Thread: Railco replaced by bronze bush ?

Originally Posted by gromit

I was stripping down some hubs that came from an ex Military Series IIa and found a bronze bush instead of a Railco bush.

Wondering if this was this available aftermarket or something someone (or the Army) had done ??






Colin

Colin i would definitely use Railco. As you can see the bronze is dry and scored and will have zero ability to absorb shock loads. I would be going back to original bushes.

Jc

I have never seen anything similar to this. I suspect it is something made by someone who had a lathe but no ready source of the correct part, possibly while in army service, but equally likely post this. The problem with it is that as justinc says, it is not going to get lubricated (a sintered bronze bush soaked in oil would be better, but still very temporary. And it would provide little damping. I don't think that absorbing shock loads is in issue, unless this is a reference to damping.

A very different setup to the earlier spring loaded conical bronze bush that was superseded by the Railko setup.

The swivel is too rust pitted to use, it was more out of interest I asked whether they were commonly fitted.
The hub was full of grease, and not a semi-liquid type. Probably indicated a bodge by somebody post Military.

Colin

Actually, thinking about it, it would probably be workable if you drilled the pin and fitted a grease nipple on top!

Originally Posted by gromit

The swivel is too rust pitted to use, it was more out of interest I asked whether they were commonly fitted.
The hub was full of grease, and not a semi-liquid type. Probably indicated a bodge by somebody post Military.

Colin

Most Military workshops had stocks of parts, and replacing the whole thing was commonplace. I doubt very much that it was a Military repair. If it was done in a small workshop it would have been recorded and sent for proper repair at the first opportunity. Of course, it may have been done in Vietnam, but I doubt that it would have survived inspection at a Base Workshop, which most likely would have happened on it's return to Oz. That said, of course the Military was a large and cumbersome organization, so cracks got slipped through.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Actually, thinking about it, it would probably be workable if you drilled the pin and fitted a grease nipple on top!

And then remembered to grease it !

Stripped the other side yesterday and that had a Railco bush so possibly a bodge to get the vehicle moving. Hubs had different studs so certainly a Heinz 57.....


Colin