Crower seems to be a PITA to get parts from. They ship one set at a time to most vendors and it makes it very hard to get a time frame on when any certain vendor will have some rods for sale. I bought TTS rods from http://www.hdiesel.com/ (Huckstorf Diesel). They are going to Merchants for my build. One phone call to Mark at Huckstorf, and they were on the way(Thank you). This was after several phone calls with vendors that can't seem to get rods.

Since I seen what a PITA it was to get such an expensive part, I want to know why there is a waiting list for these damn rods? Why isn't Crower meeting out needs? Is it time to completely drop them and switch to someone else that can deliver when we need it? If Crower isn't serious about Duramax performance parts and their customers, we should not support their company. They are making motor builds a PITA. I'm glad I found out Huckstorf could get rods shipped that were in stock, but I'm concerned. If there is no competition with Crower and rods are going to be this hard to get, the price will never come down.

BTW, Huckstorf can be reached at 1800-776-7102. If you are having trouble finding rods, he can get them. They are made by Crower or R&R to TTS specs. Once these run out there is no telling how long it will take to get some since Crower takes their sweet time.:mad:

I heard TTS is having a large production run being finished up. No competition means its an open market for anyone who wants to start doing duramax rods. Unfortunate that no rod companies are taking initiative to satisfy the market like TTS has.

I think Corrilo(sp?) is making rods for the duramax to. But it sounds like all the companies are screwin the pooch on this one, accept TTS.

Bentley

That's funny I just talked to Guy at Socal and he has them in stock. It seems Crower has been a bit sporadic on delivery...

That's funny I just talked to Guy at Socal and he has them in stock. It seems Crower has been a bit sporadic on delivery...
Merchant is waiting on a few sets and BigStriss is too. What do you mean by "them", how many sets of 8 does he have? Crower needs to be eliminated from the equation. They are too slow and their shipping habits are less than desirable.

A few sets I believe.

I talked to Huckstorf a few weeks ago, he said he should be able to get tts rods no problem.

I don't think even if there was 10 different manufacturers the prices would come down due to competition. Just look at turbos, there used to be only 1 aftermarket turbo available, now there's lots and the prices haven't budged.

I agree, it shouldn't be this hard to get rods. I'm on the phone with Crower just about every other day to find out when they will satisfy my very large purchase order. Instead of one big shipment I have a few sets trickling in here and there. I ship them to those on the waiting list almost as soon as they come in.

As far as Carillo goes, I finalized the design with them a few weeks ago and should have their rods in stock in about 8 weeks.

I'll stick with the name brand rods for now and give some of the newcomers to steel rods a season to prove themselves.

I agree, it shouldn't be this hard to get rods. I'm on the phone with Crower just about every other day to find out when they will satisfy my very large purchase order. Instead of one big shipment I have a few sets trickling in here and there. I ship them to those on the waiting list almost as soon as they come in.

As far as Carillo goes, I finalized the design with them a few weeks ago and should have their rods in stock in about 8 weeks.

I'll stick with the name brand rods for now and give some of the newcomers to steel rods a season to prove themselves.

Great info. Thank you. Will the Carillo's be priced similar to the Crower's?

I believe I saw pricing for both on Trippin's web site the other day.. Check it out I believe the prices were with in 2-300.
Jon

The Carrillos are an "H" beam forged rod as opposed to the Crowers which are an "I" beam billet rod.

This opens up a completely different discussion as to the benefits of "I" vs "H" beam as well as forged vs billet regarding grain structure and flow.

The bottom line is they are both good rods. Billet is less expensive to manufacture so they are less expensive to purchase.

The pin end of the factory rod is 1.540 at it's widest point. The billet rods tend to measure 1.480 in this same area. The reason is so they can be manufactured from 1.500" plate with just a .010 clean up on either side of the base material.

The Carrillo's are 1.540 in this area, because a forged rod can be made to any dimension we specify.

Is this important? You be the judge, I offer both. :D

The Carrillos are an "H" beam forged rod as opposed to the Crowers which are an "I" beam billet rod.

