Cell-0 about 6
> years ago, and immediately dumped all the
> drawings, catalogs and specifications for
> steam loco-related pins and bushings. Thus,
> giving them an XLO part number didn't do any
> good at all; you had to supply them with a
> drawing or with full dimensions and specs,
> then they'd custom make an excellent quality
> pin or bushing for you at a VERY high price.
> Now it should be a subsidiary of Wabtech,
> but there have been so many corporate
> changes and selloffs I'm not sure anymore.

> The other company is Hadady, which
> advertises in the trade press.

> Don't overlook outfits like Caterpillar and
> other machinery makers. Their products use a
> lot of hardened pins and bushings, and some
> may be near duplicates of the sizes you
> need.

On a EMD MRS-1 at San Diego Railroad Museum we had that on 3 axle one bushing was turn on the out side, We to a Caterpillar a pick up set one the on outside slight big than EMD part.


owenpaulsen@att.net

> Old tenders don't have bushings. Drill the
> mild steel levers 1 1/16" for 1"
> pins. The holes in the levers and rods can
> be built up with weld and bored to 1
> 1/16" on a mill or ground out with a
> die grinder until the 1" pin slips in.
> This is very low-tech.

This advice is correct. but, if you want to bore or drill out the levers for bushings use a bridgport and make to bushing about .003 larger than the hole in the lever. Make the bushing ID about 1/16 larger than the pin. Bushings and pins can be made out of a low carbon steel like 1020 (most common) but I like 8620 better. You must get them hardened at a local heat treater, found in most large cities. They must be carburized to get a hard skin, and if you use 8620 or equivelent material, it will have a tough core. The 1020 will get the hard skin but will not have a hard core. You do not need to grind the bushing of pins since they have very little movement. The bushings will press into the levers nicely.

fwantz@pressenter.com