L.E. American crosshead packing gland?

[DianneB]

Has anybody made, developed, or otherwise invented a tool for tightening the crosshead pump(s) packing gland on the L.E. American?

There is so little space between to packing nut and so little access that I keep trying to come up with a tool for tightening this nut but so far no luck and lots of frustration!

I HATE having to take the inside crosshead bars off to tighten this packing.

[little giant]

I do not know what type of gland you have (slots or holes), but Trainman makes a spanner wrench for his starting valve which may work. Check with Dave for sizes.

[Pipescs]

Hey Dianne,

I will be the first to admit I don't have a solution. I had a major leak at the gland when I fired up this year and ran the pumps on the test stand.

It tried getting every wrench I had to work with no luck. I even had the engine up on its side trying to get into the thing.

I ended up having to drop all four rails to get to mine.

Dropped the rails and tightened the gland nut a turn and all was good again. This after putting all the rails back.

For those not familiar with the beast. This is from the bottom with the engine on its side. I still did not have room for a wrench or pliars to work.

This from the side

[DianneB]

Thanks for posting the pictures Charlie.

I have made 2 or 3 little wrenches specifically for this and can't come up with a shape that works - never enough to get from one flat to the next. With my homemade wrenches I have to drop the inside crosshead bars. I guess I will have to continue doing that until/unless I come up with a bright idea.

I love me little American and get many nice comments on how nice it looks. My "equalizer hitch" works great at transferring some weight from the tender to the drivers but my propane burner is right on the edge - hard to keep steam up on a cold windy day.

[Dick_Morris]

This is the crosshead pump packing nut on my RRSC 4-4-0. There is no way I could have adjusted a hex. The spanner wrench that I use is filed up from a piece of 16 gauge steel. To get an idea of the size, the pump ram is 5/16" diameter. You could also remake your nut from round stock and put a series of holes in the end and use a pin spanner with two pins to make the adjustment (My 5" angle grinder uses a similar, but bigger, nut and pin spanner.)

[kvom]

One solution if you have to replace the nut is to make one with holes for a tommy bar.

[JJG Koopmans]

I had a similar situation and drilled a tiny hole in situ. Once I had one hole I could move the nut
with a pin sufficiently to drill the next and so forth!
Kind regards
Jos Koopmans

[Mike Walsh]

Can you unbolt the pump in its entirety and tighten it up? I don't know what drives the ram, but I'd think you could swing it down without major disassembly...

[Bill Shields]

Getting in there with a tommy bar is very difficult.

However....if you lay the loco on it's side.....

.....been there done that.

the slotted nut as shown by Dick_Morris with his 'custom tool' is the most practical long-term.

[DianneB]

I like the slotted nut idea but mine is like an ordinary copper compression nut with internal threads so it would take some rebuilding.

I will consider all these ideas when I have time to tear it down next winter.