White metal casting

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mygoggie

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While working on my Pajero restoration project I ran into an issue where there is a white metal bush found in the extension housing of the transfer case. In my case, this bush is well worn and I need to replace it.

Unfortunately the agents only sell the whole extension housing and not the loose bush. I simply cannot afford the price they are asking as I would rather spend this money on an aircraft ticket and fly somewhere overseas!  :facepalm:

Here you can see that the bush is formed by casting a white metal lining in a steel casing and cutting slots for oil distribution in the bush.

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I have searched high and low and I can obtain a new bush which, when installed will have a too large ID and not match the splined sleeve to go through it. The only option I therefore have is to cast a new white metal lining for the bush.  Yeah, you are correct it is also know as casting a Babbit bearing!  :thumbs:


The first step for me was to find all the materials I needed to cast a new white metal lining.

Here are most of the things I will need.

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I fortunately was able to source some white metal from an engineering shop. Flux I got from a dear friend, uncle Brian, the stainless steel brush required to clean the inside of the steel casing, bought for a small fortune from Pferd. The tinning solder was an issue as nobody sold 100% tin anymore. I was steered into the right direction on a FB group for metal workers and managed to source 97/3 plumbing solder. This contains 97% tin and 3% copper which is ideal for what I want to do.

The ladle I got on loan from @ghouwens and the tooth brush I had in my stash in the garage.

The next step was to get a flame thrower ...  :flame:

Many moons ago I bought a job lot of gas torches and amongst this was a vintage Cadac gas torch. I dug it out from storage and set out to restore it. It took two evenings as some wise crack decided to fill the valve section with solder ....

Here it is all cleaned up and fully restored. Why do you always require so many tools for such a small job?

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Also required was a new LPG regulator and 3m of LPG hose.  This was bought and I assembled the whole setup during the past few days.

The very last outstanding part was the steel casing holder so that I can cast the white metal into a stable and well clamped casing.

It was time to stand back and let Brain do some thinking! I will support him with some coffee!

:coffee: :coffee:



 
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