D9531 B-Exam Maintenance Report
8th-10th of September 2012, Chris Baily

Saturday 8th of September 2012
Attendance: 5

This weekend had been earmarked some B exam work, clear some defects and finish a few snags on D9531 after the first 6 months of running. With the loco coming up to 250 engine hours, things needed a check over.

Alan got busy with checking the electrical machines over and giving them a clean and service, this being the compressor, both exhausters, the 110v generator, oil priming pump and fuel lift pump. Chris made a start on greasing the 2 carden shafts while Jason and Phil were busy on the sanding equipment which was being prepared for recomissioning to clear it from the list of jobs outstanding.

Jason had made some brackets up for the ejectors over the past few weeks, but first job on the list was to remove the sand traps and empty/clean out the 4 sandboxes. The traps were also given a clean out and overhaul to remove built up solid sand and clear the pipes leading to the ejectors. This took Jason and Phil most of the day to complete.

Once Chris had finished the shaft greasing, Dave had joined the team, and he set about cleaning the main fuel gauze strainer out. Chris & dave then set about removing the final drive standstill valve, one of the repairs was to get this working fully again, as it had failed during the use and had to be temporarily blanked off. The air pipe feed was disconnected then the unit unbolted from the side of the final drive. Alan had just about finished what he was doing and offered to clean out and overhaul the unit ready for refitting the following day.

Chris & Dave then set about solving a leak from the cab roof vent. The vent was removed with the remains of the gasket and a new thicker gasket was made. sealant applied to both sides, then the vent refitted. Chris then moved on to making the 8mm copper pipework runs for each end from the sanding EP valves down to the ejectors, assisted by Dave.

Jason & Phil had by now progressed on to fitting ejectors and brackets, some of the drop pieces which mount the brackets required removing and straightening with heat.

With the day turning to the evening, it was decided to pack up and continue the following day.

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Sunday 9th of September 2012
Attendance: 6

Jason & Phil continued with the sanding system ejector brackets, while Chris & Adam, refitted the standstill valve. Alan continued with an internal and underframe inspection. Andy Walton was given the task of fitting rubber seal to the cab doorways, and to look at the left side drivers window arrangement further.

Chris, Adam & Phil then set about one major repair, it had been discovered that the bearings on the main brake shaft had no holes in them to allow grease to pass through from the nipple. So using a hydraulic lift that was lowered into the pit to support the weight of the shaft, the bottom caps were removed along with the handbrake claw and arm and the bearing halves also removed. The top shell was then marked through the grease nipple hole and each one then drilled, the shells were then refitted and the caps put back on, along with the handbrake arm and claw. This sounds easy on paper but took most of the day to complete - issues with the lift and getting the shells mixed up at one point meant us having to do the job twice! However we finally achieved what we needed and grease now goes through to the bearings as it should.

Jason had finished the ejector fitting and finished the pipework, a bit of dry sand was put in each box ready to test. Meantime, Alan had discovered something quite alarming! Two bolts in the turbo bracket had popped their heads off, and the other bolts looked loose. We needed to get air up on the loco to test the sanding system and to apply the brake to refit the handbrake link rod and pin.

D9531 was fired up and close attention given to the bracket, the turbo was wobbling around quite alarmingly. Chris offered to look at revisiting the remaining bolts the following day. So with air pressure up, the brake was applied and the rod and pin refitted to the brake arm. The engine was then shut down and a test in each direction made on the sanders, all four worked very well indeed.

Again with evening creeping up, a decision was made to call it a day.

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Monday 10th of September 2012
Attendance: 3

Todays mission was to look at the turbo bracket to see if anything could be done to secure it enough to allow D9531 to run on the coming Saturday as rostered.

The coolant was first drained down, and Chris climbed in between the engine and exhausters, with Adam passing the required tooling. The first bolt was taken out quite easily, this also being the one which blocks a hole in the power unit coolant jacket. A spring washer was added, loctite applied and the bolt refitted using a torque wrench.

The next one to be attempted was on the front foot of the bracket, but with access restricted by coolant and fuel pipework running over the top of the bolt, it took some time to get out using socket UJ's and a bar to lift the coolant pipe higher for better access. This one was also discovered to be loose so new washers were added along with loctite and the bolt tightened up as best as we could.

The next bolt was at the back of the foot, this too wasn't very tight, so again was removed, washers and loctite added, then tightened up as best we could with the access available. The coolant system was then refilled and Ernest fired into life. Gladly the turbo was found to be steady as a rock and so the decision to let D9531 run at the weekend made.

The turbo bracket will need further attention after the October diesel event. Tooling and equipment will be sourced to drill out the broken bolts allowing new ones to be installed all round with better washers. Until then, the bracket will be closely monitored to make sure it remains fixed in place.

With the bracket done, D9531 was extracted from the shed and tripped round to the loco works for attention to a rod bush that wasn't using oil. This was sorted out during the week.

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Saturday 15th of September 2012

D9531 had a successful running day on the 15th of September, operating on load 6 all day. The turbo bracket held well and no other major issues were encountered.

D9531 is next operating at the ELR Autmun Diesel Weekend on the 13th & 14th of October, see the ELR Diesel Group website for full event details.