Continuing the maintenance discussion for EMD 567 series engines:

There are still a few 567 "U" Cast Top Deck engines (1938-1940 manufacture) running in the world, mostly in SW-1 switching locomotives. When people go to do work on the engines, they quickly discover that the camshaft bearings are unique to only the 567 "U" engines, and are no longer available anywhere.

The camshaft bearings for the 567 "U" are only lower shells, with no upper bearing shells. The caps serve as the upper bearings, there is very little force loading in that direction.

The only available solution if you need new lower shells is to modify 567C lower shells to fit the 567 "U" application. This could be done by very carefully grinding the locator tangs off the back side of the 567C camshaft bearing lower shells.

For this to work it has to be done without melting the bearing material on the inside of the shell. It requires a very delicate touch with a fine stone on a shop grinder, preferably with a resting bar to steady the shell. The bearing shells need to be wrapped in a soft towel soaked with water, to protect the bearing and conduct the heat away. If the bearing material inside the tangs starts to look like it is melting (gets shiny), immediately stop grinding and let it cool. If bearing material on the inner surface melts, discard the shell and work on another one. The outside surface tangs must be completely removed for the shell to fit the 567 "U" bearing seat.

This operation involves skill and patience and should be done by a competent and experienced person. There is a risk of damaging components if not done properly. What you do with your engine is entirely your own responsibility. If you have no correct bearings it could keep your engine running, but doing it is totally and completely at your own risk.

PC

I can't say that I'll ever use this information personally, but I find it very interesting and useful nonetheless! Do you happen to have any photos of this process to show us exactly what you're removing?

Preston,

Great tip for those running the "U" decks (SP 1006). Does this also apply to the "V" decks (LV 112)?

I'm also thinking that if you have a good machine shop that has a mill/CNC that uses a flood of coolant could carefully carve those tangs off too.

Scott K.
567 V Deck, N.J., for you Howard.

Answering some of the questions:

This only applies to the 567 "U" Cast Top Deck engines. The 567 "V" Fabricasted Top Deck engines can use the subsequent 567A, 567B or 567C camshaft bearings.

Someone could probably devise a machining operation, but most installations involve a single engine and even a set for a 12-cylinder can be done in a couple hours with a grinder.

I will see if I can come up with an illustration.

EMD has never published any modification instruction or work-around for this problem.

PC

Here is an illustration:

567 "U" on top with only the lower camshaft bearing shells. The cap serves as the upper bearing. Note the bearing shells have no positioning tangs.

Later 567 engines on the bottom, with upper and lower camshaft bearing shells. Note the shells have locating tangs on the sides.

This modification involves taking a lower shell as used on the later engines, and grinding the tangs off the sides to make it fit in the bearing support of the 567 "U" engine.

PC

Would the bearing and shell survive wire EDM? Just a plain fixture running electrolyte past the tang, and the wire passed transversely, might get 'most' of the tang off smoothly to simplify finish dressing without heat.

You could also, I think, jig multiple bearings on a length of something like copper pipe, with chilled coolant running through it and some appropriate couplant, maybe computer CPU heat-sink paste, and grind all the tangs quickly and effectively. The question then is how precisely the area of the "tang' has to match the curve of the shell, so as not to induce stress in the bearings as installed and loaded.

I wouldn't think wire EDM would be a problem, there is no heat to speak of, and the flushing is only water. For that matter, it wouldn't be a bad job on a surface grinder, especially one with auto feeds and coolant. Either would avoid the chance of melting the bearing material or gouging the shell.

Dumb question that has never occurred to me until reading this thread. Do EMD camshafts run at crankshaft speed, or at half crankshaft speed like a four stroke engine? Mr. Cook, thank you for posting information like this. I am a real engine (or in this case prime mover) geek, and relish ANY opportunity to learn something new.

The camshafts on the EMD 567 series engines run at the same RPM as the crankshaft.

I will continue to try to post EMD 567 work-around methods for dealing with service problems and unavailable parts whenever people ask about them, causing me to remember them. There a lot of "solutions" that EMD never documented in their publications. I have some of them documented from the old ARM-TRAIN clinic back around 2007. I don't think there has been another 567 clinic since then.

At an LMOA event a few years ago I started talking about some 567 engine issues in the company of several current EMD employees, and they did not seem familiar with the problems and parts substitutions, so I think the 567 knowledge base at Progress / CAT has pretty much retired by now.

Best to get the information into print otherwise it might be lost.

PC

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Looking at the illustration, there’s less meat in the saddle and I wouldn’t trust anyone with a grinding tool on them. With decent maintenance, those bearings should last a very long time. I should think it easier to use a small tool like a Dremel to grind or use a file. The tangs aren’t big.

Preston,

Thanks for the response and I'll look forward to any tips that come to mind to help keep those early 567 running.

Scott K.

I am going to go through the information researched back in 2007 as time allows, to see what other topics might be repeated here. Some of it had dealt with backward compatibility of 645 series parts for use on 567 series engines, that probably deserves another showing. Once every 15 years is pretty sparse coverage for engines as common in preservation as the EMD 567s.

PC