You think changing your crankshaft is a big job...

[strokie]

Crankshaft exchange on the MS Zaandam cruise ship

 

[Dan]

How would you like to change one of these?

 

[strokie]

I'm curious, how they balance those monster crankshaft?

 

[727]

On the larger crank pictured. If it cant be machined in place they will most likely scrap the ship. These engines run around or below 100 rpm's so its rare that any damage is done.

 

[727]

They do balance them. All the ones I've encountered have critical speed range where they should not be run for extended period due to an imbalance or harmonic vibration.

 

[747mopar]

How would you like to change one of these?View attachment 654683 View attachment 654684

I'd like to see that bad boy fire up with him standing there lol..

 

[strokie]

I'd like to see that bad boy fire up with him standing there lol..

Don't worry, he got a safety helmet...

 

[493 Mike]

I have a newspaper photo somewhere of a container ship crank listing the weight as 275 tons. That's a lot of iron.
Mike

 

[moper]

Cast or forged? lol... I love seeing these things. Absolutely amazing.

 

[MrJLR]

Imagine MAKING a crank that big.....

Jeff

 

[493 Mike]

Imagine MAKING a crank that big.....

Jeff

Man seems to be a very innovative animal!
Mike

 

[727]

Forged!

 

[PeteBell68]

They do balance them. All the ones I've encountered have critical speed range where they should not be run for extended period due to an imbalance or harmonic vibration.

Would love to see that up close getting repaired then running after . What a time consuming job that must be ..

 

[khryslerkid]

I wanted to see how big of a torque wrench they used for the main caps.

 

[khryslerkid]

This one is just an eight cylinder...

 

[mopar 3 B]

Germany right? That old thing still running? Must have millions of hours on it by now.

 

[khryslerkid]

Germany right? That old thing still running? Must have millions of hours on it by now.

Built in 1932 !

 

[Darius]

I would like to see JUST the starter motor for that thing!

 

[Cranky]

There were several large gas fired (nat gas) engines in the refinery when I hired in and they could be a pita to work on and they were not in a dang ship! The biggest difference between the engines in the refinery and ones in a ship was filth. Some were well cared for and some were pretty much ignored as far as keeping them clean went. One V8 engine that had somewhere around a 24" piston was on it's second (since I hired in) rebuild and someone screwed up on the oil system and it ended up with a dry start and killed the crank. That one was never fixed and ended up being replaced with an electric motor years later. Another blew it's muffler off after someone couldn't get the fueling right. No one got hurt or killed but it did some damage and created a very large boom. Several years before my retirement, there wasn't a single gas fired engine left in the plant. There's also a scrap yard not too far from me that has several acres of old engines from refineries etc just sitting. Didn't mind seeing everything converted over to electrics too much but there were a couple that were actually kinda cool to work on and they did create a good amount of OT if you were looking for that.

 

[Cranky]

I would like to see JUST the starter motor for that thing!

All of ours in the plant used air motors to turn them over. Nothing really impressive looking but functional.