This opens up a completely different discussion as to the benefits of "I" vs "H" beam as well as forged vs billet regarding grain structure and flow.


hmmm interesting...with my pea-brain knowledge it would seem I beam rods would be stronger in a "V" engine where you have not only up and down but also some side to side stress. On the I beam rods you have a thicker center section that would maybe take more torsional and lateral stress, as well as the longitudianl stress. Whereas the H beam rods do have the sides supporting side to side stress, but the smaller center section. Any deformation might case the H beam to sort of "crumple and fold"...Im probably totally off, who knows...

how is oiling going to be distributed differently on the H beam vs I beam rods? The dmax oiling being designed for beam rods, would that cause anythng funky? What about weight of the rods and balance? H beams are going to be slightly lighter I think, is that going to make anythng different? What are the rods going to be forged from? What are the crowers? 4340? I dont know much about metal, I think I just remember reading about that material being used for rods in many instances.

are the carillo bearing caps still fracture split like factory?

If I were to buy rods I would go with the crowers. They have been out for a while and no one (that I know of) has broken them. Nobody has tested the carillo rods yet, and I wouldnt want to be a guinea pig with a 2500 dollar investment...JMO

Carrillo "H" beam forged rods have been the industry standard in connecting rods for more than the 30 years that I have been building engines.

:D

Merchant said the rods are in. He said they look great, just like Crower's.

I know for a fact SoCal Diesel and TTS have rods in stock. How many? They sure didn't make it seem like they were on a shortage though.

The discussions on a "H" beam Vs "I" have been going on for years but a general rule of thumb is if there is over .05" offset from the pin end to the crank end a "H" is stronger than an "I". Once you get beyond that, the "H" causes more windage to be created in the lower end due to the way it traps air and oil in the rod. Does the windage created by the "H" matter or not is the question. Since the Duramax offset is below the .05" we chose to use an "I" in our design. We use 2 suppliers to produce the rods and both carry the same warranty and I can tell you that there is no better parts on the market and we have proven that with all the sets of rods we have shipped over the last year. Not one failed part out there. Were not new to the diesel steel rod business at all, I guess you can say we are the oldest supplier in the market with a proven record. Carrillo has had there design done for over a year and started production of there forging about 6 months ago but just have not done much to hurry them along for what ever reason. Carrillo produces rods in the "H", "I" and a force feed oiling design for the different applications. While they are not a new company this is there first venture into the diesel world. Crower and R&R have worked with us to get the rod design how we wanted them but Crower takes forever to produce. We wait one year from our first PO till they were delivered, so they have some production problems. We have shipped over 20 Duramax rod sets out in the last couple weeks so there are plenty of motors going together and we have plenty of rods in stock and can ship in a couple days from ordering them from us. So if you need them we've got them in stock with no waiting for when they "might" come in.

Off topic alittle here but were could you find just a LBZ block and crank

Merchant said the rods are in. He said they look great, just like Crower's.

Both of the TTS rods are made to our specifications so they should look to the eye pretty much the same from either of our suppliers.

Both of the TTS rods are made to our specifications so they should look to the eye pretty much the same from either of our suppliers.

Are you continuing to carry rods from both manufacturers? Crower and R&R.

If so, how can the public determine if they got a set made by Crower or R&R or a third vendor?

Why should it matter who we have supply our product, it's our product. They are proven and if there is an issue the customer comes to us not anyone else. Since there has been a zero failure rate it a non-issue.

Why should it matter who we have supply our product, it's our product. They are proven and if there is an issue the customer comes to us not anyone else. Since there has been a zero failure rate it a non-issue.

As a consumer if I were purchasing a set of rods from a supplier or reseller I would want to know if I were getting one brand or the other.

It may not matter to you as the seller, but it matters to the person buying them.........;)

As a consumer if I were purchasing a set of rods from a supplier or reseller I would want to know if I were getting one brand or the other.

It may not matter to you as the seller, but it matters to the person buying them.........;)


Do you tell the consumer the elements of the tunes you make for them? It matters to the person buying it. Availability in a timely fashion is a key in your business, why does that not count for others?

If this matters so much to you, buy a set of Crower rods and a set of R&R rods. Send them in for independent testing and make them fail. Which one is better? I was told this has been done and the old Crower design is not better. If you don't believe it, do your own testing.

Do you tell the consumer the elements of the tunes you make for them? It matters to the person buying it. Availability in a timely fashion is a key in your business, why does that not count for others?

If this matters so much to you, buy a set of Crower rods and a set of R&R rods. Send them in for independent testing and make them fail. Which one is better? I was told this has been done and the old Crower design is not better. If you don't believe it, do your own testing.

We are not talking apples to apples here........:rolleyes: ........I was making a general statement that if someone orders a set of rods and is expecting a particular brand they should be sure that is what they are getting.

I don't need to do any testing, the manufacturer does that, that is their job not mine.

