Another question....I read online the rod bearing clearances for the oil dipper 235's should be .001 minimum and .003 maximum.... Yesterday I also read where a couple guys said .001 was way too tight, that it would cause the bearings to "smear" (?). They said .002 or .003 was what you should shim them to. However, another source said that anything .002 or larger could cause a knock. When I shimmed the rods, I did one cylinder at a time (no rings on the piston), then after checking it and re-torquing it, I rotated the crankshaft 1 full revolution to check for binding, and there was no tight spot for any cylinder that I could feel. Also, the bearings looked good after pulling the rods after doing that. They didn't have any fresh scarring on them. I shimmed all my rods to .001, .0015, and .002. (I couldn't get them all the same because on some I ran out of shims to pull, as some had been previously removed).
Then lastly, another source said the dealers back in the day would pull shims until the rod got tight on the journal (Just tight enough that they could knock the rod back and forth with a hammer), then pull shims until the rod could be slapped back and forth on the journal by hand I think. No real measurement there it seems. I did check mine, and I can move them back and forth just a tad by hand. But it's just barely.
So did I do the right or wrong thing? Or am I just reading too much? Also, what is "bearing smear"? Before he died I used to ask my other grandpa questions like this, and he said on the farm they just pulled the engine apart, did what needed done, and stuck it back together to get back in the field. He said they didn't know about all that kind of "fancy stuff", yet they never had an issue. I've heard these stovebolts are pretty forgiving, so hopefully .001-.002 is alright. Thanks!
