r 'ECHNOLOCY changes.

Advancing manufacturing processes and materials to improve per-

formance evokes prodüct evolution. We all must be flexible, keeping an open
mind by reminding ourselves that things as we know them today may be
yesterday's knowledge.
This paper is about changing main and connecting rod bearing wear. It is not going to be uncommon to
find wear patterns you nave never seen before. You must adapt yourself to a new way of thinking when
engaging bearing inspection. Waukesha Engine has made many changes to the connecting rod, crankshaft,
crankcase and bearings to improve the prodüct yielding greater horsepower and longer life. This paper will
discuss these changes and show how bearing wear is affected.
All of the wear patterns shown are the result of prodüct changes that have taken place from 1980 to
present. It is important that you understand how these changes result in unfamiliar wear patterns. More
importantly, all bearings shown in this paper are normal and not cause for replacement. To understand this
more fully it will help a great deal if you fully understand bearing construction.
BEARIiiC CONSTRUCTION layer composition as being an ordinary sponge, but
made of copper, and all the pores are filled with lead.
The illustration below (fig. 1) shows the basic bearing.
It's the thickest of all three layers and makes up the
Each layer is bonded to the other, and each has a
bulk of the bearing. When this layer becomes ex-
specific purpose.
posed from normal wear, it takes on the color of
copper, even though lead is predominately strewn
throughout. If you scrape this exposed layer with a
Immediately above the steel back is the intermedíate
pocket knife, the affected área can take on a silver
layer. This is the heart of the bearing. Visualize this
color from the smeared lead on the surface.

NICKEL DAM
The nickel dam layer is exactly what the ñame ¡m-
Steel plies. It is made of nickel and acts as a dam. This layer
termediate layer is very thin, usually not more than 0.0001 inches. Its
Nickel barrier
Plated overlay

FIGURE
purpose is to prevent tín in the overlay from migrat- so thin and totally sacrificial on the running surface, it
ing into the copper-lead material directly below. It is not usually thought of as a layer.
has a lower affinity to organic acids than copper or
lead, so it also helps protect the underlying layer from Figure 2 is a magnified edge view of a bearing, ex-
corrosión. posing the sandwich layers. Clearly shown is the
copper lead "sponge" material discussed earlier. The
dark regions are lead, whereas, the light regions are
OVERLAY copper. Even if you study the illustration carefulíy, it is
difficult to see the nickel dam between the overlay
This is the very top layer. Its composition is lead and
and intermediate layer.
tin forming an alloy. The ratio of lead and tin can
vary, depending on bearing design. In recent years,
Waukesha has increased the quantity of tin because
this helps reduce corrosión. This layer is very soft, and
its function is to conform to the surface of the crank-
shaft journals, as well as provide embedability for dirt
and foreign particles. This layer then, is sacrificial. The
crankshaft microfinish will cause the bearing to
"wear in" when first put into sen/ice. Eventually this
overlay material can wear away. However, even
with extended service of 40, 50 or even 60,000
hours, the overlay material can be clean and fully
intact. Load levéis, fuel composition, and lubricating
oil performance are a few of the most determining
factors of overlay life. Since this layer is sacrificial, it's a
mistake to use overlay condition as your primary di-
agnostic médium.

FIGURE 2
TIN FLASH INC
The last layer (not shown), if you can cali it a layer, is WEAR PATTERNS
more like a coating or plating. The entire bearing has
There are three types of bearing wear discussed in
soft tin flashing for shipping and handling protection.
this paper. We will cali them:
There is a very small amount of lead in this composi-
tion, but the bright color found on today's bearíngs is 1. POLISHING
the result of tin. The back, sides, and edges, as well as 2. CAVITATION
the running surface, are plated. Since this coating is 3. OIL SWIRLING
 As stated earlier, all of these wear patterns are not ished crankshaft, versus the bearing on the right
bearing failures. If you discover one of these patterns which operated for the same number of hours on a
during bearing inspection, they may be fit for further currently produced machine finished crankshaft. The
service, and you need not disturb remaining bearing polishing on the right is obvious and is to be ex-
journals or discard previously examined bearings. pected when encountering these crankshafts.

There are conditions, however, when it is advisable

not to replace an inspected bearing for further ser-
vice. If major portions of the overlay material are
worn away or displaced in some way exposing the
nickel dam or intermediate layer, it is a good idea to
discard it after inspection. Remember, the soft overlay
layer will allow the bearing to "wear in" to a crank
Journal. You will rely on this action to take place
when the bearing is replaced. A bearing with ex-
posed intermediate layer (copper color) does not
have this soft overlay, so it is a good idea not to
reinstall it.

Three types of wear patterns, namely polishing, cav-

itation and oil swirling, may have not completely
removed the overlay material. Therefore, it is nor-
mally acceptable to reinstall a bearing with these
patterns for further service.
FIGURE 3

POLISHINC New bearings out of the box will have a dull look
about them. When installed in the engine, the crank-
In a relatively few number of running hours, bearings
shaft will, during the first few running hours, polish
can become very shiny, polished to a mirror finish on
the overlay. Even if the engine is never started, but
the bottom one third of the bearing. In addition, the
merely barred over, the dead weight of the crank-
edges of the lower bearing and all four edges of a
grooved upper bearing can become extremely pol-
ished. This is the result of the final Journal finish of
currently produced crankshafts.