Did you get Crower Rods ???? or brand X ????

:eek:

Why should it matter who we have supply our product, it's our product. They are proven and if there is an issue the customer comes to us not anyone else. Since there has been a zero failure rate it a non-issue.

Your right, it is a non issue until there is a failure. As long as you can tell the difference between the identical copies, you will know which vendor to contact about correcting the problem. Or which sets you need to recall.

Tracability to the vendor should be very important to you as the reseller.

We are not talking apples to apples here........:rolleyes: ........I was making a general statement that if someone orders a set of rods and is expecting a particular brand they should be sure that is what they are getting.

I don't need to do any testing, the manufacturer does that, that is their job not mine.

Did you get Crower Rods ???? or brand X ????

:eek:

Steve told me exactly what I was getting. Brand TTS. I know exactly where and how they were made. Obviously, Crower is behind the 8 ball when it comes to serving their customers. TTS seen the disadvantage of relying on an unstable supplier and had other rods made. There is no reason to fault them for that or question the integrity of these rods. Crower was not proven last year and everyone sold those without the blink of an eye. These are no different until proven otherwise.

I agree with Trippin. There should be a way to trace these rods in case there is a failure. If mine fail, I'll let you know. If they don't, I'll let you know that too!

Steve told me exactly what I was getting. Brand TTS. I know exactly where and how they were made. Obviously, Crower is behind the 8 ball when it comes to serving their customers. TTS seen the disadvantage of relying on an unstable supplier and had other rods made. There is no reason to fault them for that or question the integrity of these rods. Crower was not proven last year and everyone sold those without the blink of an eye. These are no different until proven otherwise.

I agree with Trippin. There should be a way to trace these rods in case there is a failure. If mine fail, I'll let you know. If they don't, I'll let you know that too!

Bobo,

I met and had dinner with the owners of R&R in December at the PRI Show, I saw the Duramax Rods 3 three months ago.......and some other billet parts he had in the works.

They looked like nice pieces, however the point I was making was that up until now everyone knew that "TTS RODS" were not manufactured in house by TTS they were manufactured by Crower and resold by TTS.

So there was no reason to not think that "TTS Rods" were not Crower's.

So unless you as the consumer knows what you are buying and do not think you are getting a Crower piece when if fact you are getting another brand then that is fine.

It would be no different with any part, you want to get what you assume you are paying for..........;)

Good Luck with your motor build, I am sure if there is a limit you'll push to find it again..........:eek:

First of all, you are not going to be a TTS customer, so why are you worried about it? And second of all, TTS did not ever say that their stuff was exclusively Crower. If you assume, you are not very intelligent. I called and asked if they were Crower and they said they used a couple manufacturers. They are not hiding it. The rods are made to TTS spec for TTS. Buy them from R&R, they say TTS on them.

The motor build should be fine. I'm sure I'll find the limits so the next one can be even better. It is the best way to learn and I'd rather do it on my truck than someone else's. See ya at the track.

Man you two really distract from threads with your endless banter between one another. Thanks!


On topic....

So who else, besides Trippin and TTS (whether they be produced by Crower or whoever else TTS gets to make them), designs rods for our trucks?

The only design of rods for the Duramax were done by TTS, Crower, R&R and Carrillo so far. Banks had Crower make some H beam rods but I do not believe they are for sale. The item here is one vendor that's come to the game and trying there best to discredit what we have done. We worked with Crower to get what we want on the first and second set of design changes and it took them a year to produce parts the first time. After that they were spotty at best filling orders. We made more design changes and contracted with another supplier to produce an improved product for us. The rods we sell today are better than the ones we sold a year ago and if we find ways to continue to improve them we will. The bottom line is they are today and have always been TTS Rods sold by TTS and our distributors. If there is a problem with any of them the customer will come to TTS, no where else. I guess since we've made changes along the way to improve our products we need to announce it so Mr. Moonshine and Mr. SoCal Diesel can continue to complain. We've been in business for over 25 years with continued growth each year, let see if the new kids make it that long.

