MEP-803A flywheel issue

[BrnH2ORat]

I just picked up a 803A from someone who bought it from auction, Has a new Tier 2 upgrade from 2012 with what looks like a new engine with just a few hours on the Hour Meter. Problem is the the flywheel is not attached to the crank! engine will turn over by hand (Fan blade) and can turn the flywheel/alternator freely from the ring gear with starter removed.
Trying to determine whether the flywheel is a single bolt with a taper fit and keyway or 4-5 bolt flange fit to the crank. Both ends turn freely, kinda hard to believe that it sheered off 4-5 10-12mm flange bolts. Going to pull the alternator off to inspect just wondering if this is a common problem? Saw another post on here with a similar problem but there was no outcome on that thread from 2019. I knew about this issue before I bought it, but for $300 dollars it was a cheap gamble, the overall generator is in great shape, everything there, worst case scenario would be a broken crank shaft.

 

[Ray70]

Oops, I see you created a new thread for your machine. Like I mentioned in the other thread,
It's not a single bolt. It's pretty much just like any other car engine. 5 bolts through the flywheel into the flange on the end of the crank.
You must have one of the 3 issues listed above. Bolts sheared off, bolts fell off or crank is broken.
BTW others have reported similar issues in the past.

 

[Ray70]

For $300 you can't go wrong! even if the crank is broken you're still like thousands ahead of the game!

 

[Light in the Dark]

Drive plate could have sheared too, I've seen that.

 

[BrnH2ORat]

Drive plate could have sheared too, I've seen that.

But isn't the drive plate bolted to the flywheel? The engine turns over but the flywheel doesn't move, turn the flywheel through the starter hole and the drive plate/fan turns.

 

[BrnH2ORat]

Not a single bolt. It's pretty much just like any other car engine. 5 bolts through the flywheel into the flange on the end of the crank.
You must have one of the 3 issues listed above. Bolts sheared off, bolts fell off or crank is broken.
BTW others have reported similar issues in the past.

The guy I got it from said he tried starting it, said it started to fire off but then the flywheel just spun, most 4-5 bolt flywheels also use a alignment dowel pin, I'm hoping someone at the depot who assembled the new engine in this forgot the bolts and the dowel pin finely sheared off. Going to pull it down next week and see what the mystery is!

 

[Ray70]

Well, that would be nice, but the TM shows 5 bolts and nothing else.
I've replaced a couple cranks before and don't recall there being a dowel pin, but I could be wrong, only one way to tell for sure.
If the crank ends up being damaged, I have a couple spares in my parts piles.

 

[BrnH2ORat]

Well I guess I'll know in a few days! I'm in the middle of doing the machine work on a Perkins 1104C, making 1 good engine from 3 bad ones. I'll have to figure out if this DN4M has stock crank journals, don't want to replace rods if I don't have to.

 

[Ray70]

Why would you need to replace rods? rods would never change, the bearing thickness changes when the crank is turned undersized.

 

[Light in the Dark]

But isn't the drive plate bolted to the flywheel? The engine turns over but the flywheel doesn't move, turn the flywheel through the starter hole and the drive plate/fan turns.

Yes it is, guess I glossed what you wrote. If the flywheel is stationary but the engine turns, I'd agree that you may have a crank issue here.

 

[Guyfang]

So whats the deal?

 

[Ray70]

We're all still chomping at the bit, wondering what you found??

 

[BrnH2ORat]

We're all still chomping at the bit, wondering what you found??

Will know today, got everything tore down just have to unbolt the can pull it out. Got sidetracked, I converted my originally owned 1999 F250 pickup from a 2WD over to a 4WD from a donor 2001 F350 4WD truck, basically made my truck into a F350 4WD with the full auto hub shift on the fly system.

 

[BrnH2ORat]

So whats the deal?

Pulling the can today, hopefully will know the results soon, other projects got in the way!

 

[BrnH2ORat]

Why would you need to replace rods? rods would never change, the bearing thickness changes when the crank is turned undersized.

The rods on these engines have different lengths, that's what determines how far the piston sets below the deck. It's real important to make sure you mark which rod came from what hole. It's a Perkins, NOTHING is easy on a Perkins!

 

[BrnH2ORat]

Finally got the time to pull this down, juggling 100 different projects, who said retirement would be relaxing? It was exactly what I was hoping for, all the flywheel bolts were sheered off, with no damage to anything, was even able to walk out the broken pieces out of the crank shaft. Whats interesting is the crank shaft has a place for an alignment dowel but the flywheel doesn't have a hole for one?

I'm going to try and call a Lister dealer and find out what grade of bolt is supposed to be in there? 10.9 is what came out which is roughly the equivalent of a grade 8 SAE bolt. Does anyone have a flywheel out of an 803? wondering if all of them are missing the dowel pin hole?

 

[Guyfang]

None of them have the dowel pin hole.

As far as I remember, 10.9 was what its supposed to be.

 

[Light in the Dark]

I've seen all the bolts shear before, but more commonly the drive plate is what gives up the ghost. You might want to have it magnafluxed to confirm no hairline cracks before reassembly.

 

[Ray70]

The rods on these engines have different lengths, that's what determines how far the piston sets below the deck. It's real important to make sure you mark which rod came from what hole. It's a Perkins, NOTHING is easy on a Perkins!

Are you sure about this? The parts manual only shows 1 PN for the connecting rod which fits both the 802 and 803. These are Lister Petter engines, not Perkins. I've changed as well as turned cranks and swapped bent rods in these engines, but have never heard anything about different length rods.
Anyway, it looks like you lucked out and just need some new flywheel bolts.
And as Guy stated, none of the flywheels have a dowel pin hole. The images in the TM's don't show a dowel hole either.

 

[Guyfang]

Perkins aint even close to this engine.