Pressing Piston Wrist Pins
- Thread starter 63valiant
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You need a press.
Here's a set that recently acquired from a guy that "did it at home". A complete set of ruined pistons, pins and rods. Not to mention the scuffing on the cylinder walls from the pistons in-ability to articulate on the rod.
Rmoore
Well-Known Member
I’ve done it at home ! Small floor press from Harbor Freight , short and long sockets to press against ! Go slow , shouldn’t have a problem ! I haven’t pressed any in along time now ! Everything I’ve done in years now all have floating pins ! But, can be done at home ! I always have more time than money lol ! I try to do all I can do myself ! Have a great day
IMO You need a fixture that supports the back of the ROD while you are pressing. If you support the back side of the piston you would be crushing the rod against the inside boss of the piston possibly deforming it. I think that is what happened in the above pic.
I used a propane torch and my ball joint press. Warmed up just enough to move the pin. They all went in like butter.
I rebuilt a Buick 430 back in Tech School days. It took over 20 ton's of pressure to press some of them out.
....and as UT says at the start of the video.....best left to a machine shop.
Using a press risks the pin 'picking up' [ gauling ] as it gets pressed through the rod. The piston will then destroy itself in the engine in short order.......
Using a press risks the pin 'picking up' [ gauling ] as it gets pressed through the rod. The piston will then destroy itself in the engine in short order.......
My question is why would you want to do it at home? To save money? On an engine build? Most shops will press a set of eight for under 100 bucks. Seriously?
63valiant
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I have a press.
63valiant
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No thanks, I;d like to do it right! lol
63valiant
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But he also didn't use a press to install them, heat and his fingers.
63valiant
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Really, what's the point in working on stuff at all if we can just pay other people to do it for us. Seriously?
63valiant
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I guess to be clearer would be if I asked just what it is that a machine shop is doing that cannot be done at home?
I do machine work at home, I have lathes and a Bridgeport, there's no magic done in machine shops, it's simply careful and precision work.
The UTG vid does mention a forge for heating up the small end of the rod, but as he displays, that's nothing really special.
Thanks for the input everyone!
I do machine work at home, I have lathes and a Bridgeport, there's no magic done in machine shops, it's simply careful and precision work.
The UTG vid does mention a forge for heating up the small end of the rod, but as he displays, that's nothing really special.
Thanks for the input everyone!
Some things need to be handled by those with the training and experience to do so. Do you know what a good, complete set of wristpin press tools cost? That's the only proper way to do it without the chance of something broken and ruined. It's not worth trying to back yard it trying to save a dime against a hundred.
Post up pictures of your machine equipment. We'd love to see it. I'm a big fan.
Here's a wrist pin bushing press set. That's Amazon's "discount" price. That doesn't even include the wrist pin press itself.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008CP6EEQ/?tag=fabo03-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008CP6EEQ/?tag=fabo03-20
68 HEMI GTS
Well-Known Member
The first issue that needs to be addressed is most often there’s not enough clearance from the pin to the piston. I like to set them at about 0.0010. I’ve hung hundreds of sets of pistons when i worked in a shop. Didn’t come across many sets of pistons that had the proper or enough piston to pin clearance. Then you need a rod heater that evenly heats up the rod end. If your good with it you can do it without turning the rod blue with too much heat. Sure you can heat the end of the rod with a torch. It’s not even heat though and you can easily damage the rod end. Chances are having no experience doing this you are going to stick a pin before it’s in the proper spot. You cannot them just press it out against the piston. As stated above that will ruin the piston. You need an OTC fixture so you can press against the rod. So even with my experience hanging rods there’s no way I would do this at home without the proper equipment. So no there’s is no magic but, proper tools are key..
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6PakBee
Well-Known Member
It's been a while since I used the Miller tool to remove a piston pin but IIRC the anvil just rested up against the side of the piston.
Ironracer
Gearhead
OUCH!!!!!!!
Ironracer
Gearhead
We pressed the factory pins off pistons on my 74 HP 440, with the HD rods.... hope I didn't jack anything up!
You'd know it if you did. It's really not difficult, but you really should let the shop do it. My friend Richie says it's REALLY important to only heat the rod to 500 degrees and no more. That's what his forge is set for. It's an important enough step to get right.
Ironracer
Gearhead
We didn't heat em at all, a Lil oil... not reusing the stock pistons. Ever. They're smelted by now probably.... was a prepped block. Rats got into the building, ate the bag, and built a nest in the lifter valley.... was hot tanked, w/ a new 030 bore, new cam bearings...a Lil round wire brush ( on the battery) in the lifter bores cleaned em up really good, may have to get a silicone dingle hone. definitely need to CLEAN THE HECK outta the rest of it. I'm kinda pissed about it. That what happens when you let em sit for 15 years.
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