The only design of rods for the Duramax were done by TTS, Crower, R&R and Carrillo so far. Banks had Crower make some H beam rods but I do not believe they are for sale. The item here is one vendor that's come to the game and trying there best to discredit what we have done. We worked with Crower to get what we want on the first and second set of design changes and it took them a year to produce parts the first time. After that they were spotty at best filling orders. We made more design changes and contracted with another supplier to produce an improved product for us. The rods we sell today are better than the ones we sold a year ago and if we find ways to continue to improve them we will. The bottom line is they are today and have always been TTS Rods sold by TTS and our distributors. If there is a problem with any of them the customer will come to TTS, no where else. I guess since we've made changes along the way to improve our products we need to announce it so Mr. Moonshine and Mr. SoCal Diesel can continue to complain. We've been in business for over 25 years with continued growth each year, let see if the new kids make it that long.

So Crower is no longer the producer of TTS rods and they are now designing their own version of Duramax rods seperate from the ones they did produce for you or are they simply using your "old" design(s)?

Carillo and R&R have designed their own version of Duramax rods also or are the rods produced by them designed by someone else and simply just made by them?


C-ya

Im still kind of confused about the whole suppliers, mfg'ers, etc etc :confused:

have any of the aftermarket rods failed? (dumb question, they probably havent failed, but even if there has been an instance, no one will hear about it)

so basically theoretically If I wanted rods tomorrow, I would call Steve directly...or...?

Where the hell is the love on this site???? There are 3 or 4 of the most intelligent Duramax guys arguing in this thread. I talk with all of you and you all are very smart and business savy but we are killing this site with these arguments to the point that people are afraid to post.

I looked at Crower Rods, TTS Rods, and ATS Rods. I couldn't afford the extra money for ATS Rods and they were out of them. I personally think the TTS Rod quality was what I wanted and I knew TTS had the quality control for my needs. Crower Rods are awesome to but I did what I thought was best for my engine. Trippin did a awesome job on the heads and I don't have any data on the cam shaft power to say anything about it. Bobo is a very intelligent tunner and so is Tony but you all have different ways of doing things. Bobo and I had a pretty heated arguement on the side but once we saw each others point of view, I think we have a new understanding of what's happening and we can now communicate a little better. I didn't lose respect for him but I was pi$$ed and so was he. Lets turn our energy towards kicking some Dodge and Ford butt instead of each others? God knows I could use all the information I can get to help get my truck ironed out for next weekend.

My point is.....you guys all build a great product and I use all of them with no complaints so far but can't we all just get along and agree to disagree sometimes but still give the best information possible?;)

Now all you guys need to get back to work to build me some better parts!!!!:D

I second that Taz. If we all collaborated more and better their would be two or three 1000rwhp D-Max's by now. All these guy's have killer products. To tell you the truth picking their names out of a hat would not be a bad way to decide, either way you would end up with a phenominal product. :) Come on guys quit scaring the newcomers:D .

The only design of rods for the Duramax were done by TTS, Crower, R&R and Carrillo so far. Banks had Crower make some H beam rods but I do not believe they are for sale. The item here is one vendor that's come to the game and trying there best to discredit what we have done. We worked with Crower to get what we want on the first and second set of design changes and it took them a year to produce parts the first time. After that they were spotty at best filling orders. We made more design changes and contracted with another supplier to produce an improved product for us. The rods we sell today are better than the ones we sold a year ago and if we find ways to continue to improve them we will. The bottom line is they are today and have always been TTS Rods sold by TTS and our distributors. If there is a problem with any of them the customer will come to TTS, no where else. I guess since we've made changes along the way to improve our products we need to announce it so Mr. Moonshine and Mr. SoCal Diesel can continue to complain. We've been in business for over 25 years with continued growth each year, let see if the new kids make it that long.

I'm sorry if you took my comments to be a complaint. I am merely cautioning you to keep track of which parts came from where. Your an intelligent guy and I'm sure all of your parts will be just fine.

I am not new to this game or to outsourcing parts. I've been in the cylinder head business for over 25 years. 12 of those years as a business owner.

This is the same arguement I had with my former business partner who wanted to buy valves from 3 different vendors all made to the same print with the same part number, supposedly to the same specs. One vendor was in India. All of the original parts passed inspection.

However, in subsequent production runs the Indian valve tips failed and there was a massive recall of LS-1 cylinder heads because they couldn't tell which customer's cylinder heads had which valves in them.

He saved a bunch of money there by going to a cheaper supplier didn't he. :eek:

I think it is a good idea to keep track of where things are made, batch #'s etc. I'll leave that up to TTS if there is a failure. Looks like there are going to be several choices for Duramax rods in the near future. I think that is great for the performance market.

I think one would be surprised at just how much collaboration and sharing of ideas goes on between the Vendors in this thread...

