Old Magnet, Senior member and others,
Concerning worn out cylinder liners and the fact some are not even available anymore like the D4 4400 ones that I need.
When aircraft cylinders get worn there is a process of rebuilding them. They even chrome line them, in fact I have two aircraft engines with re manufactured chrome cylinders and they sure are good. Then there is even a more exotic material that they are lined with but I forgot how to spell it right now but can look it up later. It would seem that some entrepreneurial person would start doing that with Cat liners also. Does anyone have any ideas about this?

I think what has happened is that we are just now going through the transition where cylinder liners and bearing inventories are used up and it remains to be seen whether it is economical or not to reproduce these items. Considering how many low production items have become available for the automotive and wheel tractors markets it would seem likely that someone would pick up the market even with the low tractor production numbers.We can only hope:D

Don't know that I have ever heard of chroming diesel engine liners, maybe someone can comment. If money is no object, most anything can be done.

Well, I guess there is a service for everything. Apparently there is a process for porous hard chrome plating for cylinder liners, diesels and others. Thicknesses as much as .040 in. Redoing worn liners is not a problem. No mention of costs though. It's been 40 years plus since I had a Lincoln Zephyr crankshaft hard chrome plated back to standard and the price floored me then....no telling what to expect now.

"Old wrote:

Well, I guess there is a service for everything. Apparently there is a process for porous hard chrome plating for cylinder liners, diesels and others. Thicknesses as much as .040 in. Redoing worn liners is not a problem. No mention of costs though. It's been 40 years plus since I had a Lincoln Zephyr crankshaft hard chrome plated back to standard and the price floored me then....no telling what to expect now.

I've had to send out a lot of parts here at work that did not come in to spec. Hard chroming is one of the most expensive "finishes" you can get on a part...

I'm not real familiar with Diesel engine liners. Can't you just machine new ones? Are they cast or something?

What kind of steel are they normally made from?

Most engine repair shops can install thin wall cast liners and bore them back to standard size for a reasonable cost, when rebuilding most engines without liners I have them lined instead of bored because parts are easier to get in std sizes. Most liners cost Aus $40 a hole installed. My Cat 22 has liners installed as well. As long as there is enough metal in the old liner to put a new one in it shouldn't be a problem.

The Cat wet type liners are extremely hard (Rockwell C 65-67) about like bearing race material. They don't lend themselves to machining very well. They are a centrifugal cast alloy with ground final dimensions and laser honed. Not the same as the regular cast iron liners or thin wall inserts.

There seems to be a flood of overseas providers......maybe in time they will pick up on the old Caterpillar market void.

Wet liners are usually a very hard steel as it was stated earlier in this thread. Tolerances are very strict. Some years ago I was usuing a Sunnen CK 10 to hone a set of diesel liners and they were so tough that it pulled the feed wedge inside the hone head into 2 seperate pieces. A couple of suppliers that I have used in the past have been Clevite and Seal Power, you may try both of these and possibly come up with a set of NOS sleeve assemblies. You can expect to spend some good hard earned money but they have the liner with O rings, piston with pin and snap rings and piston rings installed. as far as boring out a liner to put a cast iron sleeve in is almost like asking the impossible, unless you can find a shop that has the machines that can handle hardened steel. Good Luck!
MIke

"Mike wrote:

Wet liners are usually a very hard steel as it was stated earlier in this thread. Tolerances are very strict. Some years ago I was usuing a Sunnen CK 10 to hone a set of diesel liners and they were so tough that it pulled the feed wedge inside the hone head into 2 seperate pieces. A couple of suppliers that I have used in the past have been Clevite and Seal Power, you may try both of these and possibly come up with a set of NOS sleeve assemblies. You can expect to spend some good hard earned money but they have the liner with O rings, piston with pin and snap rings and piston rings installed. as far as boring out a liner to put a cast iron sleeve in is almost like asking the impossible, unless you can find a shop that has the machines that can handle hardened steel. Good Luck!
MIke

Can't you rough machine a liner, heat treat the steel then grind ID & OD to tolerance?

But I guess after all that, you'd be spending some cash as well...

If you can give me the seriel number from the engine I am looking into this for you and may have stumbled on something... but I have to have that number.
Mike

Mike Mahler,
The serial no. of the D4 is 2T9430. It would be good if you found something.