Im rebuilding a rotary this month and have all the parts cleaned and ready to go.

The rotor has an inside bearing, and that slips over the e-shaft, yet im kinda puzzled on why the rotor doesnt GRIP the e-shaft ?

You can spin the rotor freely on the shaft. Thsi is when I hold the e-shaft and center the rotor on it. { not installed but holding with my hand }

I thought the e-shaft would have some type of twist/knurl or sonething that would kinda lock the rotor in place.

When I line up my rotors during install, Im supposed to go 180 degress apart, or one pointing up, one pointing down. Its like im missing something here, what is going to prevent the rotors from spinning whichever way they want to go, if they spin freely on the e-shaft ?

perhaps the rotors will slide farther down the e-shaft and kinda give it somekind of lock, or the 180 degree spinning motion of rotors under combustion will put a physics grip on it. does anyone know what I mean? It just seesm kinda weird to me.

 

slap a rotor on your front side housing with the stationary gear in place, then plug the e-shaft in and rotate it. that'll tell you everything you want to know.

 

the stationary gears keep the rotors moving in the right direction as the shaft rotates. contrary to what may seem like it makes sense with the parts outside the engine, it would be a VERY bad thing for the rotor bearings to "grip" the e-shaft.

however, like Guitarjunkie28 said, put the rotor on the side housing with a stationary gear in place and it'll make sense.