Installing Eagle Rods

[Brett James-McCall]

I've gotround to building my engine and have just gotthe point of checking the rods.

I've got Eagle I beam rods and I can't seem to split any of them open. Nuts are all undone, but just can't budge the lower parts on any of the rods.

Any deas appreciated. Thanks

Brett

 

[Simon]

a bigger hammer?

 

[Frank Catt]

Brett, before you do force them apart, run an internal micrometer round in them to be sure they are in fact round ! ( a lot have been found oval )

 

[Randy V]

Brett, before you do force them apart, run an internal micrometer round in them to be sure they are in fact round ! ( a lot have been found oval )

Frank's right -
But before you measure them, I would first clamp the rod's big-end in a vice between two blocks of wood, then re-torque the nuts to spec.

Disassembly - There are a lot of ways to do it and even specialty tools for the job. This is what I do..
When you go to disassemble the rods, I use a box of old rags to catch the rod (if it falls), then I hold the rod cap with a gloved (important) hand and use a brass hammer to tap on the rod bolt ends.
If the rod bolts were fitted properly, they will not come free - if they do start to come free, just tap them right back home.
Once the rod caps clear the shoulders on the bolts, the cap should be removable by hand.

 

[Terry Oxandale]

Brett, before you do force them apart, run an internal micrometer round in them to be sure they are in fact round ! ( a lot have been found oval )

Interesting comment. When I was doing this very thing with my Eagle rods, there was a noticable ovate shape on the crank journal bore. It's been a few years but it seems it was on the order of .007" differnence. Investigation showed this was designed into the rod so that (again, my memory of years past is the only thing I'm depending on) the width of the bore (bolt to bolt) was wider than the height of the bore. After hearing this from several independent sources, I went forward with the assembly and never had a bit of trouble with it. The sleeves in the rod can be pretty tight, but they will loosen up after a few on/offs with the caps.