Stuck piston

Pony1952 · Aug 31, 2010

Have a M-H Pony. Engine was froze, so working from bottom of engine managed to pop three of the four cylinders up, but last one is stuck. I"ve tried wrapping up on rod with piece of oak as I did with the others, but no luck. Any ideas short of taking the whole dang engine apart.

Too Far Gone · Aug 31, 2010

Ive un-stuck 3 pistons by cleaning and honing all rust and grime from above the piston,and I light a fire in the hole with diesel.After its got good and hot or burnt out,then I take a good 3 or 4 inch stick of Hedge and a hammer to the top of it.If it ever moves any at all where you can get some penetrating oil in there,a little work back and forth will get it out.

old · Aug 31, 2010

Do you have anything in the cylinders to help free it up????????? If you do not then nope you will most likely have to pull the head etc. Now if your soaking it with something like ATF etc then maybe you have a chance

El Toro · Aug 31, 2010

Use that diesel fuel that's been suggested. Make sure you're not near any building or have anything flammable nearby. I would pull the gas tank too. The heat will free your piston. Hal

Anonymous-0 · Aug 31, 2010

I freed my JD420 (upright engine) with hot water. Head was off, plumbed a small tank into the bottom of the block and filled the engine and tank with water. Heated the tank and got it boiling and cooling several times. I used two opposite head bolts with a square tube across and steel scraps on top of the piston to force it down. Also used Kroil.

msb · Aug 31, 2010

Weld a fitting in an old stripped out spark plug. Fill the cylinder with oil and hook up a Porta Power pump or a hydrauilc hose from a tractor hydraulic valve. Will not work if the piston is TDC or TBC.
A friend uses a zerk and grease gun, but I like is idea even better. No messy grease to clean up.

John A. · Sep 1, 2010

Pony1952,
Fill the cylinder up with Diesel, add a splash of Gas, set the mixture on fire, drink a cup of Coffee while it burns itself out. The amount of volume that last stuck cylinder has will dictate the burn time, if the piston is near TDC the burn time is short, you may need quite a few burns to get the rust to break loose, if it more toward the bottom of the stroke the burn time will be longer so only 1 or 2 burns may be necessary.
As always, remove all flammables from the area, remove the fuel tank and get it away, and roll the tractor outside if possible.
If you haven't cracked the piston this method will work in short order. Hope this helps!
Later,
John A.

Mike Aylward · Sep 1, 2010

John, a friend of mine has done something like this but used brake fluid instead of diesel fuel. Yes, brake fluid will burn but it is hard to start. My friend used a torch to get it going. It will burn very hot but will also burn very slow. The fluid keeps the piston cool but the top of the fluid burns warm. It will put out a nice, blue flame. Mike

Stuck piston

Pony1952

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Too Far Gone

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old

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El Toro

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Anonymous-0

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msb

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John A.

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Mike Aylward

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