Are the cylinders on all vee engines staggered?

[Chris71]

This is probably a very silly question, but...

Seems one conrod has to sit in front of another on the crankshaft - they don't start from exactly the same place - does that mean the cylinders on opposing banks of a vee engine are always staggered relative to each other? I'm probably missing something here, but wouldn't that mean one bank of cylinders is always displaced backwards or forwards by roughly the thickness of a conrod?

[davepoth]

Conrod plus the vertical bits on the crank.

[littleredrooster]

Yes - unless a 'compound' conrod is used with one bearing journal and two rods/small ends. Don't recall seeing one in a mass-production engine.

[HD Adam]

But you do get the occasional weirdo set up like the Harley V-Twin where the conrods share the same bearing and the cylinders are in line with each other.

[seagrey]

davepoth said:

Conrod plus the crank webs

[SVTRick]

HD Adam said:

But you do get the occasional weirdo set up like the Harley V-Twin where the conrods share the same bearing and the cylinders are in line with each other.

Common on large diesels such as Ruston & Paxman and some English Electric design
Most commonly found in ships and locomotives.
Known as Fork & Blade conrods which shared a common crank journal

Not seen them in the automotive market, offset cylinder arangement more common.

[nc107]

Technically the Harley Davidson is a segment of a radial engine rather than a traditional V twin.