I think one would be surprised at just how much collaboration and sharing of ideas goes on between the Vendors in this thread...
I sure would hope so, the most invovative Dmax R&D persons are all members of this "place" in some sort of way, and where there are so few, not to brainstorm together would be insane, I am a strong believer in working with/hiring person's that are smarter then I am.:)

Sorry you took my comment the wrong way bobo...........:rolleyes:

What you fail to understand is I did not say the rods were not of good quality, all I wanted you to understand is that you need to know what your getting, Crower or something else !!!

I saw the rods at PRI 3 months ago, they looked to be nice pieces, I also stopped by a few other booths to inquire about rods.

As far as Steve's comments, that's just what I expect.

Just be an informed consumer, do your homework and Good Luck.

Go play with your rods...........;)

So Crower is no longer the producer of TTS rods and they are now designing their own version of Duramax rods seperate from the ones they did produce for you or are they simply using your "old" design(s)?

Carillo and R&R have designed their own version of Duramax rods also or are the rods produced by them designed by someone else and simply just made by them?

C-ya

What Crower produces for someone else today I cannot say, my guess would be the old design we did with them as they have not been given the latest updates to the design from us. R&R only produces Duramax rods for TTS, you can purchase them from any TTS distributor or R&R and we will know who got what. Carrillo designed there own. Cunningham designed there own. We know who has what and down to what batch they are from. As I said before the rods we produce today are better than the rods we produced in the past.

Ben

If you needed rods today you could call us or one of our distributors, we have about 10 sets left in the last batch with more in manufacturing. The difference in this case is we do our own designs, have the steel mill make the material to our specifications and deliver it to our machine shop and once machined they go to the heat treat facility and Cryogenic Treatment. The Bronze for the bushings is also made and shipped to the machine shop to make the bushings from so it takes several different facility's to make a set of our rods. We use ARP fasteners too so maybe we should call them ARP Rods :eek:

Crower, Cunningham and Carrillo make there own.............................. or do they?

Sorry you took my comment the wrong way bobo...........:rolleyes:


No problem. It happens.:cool:

Taz is right, to much fighting amongst ourselves instead of with the other guys. We need to set the diesel world on fire this year and all this fighting back and forth is not helping our group. We need to show them why our motor is called the duraMAX!

Guy, your work on our heads is second to none! Thanks for such a high quality build will have numbers for you Friday night to back it up. The Rods where R&R's from TTS and they are gorgeous. The cam has a nice sound to it as well. I think someone needs to make a new intake system to kill those horrible bends back and forth from the intercooler pipe to the head, especially the bridge area as it is a horrible design. This would lower intake charge temps and promote better cylinder fills and more balanced power.

I will say that I did a ton of research and investigating before I purchased my engine parts and I can honestly say, as of right now, I'm very happy with the products provided to me from every vendor that helped me get this truck to this level.

I will be the first to admit that I give the vendors just as much crap as the next guy but it's all in fun and on the side. When we fired the motor we had a chirping noise that sounded like a rocker arm not oiling and when I called Trippin to ask him about it, I could sense he was very concerned because he takes great pride in his product. Turned out, it was a exhaust vibration being transmitted into the rocker arm cover and it was was easily remedied. I called Steve (TTS) a dozen times or so just to ask questions and make sure we were on the same page and each time we spent a hour or so just talking through things step by step and he had a genuine concern to see that everything went well during the build. I don't know what this motor will take now but we are about to find out and if it breaks, I'm sure the vendors will help me in any way they can. Steve told me the exact deminsions and weights of the rods and who built them so there was never a qustion as to what I was getting. Trippin did the same thing with his rods when I was trying to decide where to get them. All the vendors have been honest and up-front about their products so I have nothing but good things to say about them and their products.

Ric,

Nice to hear positive feedback. Seems rare around here at times:(

Quite a few, very smart, very knowledgeable, very helpful people on this site.:D I'm always surprised the amount of time most of them give to us, after hanging up the phone.

I try to give credit where credit is do.

Can anyone tell me who builds ATS rods (Wade?)

Ken, I believe they are using Carillo, but Wade will be able to verify that.

Ric,

:D I'm always surprised the amount of time most of them give to us, after hanging up the phone.

X2...I can list at least 6 times with at least 3 different vendors that I have thought the same thing. As busy as they are/or may be, they will discuess any questions you may have into great detail no matter how long it takes. You dont find that much anymore, even in small towns....

