I am goin to put a BD exhaust brake on the ole Cummins. I am going to have to replace the exhaust springs with #60 springs. Can someone help me with how this is done? I really don't want to drop a valve in the cylinder.

thanks for the help

 

Now this version is probably not in the manual but it is how I was told to do the valve job.

What you want to do is perform the spring replacement one cylinder at a time. Sort of like doing a valve adjustment. With the cylinder at TDC the valve should be able to drop down and touch the piston without going into the cylinder. So you can start using the timing pin or the rocker method to find TDC on cylinder #1. Then go in the firing order (1-5-3-6-2-4) and bring each cylinder up to TDC.

I tend to believe this technique as the shop I use told me how they find absolute TDC for setting timing. They turn the adjustment screw all the way in on the exhaust valve and then rotate the engine till it touches the valve. Mark the damper, then rotate the engine backwards till it touches again and make another mark. Halfway is absolute TDC.. So if you can touch the piston with just using the valve adjustment screw, dropping the valve down shouldn't be a problem..

J-eh

 

Thanks. That was kinda how I was told to do it. The local injector shop wants $350 for labor plus parts to replace the valve springs. I thought that way out of line. It may take a couple hours but I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something more complicated that I was unaware of.

Thanks again

 

I don't know what the shop rates are in your area, but they are close to $80/hr here. The $350 doesn't sound too far off.

A good magnet would be required to pull the valves back up from the cylinder I would think..

J-eh