DN4M pistons

[jamawieb]

The tracking number says that it was shipped from Castle Donington, United Kingdom on March 23rd. It's showing in Philadelphia, PA now.

How did you order? Did you call or go through their email? Ive been messing with KraftPower which is a distributor for Sleeman-hawken for the past 3 days without success.

 

[loosegravel]

How did you order? Did you call or go through their email? Ive been messing with KraftPower which is a distributor for Sleeman-hawken for the past 3 days without success.

Email with sean@sleeman-hawken.com. Extremely helpful...like I'm buying a large number of parts or that I'm a major distributor of their products. I don't think it's too late in the day to get a response from him. So you're needing the 750-41610/100 pistons correct?

 

[jamawieb]

Email with sean@sleeman-hawken.com. Extremely helpful...like I'm buying a large number of parts or that I'm a major distributor of their products. I don't think it's too late in the day to get a response from him. So you're needing the 750-41610/100 pistons correct?

Yes sir those are the ones I need. I emailed them to order 2.

 

[loosegravel]

Yes sir those are the ones I need. I emailed them to order 2.

I hope that you get the same service that I received!

 

[loosegravel]

I received my new pistons today. Hard to believe that they made it here in 3 days from the UK. I’m now a fan of Sleeman & Hawken for sure! I’m going to spend some time this weekend and mic my bores and pistons. In years past I have “ rebuilt” several different engines. Most of the time I’ve taken the block, the crankshaft, the rods etc. into a machine shop and let them do their magic. So I’ve never taken the time to buy micrometers/bore gauges and check the components myself. I bought some this last week. I spent about $180, but I feel like I should have done this years ago. I’ll take the time to write everything down by cylinder and piston and see where I am. I’m still unsure as to what caused the pistons/rings to fail as they did on this engine, so it’s probably a good thing to get some measurements. I’ll post more later, hopefully after getting this thing up and running again

 

[jamawieb]

Thats awesome! I sent my request into the general mailbox before you responded with Sean's email address. After you posted his email, I contacted him directly but my order was already being processed by Natasha so he couldn't help. I placed my order early this morning (4am CST) but haven't received confirmation but I'm highly impressed you received them so fast! I contacted Kraft Power (in the US) who is a distributor for Lister Petter (Sleeman and Hawken) who said it would be 5 weeks to receive the pistons (even though they have them in stock). I dealt with them for 3 days and still have not received an order, I'm highly pissed with them. So if anyone is looking for rare Lister parts, do yourself a favor and deal directly with Sleeman and Hawken. Kraft Power is worthless and is the only distributor in the US.

 

[loosegravel]

I have a question for the engine guru’s. I’m not satisfied with the piston to cylinder clearances that I’m seeing with these new pistons. I have some good quality outside micrometers and telescopic bore gauges that I’m using. My piston skirts are measuring 3.392” -3.395”. My bores are measuring 3.395” - 3.397” at 3 different levels in the bores. They’re not tapered at all, and they shouldn’t be as there’s only 143 hours on the tier 2 reset. So my clearances are only .002” -.003”. On the specs it looks like I’m looking for more like .006” of piston to cylinder clearance. I’m really trying to figure out why the pistons and rings failed in the first place. Maybe I’ve found the reason? The spec sheet is for a standard bore, but the clearance should still be the same, correct? Thanks!

 

[jmenende]

Since you already have it apart, check you heating elements in the intake manifold. There is a post where a unit had a bad S1 or k18 relay and the elements stayed on and probably melted. A piece might have made it in and done damage.

 

[loosegravel]

Since you already have it apart, check you heating elements in the intake manifold. There is a post where a unit had a bad S1 or k18 relay and the elements stayed on and probably melted. A piece might have made it in and done damage.

Thank you. I did see that post also. No issues with the GP’s and/or S1 or K18.

 

[loosegravel]

I did go ahead and order the Lisle 15000 cylinder hone that Ray wrote about in post 29. I also ordered some 80 grit, 240 grit and 500 grit stones for it. Everything that I can find about piston to cylinder clearances is telling me that .002" - .003" clearance is not enough. Unless someone pipes in, I'll go forward with honing the cylinders to obtain the .006" of clearance that the spec sheet mentions.

 

[loosegravel]

Well, not being a machinist and dealing with an engine that suffered piston and ring failure I’m a little “wishy-washy” regarding what the piston to cylinder wall clearance should be on this Lister Petter 4 cylinder Diesel engine. After watching hours of YouTube videos on this topic and reading other on-line posts, I’m beginning to believe that the .002” - .003” of clearance that I have is ok. The .006” spec on the sheet is actually the maximum I believe. I’m very open to suggestions though

 

[jamawieb]

The .006 is your maximum clearance, so your initial measurements are perfectly within spec.

