BACON-RIND AUTO BEARING

[dibarlaw]

Going thru some of my old books I came across MAKE IT YOURSELF a compilation of how-to items from Popular Mechanics circa 1927 and earlier. Just recalling the fine time had on the Pre-War after tour. The one unfortunate incident was when Dandy Dave lost a bearing on the Chartruse Lady. The 5 mile flat tow back to the motel was an adventure in itself! Wonder if Dave has ever heard of this home/farm remedy?

A Bacon-Rind Auto Bearing

When a tourist burns out two connecting rod bearings, 40 miles from a town where repairs can be made, it is quite a temptation to ride on slowly risking greater damage to the engine.

Being in such a predicament recently, and not having any repair parts so that I could do the repair at once, the most promising emergency repair which occurred to me was to use a piece of ordinary bacon rind as I well remembered how hard and tough this became when cooked. A strip about 2in. wide and 12in.long, was hammered flat to drive out as much grease as possible, reducing it to a hard, tough piece. This was cut into a number of smaller strips just large enough to replace the babbitt burned from the bearings. They were carefully fitted in place and the connecting-rod caps drawn up tight. After replacing the oil pan and oil. I started the motor and no knock of any kind was noticeable. I drove to the nearest town, but not finding the condition any worse, decided not to put new bearings in there. Since that, I drove the car over 5,000 miles with these bacon-rind bearings without experiencing any trouble. _____ H.G. Borland, Asheville, North Carolina

It would be hard enough to find someone within 40 miles to redo bearings on my 1925.(more like 400 miles now) but I know of a "hog finishing farm" just outside of town........

[Bob Engle]

The old babbit bearings were tough. You would never get by with an emergency repair on insert bearings. I scraped a number of babbit bearings in the navy while waiting for time to make a proper repair. We scraped the bearings and packed them with graphite packing pounded down into thin sheets.

I have trouble understanding why so many people want to convert the old engines to insert bearings rather than just rebabbit the rods and main inserts. The cost is higher to do all the machine work for inserts.

Bob Engle

[Brian_Heil]

Mmmmmm Bacon!

Somewhere I read a story where they drained the pan on a Model T tipped it on its side. Used leather from a belt Replaced the pan an oil and continued on.

On one of the first tours I was on, a fellow Buick owner lost a rod bearing. He pulled the rod and piston and the two push rods and toured on 5 cylinders for the rest of the week.

[tblack]

Never heard of bacon as a bearing but have heard of the leather belt repair...back in 1967 when my I bought my 1931 chevy my Father did not share the same enthusiam for old cars as I and he warned that even though the car sounded good that someone may have "shoed" it together for a trade in. Shoeing together for him meant disguising a bad bearing with a shoe leather repair. I guess this could be a fairly common practice as the repair would usually last longer than a 30 day warranty!! Mine fortunately was not found to be in this condition.

[trp3141592]

Hi,

What one can do at the side of the road is a matter of motivation, necessity, and lack of an acceptable alternative. In the 30's my dad frequently rode from Madison, WI, to Green Bay, WI, on his Indian motorcycle. During one trip a wrist pin sheared off in a piston, making the bike un-ridable. At the side of the road he fashioned a replacement from a broom handle and successfully completed his trip home. I don't know if he ever made a "proper" repair or not.

--Tom

[Guest shadetree77]

Necessity is the mother of invention. To go with the bacon, ever hear of putting eggs in a radiator to temporarily seal leaks? Wonder if there are any other food based quick fixes for automobiles?

[Dandy Dave]

When I was a young un we would sometimes use egg whites to seal a cracked and leaky head on an old and tired one lung gas engine that had been subjected to Frostitis at some point in it's life. You would have to get the water good and hot to the point of boiling and then drop the whites in it. It would stop up the leak as long as it was an external crack and not in the combustion chamber. Not sure how perminent the repair was, but it would have work long enough to get a job done in the old days.

