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- Thread starter
- #1,322
Update
I started working on the steering box last time and got it torn apart. Since I was waiting for parts I returned to it to wrap it up. So continuing the steering box.
I pulled the worm gear assembly, opened it up and replaced the seals inside. I used the same technique as my auto tranny when resizing the teflon seals. There are other ways to do this but the important thing is that the teflon seals need to be shrunk down to the groove size.
The gear got reinserted and the bearing preload nut and retainer nut were screwed back down. Preload for this bearing is set once the part is bolt back onto the gear box.
Here is the teflon seal on the piston. There is an o-ring underneath this teflon seal.
Now comes the balls. With the worm gear inserted into the piston about 1"-1 1/2" I fed the balls into the holes. The gear has to be turned to get the balls to feed around the worm gear and 33 balls get inserted like this. Then there is the tube that gets fastened to the piston and 11 balls are inside the tube. Using grease to keep them from falling out I assembled this piece back onto the piston. After that I tested the worm gear to make sure none of the balls had fallen out and that it rotated freely.
Once that whole thing was back together and bolted into the gear box I set the preload per the FSM. Then I inserted the sector shaft and buttoned that up and set it's preload per the FSM. Since I was still waiting for machine work on the block I bolted the steering box back up to the cruiser and reattached the lines.
I wanted to convert to a stronger tie rod (bulletproof steering link a couple pages back) to get better ends but due to time and cost I just ordered some more FJ80 joints from Marlin and replaced the two loose ones I had on my linkage. These were slightly different and had no zerk fitting on top but fit like the others. I just did an eye alignment but will need to do some real measuring or take to a shop if I run out of time before the end of the month. So with the pump reseal and mod along with the box reseal and TRE replacement steering should be back on track. I'm actually excited to see how the seal job and pump mod perform.
I've got some engine news to come.
I started working on the steering box last time and got it torn apart. Since I was waiting for parts I returned to it to wrap it up. So continuing the steering box.
I pulled the worm gear assembly, opened it up and replaced the seals inside. I used the same technique as my auto tranny when resizing the teflon seals. There are other ways to do this but the important thing is that the teflon seals need to be shrunk down to the groove size.
The gear got reinserted and the bearing preload nut and retainer nut were screwed back down. Preload for this bearing is set once the part is bolt back onto the gear box.
Here is the teflon seal on the piston. There is an o-ring underneath this teflon seal.
Now comes the balls. With the worm gear inserted into the piston about 1"-1 1/2" I fed the balls into the holes. The gear has to be turned to get the balls to feed around the worm gear and 33 balls get inserted like this. Then there is the tube that gets fastened to the piston and 11 balls are inside the tube. Using grease to keep them from falling out I assembled this piece back onto the piston. After that I tested the worm gear to make sure none of the balls had fallen out and that it rotated freely.
Once that whole thing was back together and bolted into the gear box I set the preload per the FSM. Then I inserted the sector shaft and buttoned that up and set it's preload per the FSM. Since I was still waiting for machine work on the block I bolted the steering box back up to the cruiser and reattached the lines.
I wanted to convert to a stronger tie rod (bulletproof steering link a couple pages back) to get better ends but due to time and cost I just ordered some more FJ80 joints from Marlin and replaced the two loose ones I had on my linkage. These were slightly different and had no zerk fitting on top but fit like the others. I just did an eye alignment but will need to do some real measuring or take to a shop if I run out of time before the end of the month. So with the pump reseal and mod along with the box reseal and TRE replacement steering should be back on track. I'm actually excited to see how the seal job and pump mod perform.
I've got some engine news to come.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #1,323
Update Cont.
The parts showed up at the shop and the rebuilder found a few more things we needed that didn't come in the kit like the freeze plugs (since he hot tanked/cleaned the block) and the rod bearings (piston side) so I made a run to a local diesel parts supplier. In the end I think it would be the same just getting the parts local than getting them online but now I know. I did buy an ebay kit since they all seemed to come from the same place. So I got the lower and upper gasket set, piston kits which included wrist pins and rings, added valve guides and a cam bearing. The funny thing is that the piston kit included 6 pistons even though my gasket sets were for the 4bt. Plus I was sent a package of 6 cam bearings when all I needed was one. I talked to the seller before ordering and he was willing to eat some of the shipping which was still kind of rediculous.