 

[loosegravel]

That’s great to hear! It appears that I’ll be adding a Lisle hone and an assortment of stones to my tool arsenal because they’re already on order. I really appreciate the help here on this topic! Some more cleaning and going back together today

 

[jamawieb]

Placed my order for pistons on Friday, they processed it Monday and I should have them tomorrow. It still amazes me that we can get items from the UK in 3 days but it can take a week or longer to get something from the States. They used UPS and the shipping was only $75 for 2 pistons. I initially ordered .040 rings on Ebay from them 2 1/2 weeks ago and I still haven't received those. I ordered the rings before I pulled the pistons. At least I'll have spare rings .040 oversized.

 

[Ray70]

Sounds like you are in pretty good shape. One thing you can also check just for more knowledge is to measure the top of the piston Dia. as well.
No idea on the DN4M pistons, but many other pistons have a slight taper to the piston, smaller on top, larger at the skirt, only by a few thousands.
I'm sure you already know, but especially since you are at only .002" gap, make sure to check your ring end gaps to be sure they won't bind up in the cyl. when they heat up and expand.
When you reassemble, stagger the end gaps, oil the rings and rotate them around the piston to distribute the oil into the grooves before installing them too.

 

[loosegravel]

Placed my order for pistons on Friday, they processed it Monday and I should have them tomorrow. It still amazes me that we can get items from the UK in 3 days but it can take a week or longer to get something from the States. They used UPS and the shipping was only $75 for 2 pistons. I initially ordered .040 rings on Ebay from them 2 1/2 weeks ago and I still haven't received those. I ordered the rings before I pulled the pistons. At least I'll have spare rings .040 oversized.

I know! The shipping time is amazing from the UK. This is the first one of these machines that I’ve had the head off of. I wonder how many are out there with .040” OS pistons? I wish you well on that project!

 

[loosegravel]

Sounds like you are in pretty good shape. One thing you can also check just for more knowledge is to measure the top of the piston Dia. as well.
No idea on the DN4M pistons, but many other pistons have a slight taper to the piston, smaller on top, larger at the skirt, only by a few thousands.
I'm sure you already know, but especially since you are at only .002" gap, make sure to check your ring end gaps to be sure they won't bind up in the cyl. when they heat up and expand.
When you reassemble, stagger the end gaps, oil the rings and rotate them around the piston to distribute the oil into the grooves before installing them too.

Thank you Ray. My ring gaps are more like .012” - .015”. It looks like .010” is the minimum and .020” is the maximum. My .002”-.003” measurements are the piston to cylinder wall clearances. Appreciate the input!

 

[loosegravel]

Thank you Ray. My ring gaps are more like .012” - .015”. It looks like .010” is the minimum and .020” is the maximum. My .002”-.003” measurements are the piston to cylinder wall clearances. Appreciate the input!

Oh…forgot to mention. You’re correct. The piston crowns are .016” smaller than the skirts.

 

[loosegravel]

Just a little set-back on this project. I had everything back together on the engine yesterday. I'm a believer in reading the TM's for sure! They explain very well about the hydraulic lifters for the valves and how to properly bolt down the cylinder head with the pistons down inside of the bore. It takes some time (about an hour on a used engine) to allow the lifters to collapse before rotating the engine. But I found that the rack wasn't moving correctly, so I began removing the injection pumps one at a time. I found the rack was binding on one of the pumps which is pretty common I guess. The bad part is the #3 pump was missing the pin that engages with the rack. It was broken off. I probably vacuumed it out of the crankcase when I was spraying everything down with solvent and then sucking it out. So I'm looking for a good, used injection metering pump for this thing. I posted a listing in the "parts wanted" section. Hoping that someone reaches out. I really don't want to spend $300+ for a new pump

 

[loosegravel]

Just a little set-back on this project. I had everything back together on the engine yesterday. I'm a believer in reading the TM's for sure! They explain very well about the hydraulic lifters for the valves and how to properly bolt down the cylinder head with the pistons down inside of the bore. It takes some time (about an hour on a used engine) to allow the lifters to collapse before rotating the engine. But I found that the rack wasn't moving correctly, so I began removing the injection pumps one at a time. I found the rack was binding on one of the pumps which is pretty common I guess. The bad part is the #3 pump was missing the pin that engages with the rack. It was broken off. I probably vacuumed it out of the crankcase when I was spraying everything down with solvent and then sucking it out. So I'm looking for a good, used injection metering pump for this thing. I posted a listing in the "parts wanted" section. Hoping that someone reaches out. I really don't want to spend $300+ for a new pump

I should have said it's only when bolting down the rocker arms that the pistons need to be down inside of the cylinders. The cylinder head can be installed with no issues.