Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Good advice Ross. But what strikes me as odd is that there does not appear to be any notch in the cap for the bearing shell to lock into. There does not appear to be any substrate metal showing on the shells either from spinning.

Edit: correction, i see in first post of previous page that the cap does have a notch after all.

At this point it is extremely important to check the bearing shell in the ROD.

The spin marks in the cap could be from a PREVIOUS spun rod bearing that was 'fixxed'. i.e. it is possible that a previous 'rebuidler' may have bought only 4 sets of rod bearings and replaced the UPPERS (in the upper rod) only. Thus DEPENDING on the lock for the UPPER shell to keep BOTH the lower and upper from spinning. This was a short cut shyster engine building trick used "back in the day" when money was tite. They could get away with it because it's the UPPER rod shell that takes the greatest beating and very few cars were ever driven much over 10K mles per year.

Looking at the other bearings, they seem to be in good shape. I don't know how i'll shim that main back up in there correctly now that i've messed the shimming material up, but i'll leave that off for now.

I can get something up there to measure that one bearing i could read, it was one of the easy to get to ones, i'm assuming that all the rods would be the same. I'll measure the one i could read.

The engine has 40psi cruising, 10psi hot idle, 20-25psi cold idle. I'm wondering if trash got up in there? The one main i dropped looked great...it was in the middle of the crank. The others i left in place. I cannot just put it back in and plastigauge it? I have to jack up on the crank?

I can tell the bearing used to have a notch to hold it in place on the bad rod bearing. measuring the crank journal there will be a bear, it's right over the frame crossmember.

Also both the upper and lower number 2 rod bearing are pretty well beat. They'll need replaced, and hope that the crank and rod don't eat it again. I'll blow compressed air through the oil hole and make sure it's not plugged, but i think this is damage that was over the long term and finally reared it's ugly head. Luckily the other 2 bearings i've seen so far have looked great. I can re-assemble the other rod bearing, but i'll have to figure out what to do about that shimmed main.

Edit: I found the FM was federal mogul, and the 1535.sb is the part number for a rod bearing for this motor, or was, i don't see it on their site or cross reference any more.

I'm assuming the STO or 030 or whatever it is is the size, i'll plastigauge and reinstall this rod and check another that's easy to get to.

Ross, do you have some spare used rod bearings of different sizes? If you do, i'll gladly buy them and put them in one at a time with pastigauge to see which one is closest. Of course, first i'll mic the rod and post back here.

THe crank MUST be jacked up against the UPPER main bearings to get an accurate reading. Otherwise the plastigauge will be squished out to read a ZERO clearence.

Remeber, that the weight of the crank is DOWN. Down against the LOWER cap shells. Just like if u had the crank held in your hand. It would be forcing against the palms of your hand and not against the clouds. So it has to be jacked against teh upper main shells.

Gotcha...but if the bearing i pulled was in the middle, would it really sag that much between 2 main caps that are still tight? (it's a 9 main engine)

I just thought it was strange is all...can i jack up on the crank on a counterweight next to it or something?

If the ROD journals are scored (not real bad) they can be polished out using 1000 or 1200 grit crockus cloth and some coal oil.

"...but if the bearing i pulled was in the middle, would it really sag that much between 2 main caps that are still tight? (it's a 9 main engine)"

It's not a sagging nor bending issue at all. Think about it as if u are holding the bare crank all by itself out in mid air by 9 hands. The crank is resting in the palm of 9 hands. The palm of the hands is like the the LOWeR main caps. Therfore ZERO clearence between palms of hands and crank.

Now, if u want to pull the crank from the engine, palce the plastigauge in the UPPER main shells (in the block) and then replace caps to measure than every thing would be ok. But that would be one hell of a lot of work.

You got me...i have no idea what coal oil is.

It's going to be hard to polish this one rod mainly because of where it is above the crossmember. But still, polishing what i can get to is better than nothing.


If this repair holds together for a couple seasons and the car doesn't suffer any other major setbacks, i'll send it to Cleveland to get a total rebuild...estimated parts and labor was 3500, but that's top to bottom rings and pistons and valves and valve job and bearings etc etc. Would be worth it and likely the last time the engine would ever need it, plus i imagine she'd run a little stronger with new rings and valve job.

I don't think i was clear either, i want to plastigauge just the one middle main cap that i have out. The others are still there and tight holding the crank up. I'll jack it up near that cap just to be safe.