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360 wrist pin bushing, replace without pulling head?
Hello,
I purchased a cheap beater 1976 Ford F-150 4x4 with a 360 / 4 speed recently to teach my kids to drive a stick in a pasture. The rest of the time the pickup will stay on a ranch and used to haul wood, build fence, etc. Doubt it will get 100 miles a year on it. I knew the engine had a knock when i bought it but was hoping it was a bent push rod but after narrowing down the noise to bottom/rear I pulled the pan today to inspect the 4/8 rod bearings. What I've found so far looks to be the bushing in the #8 wrist pin is shot. Rod bearings on the crank side are worn but not shot (a little copper showing through in a spot) but with the rod caps removed the rod has lots of play in the wrist pin and I'm pretty sure I can see a little bearing coming out on one side up there and I found a little bearing debris in the pan.
Does anyone know if the wrist pin can be removed and rod pulled from the bottom on these engines? I haven't tried to do it yet, thought I'd better ask. I'd like to avoid pulling the head as we all know what fun that is on an FE. I'm going for the quick/cheap fix on this engine considering it's future use. The engine also has one push rod that's not turning when running so this isn't it's only issue but I can live with that for now.
The cylinder thatching looks to be gone in the cylinders where the rings are. The truck has 78k miles on the odometer but I bought it from the original owners and it was used on their ranch as a spray truck since new. My guess is the engine has considerable idle/running hours as it was once fitted with a PTO to run a pump and had a manual throttle setup.
If i can't do the repair from the bottom I may just park it until I can find a cheap used running FE to swap in to it.
You cannot remove the pin from the piston while the piston is in the bore. Head has to be removed to pull the piston out of the bore.
Steven Hawkins would disagree. He would say drill a hole in the side of the block, and pull the pin out. LOL.... of course it would ruin the engine, but could be done, plus probably would need to cut the block in half.
These Astrophysicists think out of the box.
Steven Hawkins would disagree. He would say drill a hole in the side of the block, and pull the pin out. LOL.... of course it would ruin the engine, but could be done, plus probably would need to cut the block in half.
These Astrophysicists think out of the box.
Yea, and we see how far his 'smarts" got him now huh ? :-missing
It would have run awhile longer even without the bushing. Just would have made a hell of a racket. At some point the pin or the rod would have worn to the point of failure. But those are harder than that brass bushing, so it would be awhile.
It would have run awhile longer even without the bushing. Just would have made a hell of a racket. At some point the pin or the rod would have worn to the point of failure. But those are harder than that brass bushing, so it would be awhile.
I was tempted to throw the pan back on, dump in some STP and go since it's just a ranch truck but it would have drove me completely nuts.
Once the rest of that bushing came out the rod jerking buck and forth would have broke the end of the rod out pretty quick.
From the marks on the rod it may not hold another bushing and will need to be replaced.
What is special about the 9" in this one? It was previously used as a spray truck by the PO and they had wood blocks setup between frame and axle due to the weight they packed around so its been well abused already and lived through it. I like it, it has personality so I hope I can keep using if it doesn't grenade.
The 4x4's usually came with the "N" case center section. This was the strongest 9" center section Ford produced. Highly desired by the drag race crowd. Look at the front of the center section, the ribs form a tic tac toe pattern an there will be an "N" cast in the center. The "N" stood for a high nodular iron content in the case. Should also have 31 spline axles. There's a tag on it that'll tell you the gear ratio and if it's a trac-loc carrier inside (positive traction) Many 4x4's came with a trac-loc carrier
The 4x4's usually came with the "N" case center section. This was the strongest 9" center section Ford produced. Highly desired by the drag race crowd. Look at the front of the center section, the ribs form a tic tac toe pattern an there will be an "N" cast in the center. The "N" stood for a high nodular iron content in the case. Should also have 31 spline axles. There's a tag on it that'll tell you the gear ratio and if it's a trac-loc carrier inside (positive traction) Many 4x4's came with a trac-loc carrier
What you write above is absolutely correct, unless you have a 600 to 1500 hp engine with large drag slicks. Most of the crowd I race with run Moser or Strange 35 or 40 spline axles. My old 9 inch 31 spline differential would fail with my car. The nodular Ford differential did fine with my old 428scj engine with 600 hp, but it was at it's limit.
I am not sure what the big boys run who have 2,500 to 3,500 hp.
Original 9" N cases are more sought after in the restoration side today than for racing.
Aftermarket 9" cases today are far superior to the old N case of yesteryear.
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