This is the parts list for the lower gasket set. Cummins is all about the CPL number and serial number to make sure you order the correct parts since these engines where in all kinds of things. My CPL is 986.
Inside the box
Upper gasket kit
In that box
The work at the rebuilder included:
While I was waiting for everything I got some simple stuff done. I installed the rear main seal in it's housing. Cummins seals are installed dry and they come with an installation ring shown on top. You just put the ring on top of the seal and tap it in until the lip bottoms on the housing and that's it.
Thanks to lifting kids all day long my
and I dead lifted the block onto the engine stand using proper posture of course. Then I could start on the block. I installed the new piston squirters and the upper bearings. You can see the thrust bearing on No 4 main.
I did some quick research on what lube to use on reassembly. There are lots of different opinions on what to use but before I left the rebuilder he handed me some ARP assembly lube.
I put a thin coating on the bearings to get ready for the crank. After cleaning off the crank and drying it with compressed air I gently put that burly chunk of metal in it's home.
Mmmmm... polished crank.
Here's the wear that happened on the block from the missing thrust shoulder. I'm a little worried about the small gap between the bearing and the block and wonder if I'll go through thrust bearings quicker. Perhaps I'll drop the pan the first couple of oil changes and see what it looks like.
Lubed the lower bearings and the bolts and put the main caps back on. I followed the torque pattern and sequence outlined in my engine manual.
I'll obviously be painting the engine again. The freeze plug hole is where the block heater goes and the other hole it where the oil cooler goes. I got that installed while I was waiting for the rods.
There are three rings per piston; a top, intermediate, and oil control and I got those installed on the pistons. Then I put the wrist pins in and attached the rods. Not sure if you can read it but the rods were made in Brazil, which is fitting since I lived there for two years.
Lubed the rings, cylinder walls, and ring compressor with motor oil and carefully lowered the piston down. It took a little tinkering but I got it all lined up and tapped the pistons into the cylinders. I used the softer rubber end of a hammer handle to tap. If it felt like it was binding I'd stop and see what was up. Sometimes the ring compressor would slip out a ring before it made it into the cylinder and then I'd need to realign it. Ring position on the piston is important and I followed the manual for ring alignment/spacing.
It was about 9:30pm but I wanted to get all the pistons in and torqued. Three down, one to go.
Got them all in and followed the manual for the torque specs on the rod caps. I lubed those bearings as well. I used a strap wrench on the gear end of the crank to make sure the assembly still rotated. If I got the rods in wrong they would hit the side of the block and stop the crank from rotating but I followed the manual and it all worked fine.
It was about 10:30pm once done so then I bagged the block and taped it shut to keep out the elements. I cleaned up the tools and put stuff away and finally went in the house. I had to wake up @ 5:30am the next morning for work so it felt like a long day for me. I'm actually enjoying this so far and if I'm lucky I might have it on the road next week. If I can get the engine finished and painted on Monday and installed on Tuesday I might have a chance even though I'm not counting on it. I'm betting some of my vibs will go away after this rebuild and balancing work but it probably won't be a good mosquito repellant anymore since it'll clean up my smoke.
The parts showed up at the shop and the rebuilder found a few more things we needed that didn't come in the kit like the freeze plugs (since he hot tanked/cleaned the block) and the rod bearings (piston side) so I made a run to a local diesel parts supplier. In the end I think it would be the same just getting the parts local than getting them online but now I know. I did buy an ebay kit since they all seemed to come from the same place. So I got the lower and upper gasket set, piston kits which included wrist pins and rings, added valve guides and a cam bearing. The funny thing is that the piston kit included 6 pistons even though my gasket sets were for the 4bt. Plus I was sent a package of 6 cam bearings when all I needed was one. I talked to the seller before ordering and he was willing to eat some of the shipping which was still kind of rediculous.
This is the parts list for the lower gasket set. Cummins is all about the CPL number and serial number to make sure you order the correct parts since these engines where in all kinds of things. My CPL is 986.
Inside the box
Upper gasket kit
In that box
The work at the rebuilder included:
- a head job with new guides, seals, and porting. I had NO cracks at the injector holes which was great.
