Go to an automotive store or other supply place and get the white "Lubra Plate" grease to grease up the liner seals. rod and main bearing surfaces or bushings but on all but the seals also squirt a little oil on along with it on top the grease. This is what we did at the Cat dealer and learned it from an old mechanic when I started there. They bought it in about a 3 gal. bucket and then us mechancs had smaller containers at our work area to use it.At stores I have seen it in tubes or small pint cans.

Had a good deal of stuff going here but accidentally deleted all of it. Sorry, will try again tomorrow.

Jack

I'll try this again. Maybe this machine will function a little better after the operator got a little sleep.

Thanks, O.M. and SJ. I have the Lubriplate grease in the shop, so I guess that will be the slickum of choice this time.

pic #1 Check the sleeve protrusion. I use a straight edge and feeler gauges. I had to swap sleeves #2 & #3 to get the protrusion uniform--0.004" go/0.005" no go. The sleeves are out of a different block. The ring clearance on the two involved pistons is identical and the piston size is close enough. There should be no problem. Do this with the top copper ring in place but none of the bottom rings.

pic #2 & #3 Turns out I am short one of the small brass ferules for the head gasket seals. Quicker to make one out of a piece of scrap water valve stem than to go hunting for another. I had to make the passage a little smaller than OEM item, but still larger than the oil line that goes to the rockers, so that's where I'll use it.

pic #4 Bottom seal rings are stretched onto the sleeves. Rings are compressed into the bottom taper of the bores, piston/rod assemblies are put into the sleeves. Get the numbers on the rods on the correct side, front side of the sleeve forward so the whole thing is in proper rotation when we drop it into place. Place ring gaps: top about 45 degrees off the pin line on the non-thrust side of the piston, second ring 45 degrees off the other end of the pin, same side. The third ring I put the gap on the thrust side about 45 degrees off the pin. The oil rings I put at 90 degrees off the pin line, one gap on each side. There will no doubt be other theories on this. That's just the way I do it.

pic #5 All parts are ready to assemble so we can get in and do it before the gasket goop dries. Have all the stud threads chased and run the nuts down them all the way with plenty of detergent motor oil. Be sure they are free so they don't distort the torque reading. Have all the nuts and hard washers ready. Have the rubber installed on the ferules for all of the head gasket seals. HAVE THE TORQUE SPECS AND SEQUENCE IN FRONT OF YOU BEFORE YOU START so you don't have to stop and hunt for it amongst the acculumated trash and spare parts cluttering you shop. I have the head hanging ready on the hoist. This is to all go together before the gasket sealers dry.

pic #6 A tip. Keep your hoist chain in a clean bucket and wash it occasionally. It's amazing how much crud a chain fall can pick up off the floor and dump into your clean machinery.

I didn't have a lot of time yesterday, but at least I got ready. We'll see how it goes today. I'll be back...

Jack

The weather turned nice for a couple days so I had to get some outside work caught up. Then yesterday the computor server went south, so I havn't been back as soon as I might have.

I got the cylinder sleeves with pistons and rods included installed yesterday. It went pretty much according to plan. The motor oil over the Lubriplate worked OK, though I thought the sleeves took a bit more driving than I remembered the John Deere sleeves using their sleeve installation soap.

Picture shows a 4x4 wood block on top of the sleeve puller plate. I used an 8 lb. hammer one handed to pop them in. 4 lb. wouldn't quite do it.

Notice the broom handle through the big ends. Piston rings will pretty well hold the pistons up, but when working around the block I get concerned that something might start one moving and drop it out the bottom. Setting the block flat on the work table will keep the buckets in place while the installation is in progress. When I go to turn the block over, I use the broom handle and wire it up on both ends of the block. It's a pretty simple caution that can save you a big headache.

Immediately after the sleeves are in I put the head on. Not much to say about bolting down a head, except do it before the sealants used are dry.

Then I rolled the whole thing over to work on the bottom end. I recommend caution doing this unless you are privileged to own a totating motor fixture. When you do this under a hoist it is dicey. If you try to roll it on a table top you can lose control of it when it goes over balance. I use the fork lift and the chain fall and bolt up the chains so hooks can't drop loose. Keep the motor suspended and take up the weight with one hoist as you ease off the other. If you drop one of these beauties and break it, it will ruin your day.

With the block & head upside down, I have to block up from the table top to let the valves and rocker studs clear the table. This makes a pretty tall package, so I leave it tethered to the chain fall just to be safe.

I'm waiting for a couple more parts (Yes, I did order one new rod bearing from Cat at retail price:eek: ) so I might be a little while getting back, but hang in there and have a good day.

Jack

I hope you didn,t put oil on the liner seals as I stated not to before but just the Lubra-Plate.You just use oil on bearings and bushings only with Lubra-Plate not where there is seals.

Yes, SJ, I put oil on the lubriplate to thin it out a little more. Cummins recommends light oil on theirs; it just seemed reasonable. They also warn that you do it within 15 min of installation because it will cause the rings to swell. I think I made it well within the 15 min.

What's the problem? Did I screw up big time?

Jack, Lets hope the seals are ok but we never put oil on them as I was told at the dealer.

OK, I guess I'm hoping they are OK. I had my brother check service manuals at the shop where he works; they had nothing for Cat engines (strange) but a current manual for Cummins. I'm guessing the modern rubber they use is OK with oil, pretty much any make. The rings I used were after market supplied, don't know for sure if they're even the same stuff as Cat OEM.

Anyway, they "popped in" one ring at a time pretty much as they should, though it took a fairly good bump to do it. We'll see...

Nice Job Jack. Great post. Just in time for my rebuild. We are about at the same point in process. I installed the pistons through the block (I didn't have to put liners in) and installed the rings. I found this easier to work the ring compressor form the top. Crank has been installed and everything torque down. Hope to finish bottom tonight, then roll over, attach pony to block. I previously made an hard engine stand which attaches to the side of the pony and the front cover. I'm a little worried about my generic roll over engine stand, that D2 engine is heavy. I have been using a stap attached to cain fall along with the roll over engine stand for assurance. Tim

I expect that the prohibition against oil came from the era before modern rubber. But you want the o-rings to last almost forever so anything you can do to extend the life will be worth it. I think I remember some JD liner o-ring sets that had different rings for each position, presumably the bottom one selected for best oil resistance and the top one for best performance against coolant. Certainly wouldn't want to oil any of those top rings. I haven't seen any like that lately, all seem to be butyl rubber.

Also whatever you put on the o-rings will mostly wind up in the water jacket so oils and greases will take more cleaning to get the cooling system up to snuff.

I like the tire mounting soap/grease for this job, but I keep a bucket in the shop, so it's easy to grab a handful.