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an exercise in patience

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:32 pm
by artc
last year a friend brought dad a IH Famous one cylinder vertical engine with the piston stuck in the cylinder. the guy could not figure out how to get it apart with the stuck piston.

turns out the engine allows you to remove the connecting rod bolts through an access plate in the side of the block. that allowed us to remove the cylinder with the stuck piston.

i put the assembly in the electrolysis tank for more than a week and tried to tap the piston out. nope, nothing doing. soaked it in kroil for 2 or 3 weeks - tried again.....

Gave it back to Dad who had a couple of ideas.....didn't work. Now keep in mind that this is not a Farmall Cub where we could replace the piston or the cylinder easy...there are no readily available replacement parts for this engine, so we do not want to break anything.

it has been soaking in a penetrating oil for almost a year, and yesterday the piston came out with the application of an estimated 5 tons of pressure from a press!! The penetrating oil had done the job, only the rings remained stuck.

a simple hone of the cylinder and new rings is all it needs. Success!!!

Re: an exercise in patience

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:36 pm
by Rudi
As they say Art, Patience is a Virtue :)

Congrats :applause: on getting the engine running again. Sounds like you and your Dad enjoyed the project. :D

Re: an exercise in patience

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:38 pm
by Harold R
Wow! A year? Most would have given up. Persistent patience. :lol: 8)

Re: an exercise in patience

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:35 am
by cowboy
Cool Art :{_}: :{_}: :{_}:

Billy

Re: an exercise in patience

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 10:42 am
by beaconlight
One of the two remaining volunteer fire companies on Staten Island had an old engine with a similar problem that took about the same amount of time to get it unstuck and running again.

Re: an exercise in patience

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 2:17 pm
by k9sicem
I hope it does not take me a year to get those two spark plug out I have been working on the last couple of days.

Re: an exercise in patience

Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2011 6:40 pm
by VinceD
Way to go Art. Can't wait to see pictures fo the finished engine. As the line from the Lord of the Rings says, "Don't be hasty". Patience really paid off this time. :D :D

Re: an exercise in patience

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:02 pm
by KETCHAM
WOW!!!! Congrats!!!! My bike been in the basement 2 years[engine NOT stuck] and finally got it going.One year in oil,congrats!!!! Kevin :{_}: :{_}: :{_}: is it running yet??