Thanks for expanding on that.  I was wondering what exactly was the issue with the pony crankshafts and excessive end play.  Great to know there’s a good way to deal with that during rebuild.  

Hey trainzkid, am I understanding correct that you’re saying that the pony crank will slop forward and back enough to continue damage while the motor is at rest and the machine is working ?  And therefore wedge it snug while operating?  

neil wrote:

What trainzkid is referring to is something a couple of us have done, which is to make an improvement to the bearing arrangement for the pony's crankshaft. End float from the factory is controlled by locating the two main bearings using drilled holes in the main bearings and dowels to locate the bearings. This is a poor design approach and is responsible for many crankshaft woes. What I did based on another member's tactic was to machine the crank and the adjoining crankcase flanges to accept a thrust washer (bronze in my case). In this way, axial float is maintained much more reliably and last much longer, and removes any reliance on the dowels which now only have to prevent main bearing rotation in the case bore. If you find that you need to machine the crank, I'd recommend doing this at the same time as it's not a lot of extra effort (I think my guy said it was an hour or two of machinist time) and the only parts are the two thrust washers. The key factors are to take all measurements with new gaskets in place on the crankcase cover and bolted down to torque specs, and the crank must be correctly centered between the two cylinder bores so the correct amount of material can be removed from each side of the crank, and from each face of the crankcase and the crankcase cover. Other than that, the two crank bearings are shortened a tad so they do not bear on the thrust washer, and then you're off to the races. There may be some photos in a thread of mine on the forum here somewhere

Neil,
Do you have some sketches or photos of your improvement?  Sounds like a good fix for the smaller ponies and would be an interesting article for the magazine.  Just trying to give you some extra tasks!!  

 

yes. exaclty that. that flywheel is heavy. and as it inline with the machine it will flog around. and as its only alu/tin material its not that strong and only dowel pins hold em it not a great design.

and yes neil did post pics of the job underway. i cant remember a title for the thread though.

and i know the end result of the end play issue as the pony on our d4 went rattle stop. and shattered 8 of the 16 teeth on the magneto gear and bent the armeture. i decided to do a pilot ngine conversion after i looked at the cost of a rebuild. i did sell the remains to another acmoc member who has been able to do something with them.

hindsight i should have rebuilt it as the project has ballooned out with unforseen costs. and yes i need to pull the finger out and finish it and also post about my adventure.

Well I went over and worked on the D2 today and I’ve got a great report!
I cracked open the plug on the diesel crankcase and let a little out, no water! Oil looks decent. I checked the oil bath main filter and it looked great.
I got the starter pinion released.
I had already changed the oil in the pony motor.
I put fresh oil in the pony air cleaner.
I put the pony’s fuel system back together with a freshly cleaned tank, rebuilt shut-off valve, and new hoses.
She popped on the third pull! It took maybe 8 or 10 more, but was soon running strong. As others have said, it likes a particular choke setting, about half way, but then it would go flat out, and I could also idle it down. The seller came running out and I think he was as excited as I was!
I couldn’t resist engaging the pinion and spinning up the diesel. Oil pressure came right up, and she spun real nice. I spun it for just a few minutes, and then shut the gas off and let it run out.
What a great day!
Next time I’ll finish draining all the diesel from the tank & tower, put new filters & fuel in, bleed it all real good, and see if she’ll fire up!
All the info I’ve gained right here, along with the squatch you tubes, has really set me up for success so far with my new project. Thanks so much everyone!

Exciting! I always love it when the pony wants to "talk back" when you pull the rope or hit the button. Seems though all ponies have a sweet spot on the throttle/choke controls.
My favorite is on a 7U here, it will idle at extremely low RPM and reminds me of an old Harley!
Keep us posted on your D2 adventure. Thanks. JM

Once again, thanks to everyone for all great advice and tips!
Today I finished draining the old diesel, flushed out the tower, and put in new filters. Everything looked real good in there actually, obviously previously well maintained. I used the inner-tube clamped on the fuel filler trick with my Milwaukee cordless tire inflator to bleed the fuel system.
The pony started on the first pull! I spun the diesel up, and went through all the bleeders again. After warming it up, I started putting the fuel to her, she wanted to go, but it took a few attempts before she finally came to life! Now I know why people fall in love with these things! It smoothed right out and sounded great.
I had soaked the shifter parts real good with Kroil, and with a few taps of the dead-blow it came free and worked loose. I was able to drive it around, up and down, and everything worked! Now to haul her home.
One item I noticed that concerns me, a little oil weeping out the head gasket on the left side. Hmmm.

might take up with use. you could also pull the rocker covers and just check the bolt tension.

"might take up with use. you could also pull the rocker covers and just check the bolt tension."

Wanting to be optimistic, this is what I was thinking. I will check the head torque, and keep an eye on it to make sure I don't see signs of oil/water getting mixed up.

I don't know why I said left side, it's the right side.