Broke rear main casting, is it repairable?

old ford fan

old ford fan

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In my ignorance I may have bumped the tube and it broke tha bearing casting in front of the cork gasket valley. Now the tube is loose. Do I need a new bearing or can I jb weld it or try to braze??? The bearing is like new yet and I hate to have to buy a brand new bearing . I'll try to load a picture to further show my conundrum.
 

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Another question...is the Babbitt supposed to be grooved on the cap? I can see the block side is grooved, can I cut my own groove or should I leave it as is?
 

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Won't it leak oil into the valley where the cork goes? Or are you saying to weld it all the way around and file the valley back out?
 
what i am saying is where the flange broke out and is missing just spot weld the pipe to the casting. Not a solid weld. just enough to keep the tube from unscrewing.
The rear mains I have seen the tube is not threaded all the way into the flange and a spot weld holds the tube in place from unscrewing and falling out.
bob
 
Ok, thanks. I will spot weld on each side of the pipe at the flange to get the best seal possible and I will reinstall the cap. The Babbitt still looks good to me and I think this engine has upwards of 10,000 miles on it!
 
Your main cap is cast iron, that's why it broke. It can be spotted with a mig welder but, before you try to weld it, immerse it in a pan of water up to the top of the babbit or just above. This will make sure you don't overheat the bearing or get any spatter on it. Don't try to weld it, just tack it, then seal it with some JB Weld. The cap should have a groove but it needs to be in the correct direction or it will be less than useless. I will try to post a pic of one done correctly tomorrow for you.
 
Thanks for the clarification James! I will take care of the repair tomorrow and I'll watch for the picture. This poses a couple more questions... If I need a groove, can I add it myself and if so, what do I carve/cut it with? Finally, after the groove is cut, will it leave a rough surface on the bearing face that will need to be "knocked down"?
 
Others will answer but I use a die grinder with a 1/4 shank and 1/8 inch ball head on it.
use the ball on the side of the cutter don't go straight in with it. Most of the time you
don't have to knock the edge down, but if you do you can either use a bearing scraper
or some 1000 grit sand paper.
See what others chime in with before you make a decision. And check James pics.
when he posts them. He knows what he's doing.

Dodge
 
If you cut the oil groove, I'd use a knife to remove and edge material, rather than sand paper. Any grit left behind from the sandpaper will wear on the crankshaft.
 
Ditto on what James said: Tack weld and then slow set JB Weld to seal.
One possible addition to the spot welding advice...I have found stainless MIG wire provides a good repair weld for cast iron. It may have something to do with the nickel in the wire. An "old timer" shared this with me many years ago. Well I am now about his age when he shared the info and it is time for this "old timer" to pass it along again.
Good Day!
 
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This is what a correct bearing grove looks like. These were done by Bill Barlow.
 

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