Storing and shipping cranks and cams

[HizAndHerz]

I've got a couple of stroker crankshafts and a few camshafts that I need to store. Obviously they would be best protected if installed in the block or head, but otherwise, what's a good way to store them? I've hit them with WD-40, slathered them with grease for rust protection then sealed in plastic bags. How do you keep them from warping or getting damaged?

 

How about shipping them? A custom wooden crate would add a lot to the weight. Tthat's how I received one of my stroker cranks and the box protected it very well, but it was crazy expensive to ship.

 

One last question: any tricks to storing heads?

[HizAndHerz]

Storing camshafts: use heavy wall mailing tubes trimed to length.

 

Storing crankshafts: stop by a carpet store and "scrounge" a couple of roll "cores", cut to length and mark the outside. Seal the ends with a couple of plywood "plugs" held in place with screws.

[sweetleaf]

You can also wrap it in plastic, put it in a box and fill with expanding foam.

[Tony D]

What I use is ABS or PVC Heavywalled Pipe. I place a slovent-glued cap on one end, with some jigsawed pieces of plywood in the end for impact dampening. Take another, and three-bolt it to the flywheel end, and it centers the crankshaft in the tube, same thing on the other end with a centrally located hole for the crankshaft pulley bolt it locates it on the other end. On the pulley end, I install a 'screw cap' end and of course the plywood for when someone drops it. I set the screw in the cap using a single sheetmetal screw so it doesn't back out in shipment.

 

usually I will prep them with cosmoline, or other grease. With the PVC, I drop a dessiccant bag in there, and cork it up tight. No Oxygen and slightly light volatile solvents on a freshly sprayed crank makes for the perfect storage environment. Ideally both would be stored perpendicular to the floor. For this you can make a nice rack out of plywood (hint, the one you have been cutting 6 and 8" circles out of for your cranks!) and 2X6's that will hold them upright.

 

Same thing for camshafts, some 2" PVC Fittings and one stick of Schedule 40 PVC and you are SET! Same storage routine, but I use dowels in the ends and center the cam in the tube with 'donuts' of high-density pink anti-static foam I get from work (we use it to ship turbine impeller assemblies).

 

When I ship the stuff, I usually enclose a return shipping label, prepaid and then grind on whomever I shipped it to until they ship it back to me. They saw how I made mine, dammit, don't be cheap make your own and gimmie mine BACK! LOL

 

If you have the facility, a wrap of cosmoline impregnated cheesecloth tightly wrapped around it, and then put in the plastic bag foamed into a box like sweetleaf mentions is also a way to do it. I prefer to put one trashbag underneath with foam, lay the part in while it's expaned most of the way, then put more expanding foam in another bag, and lay it on top and close the boxtop with a place for excess foam to burp out. That way you only open a clamshell to get to the part instead of having to carve that foam sh*t up all over...

 

The PVC Pipes have been pretty durable. I think if I surface freighted one like that and the ship went down, when they salvaged it they could still deliver the crankshaft! LOL

 

For longterm storage, always try to put a little bag of dessiccant in anything you seal up tightly---humidity can do bad things to parts in storage when corked up well!

[grumpyvette]

I store cams in 2" pvc one end has a glued pvc cap the other end a rubber cap with a radiator screw clamp I fill the PVC pipe about 1/2 full of cheap oil after the cams inserted then seal and shake gently, to cover the cam in oil and store them on a rack where I turn them on ocasion (tape an ID tag with info on the PVC pipe)

 

Ive had a few cams in storage over 20 years that look new, plastic will eventually get brittle but if your not stressing it It works fine ,Ive had the same cam tubes for 20 plus years

 

PVC pipe and caps in 6"-8" dia. or larger size gets prohibitively expensive

army surplus store ocasionally sell dirt cheap heavy wall plastic containers that can be used for cranks,but you can store cranks in several 30 gallon trash bags once heavily sprayed with LPS #3 (yeah it says two years, but in a sealed plastic bag its good for well over 12 years plus) even in a large plastic storage box, BTW its best to roll the crank wrapped in the trash bag and coated with the LPS #3e in a sheet of cardboard sheet taped firmly around it to prevent the plactic from tearing and it aids stability when the cranks are stood on the flange ,and store it so the box its in can,t be hit tipped or get wet (off the floor on a shelf) Ive rarely needed to store more than 4 cranks and they all fit in one or two large air tight millitary surplus containers

 

http://www.galleria-e.com/cgi-bin/Colemans.storefront/en/product/133301

 

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/lps_rust.php

[Tony D]

Well, I didn't say it was cheap. When I worked on the landfill I had access to that size P.E. piping, as well as a MacElroy Fusion Machine...You want to talk about 'abusing the system' I had the best high-impact storage vessels on the planet, Sch 80 HDPE Piping with threaded covers!

 

It's one of the reasons I bug people about getting mine back nowadays, those Black P.E. storage cases I made went away 10 years ago, and never came back! I know who they went to, and some day I WILL be in the neighborhood and RECLAIM THEM!

 

The large military surplus containers I used in the past were Rocket Boxes. Could fit a whole intake system in one, and they have nice preformed foam cradles that work great if you wrap cardboard around the crank throws to make them a more manageable 'round' shape. You can fit three-four cranks in a standard rocket box. They are just the right length for L6 Cranks and Cams, and heads if you take the towers off.

 

My supply of those ended when I was no longer attached to the Munitions Maintenance Squadron back in 86... Bummer! More wonderful 'endless supply' items that I gave away and now lament...

 

I'll also add that during my time with Cooper Industries when we would do up Turbochargers for Overseas, we coated the internals by flowing STP through the oil passages. I have found that using STP Raw makes for a VERY persistent coating when undistrubed, for that 'rotational' idea GV had, that may work so you only have to rotate them semi-annually. I can get real Cosmoline, and a couple of good coats and corking it up while still volatile seems to keep the corrosion at bay for great periods of time with minimal fuss. Heck, let's pack a Jeep in it! LOL

[alexideways]

If you're going to store them standing up, make sure you place tightly fitted blocks of woos between the counterweights, as the weight of the crank itself can make it warp over time... My $0.02.

 

I've not experience this myself, it's just something I learned in my mechanics class.