- block cleaning and honing
- crankshaft polishing
- balancing of rods and pistons (new piston were pretty good, but the rods were off pretty good)
- install cam bearing
- install and hone rod bearings (piston side)
While I was waiting for everything I got some simple stuff done. I installed the rear main seal in it's housing. Cummins seals are installed dry and they come with an installation ring shown on top. You just put the ring on top of the seal and tap it in until the lip bottoms on the housing and that's it.
Thanks to lifting kids all day long my
and I dead lifted the block onto the engine stand using proper posture of course. Then I could start on the block. I installed the new piston squirters and the upper bearings. You can see the thrust bearing on No 4 main.
I did some quick research on what lube to use on reassembly. There are lots of different opinions on what to use but before I left the rebuilder he handed me some ARP assembly lube.
I put a thin coating on the bearings to get ready for the crank. After cleaning off the crank and drying it with compressed air I gently put that burly chunk of metal in it's home.
Mmmmm... polished crank.
Here's the wear that happened on the block from the missing thrust shoulder. I'm a little worried about the small gap between the bearing and the block and wonder if I'll go through thrust bearings quicker. Perhaps I'll drop the pan the first couple of oil changes and see what it looks like.
Lubed the lower bearings and the bolts and put the main caps back on. I followed the torque pattern and sequence outlined in my engine manual.
I'll obviously be painting the engine again. The freeze plug hole is where the block heater goes and the other hole it where the oil cooler goes. I got that installed while I was waiting for the rods.
There are three rings per piston; a top, intermediate, and oil control and I got those installed on the pistons. Then I put the wrist pins in and attached the rods. Not sure if you can read it but the rods were made in Brazil, which is fitting since I lived there for two years.
Lubed the rings, cylinder walls, and ring compressor with motor oil and carefully lowered the piston down. It took a little tinkering but I got it all lined up and tapped the pistons into the cylinders. I used the softer rubber end of a hammer handle to tap. If it felt like it was binding I'd stop and see what was up. Sometimes the ring compressor would slip out a ring before it made it into the cylinder and then I'd need to realign it. Ring position on the piston is important and I followed the manual for ring alignment/spacing.
It was about 9:30pm but I wanted to get all the pistons in and torqued. Three down, one to go.
Got them all in and followed the manual for the torque specs on the rod caps. I lubed those bearings as well. I used a strap wrench on the gear end of the crank to make sure the assembly still rotated. If I got the rods in wrong they would hit the side of the block and stop the crank from rotating but I followed the manual and it all worked fine.
It was about 10:30pm once done so then I bagged the block and taped it shut to keep out the elements. I cleaned up the tools and put stuff away and finally went in the house. I had to wake up @ 5:30am the next morning for work so it felt like a long day for me. I'm actually enjoying this so far and if I'm lucky I might have it on the road next week. If I can get the engine finished and painted on Monday and installed on Tuesday I might have a chance even though I'm not counting on it. I'm betting some of my vibs will go away after this rebuild and balancing work but it probably won't be a good mosquito repellant anymore since it'll clean up my smoke.
Last edited:
Wow, impressive to say the least.
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Nice work Mike.
Tapage
Club 4X4 Panamá
Mike .. just far beyond my capabilities .. that impress me a lot .. !
Man I've got some big things between me and Moab but I'm glad none of them involve rebuilding the motor. Looking forward to checking this thing out.
You may have posted this before but how much taller is the Cummins over the 3B?
- Thread starter
- #1,330
I don't know how tall the 3B is but here is a diagram I found of the 4BT. It looks like this is probably the tallest combination of top mount turbo with air-water intercooler. I've never really measured mine and I'll have to wait until I get it back together to get you a real number but I know it's less than this.
Well done, Mike... Very impressive.
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Still need to do some more tube work?
Damn Mike!
That is gonna be SOOOOO nice having an essentially NEW motor to rely on. People (in general) just dont appreciate how beautiful this stuff is when the work is done thoroughly and with care.
Very impressive!
K
That is gonna be SOOOOO nice having an essentially NEW motor to rely on. People (in general) just dont appreciate how beautiful this stuff is when the work is done thoroughly and with care.
Very impressive!
K
- Thread starter
- #1,334
Yeah, I'd still like to get the support pieces made for the front of the fender; however, I may not need them right away since end of the month plans may be changing. I'll bug you in a week or two.
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Ok, spill the beans... what's changing?