Another quicky repair I have seen for radiator leaks is Black Pepper.

Leather for rod bearings. Tough stuff. An old buddy of mine once told me back in the thirtys he used a piece of leather in a car for a rod bearing and drove the car for a year that way. After that he finnally traded the car in with the leather still in it. I had a bad Rod bearing in a small one lung engine years ago and ran leather in it for several shows, and it worked OK. In later years, while in High School, I made a bronze bearing for it. Also, I had a Cat 1935 ish model 50 Bulldozer ( Forunner of the D-7) at one point in time that was in a bad position with a Rod knocked out. A piece of leather got it out of where it was and got it around the tractor parade for a few years. A friend of mine and I finnally did pour a babbit bearing for it. The leather was still good even after several years of being in the tractor. I must admit, I was afraid to put a load on it moving dirt with the leather bearing, so I just saved it for the parade ride. The old cat is in Honeyoye NY at Jeff Huffs Vintage Tracks Museum. However, his guys don't have the canollies to start is as you have to stand on the crank to get it fired up.

A link to Jeff's Museum. Would be a nice destination to visit on tour sometime. Dandy Dave!

http://huffequipment.com/vintage.htm

[60FlatTop]

You know, some one those stories might be a little second handed and I can draw you pictures of the guys who told them in these parts.

Today they document the stories differently, but a sprinkling of the old BS always leaves its flavor:

(Is that Georgia?)

Bernie

Edited December 28, 2013 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[Bill - 29 Buick]

I lost the babbit on one rod on the 29 Roadster about 50 miles from home on the way to the cottage. I limped into a friends and we proceeded to change the rod (I carry a spare) and was back on the road in 3 hours - with a million oil drips on me. Had the engine re-babbited and did an extra 2 rods just in case.

Bill McL

[herm111]

I was wondering about where the Becon Rind came from.

Is that something one carries in the tool box, or that you would need running shoes for the up coming hog lot Rodeo?

Edited January 4, 2014 by herm111 (see edit history)

[Dandy Dave]

The guy must have broke down next to a hog farm Herm. Every little country store had stuff that you cannot buy today. So who knows. Dandy Dave!

[ol swede]

I have heard stories of a shoe tongue being used. I also think we have to remember we are talking about lower rpm engines than what we are using today.

[Guest Bob Call]

I had a couple of uncles that were old time mechanics and I remember them telling of using leather including bacon rind for emergency bearing repairs.

Remember, that pork was the predominate meat in America until after WW II and the rindless, pre-sliced, water logged stuff we get now-a-days came along in the 50's. Until then every store that had any kind of groceries had slab bacon in the form of the full half belly. You bought a piece of the slab and took it home. If it was fully cured it didn't require refrigeration. Come meal time you sliced strips off the piece of slab and if you didn't want the crunchy you cut the rind (skin) off before cooking.

[60FlatTop]

I think you grow hogs like vegetables and you peel the rind off to get the ham fruit. Kinda like growing humans: Bernie

[Guest Renuka]

In working with bearing, falling down of the bearing is can be easily identifiable, Such as red or brown marks in the bearing.

http://www.hrbearings.net/ball-bearings.html

[Restorer32]

Friend of mine had an old car he drove to work. The choke died so he simply rerouted the hose from the windshield washer nozzles to right above the carb and filled the reservoir with gas. A little squirt and she fired right up. Drove it that way one whole winter.

[60FlatTop]

When I was in High School a friend of mine filled his windshield washer reservoir with used oil and piped it to the air cleaner. When the pump jockey was putting the dollars worth of gas we'd smoke things up pretty good.

Bernie

[Dandy Dave]

When I was in High School a friend of mine filled his windshield washer reservoir with used oil and piped it to the air cleaner. When the pump jockey was putting the dollars worth of gas we'd smoke things up pretty good.

Bernie

Kids... LOL. Dandy Dave!