Witte Dieselelectric 12HP

[flywheel]

pix of disassembly of rod bearing, notice the stack of shims on the rod.  There five shims on each side, one very thick shim, one medium thick and three very thin shims.  The total thickness of the five shims is about 1/8 inch.

There are also chisel punch marks on the rod cap from someone who has previously worked on this engine.

Oil dipper is attached to the lower side of the rod bearing cap.
                                                                                                   flywheel

[Diesel Guy]

Flywheel,

My engine is a 1951 CD Diesel Electric model, with extra heavy flywheels, I rebuilt it at another site on the property but had to bring it inside, not finished due to Winter coming, snow Saturday. Now I will finish the rebuild it indoors.

Here are a few pics.

Notice how much larger the Witte flywheel is compared to the 23.5" heavy flywheeled 14/1.

Each Witte flywheel, weighs over three times the mass of the 14/1 flywheel.

Here is some side views of the camshaft before I sent it out.

Also, I took this picture of the piston and connecting rod this past Summer.

Diesel Guy

[mobile_bob]

flywheel

it looks like you got yourself a winner there, what a beast

too bad there are more of them around, and a parts source for them.

however it looks like if you get it built back up again, you really probably will never need parts for it.

gotta love that old american iron, they sure didn't scrimp on cast iron back in the day, did they?

when i was a kid the farm that dad worked for at the time had a rather large, (huge to a 6yo) oil engine
it had a plug that you pulled out and from what i am told a large wick affair was installed, lit and allowed to
smoulder, that was then installed and the thing was used to get it started.

the flywheels i am told now by dad were about 5 ft above the floor and they ran down in a trough so were likely over 6ft
in diameter, that is quite large by my estimation, much larger than i would want to mess with.

that engine was sold some years ago after sitting unused for decades, some engine group bough it and took it to gossel
kansas where they remounted it and got it running again for shows.  one day i hope to get back and see it running as i never
saw it running as a kid.

from what i am told it was used to power a stationary thresher back in the day

i have no idea of the hp, maybe 35 or so?

you guys and these witte engine's remind me of that big old hunk of iron that so fascinated me as a kid, i remember looking that
big old girl over many times, but never climbed around on it because it was covered in oil/grease and a layer of dust.

i guess the last time i saw it was nearly 50 years ago now, and it was an antique then, so maybe it was 50yo then?

bob g

[flywheel]

Diesel Guy

  You are going to have a very nice engine when its done, be sure to keep us updated, thanks for posting the pix.

The model MD and the CD appear to use the same piston and rod by looking at your pix.  I also see your rod has MD and a number cast into it.

Yours is radiator cooled and mine is tank cooled although a radiator and fan can be added. 

I realise you would like to have yours completed soon but you are short on time and winter is coming, the snow will be blowing, the iron will be cold on the fingers etc.  I can just come over and pick it up, just think - no more shop clutter, lots of extra room.  It may only be a 8 hour drive or so for me, my Witte will have company. 
                                                                                                                                                flywheel

[Diesel Guy]

 Flywheel,

Thanks for the kind words about my engine.

"I realise you would like to have yours completed soon but you are short on time and winter is coming, the snow will be blowing, the iron will be cold on the fingers etc.  I can just come over and pick it up, just think - no more shop clutter, lots of extra room.  It may only be a 8 hour drive or so for me, my Witte will have company."

We must be on the same wave length, I was going to ask you the same thing!

Witte's are just big, ugly and heavy, so call me first, if you want to get rid of it.

Diesel Guy
         

[flywheel]

The little do-dad Witte calls the oil splasher, the Witte also has a oil pump. 
                                                                                                                       flywheel

[Diesel Guy]

Flywheel,

Funny you mention the oil lube splasher. Mine is shape a little different, instead of a steel wire, it is a small flat piece of steel.

My unit will be running at manly at 360 RPM, so I'm using two oil splashers one in front of the other and fanning them out a little, one on each side, slightly off the centerline of the bottom, where the one oil splasher would be. This makes a wider edge against the oil, to scoop more oil and fling it around each side of the engines internals.

When using two splashers, it enables full adjustability, from narrow (the same as one splasher, one directly in front of the other) to wide (two splashers, just the edges overlap and makes a wider scoop).

Now I can fine tune the splash oil lubrication, part of the system and find just the right amount of splash, to properly lubricate the internals, but without overlubing and causing oil slobber and increased oil consumption.

Diesel Guy