645E3 cylinder liner and head crab nut size

[butts260]

What is the size, across the flats, of the nut holding down the crabs contacting each cylinder head? The part number might be 9571494, described as a "Crab Nut", but I am not sure.

[BilgeRat]

It should be 2 3/4" and the torque is most likely 1800 ft/lb, but check a manual.
Tom

[butts260]

Tom -
Thank you for the info about the crab nut size. Your suggestion to look it up in a manual had occurred to me, but when I went to rr-fallenflags.org/manual listing a few weeks ago it seems that all manuals including the letters "EMR" had been removed from the collection. Since Caterpillar took over EMR, a lawyerly letter was sent requesting removal of all EMR material. I was a couple of weeks late, I guess.
The reason for my interest is that some years ago I was in Danvers (MA) Hardware and saw this magnificent Williams Superwrench size 2-5/8", satin chrome, 30 inches long, 22 pounds heavy and asked "who needs that?" I think I remember the answer was that a railroad needed 4 or 5 of them and this one was left over. When I saw it again there a few months ago I had to have it! Agreeing to the price I staggered home with it to hang on the wall in the laundry room. So I wondered what it might be needed for, concluding that some fastening in a 645E3 might need it and the crab nuts just might be the thing, hence my post.
To certify that I am completely nuts I gave the modern version of Hudson's ship "Half Moon" my almost complete set of Williams Superwrench 3/4 inch drive socket wrenches, since I had no more use for them and it was a tax deduction.

[BilgeRat]

Oh, boy. Here we go. It looks like the locking down of EMD information by Cat is underway. Great. Cat sends information out with a service tech and a bill to go with the two. Guess I'm not so much surprised as saddened to see this.

As for the crabs, that Williams wrench won't do the job! We use a mechanical advantage (geared) wrench for the crabs; all of our boats are supplied with one for underway repairs. With ours, you "only" have to pull the 1/2" torque wrench to 132 ft/lbs, but you think you're gonna die before you get there. As for overhaul crews, they usually use a hydraulic torque wrench for crabs and mains. Saves the 'ol bod, ya know, and is much quicker.
Tom

[BilgeRat]

Another one for you to consider in the way of oversized tools... Years ago, I worked at Snap-On Tools main warehouse picking tool orders on second shift. We came in to work one night, and as we walked past the receiving dock, we spotted one (o-n-e, 1) socket sitting on a full sized pallet all by it's lonesome self. IIRC, the square drive on this monster was eight inches or so, and the socket size across flats was somewhere around fourteen inches! It was sitting with the hex opening facing down and stood about 2.5 feet tall. It even had a ring of tapped holes circling the body at where we assumed the balance point to be, so an eyebolt and shackle could be used with a crane to lift it into place.

Well, speculation was running rampant that night as to exactly what that monster was to be used for. It was from the specials department and was headed to the San Fransisco branch, so most of us guessed it might be headed to the Golden Gate Bridge. Probably wrong, but it was the best guess we had. Imagine what that socket cost, even in the early 70's...