Copper rod bearings?
 

Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember reading that HD rod bearings were made with a high copper content, sacrificing conformability and embeddability for high load bearing capacity? I'm disassembling a truck engine and am kind of surprised by these rod bearings. I could believe that all the tin and lead is simply worn off, but they are very uniformly worn, no sign of lead anywhere, and were not particularly sloppy. They are stamped as Federal Mogul 1505 CAA pieces from '62. Looking at FM's catalog (Sealed Power now) that's still a good number, but no mention of special alloys.

The mains are dated '57, also FM, and look conventional, and not badly worn.

Ever seen rod bearings like this?

Re: Copper rod bearings?
 

These rod bearings came out of my 37 21 stud block:

http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps4b499510.jpg

NORS bearings I put in were silver colored.

Re: Copper rod bearings?
 

Ross, I remember reading that diesel engines got bearing inserts like you have. There was an interesting discussion about this in the Oliver tractor club magazine several years ago.

mrtexas I wouldn't mind having those bearings if you have no plan for them.

Re: Copper rod bearings?
 

I think I'll mike them just for grins, to see if they are just worn. I haven't seen this type of bearing in flatheads before, but this is my first Truck engine ('49 8RT).

Re: Copper rod bearings?
 

Make a careful examination of the tang and oil hole and slot. If they are tin coated you will see these bearings are worn down to the copper backing.

Re: Copper rod bearings?
 

I've stripped many flatheads with those bearings, I've probably got a couple of sets kicking around my shop. Seems they were quite popular back in the 50-60 Walt

Re: Copper rod bearings?
 

I have some NOS just like them flanged & non flanged floaters . Some are ford some other brands.

Re: Copper rod bearings?
 

Even to this day, shell type bearings are manufactured with any number of soft metals and combinations there of.

Re: Copper rod bearings?
 

Hi Ross, the "CA", "CAA", and the "CAB" series of Federal bearings didn't have the Lead-Tin overplate, only the "CP", "CPA", "CPB" and the "CPW's" had it. All the "C" series rod bearings are steel-backed and Copper-Alloy.

I still have a bunch of those 1505's in inventory, not sure if they'll be in production too much longer. If they are ordered from Federal now they are considered "Non-Returnable", this tells me they are at least thinking of stopping them somewhere along the line.

(Add) Much of the coatings seen on bearings is simply for "shelf-life", has been this way for years!

Thanks, Gary in N.Y.

P.S. The rod bearing shell in your photo appears to be worn out, but it's really hard to tell from photos?? The 9805CA bearings ('46/'48 according to Federal) are the same material

Re: Copper rod bearings?
 

Those were considered Heavy duty. The ones I used in the race motors were solid copper. I would think steel backed would be better. Mike the thickness should be .109/.110" I looked for bearings in the .108/.109, for my engines. .015 side clearance.

Re: Copper rod bearings?
 

Thanks guys, once again the FB comes thru with the solid facts! I'm hoping to get this block into the shop for cleaning and crack testing today. So far it appears to be the best block I've ever seen, no cracks apparent at the center holes. Crank appears to be Std/Std, even the bores appear to be Std.