1938 John Deere B

[706 Farmall]

Does anyone have tips or suggestions for fitting Babbit bearings to crank on John Deere B. The tractor would run, I took it apart due to a cracked head. Some one had let it freezeup which caused a piece of the head to break out. I maged the block and it is OK. The rod on the flywheel side was very tight. I cleaned the crank journals up with fine paper. the shims are not the same thickness on both sides of the rod. Thanks

 

[Patsdeere]

Trial and error. Obviously you'll need more shims if it is tight.

 

[greenmech]

You should even out the shims. The theory is to take out shims till it gets tight and then add one to each side. Ron Mn

 

[BushogPapa]

If you had to use "Fine Sandpaper", I would get me a sheet of Crocus Cloth, tear off a strip the width of the Journal, wrap a typical COTTON Clothes Line around the Journal several times, add a few drops of oil and SPIN that Crocus cloth for at least 10 minutes..!!

You cannot take much off with the Crocus Cloth, but it WILL Polish out the sanding marks...

Clean it up and re-assemble.. be sure to oil that Bearing..

Babbitt Bearings will tolerate a lot of "out-of-Round" on the Journal..set the bearing clearance to be a little "Close" at the tight side...that is about all ya can do..