Are the tts rods "plug and play"? What, if any clearancing has to be done to either the rods, crank, block, or pistons? Do these rods come with new crank bearings? What else is needed parts wise to do a set of rods, gaskets, nuts, bolts, sealant, loctite, tools?

I'm doing mine real soon here and want to make sure I have all the part and tools in hand when the build starts. Thanks.

The rods are just the rods so you need everything to pull it apart and reassemble it. No clearancing is needed as they drop in. If your motor is in good shape you could reuse the bearings but I would use new ones. What you do and do not need will depend on what all you plan to do. A good set of tools, silicone with a full gasket set to start.

What is the torque spec on the TTS rod caps? Is it different than stock? Is it a good idea to stamp a number on the side of both the rod and the cap for matching purposes?

stock rods are torque to yield.

TTS and Crower use ARP bolts that are most accuratly torqued using a rod bolt stretch gauge. Not to exceed IIRC 75 ft lbs when torquing. I dont recall the exact stretch needed so I wont comment to avoid mis speaking.

What is the torque spec on the TTS rod caps? Is it different than stock? Is it a good idea to stamp a number on the side of both the rod and the cap for matching purposes?

Instructions are included with our rods for proper torquing and we do not want anyone to stamp numbers in the rods to mark them. If you want to mark the rods use some other method as using a hammer and number stamp can distort the rod if done improperly

What is the torque spec on the TTS rod caps? Is it different than stock? Is it a good idea to stamp a number on the side of both the rod and the cap for matching purposes?

Use an electric engraver such as item #1864T12 from www.mcmaster.com (http://www.mcmaster.com). $58.12

Instructions are included with our rods for proper torquing and we do not want anyone to stamp numbers in the rods to mark them. If you want to mark the rods use some other method as using a hammer and number stamp can distort the rod if done improperly

I suppose I should of opened the box and actually look at the instructions before opening my big mouth.:D

Make sure you use the lube we provided with the rods when assembling the rods and bolts too.

Is it standard practice to balance the rotating assembly after installing TTS rods? If so, is there different methods of balancing, and which should be done in this case? I don't want to go to the machine shop and sound like a dip sh!t when I talk to the guy.

Any time you change components in an engine it's a good idea to balance the rotating assemble. That being said if you were to just open the motor and install our rods you would be fine. Tazman10 just put them right into his LBZ with no issues. As far as balancing the assembly there are a few different ways but they will all work fine, the bigger issue will be to find a machine shop that can handle the diesel motor as it takes a lot more weight than a gas motor and a lot of shops do not have enough.

I'm not having mine balanced, if it means anything. I'm keeping stock pistons, re-ringing and bearings and new rods.
That being said, I'm not planning on running 4K rpm or trying to hit 1K hp either.

btw, from what I was told, the Crower rods actually make a COUNTERbalance (heavier on crank end than OEM) which isnt all that bad TO A POINT.

I only have 48k miles on my motor. Would new piston rings be recommended if they look like there in good shape?

The R&R rods are with in 1.5 grams of stock, this makes them ideal for a drop in application. I dont have a set of Crowers here right now to check them back to back. I am also unsure how they compare on each end.

As for the rings John, you will be fine to reuse them. Good idea to make sure you get the pistons back in the same hole.

How much does it cost to balance a rotating assembly? I'm shocked someone would spend the kind of money it costs to build a Duramax and NOT have it balanced properly.

how would we go about finding a local shop that can balance a dmax rotating assembly? Any caution with transporting it? I know you're supposed to store cranks vertically so they wont sag over time...I cant imagine letting it sit horizontal for a car ride would hurt it though no?

The first precaution would be to strap it down so it doesn't fall out of the back of your mom's Tahoe. ;-)

:nutkick:

actually it was my dad's tahoe :p:

Taking it to the machine shop for balancing with the crank on it's side will not hurt it as long as you protect it from damage, just do not store it that way. The issue with the balancing is the total weight of the rod and piston assemble. Just ask the machine shop if they have done a diesel before. If no ask them if they can handle about 5 lbs for piston/rod weight with there equipment.

Actually a typical LB7 with a Crower rod is going to need a bobweight around 3425 grams or 7.55 lbs.

The bobweight formula for the weights of each part is as follows:

Piston+Pin+Clips+Rings+Small End Rod+Big End Rod+Big End Rod+Bearing+Bearing+6 grams or so for the weight of oil.

The first precaution would be to strap it down so it doesn't fall out of the back of your mom's Tahoe. ;-)

:lol2: