help understanding end play
 

i've seen the videos, read the manual.. i know how to set end play and when to use a thicker/thinner spacer. but it doesn't make sense to me why a thicker spacer would be used if there isn't enough end play, or why a thinner one is needed for too much end play(my situation). i guess i don't really know where the play is coming from.

from what information i've pieced together it seems to me that endplay measures the maximum longitudinal slack/travel that the drive gear may be subjected to. i've heard i can get new thrust bearings to reduce my endplay? this makes sense to me, since the unworn needles will be bigger, and will thereby reduce the free length on the e-shaft that the gear can slop around on. a thinner spacer though? seems to me that it will increase the travel. am i just not getting it :)

http://www.mazdatrix.com/pictures/b5-engft.jpg

Think of it this way: The spacer determines the space between the stat gear and the counter weight, with the bearings and thrust plates sandwiched between. All held together by the eshaft bolt. So the thicker the shim the more end play.

Hope that helps
Paul

Well put Gadd!

i still don't get it. i've also watched pineapple's video about setting endplay a few times. http://www.rebuildingrotaryengines.c...tting_end_play

heres my thoughts on the parts i don't understand..

endplay is the measure of how far up(forward) the e-shaft can be pulled forward relative to its starting position. drew this simplified diagram:

https://img128.imageshack.us/img128/...aywrongjh1.jpg

so why is it that in my drawing, endplay is reduced with a bigger spacer. any way i look at it it seems like that should be it.. what am i not getting :(

oh in the diagram the brown is the stationary gear

red represents the eshaft and also the gears counterweight etc that are bolted on the front of the shaft

How about this..

The blue is the spacer and is sandwiched between the counter weight and the stat gear and the bearings float in the space between.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y94...frontstack.jpg

Nice picture gadd except that the spacer bears against the shoulder of the main bearing journal of the eccentric shaft, not the stationary gear.

Sevensix in your picture, conceptually the spacer is the skinny part of the red section. The e-shaft, counterweight, front pulley... the length of that whole assembly is set by the spacer. The whole assembly floats back and forth in the housings and the thrust bearings etc. So the longer the assembly (bigger spacer) the more it can float.

Yup, you are absolutely correct. sorry for the error (I need to stop drinking before playing with MS Paint).

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y94...ontstack-1.jpg

crazy :) thanks