[H. L. Chauvin]

Mr. LTK,

This art of adjusting Babbitt bearings is not any different from trying to find a single craftsmen in 2017 who can successfully build a boat by cutting wood planks with a hand saw & shaping rough wood planks with a carpenter's hand plane; yet, why was it successfully done so often in Model T days?

If after adjusting the shims, if the crankshaft cannot move easily sideways, Babbitt adjustment is too tight.

All vintage mechanics I knew in our area could feel individual, adjustable up & down journal movement and rotational tightness after wiping off and removing the film of oil on the journals and Babbitt.

If an individual could not successfully perform this task after hands on training years ago, (and there were some), they were never trusted to try to allow them to continue try to do this type of work.

After 20 years of reading Model A Forum restoration messages about all of the Model A engine knocking & Babbitt failures right after engine rebuild, there is a definite learning gap where this art of Babbitt adjustment and craftsmanship was never handed down through generations.