diamond jim wrote on 04/14/09 at 09:09:32:verslagen1 wrote on 04/13/09 at 22:50:42:the plunger is plain steel, case hardened. very hard shell, soft in the middle. very impact resistant. I use 300 series stainless. The guy I use makes perfect welds, If I grind it right you can't see the weld line.
Yours look sharp like it comes from the factory that way.
So, I go over and see the guy who runs the welding program. We talk, examine pictures and examine the parts. He says,"Sure, we can do it- but why don't you go see so-and-so who runs the machining program and see if they can just make you a new one that's longer." Huh? Cool. So I go see the guy over there and tell him the welding guy sent me over. We talk, examine pictures, take measurements and so on. "Sure, we can do it. No problem." Awesome. The notches on the bottom didn't seem to phase him one bit. The advanced students will identify the metal, take measurements, set up the program, machine the part and case harden it afterwards. Shoot, I never would have thought of machining a new part. I told him to make 2. I'll post pics when I get them.
Can you get them to make one without the ratchet notches and two o-ring grooves?????
My thought pattern.....
... I really think the ratchet is the cause of the failures. Most likely it would click to the next notch when the engine is cold and then the thermal growth of the cylinder over stretches the chain.
I think we need a spring loaded "dampener". I looked but they don't make dampeners that small.
So, I was thinking that if the existing tensioner was used but with o-rings (nice & tight) and the spring inside, the o-rings would reduce the quick movement and help prevent chain slap. The spring would give the required pressure. The O-rings would also let the tensioner pull back in (slowly) during thermal growth.