Blog

A blog about my the history, acquisition and operation of my 1911 Model 62 Stanley Steamer.

The Dutchmen.

You really have to love the internet because it allows all of us antique car guys to stay in touch. Case in point, I got an e-mail from a fellow named Geary Baese for Ft. Collins CO that brought to my attention there was a more permanent solution to my issues of the piston loosening off. He called it the Dutchmen and below is his description.

"It is tougher to do with the engine in the car but is a real good remedy. Once the front piston half is well torqued to the back half, a small hole, 1/8 -3/16" is drilled at a slight angle between the piston rod and the piston, kind of like the slot in an axle key-way. A hardened steel pin is cut to length and inserted in the hole, or preferably, thread the hole with a bottoming tap and put in an Allen type hardened set screw. Now you have a lock that keeps the piston from rotating on the piston rod. The piston rod nut (if there is one) is then run down to the piston and torqued. To secure it, two center punch dimples are struck on the piston rod or nut next to the threads, unless the hut is hardened. This easily locks the nut since there is no longer any rotating force on it. I prefer aircraft grade high temp locktite and only peening the rod as a last resort. This the most successful and least invasive fix I know of short of redesigning the rod and piston. I have seen it used on locomotives, steam cars, traction engines, stationary engines and saw mills"

The e-mail went on to explore other insights which were all very interesting. Thanks again for the e-mail Geary, keep in touch! 

That darn piston!

I decided to to take the Stanley out on a day trip out to visit the Moon club. It was a  short trip, 35 miles maybe, and would provide a great opportunity to see how the car would perform. It started with a bunch of stray vapor but no issues and seemed to be alright. The pilot was staying lite after some modifications I had done to it which was a real treat. I made it to within a mile of the destination before a a started to hear a slight knocking sound when I was coasting. It seemed that the slower I went the louder the sound got. At first I reasoned it could be something in the pump drive linkage making noise but quickly came to the conclusion that it has to be coming from a much larger source. I finally a arrived at a stop light and when I went to pull away the car made a very distinct noise that I had heard before when one of the pistons had backed off and was hitting one of the plugs!! So that ended my day driving the Stanley and I had to send Ken in his 1912 Oakland back for a truck and trailer.

 I must admit it was a big disappoint to have not made the trip under my own steam. I was luck enough to have invited a close friend for company so at least the 40 minutes of waiting on the side of the road wasn't so bad.

 Once back in the shop, I stripped the engine cover back off, chipped away the RamKote, and opened up the drivers side front bung. Sure enough the piston had backed off almost two full turns!!! That is a lot more the the last time and an issue that needed a permanent remedy. After discussing with Pat Farrell, I decided to put some weld on the top of the rod and peen it over so the piston couldn't unwind itself again. I had attempted to peen the rod over the last time the piston backed off but it turns out that there wasn't enough material sicking out past the piston to hold it. Needless to say after about 7 hours of work spread out over a couple days I had the Stanley all buttoned back up.

  A side note for Stanley owners: It had crossed my mind to just put a bead of weld between the piston and the rod to hold it together. I ran this idea past Pat and he informed me that he had accidentally done that many years ago thinking that it would probably be fine. It lasted about a year before the piston broke apart. We all know the proper way to weld cast iron and if that isn't achievable we just shouldn't do it.