Poor Man's Sleeve Puller

[Georgia MF]

I had a stubborn sleeve on a Perkins I was trying to remove the other day. I could not move it with a hammer and wood, and a chisel/screwdriver was no better.

I ended up taking an old piston and drilled a hole through it for a piece of all-thread. Then I removed all the rings except the top one. I slid the piston (top side first) into the sleeve very carefully not to let the ring go past the cast boring, but just past the sleeve liner. I used a 2x4 with a hole for the all-thread top base and pulled it right out.

You old timers probably have done this many times, but I could not find any notes about it. So, here it is for posterity -- no special machine shop necessary.

 

[Fergie Bach]

Sounds like the sort of thing I could use sometime. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Anonymous-0]

to remove sleeves from a Perkins just weld a FAST bead on the in side of the sleeve let cool and it will lift right out. do it all the time never a problem

 

[Georgia MF]

That"s a great way too. But, I don't have a welder. Has anyone tried JB weld to do the same thing? I've always wondered if it has the shear and adhesion strength.

 

[Tom-TX]

What are you thinking? What on earth would JB Weld do? What would "shear and adhesion strenth" have to do with anything? The quickly welded bead HEATS the sleeve. HEATING and COOLING cause expansion and contraction in the metal sleeve, thus making it loose in the block, therefore removable. Tom

 

[Anonymous-0]

Never tried the weld idea on sleeves, but it works great on bearing races too.
How far down the bore is optimum for the bead?

 

[Masseynut(Australia)]

I find that "splatter" welds, up & down the length of the sleeve has the optimum effect. Just low amps, and plenty of splatter, and out they come,

Evan.

 

[Georgia MF]

If JB would adhere to the sides of the sleeves, you could use it to hold something like a bolt or another piece of metal stuck to both sides to pull it out. I just don't know if it's strong enough.

Yes, JB wouldn't heat and cool it. I misunderstood marloeg's comment now after re-reading it.

 

[jfharper]

(quoted from post at 03:11:33 04/27/11) I find that "splatter" welds, up & down the length of the sleeve has the optimum effect. Just low amps, and plenty of splatter, and out they come,

Evan.

Evan,
Does this work on sleeves that have been glued with loctite? I'm curious because on my last rebuild I had to glue my sleeves in and this technique sounds easier than heating the sleeve to whatever degree loctite calls for to melt it.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Heat is the only thing that breaks down the adhesive properties of Loctite. You may have to apply more weld to the loctited area to break the bond. Were the sleeves Loctited the entire length, or just the last 1" or so, at the top?
Evan.

 

[jfharper]

The entire length.

So I guess one bead up the whole length probably won't do it...perhaps a few?

I just rebuilt, so I'm hoping not to have to worry about this in my life time, but if my boys have to do it, I'd like to tell them how it should be done.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Yeah, that's going to have you splatter welding around in circles inside that bore, alright. But it will work, just don't get too heavy handed with the amps or the time spent in one spot!. Remember, those sleeves are THIN. Keep moving at speed, just to "splatter" the weld around. You don't need to weld a perfect bead, just something that looks like "bird droppings".
This is the kind of welding I'm very good at, LOL!!
Evan.

 

[jfharper]

Thanks. I have the old sleeves, perhaps I'll practice on them to see how much it takes to weld through to avoid this inside the block.