TR2/3/3A Crankshaft Oil Galley Plugs

[mastaphixa]

I'm preparing a Tr3 crankshaft for delivery to the machine shop for evaluation and inspection. I want to remove the oil galley plugs from the crank, and I know I have seen that mentioned in threads before but I'll be darned if I can find them now. Am I off base just taking the crank to the machine shop and asking them to accomplish whatever work is required, remove the plugs and provide me with new plugs, so I can make sure everything is squeaky clean before the plugs are reinstalled?

 

[TR4nut]

That’s what my machinist did for me - in fact he refused to do the work unless he pulled the plugs to make sure everything was clean. He did not reinstall the plugs but it was pretty easy to find suitable ones at McMaster Carr.

 

[CJD]

Are you talking about the aluminum plugs at the ends? The shop can easily remove them for you, and chase the threads for you. I doubt they will have the replacement plugs, so you would have to supply those. They are now a “specialty” item as the world has left us behind another year today!

 

[mastaphixa]

Actually I was talking about the plugs in the crank throws (I was unaware there were plugs in the ends.) I suppose re-balancing is called for after installation of the replacement plugs.

 

[TR4nut]

It’s a good idea I think to balance everything regardless. Not a lot of money and gives you a smooth running engine.

 

[mastaphixa]

I have successfully removed the soft aluminum galley plugs from my crankshaft. A friend of mine machined three drill bushings that really helped with the process. I ran across a video showing a machinist removing the "sludge plugs" from a crankshaft that looks an awful lot like the plugs in our crank shaft:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKstqVicgZA

I will make a second reply to this thread to include some more pictures and a copy of the drawing I made to develop the drill bushings.
Steve Baker

 

[mastaphixa]

No matter what I do, when uploading images, they are not placed in the order that I want, so the basic process goes like this. I used a counter sink to provide a basic center for the #16 (.177") drill in the first bushing. Drilled that hole, and used the second bushing to step the hole up to 3/8" and the third bushing up to 7/16" That left a thin layer of aluminum I could scour away using a small crimped end wire brush inserted into the plug bore. After almost all the aluminum m was removed, a scribe was used to pick the remaining aluminum out of the threads, followed by a 1/4" tapered pipe thread tap to clean things up. A new steel or aluminum plug can now be threaded in to the existing threads after the machine shop is done with the dirty work and before balancing. I include a drawing I used to develop the drill bushings.

 

[CJD]

Interesting...thanks for posting!