- Thread starter
- #1,336
- Thread starter
- #1,337
Update
In case some of you were concerned the 454 comment was a joke as I do not intend to convert back to gas. Dirtgypsy came over on Monday to give me a hand putting the 4bt back together. I think he'd be good at production management because he helped me get right to it and work. Like all good outdoor engine projects the rain was coming down hard and the wind was fierce. We parked his cruiser on the side of the canopy to divert the wind and then started playing with parts.
With the pistons and crank done it was time for the cam, but before we could put that in we need to put the front gear case back on. Clint cleaned it up and the bolts got red locktite and torqued to spec (18ftlbs).
Cummins shows some magnet on a string to fish the tappets into spot with the engine upright. Well, if you flip it over it's easy enough to get your hand down there so we lube them up and put them in.
I numbered the tappets as I pulled them out so I'd know where to put them back.
Clint cleaned the cam, we lubed it and then inserted it.
This was done carefully without force.
With the block upside down the tappets stay in their holes and this makes inserting the cam pretty easy.
Now came the timing part of connecting the IP and crank through the cam. I double checked the pics I took on tear down for alignment. This part took some finess and ultimately helped having two people, one to hold the IP gear in the right spot and the other to finish off the cam.
Here is cam to crank alignment.
And cam to IP.
I forgot to slide the thrust plate in behind that holds the cam in place so we had to do this part again. But it all lined back up.
Flipped the engine to upright to get ready for the head install. Even though I put assembly lube on the tappets I oiled them as well.
The rebuild head.
New guides installed and new seals. Reused springs and the actual valves were still in spec.
He barely took any off the surface and with a cleaned surface no cracks were seen between valves and injector holes.
In case some of you were concerned the 454 comment was a joke as I do not intend to convert back to gas. Dirtgypsy came over on Monday to give me a hand putting the 4bt back together. I think he'd be good at production management because he helped me get right to it and work. Like all good outdoor engine projects the rain was coming down hard and the wind was fierce. We parked his cruiser on the side of the canopy to divert the wind and then started playing with parts.
With the pistons and crank done it was time for the cam, but before we could put that in we need to put the front gear case back on. Clint cleaned it up and the bolts got red locktite and torqued to spec (18ftlbs).
Cummins shows some magnet on a string to fish the tappets into spot with the engine upright. Well, if you flip it over it's easy enough to get your hand down there so we lube them up and put them in.
I numbered the tappets as I pulled them out so I'd know where to put them back.
Clint cleaned the cam, we lubed it and then inserted it.
This was done carefully without force.
With the block upside down the tappets stay in their holes and this makes inserting the cam pretty easy.
Now came the timing part of connecting the IP and crank through the cam. I double checked the pics I took on tear down for alignment. This part took some finess and ultimately helped having two people, one to hold the IP gear in the right spot and the other to finish off the cam.
Here is cam to crank alignment.
And cam to IP.
I forgot to slide the thrust plate in behind that holds the cam in place so we had to do this part again. But it all lined back up.
Flipped the engine to upright to get ready for the head install. Even though I put assembly lube on the tappets I oiled them as well.
The rebuild head.
New guides installed and new seals. Reused springs and the actual valves were still in spec.
He barely took any off the surface and with a cleaned surface no cracks were seen between valves and injector holes.
Last edited:
so did you get some paint on this thing or what?
Clint
Clint
- Thread starter
- #1,340
Update cont.
I've got a break so I'll continue.
We moved onto installing the head. The gasket didn't have any arrows or "this side up" kind of stuff but following the coolant flow orientation only allowed the gasket to be installed one way. With that situated we dropped the head on the block. Next came the head bolts which also meant putting the rocker assemblies on.
I scratched numbers in them so I'd put them back in the right spot. They are installed with the adjustment bolt backed all the way out.
All the head bolts were reused and we followed the torque sequence in the manual. Clint made sure I was following the pattern and once I was done torqing I felt like I had gotten a rowing exercise. My right arm was tight the next day. The head takes quite a bit of torque. I then cleaned up the valve covers, gaskets, and head surface and put those on. Clint bolted up the water pump so if it leaks I know who to call.
We were ready for the front cover so Clint cleaned that up and got the gasket ready. The front main seal is set in like the rear main with an installation ring that comes will the seal. It's pounded in until the flange meets the seal wall. Also like the rear it is installed dry so I cleaned up the crank surface and we slid it on. The plastic insert in the seal is to keep it from folding on itself during installation. Clint torqued up the bolts while I worked on the thermostat housing prep.
