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I was just talking to a guy and he said that if he had a 96" apart he would get better rods. First I've heard about the weaker rod ends. My rods a supposed to be the last of the ones with the heavier ends.(06, 88" ). I hope so. The cost of replacing the rods as you have probably allready found out isn't cheap but a better rod may be worth investing in. Good luck.
First start with your real problem of how it spun wrist pin bushing. Things like oil not getting to the bushings. There may be a big problem as you brake it a part. You should check other bearings for same type of problem. Is the oil pump working to the right pressure.
A wrist pin bushing is a hone to fit item. You can replace but will need to hone it to size for that particular piston pin. You will need an inside mic, outside mic and a rod hone to get the right fit. I bet that thing was a knocking hard when it went south. I bet the dealer will fix it but will cost you big $$$$. You really need to see if the oil squirters are plugged to see if that was a reason it went bad.
Just fix it. There is not other issues that would not let you get home. I suspect poor maintenance by the previous owner. Didn't replace the filter and it has reduced flow.
That is a rare event that you had which leads me to think oil flow is an issue.
There is no longer an oil hole in the bushing. For the last 100 or so years, there has been an oil hole at the top of the rod to provide lubrication between the inside of the bushing and the wrist pin. I believe it was an oiling issue as the wrist pin has some galling. My indy and the guy at darkhorse believe it has to do with the reduced surface area of the rod. It is not able to hold the bushing as well. The previous owner did the service at the recomended interval and provided me with records. I believe it is a poor design at best. I will now have the rods that the MOCO should have put in there to start with. Probably the rods from the 88" engine. If you know how to change the wrist pin bushings in these new 96" engines, you should tell the MOCO so they can put it in the service manual and teach their technicians how and we can all know how to do it. This isn't your same old engine.
If you cannot buy just the wrist pin what can you buy? The rod/piston combo only? (just curious)
Something caused that failure prematurely.......trying to find root cause and what else was affected would be my # 1 goal before putting it back together. A lot of high mileage 96's out there now and never heard or read of this before. Sorry it happened to you.
CADMAN, That is not the 96" engine. If that was my setup, we wouldn't be having this conversation. As I said earlier, the rods are chopped off at an angle. No longer straight. No oil hole. There were no other suprises during disassembly. Just the wrist pin bushing. Everything else looks like new. Dark horse cranks sees a lot of these. Poor design.
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