Cheap piston pin puller

[czny]

I was at a friends auto machine shop last week. Some young guy had dropped his ej20t engine off for repair because it had developed a "ticking noise".

The engine had been torn down to the short block with nothing apparent to cause the "ticking noise" - until they pulled the oil pan. #4 rod bearing had been destroyed - there were all kinds of metal flakes in the oil filter when they cut it open.

So I get asked for a 14mm allen wrench & a piston pin puller for Subaru. Didn't expect that the turbo pins would be so heavy with small through holes like this one. The holes are about 8mm leaving little to grip because of the taper on in insides.

Somewhere I seem to remembered reading about using concrete anchors with a slide hammer to pull the pins. Home Depot carries Hilti 5/16" x 3 1/2" anchors with 1/4-20 threaded studs in the center. Body dent slide hammer tool from local auto parts had a 1/4-20 adapter in the package.

Had to grind down the head of the center stud to slip freely though the piston pin & thin the expanding shell to get a snug fit inside. Gently tap the modified anchor into the piston pin, grab the anchor shell with pliers, tighten down the 1/4-20 nut until about 1/4" of thread is exposed, screw on the slide hammer & a few light taps pull the piston pin.

The piston pins had been hammering the pin clips, raising a ridge inside the piston pin bores.

A bag of five 5/16 Hilti anchors - $3.56 w/tax.

[SubaruGL]

I was at a friends auto machine shop last week. Some young guy had dropped his ej20t engine off for repair because it had developed a "ticking noise".

The engine had been torn down to the short block with nothing apparent to cause the "ticking noise" - until they pulled the oil pan. #4 rod bearing had been destroyed - there were all kinds of metal flakes in the oil filter when they cut it open.

So I get asked for a 14mm allen wrench & a piston pin puller for Subaru. Didn't expect that the turbo pins would be so heavy with small through holes like this one. The holes are about 8mm leaving little to grip because of the taper on in insides.

Somewhere I seem to remembered reading about using concrete anchors with a slide hammer to pull the pins. Home Depot carries Hilti 5/16" x 3 1/2" anchors with 1/4-20 threaded studs in the center. Body dent slide hammer tool from local auto parts had a 1/4-20 adapter in the package.

Had to grind down the head of the center stud to slip freely though the piston pin & thin the expanding shell to get a snug fit inside. Gently tap the modified anchor into the piston pin, grab the anchor shell with pliers, tighten down the 1/4-20 nut until about 1/4" of thread is exposed, screw on the slide hammer & a few light taps pull the piston pin.

The piston pins had been hammering the pin clips, raising a ridge inside the piston pin bores.

A bag of five 5/16 Hilti anchors - $3.56 w/tax.

 

Wow good to know. I'm tearing down an EA82 and am stuck on the piston pins now. Any chance you have a photo? I have some threaded rod, and also an autobody dent puller I have been trying with the thick wire with a hook bent at the end and can't budge it.

 

If I didn't think the pin was hardened steel I thought about trying to tape it to match my dent puller.

 

EDIT: Found what i was looking for... thanks for the great info!

Edited September 6, 2011 by SubaruGL

[czny]

No, didn't get a chance to shoot some pics of the 'operation' when the shop tore down the engine. Stuck around just long enough after setting them up to see one pin pulled - this is a racing engine shop & they're quite busy. Thought I should get out of the way - or they might put me to work.