The bearing wear in figure 3 is a comparison of two

bearings which ran in an engine for 24 hours. The
bearing on the left was operated with a hand pol-
 shaft and flywheel will begin this polishing action. It
shouldn't be surprising then to realize why the last
main bearing closest to the flywheel will show the
greatest amount of polishing. The actual depth of the
polishing is only a few ten thousandths of an inch
into the overlay. When considering the overall thick-
ness of this layer of one and one-half thousandths,
this polishing is considered superficial.

With the advent of state-of-the-art computerized

crankshaft grinding machines, Journal dimensional
trueness can be achieved to exact geometry never
before possible. The resulting manufacturing process
eliminates the labor intensive need for excessive jour-
nal polishing as a final finish. The result is a Journal
with a dull grey look, rather than the mirror finish to
which you are accustomed. This new finish is the
major contributing factor to bearing polishing. Figure
FIGURE 4
4 is a current style crankshaft, as compared to figure
5 which is a hand polished crankshaft. Although it is
difficult to see the difference of the Journal finish in
these photographs, the current shaft can be identi-
fied by a dull grey finish and a much smaller radius
around the oil holes as compared to previously man-
ufactured shafts.

Many people are accustomed to diagnosing overlay

polishing as a result of dry starts; an undesirable
bearing condition. Wear patterns from dry starts are
similar, but not identical to bearing polishing. Bear-
ings subjected to dry starts can be identified by an
affected área of smeared displaced overlay.

Bearing polishing will occur regardless of mainte-

nance or operator control. The overlay material is still
intact, and this pattern is not cause for alarm or bear-
ing replacement.
FIGURE 5
Cavitation began showing up several years ago
when Waukesha changed the oil drilling in crank-
shafts from "angle" to "T-style" drilling, and un-'
grooved main bearings were specified. These
changes were necessary because of increasing load
demands placed on our engines, necessitating im-
proved oil film strength, which increases bearing life.

Here are four bearings with different patterns, but all

caused from identical sources: cavitation.

This first bearing (fig. 6) is the most unusual pattern. It

is commonly referred to as the crescent, although
many times it is not as well defined as this and looks
more like the pattern in figure 7. As seen in both of
these bearings, there are usually other smaller FIGURE 6

patches of cavitation found near the crescent.

Figure 8 shows the affected área as two identical

patches on both sides of this grooved upper bearing.

Right at the trailing end of this partially grooved

bearing is another typical place for cavitation (fig. 9).

The mechanics behind bearing cavitation are no dif-

ferent than pump impeller cavitation; something with
which you may already be familiar. Instead of water
cavitation, we're now dealing with oil, another fluid
affected by the same laws of physics.

Figure 10 illustrates a crankshaft Journal rotating

within its bearings.

In (a), the crankshaft oil hole is accepting lubricating

oil from the upper grooved bearing.
 In (b), the crankshaft has now rotated to a position
where this oil hole has been "cut off" from the oil
suppiy. However, the oil in the hole is still in motion
and has inertia, thereby reducing the oil pressure
right at the bearing surface.

Since the oil is hot (at operating temperature) and the

pressure is suddenly reduced, it flashes to vapor,
forming vapor bubbles. This is designated in the ¡I-
lustration as "cavities formed."

In (c), these cavities or vapor bubbles will collapse

from the oil being fed under pressure from the op-
posite side of the Journal. Collapsing these cavities
produces a high jet velocity strong enough to re-
move the soft overlay material. After a period of time,
patches of removed overlay will emerge on the bear-
ing surface in the typical patterns we've seen.

Admittedly, cavitation looks bad to the first time ob-

server. But take note, cavitation is also "skin deep,"
being only superficial to the bearing overlay.

Figure II is a highly magnified bearing edge viewcut

through a cavitated patch. The very top layer is over-
lay material. Notice in the patch most of the overlay
is gone, but not completely

A small amount remains, which clearly shows the

damage is only superficial. The depth of cavitation
seen here will go no further. The nickel dam stops
cavitation from continuing into the intermedíate
layer.

FIGURE 9
 OIL SWIRLINC
Figure 12 shows typical "oil swirling," a condition
named closer to the affect rather than the resulting
pattern. As heavily loaded oil is forced from under
the crankshaft, it can cause the soft overlay lead and
tin to yield slightly leaving a small buildup or a
"wave" of material. This can be likened to pushing
(ai
on nearly dried paint. Your fínger (fíg. 13) can leave
behind a "ripple" of paint, which is raised from the
surrounding área. The buildup then is worn down by
the rotation of the crankshaft. If there are acids pres-
ent in the lubricating oil, these áreas will turn black
without the protection of tin flashing. Otherwise, the
affected áreas will remain polished and silver.

'•*.- i
. This deformation will not continué to erode the over-
lay like we see with cavitation, since the mechanics
involved are much different. Only the surface of the
bearing is affected with this pattern and like all bear-
ings we've seen, is not cause for alarm.
FIGURE 13

f Hf this report we have seen how bearings are constructed and how this construction affects wear
patterns. Changes to engine design have affected the usual patterns with which we may already
be familiar. You may find bearings with a relatively low number of running hours with patterns
similar to the ones shown here. If you do, you will now understand how tíñese patterns develop
and know that in all cases, the pattern is within the depth of the overlay. As long as the overlay is
still intact and fully covering the running surface of the bearing, it is still fit for further service.

Prepared by: Charles D. Lawton

Mgr. Service Training
May 1988