Case DC piston-sleeve kits

I have a 51 DC needing an overhaul, I'm
having trouble finding pistons and sleeves.
I think I have a 4" bore, but not sure
until I tear it down to verify. Just trying
to find parts availability and pricing
before I tear it down. Thanks

Rusty Acres may have some left, I know he ordered 500 sets a few years ago when I was looking for parts for my SC.

There is reputable but not cheap firm in uk with a large
Stock of obsolete engine parts

Hi Dewen, who is this tractor parts dealer and where is he located as I am allways looking for older tractor parts. MJ.

Maybe all you need is a set of rings. What are the engine's symptoms?

It has piston slap. I took the oil pan covers off for inspection and can see scuffing on the piston skirts and can rock the pistons in the bores, the sleeves look to be ok but this was just visual inspection. I will have to tear it down to verify the condition and get measurements

If your piston skirts are scuffed it's a good bet you water jacket is sludged up behind the sleeves, especially #4 seems to be a problem area, in my opinion a sleeve removal is in order and a good washing out of that block. I believe John Saeli has the kit you need at least he did recently on his website. It would be the same style as the original Case 4 " kit and would give you all you need to renew the sleeves and pistons and new sealing rings and piston rings. 315 585 9826.

That's what I'm thinking is this tractor
has been hot and the block is plugged, I
couldn't see much if any movement of the
water in the radiator. I pulled the
radiator core and it was plugged with rusty
mush along with the bottom tank and about
3/4 of the tubes are full and my cleaning
rods will not go through. I hope the head
isn't cracked. I seen John Saeli has kits
for an SC listed, but I haven't had a
chance to call him to find out about a kit
for a DC. Thanks.

As the attachment shows, from my D series parts manual sn#5600000 and up (52 and up), Case offered also a 4” bore all fuel set and a gasoline set of sleeves and pistons.


Up until 1952 Case had offered only the 3 7/8 bore cast iron pistons. I might be wrong but I am 95% sure the 4” sets were aluminum pistons. Aluminum pistons need more "cold clearance" with the sleeves than cast iron pistons need.


You probably have several reasons to remove the sleeves from your 51DC. However, rust flakes stacked up around the back sleeve may not be causing a significant problem with over-heating in that area.


Unless the rust becomes a SOLID paste, that may then block a sufficient about of liquid from PENETRATING into that area, the boiling water or boiling antifreeze, in that area, will keep that area of the sleeve from getting hot enough to break down the oil between the piston and sleeve. Scuffing should not occur because of getting too hot.


We learned when testing Cat engines, and studying heat transfer in college” that steam bubbles were a far more effective way of pulling heat away from iron that liquid water. Clear as mud? LOL (This is why water quenching hot steel can be too severe.)

In the C and D series block, there is line-of-sight between the water inlet hole and the back of the block. One way to light this “deep cavern”, in order to see what is around the left side of the rear sleeves, is to stick a penlight inside the inlet hole during the pitch black of night and take a peek thru the inlet hole. (also works great for inspecting the bottom of a dry fuel tank)

Thank you for that info. From a visual inspection through the covers on the oil pan it looks like all 4 pistons are scuffed pretty bad and they appear to be aluminum. I'll keep you updated when I tear it down and try to post some pics.

You probably know that some Company offered a sleeve and aluminum piston set with 4.062 bore. Maybe M & W? Two of my DCs had the 4.062 bore. The sleeves were thin at the bottom. Maybe somewhere around .08 thick if I remember correct.

Maybe your tractor has 4.062 sleeves and 4.000 pistons. I think that would be prone to scuffing and have a lot of slap. Either diameter rings could probably be installed and probably work without tearing up something.

How do your pistons fit front to back? I understand that slap is side to side looseness.

Thanks for offering to keep us updated when you get it torn down.

The pistons do seem loose all the way around, and the sleeves feel very thin at the bottom. There is a good chance it may have an aftermarket kit like you said. There's no telling whats been done to it during its life. Hopefully I'll have time to tear the engine down and get measurements to see exactly what I have. Thanks again for your info and input.

Sleeves.
external_link

I seen he has sleeves listed, it doesn't say if it comes with the piston. I always thought they came as matched set piston and sleeve but I have seen them sold separately too. I haven't had a chance to call him to find out.

Hello MJ
The supplier of obsolete parts are
FW Thornton at Telford

I had mentioned that "cold clearance" is a factor for Al pistons used with iron sleeves. I could not remember how different the thermal expansions of the two metals is so I goggled it. The difference is about a factor of two.

So for a 2" radius piston, when the top of the piston is, for example, 350F above ambient the gap would close about .000012 x 350 x 2 equals about .008 gap closure at the top of the piston.

I don't know how much the running clearance gap is at the top of the piston for a HOT engine with 4" bore is but I suspect it might be around .010 gap. If so and for new stuff, the slap at the bottom of a cold 4" bore might be around .040 on one side with zero gap on the other side.

Just a rough calculation. If someone has better numbers, let me know.

Just from feel without putting a gauge on it, it seems excessive. And yes I do have a shop manual but I'm sure I'll have more questions because a book is good but talking to someone with experience is better than any manual. Thanks again