Wrist Pin Failure
Wrist Pin Failure. Sounds like a heck of a medical problem doesn't it? Truth is this wrist pin failure was in our new Cummins 400 HP Turbo Charged Diesel Engine which powers the Tininthewind! In the previous post I have pretty well described what happened and let you know that we were in Fort Wayne, Indiana getting our engine rebuilt. I can now report on the results of the engine tear down.
Fred, Eric, and Kevin at Crosspoint Cummins in Fort Wayne had us out of the coach early Thursday morning (7:00) and moved the coach in to the service bay. We proceeded to the motel that Fred had set up for us. At around noon Fred called to report to me that it was indeed a wrist pin failure as they had the engine tore down and the failed part laid aside. He would save it for me to see when ever I wanted to pay them a visit. Later in the after noon Fred called again to let us know that by evening they would have all new connecting rods, pistons, and wrist pins installed. Even though only one had failed they would be putting all new in. Fred further stated that before they left for the night they would have the engine running. Assuming all went well after engine start they expected to be ready to turn the unit over to us before noon on Friday. Wow, now thats service. At 8:00 Friday a.m. Fred called to say that the engine had run out OK and they would be doing the road test shortly. He advised that we could leisurely check out and make our way over to the shop. When we got to the shop Eric met us to let us know that he had completed the road test and everything was functioning as it should. I listened to the engine and I was impressed with how quiet it was. After chatting for a bit we hooked up the car and proceeded to head back to Nappannee so Newmar could complete a few items that still needed attention on Monday. We will now camp out at the Newmar Facility over the week-end and be ready for Monday.
My hat is off to Cross Point Cummins, Fred and his Staff. The Mechanics, Eric and Kevin were a delight to be around. As you can tell from reading this far Fred takes great care to keep his customer fully informed with what is going on and updates one constantly with progress reports. A rare trait in today's service world.
Below is a picture of the Connecting Rod, Wrist Pin in place, and the piston. Note the Burn area where the wrist pin passes through the connecting rod, and also note the scratches on the piston itself. They were right. We would not have got many miles down the road and we would have had a catastrophic failure. Thank you Fred, Eric, Kevin and all of Crosspoint Cummins for a job well done.
