Pete:
There are indeed two (and only two) thrust washers, one each
side of the rear main bearing saddle (e.g. one on the side towards the
clutch, and one on the side towards the cam drive cover.)
Each thrust washer is SEMI-CIRCULAR, so only 1/2 of the crank
journal is in contact with a thrust washer at a time. This 'feature' has
been widely criticized and is the source of much hand wringing by TR6
owners. Your description is accurate, and is what would be expected
unless the engine has been modified at some point in it's past.
Some TR6 owners have the bearing cap modified, and then pin TWO
ADDITIONAL thrust washers, one on each side of the rear main bearing
cap. These two additional bearings on the cap, combined with the
original two bearings resting on the bearing saddle, make a total of
four semi-circular or two fully circular thrust washers.
To achieve the proper end float, you measure the existing end
float and then measure the thickness of the thrust washers. Then look on
the back of the thrust washers to see the original thickness. You use
these three numbers to compute how much thicker or thinner the thrust
washers should be when new, and then you purchase washers of the correct
thickness to bring your end play into spec. Moss sells several different
thickness, which you can mix and match to bring your end float into
spec.
Cheers,
Vance
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-6pack@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-6pack@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Pete Kronberg
Sent: April 28, 2005 3:28 PM
To: 6pack@autox.team.net
Subject: AGAIN with the thrust washer(s)!?!
Hi Everyone,
<snip>
Measured .009, so it's just starting to go. Now I'm ready to replace!
However, when I pulled the rear main bearing cap and rotated the
crank...I only retrieved 1 of <what I thought were> a pair of washers.
Hmmm...spun the crank, slid the first one back in and around...nope.
That's all I've got in there! To further confuse things, I checked w/
Haynes and Bentley both...they refer to TW in the plural- in text and
pics! So does every reference in 6-pack archives, which I checked
thoroughly before pestering this august body with redundant questions on
a popular subject.
So, I'm looking at this thing, realizing that the TW diameter doesn't
match the bearing cap! It only fits in the block ABOVE the crank! Does
this mean that only half of the crank journal is in contact at a time?
It would seem so...
Now to my question. Does the plural reference mean that you usually
slide more than one of these into place to achieve proper end-float? I'm
pretty sure that this car has never had it's bottom end rebuilt, and it
only has about 81K original miles...
Thanks in advance,
Pete
CF51563U in Vt.
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