Thanks, guys. That's a great write up.

I'll check out which shop is closest so I can get the parts asap.

So, he pulled the crank, but then in the last post, he said it was unnecessary. Can you get the main bearings replaced without removing it?

 

It can be done in the truck. Oil pan gets screen cleaned out, new O-ring for pickup tube, and some Locktite on the oil pickup bolts. Worth opening up a valve cover and looking at those rocker arms, IMHO; they can wear and make oil PSI low.

 

Excellent. Thanks again. I'll talk to the dude helping me about the rocker arms. So the parts list is:

Main Bearings
Rod Bearings
O-ring for pick up tube
Pan gasket


Is that it?

 

I did this job a couple months ago. If I were you, I'd replace the connecting rod bolts as well. There's been debate on this forum as to whether they are TTY bolts or not, but given the importance of them towards keeping your engine together, might as well do 'em while you're doing everything else.

Also - you need new dowty washers for main bearing side bolts and you should be good.

 

Thanks a lot. I'll look into it.

 

Keep us updated on how this little project goes for you. Any number of us could be doing this job in the future and to have this thread available from start to finish could help a lot of people. I hate reading through a thread while researching something and then the thread just ends.

 

Take a look at the rocker shafts also. I've seen some discussions regarding the wear in this portion of the valvetrain and when you have metal moving throughout the engine as you likely did, pieces tend to embed themselves into softer metal like the bearing surface inside the rocker arms. As a result, the arms moving on the shaft cause scoring and wear of the shaft, even though it is harder than the rocker arms. Replacing only the shafts in this case would only be a short term solution.

I haven't had to deal with this myself, but it certainly makes sense to me.

 

How perfect do the main bearings have to be? I ordered these from British Parts of Utah. They just came today and we were going to install them tomorrow. Three of them were floating around the inside of the box, unsecured and wound up with some scratches on them. One nick is shallow, but about the size of a sharpened pencil tip.

AwannaD2, I'll keep posting in this thread until there is a resolution. I hate that, too.

 

Consideriing all of the effort you are going through to get this fixed, the bearings you install should be smooth. The oil pressure is the only thing keeping the rods and crank from rubbing on the bearings. The film of oil needs to be a uniform thickness for proper support. Nicks and scratches will create areas where the oil will not flow evenly and will impact the performance of the bearing. And that's if the raised area around the nick isn't too high to scratch the crank. If it were a lawnmower engine, I'd say fine but for your truck, no way. Call them and bitch. They owe you a new set that's packaged correctly.

 

Upon further inspection, one of the nicks that couldn't really be seen is enough to snag on your finger. I called him earlier this evening and he'll be shipping the new set first thing tomorrow.

Thanks for the reply.

British Parts of Utah seems really responsive, and he didn't require any additional funds to ship out the new set before getting these returned.