It was about time for Clint to take off so the last thing he helped me with was to install the rear main seal. This required hooking up the engine hoist to remove the engine stand so we could get to the back of the engine. Surface was cleaned and seal was installed dry. We transferred the engine back to the engine stand and he took off. Thanks a ton Clint for braving the weather and helping me get this beast back together! You sure are racking up cruiser points.
I continued and flipped the engine to get the oil pan back on.
The gaskets for the front gear case and the rear main seal housing stick out passed the surface. Cummins says to cut them flush and dab some sealant on it.
Front:
Back:
I wiped down the pick up tube and bolted it on. I poured some oil on the bearings and then I cleaned all the pan bolts (that took a while!) and got the pan torqued to spec. Bottom end wrapped up.
I moved on to the fuel system. I cleaned up my injectors which weren't dirty and replaced the washers. Washer thickness is important so I replaced them with the same thickness. There were two different thicknesses in the rebuilt kit. These are 7mm injectors which are the newer style. The old ones were 9mm and the kit included a bushing that allowed the use of 7mm injectors in a 9mm head. Anyways I think they moved on to 7mm injectors to give a little more meat in the head between the injector hole and the valve holes probably to reduce the cracking. I dabbed antiseize in the holes per the manual and torqued down the retainer nut.
I buttoned up all the fuel lines and finished it enough to paint it. Got all the holes taped up. It was windy and humid but I really didn't care at this point so I layed on two light coats. I'm sure Ill have some over spray on the rig to clay bar off but I need to do a real detail job for the summer anyways. That called it a night.
I've got a break so I'll continue.
We moved onto installing the head. The gasket didn't have any arrows or "this side up" kind of stuff but following the coolant flow orientation only allowed the gasket to be installed one way. With that situated we dropped the head on the block. Next came the head bolts which also meant putting the rocker assemblies on.
I scratched numbers in them so I'd put them back in the right spot. They are installed with the adjustment bolt backed all the way out.
All the head bolts were reused and we followed the torque sequence in the manual. Clint made sure I was following the pattern and once I was done torqing I felt like I had gotten a rowing exercise. My right arm was tight the next day. The head takes quite a bit of torque. I then cleaned up the valve covers, gaskets, and head surface and put those on. Clint bolted up the water pump so if it leaks I know who to call.
We were ready for the front cover so Clint cleaned that up and got the gasket ready. The front main seal is set in like the rear main with an installation ring that comes will the seal. It's pounded in until the flange meets the seal wall. Also like the rear it is installed dry so I cleaned up the crank surface and we slid it on. The plastic insert in the seal is to keep it from folding on itself during installation. Clint torqued up the bolts while I worked on the thermostat housing prep.
It was about time for Clint to take off so the last thing he helped me with was to install the rear main seal. This required hooking up the engine hoist to remove the engine stand so we could get to the back of the engine. Surface was cleaned and seal was installed dry. We transferred the engine back to the engine stand and he took off. Thanks a ton Clint for braving the weather and helping me get this beast back together! You sure are racking up cruiser points.
I continued and flipped the engine to get the oil pan back on.
The gaskets for the front gear case and the rear main seal housing stick out passed the surface. Cummins says to cut them flush and dab some sealant on it.
Front:
Back:
I wiped down the pick up tube and bolted it on. I poured some oil on the bearings and then I cleaned all the pan bolts (that took a while!) and got the pan torqued to spec. Bottom end wrapped up.
I moved on to the fuel system. I cleaned up my injectors which weren't dirty and replaced the washers. Washer thickness is important so I replaced them with the same thickness. There were two different thicknesses in the rebuilt kit. These are 7mm injectors which are the newer style. The old ones were 9mm and the kit included a bushing that allowed the use of 7mm injectors in a 9mm head. Anyways I think they moved on to 7mm injectors to give a little more meat in the head between the injector hole and the valve holes probably to reduce the cracking. I dabbed antiseize in the holes per the manual and torqued down the retainer nut.
I buttoned up all the fuel lines and finished it enough to paint it. Got all the holes taped up. It was windy and humid but I really didn't care at this point so I layed on two light coats. I'm sure Ill have some over spray on the rig to clay bar off but I need to do a real detail job for the summer anyways. That called it a night.
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