Contributions from Drivers and Mechanics.
Page 19
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Ten Shillings Weekly for the Best Communication Received, and One Penny a Line of ten words for anything else published.
Drivers of commercial motor vehicles and tractors, and mechanics and foremen of garages or shops, are invited to send short contributions on any subject wh.ch is likely to prove 0/ interest to our readers. Lon.4,, and successful runs ; services with 117 " lost journeys" ; workshop tips and smart repairs : all are suitable subjects. Send a post-card, or a letter, or a sketch to us—no matter how short, or how written, or how worded. We will " knock it into shape" before publication. When writing you must mention your employer's name as a guarantee of bona fides (not for publication), and you should state whether you wish your own name, or initials only, to be published. Payment will be made immediately after publication. Address your letters to 1 he Editor, " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR," 7.15, Rosebery Avenue, London, E.C.
.Rapid Replacement.
[529] " J.R." (Preston) submits the following communication.' I am taking the liberty of sending you a report of a repair I did on a Leyland wagon on the road. Some . drivers usually run down Leyland wagons on account of the engines being underneath the platform and being awkward to repair in case of breakdowns. A few weeks ago I was driving my wagon and trailer, both laden with machinery, when I beard a severe knocking in my engine. I drew to the side of the road, took the engine cover off and found that the crankshaft pinion was broken. I was three miles from a station, but there was a telephone call office close by, so I telephoned to Leyland Motors, Limited, for a new wheel. In the meantime I took the crankshaft bearings off and uncoupled the connecting rods, took the crankshaft out and removed the broken wheel. I was six miles from Leyland. Mien the new wheel arrived it fitted so accurately that I had no trouble in putting it on, thanks to Leyland Motors, Limited. There are four bolts and two set screws to fix it on. and from the time of telephoning to getting on to the road again I was only an hour and forty minutes."
Doctoring a Leaky Hand-hole seating.
The sender of the following communication has been awarded the los. prize this week.
[530] " R.J." (Westbury) submits for publication on this page a description of the way in which, be dealt with a leaky hand-hole seating on the boiler of his tractor.—" I enclose a rough sketch We have redrawn this. • En.] which shows the means I adopted to effect a repair on a tractor. Through careless handling of the bridges and through misplacing of the door, the front tube-plate had gradually become distorted round the hand-hole which is situated immediately over the top row of tubes. The seating for the cover was bent outwards so badly that it became impossible to make anything like a steam-tight job. A. new joint would stand for no time. An engineer had condemned it, and we were to have had a new tube-plate fitted, but, as a matter of fact, there was nothing the matter with it, excepting the bend in question. While we were waiting for the new plate an urgent. order was received, and my master asked me to fix up some sort of a joint if I could do so, even if it only lasted for one trip. I started off with an ordinary joint screwed up in position, but this soon blew out. I made several other attempts to tighten things up, but I eventually decided on the following plan, and, moreover, put it successfully into practice. I had a stout ring knocked up to fit over the inspection hole; it was of such a shape as to bear firmly all round the bent edge. I had this job done at a blacksmith's shop close at hand. I managed to get the door off, although it was very hot, and I then carefully fitted the ring to the outside of the plate. The ring was made of half-inch stuff, and I had to .cut away that amount from each end
of the bridges. The ring was next fastened to the bridges by means of studs, to make it an easy matter to assemble the new arrangement. I then put the joint on -to the door, put the door in place, and drew it up into its position by 'means of the bridges and the ring. As I tightened up the nuts the ring gradually flattened out the tube-plate, and the door was pulled up tight to the face. The result was an absolutely tight joint."
The Piston Rod was Too Long.
[53I] " YORESHIREMAN " (Keighley) relates an experi ence of his I recently came across a driver whose steam wagon was badly disabled with a broken piston and piston rings; the connecting rod was also badly bent. This man told me that a similar mishap had occurred to him several times previously, but that he had been unable to ascertain the cause. I offered him my assistance which he gratefully accepted. A short examination sufficed to show that the connecting rod was seven-sixteenths of an inch too long. I found this out by sliding the piston backwards and forwards while the rod was disconnected and by scribing the rod at both extreme positions; I then made similar measurements with the rod coupled up in the ordinary way. I discovered that in the latter case the piston touched the cover at the far end and gave seven-eighths of an inch clearance at the front end. I had seven-sixteenths turned off the rod which I calculated should give the correct clearance at each end of the cylinder. When we coupled up again, after having fitted the new parts carefully, the engine ran under its own steam without a symptom of a knock. The driver told me afterwards that the rod which had come to grief had been made for him, as a replacement, by a small garage, the owners of which evidently did not understand the job. I have always found a Fastnut washer better than a split pin for the nuts of piston rods."