havoc_squad
Senior Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2011
- Messages
- 739
Strike two. The replacement connecting rod that was re-conditioned was a bust. It looked great, well machined finish and placed in an oil sealed plastic bag.
It felt aligned with a typical automotive awl on both sides of the crack, but when I got a more refined dental pick, one side was off ever so slightly on one side.
I stopped and checked with that awl after torquing in stages to 15'ish to 20 ft pounds each rod cap. Checking the crankshaft by moving it after each torque stage on all rods.
I noticed one was ever so slightly binding, and took the two off that I noticed issues with.
The rod that was replaced had ghost marks on the surface with light scratches and some shinny spot on the bearing retainer on one of the bearings after torquing in stages to about 20 ft pounds.
I'm guessing a tolerance issue with that re-conditioned connecting rod. No marks, nicks, or scratches found on the crankshaft.
The other rod looked fine when it was disconnected from crankshaft, it just had one of the outer edges not aligning so it was loosened.
With no inside micrometer or dial bore gauge, I'm probably flying blind to any tolerance issues.
I resigned myself to call one of the area rebuilders to involve professional help.
They won't touch it without punching all four holes oversize and replace everything, probably regardless if the out-of-round in all cylinders was within specifications or not.
I get it regarding certain matters of warranties, liabilities, and customer relations, just frustrating as all crap to get 95% done and hit a brick wall hard.
So I either need to figure out the most cost effective way to get two more connecting rods to align and fit or mothball the motor until I'm ready to fork out $2k for a complete re-work of what was done.
I would buy the OEM new connecting rods if I knew I could get them to align 100% without special fixture jig.
Any suggestions from those assemble these OMCs for a living? I don't want to throw parts at the problem and end up at square one again.
It felt aligned with a typical automotive awl on both sides of the crack, but when I got a more refined dental pick, one side was off ever so slightly on one side.
I stopped and checked with that awl after torquing in stages to 15'ish to 20 ft pounds each rod cap. Checking the crankshaft by moving it after each torque stage on all rods.
I noticed one was ever so slightly binding, and took the two off that I noticed issues with.
The rod that was replaced had ghost marks on the surface with light scratches and some shinny spot on the bearing retainer on one of the bearings after torquing in stages to about 20 ft pounds.
I'm guessing a tolerance issue with that re-conditioned connecting rod. No marks, nicks, or scratches found on the crankshaft.
The other rod looked fine when it was disconnected from crankshaft, it just had one of the outer edges not aligning so it was loosened.
With no inside micrometer or dial bore gauge, I'm probably flying blind to any tolerance issues.
I resigned myself to call one of the area rebuilders to involve professional help.
They won't touch it without punching all four holes oversize and replace everything, probably regardless if the out-of-round in all cylinders was within specifications or not.
I get it regarding certain matters of warranties, liabilities, and customer relations, just frustrating as all crap to get 95% done and hit a brick wall hard.
So I either need to figure out the most cost effective way to get two more connecting rods to align and fit or mothball the motor until I'm ready to fork out $2k for a complete re-work of what was done.
I would buy the OEM new connecting rods if I knew I could get them to align 100% without special fixture jig.
Any suggestions from those assemble these OMCs for a living? I don't want to throw parts at the problem and end up at square one again.
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