Whenever I pull main caps or rod caps, I keep the bolts in the holes of the caps they were mated with. Just seems safer that way and I never worry down the road.

 

Good idea Chris.

Since I don't have a cherry picker, much less room for one, it looks like I'm either stuck with the old bearings or a frustrating replacement method.

 

I needed a hoist for a few weeks a while back when I didn't have access to a shop. I bought one on craigslist for 50 bucks, used it for 2 weeks then sold it for 75 just a thought.

 

That MAY just work if the hoist is compact enough and I can clear enough space out in the corner to set it down. Of course I'd need an engine stand too. Damn small garage.

I've never removed an engine from a trans before. I hope it isn't a PITA.

I'll try my luck at an in-situ bearing replacement though first.

 

He would make a damn fine Branch Manager, he probably looks good in a suit too, being so young. He may even enjoy wearing a suit and tie.

As far as the tip on using a hydraulic jack, I do a lot of work on mine by myself, without the advantage of any helpers. So I have become as creative as possible in getting things done. I recently changed out the rear d/s to one from a 98 DI. This required changing the rear flange as well (4 bolt vs 3 bolt). I ended up balancing the replacement d/s on jack stands to hold it in place when I bolted it back in. I had also used the jack and a long breaker bar to help break the torque on the nut holding the flange on. I had the jack sitting on the driveway beside the truck and the cheater bar extending out from under the truck. Just keep everything squared up good.

 

Clever work Danny

Well here it is... What do you guys think? This is bearing cap #2.

 

On big Cummins motors we used to take all the main caps off except the front and rear (just loostened them up good) and took a 1/4" bolt about 3/4" long ground the head down to the thickness of the bearing stuck in the oil port of the crank and turned the crank witch ever way and turned the bearing out on the block side, once all the center ones were in place remove the front and rear caps and use the same method. I used that method on a 350 chevy too its a pain but it can be done.

 

Thanks I've actually found it very easy to remove the upper bearings shells. Just tap the un-notched side loose with a flat head driver and push out with flexible piece of plastic.

The bad news is that at least according to the popular RPi site, copper bearing shells is very bad or at least means they're quite worn out. They don't mention what the scoring means. The crank journal appears smooth though. For anyone reading this, look above for bearing shell pic.

 

The bearing is supposed to wear and score before the crank. It functioned as designed. I'd say put some plastigauge in there and see what the clearances are. See if you need to go up to first oversized bearings or if standard will suffice. If you cant feel any scoring on the journal with your fingernail then it should be good to go..

 

I am getting to see details that are all new to me. And you are getting a very detailed exposure to what makes your Discovery work, or in your case, why it was not working very well. I do commend you on the level of work you have accomplished to date.

What does the mating surface of bearing cap number 2 look like? Appears that motor saw some significant abuse. Do the rest of the bearing caps show that much wear as well?

It will be interesting to see what condition the oil pump is in.

There was a recent thread from a new member where he removed his sump, spent a lot of time cleaning and polishing the inside of the sump but he reassembled without verifying the flatness of the mating surface and had significant oil leakage with the new gasket installed and could not understand why.

Be sure to check flatness of your removed sump cover prior to putting it back on.

One place I did a short assignment as Director of Quality manufactured items for military contracts such as weldments and enclosures. They even built the front bumper for the Bradley Fighting Machine. We had massive granite tables for flatness along with all kinds of precision measurement equipment. I never knew there were so many ways an item could fail inspection.

My most fun job was that of Reliability Engineer on the Tomahawk Cruise Missile. I got an exposure to a huge variety of manufacturing defects thru scanning electron microscopy of a large variety of failed components and assemblies. It was amazing what you could determine by a detailed visual examination of an item.