62 Falcon - $5k challenge, how will it rise from the ranger's ashes?

[milner351]

Milner the last pressed fit rods I changed I used a gas stove put the piston on the top burner and heat the piston and when you turn the rod side ways the pin just falls out and you do the same to put it back in and no stress of a press. Hope this helps.

P.S. Don't use the one in the house it does put off a smell.

Gregg - I'm confused - the pin is pressed into the rod, capturing the piston.... you're heating the piston with the burner on a gas stove and the rod expands enough to let the pin just drop out? That seems doable with a propane or mapp gas torch then?

[pintoboy77]

Milner I kind of mis spoke myself yesterday when you heat the piston have the pin face down this gives the piston and the pin more even heat than a torch and the pin will fall out or will push out with little effort when you put the pin back in just let them cool down slow don't dip them in water or anything. If you don't have a gas stove a coleman camp stove will work. Sorry for ant confusion.

[BBR]

I guess i don't see the problem..... I've always just used my hydraulic press and some blocks of wood. Squirted them right out.

[Bob Holmes]

And you check the pistons afterwards to make sure you have no skirt collapse? Not being argumentative, just want to know your procedure.

I've got a bucket full of pistons I'd like to remove from their rods.

[milner351]

If pressing - ideally you'd have an aluminum or steel puck to support the two piston pin lands to prevent the piston from deforming during the press.

I'm quite likely over thinking this - but oldmachinist is an old machinist after all - and made some good points... and if damage never happened to pistons while pressing the pins out - why did the dude at the machine shop mention it was a risk?

There's probably quite a variety of press fits among manufacturers/engines/production runs..... since I have some junkish pistons around, I'm going to have to do some experimenting if I can get some time.

[Beagle]

the junk ones are the ones that never break... and I *love* the POW right after the rod turns loose of the pin.

At some point I had considered a 4" hole saw and a 2x10 cut down the center of the hole then screwed to it's partner for support, then bore a 1.25" hole in that for the pin to go into, then I said screw it and bought rods with arp bolts and bushed for a full float pin.

You're pushing the rod against the bottom of the skirt on a 302 piston, the ones I just looked at have a 1/2 inch or so of relief on the skirt (not sure I said that right) that needs support on either side of the pin. My big pita deal was getting the rod supported so nothing moved when I put it on the press. I think it would be pretty easy to build a hardwood jig for it, but then I found a stroker crank.

I'm still thinking about pulling some of the still decent TRW forged 302 pistons for a 11:1 393, I'll get back to you on this. The 460 slugs came off pretty easy, but I didn't plan on using them again so I never measured them afterwards... and I still ended up buying new rods.

FWIW, the rods do have a fatass pad on the little end for balancing the set.

[RAIV70Judge]

For what its worth, I just finished pulling apart 8 pistons from rods for my sbc, in under 30 minutes. I used very little heat from a small tipped torch and my hydraulic press. The inside dimension of the pistons, from flat to flat, for the opening of the rod changed less than .0003" of an inch at the max. The bore diameter of the rod changed nothing, and the top to skirt of the pistons were still square. I build knees and surgical instruments for a living, not pistons and rods, but it sure seemed pretty easy to me to pull the rod an piston apart. my 2 cents....

[OldMachinist]

I wrote a long dissertation on balancing and this thing said I wasn't logged in when I clearly was. Maybe I'll try again but not tonight.

[Beagle]

I wrote a long dissertation on balancing and this thing said I wasn't logged in when I clearly was. Maybe I'll try again but not tonight.

sigh. Yeah, do it again... when you're done being aggravated. That sucks.

[Bob Holmes]

Well, I'll have to go ahead and give it a shot. Thanks guys for the information.

[RAIV70Judge]

I wrote a long dissertation on balancing and this thing said I wasn't logged in when I clearly was. Maybe I'll try again but not tonight.

I hate it when that happens to me!

[RAIV70Judge]

For what its worth, I just finished pulling apart 8 pistons from rods for my sbc, in under 30 minutes. I used very little heat from a small tipped torch and my hydraulic press. The inside dimension of the pistons, from flat to flat, for the opening of the rod changed less than .0003" of an inch at the max. The bore diameter of the rod changed nothing, and the top to skirt of the pistons were still square. I build knees and surgical instruments for a living, not pistons and rods, but it sure seemed pretty easy to me to pull the rod an piston apart. my 2 cents....

I just realized I left out a feature of my testing. I made a few shims that resemble fender shims, to slide over the diameter of the pin and support the rod. so the piston was touching the shim and so was the rod. starting pumping the ram, and the pins slid right out.

[Mater]

yeah when i post a long post i tend to save a copy in word incase the forum poops on me

[Russell]

yeah when i post a long post i tend to save a copy in word incase the forum poops on me

X2 anything more than a simple reply I like to type in Word and copy over to the forum. The spell check helps me look not so stupid.

[Teddyzee]

Way off topic... But one of the Ranger sites I frequent "autosaves" a message you're typing every 15sec or so, similar to Hotmail. Very reassuring!