Re: Some nuts and bolts of valve setting

Chris,

The rollers were made in our shop. The heart of each one is a pair of 6308-ZZ ball bearings. Each bearing has a static load capacity of about 5400lb. so, in theory, between eight of them they will support in excess of 40,000lb. a little more than the loaded weight of the #3 driver of a K-36. Although I designed the roller set to support the full load, in practice, we block up the spring saddle on the frame to unload the axle while setting the valves. I figure the driver set and associated rods attached to it weigh in the neighborhood of a little less than 10,000lb.

Another option that was not readily available to me is to use track rollers out of a Caterpillar. Another set of these that I have used, built for a small standard gauge engine, used those.

Russ