I know there are Crower rods and Mahle pistons for the Duramax; Does anyone have any experience with Eagle rods or Wiseco pistons, and do they make anything for the Duramax? I wasn't able to find anything on their sites, but in the gasser world, a few of my friends have high opinions of them (at least th Wiseco Pistons).
Rod and Piston Options
- Thread starter Cougar281
- Start date
I have used Eagle parts to build a nasty 342 stroker small block Ford. They make a great product but to my knowledge neither of them makes Duramax parts (at least that they sell under their own name).
I'll get a list started of what is out there for the Duramax
For pistons you have:
Mahle cast pistons (stock LB7/LLY) - cut and coated they hold up to alot
Mahle forged pistons
Arias forged pistons
Ross forged pistons
For rods you have:
Crower billet
Howard's - x beam billet
Carillo - forged
R&R - billet
I'll get a list started of what is out there for the Duramax
For pistons you have:
Mahle cast pistons (stock LB7/LLY) - cut and coated they hold up to alot
Mahle forged pistons
Arias forged pistons
Ross forged pistons
For rods you have:
Crower billet
Howard's - x beam billet
Carillo - forged
R&R - billet
Dave stick with the proven already-known-good stuff. 
Just speaking from personal experience!!!!!!!!
Just speaking from personal experience!!!!!!!!
Dave stick with the proven already-known-good stuff.
Just speaking from personal experience!!!!!!!!
True.... But Eagle and Wiseco are known brands with proven products, just not in the Diesel arena, apparently.
For the pistons, in all likelyhood, I'll stick with C&C LB7/LLY, since there isn't enough data regarding forged pistons for a DD. Not sure on the Rods though. A friend can get Eagle rods, but since they don't make 'em for Diesels, no good there.
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A good known combination is LB7/LLY Cut Slugs with Crower Rods... now that Forged Rods are same price as the Crowers i'd go with forged. No need to look into something not known to work.
FWIW Cunninham makes rods also
http://www.cunninghamrods.com/products.html
Are you into testing new stuff? If not,go with known stuff
main studs are not needed at all just head studs... I'd say a solid 600hp with the LBZ rods maybe 650
650rwhp is fine IMO. I think Tomac and Ric Scrimmager (sp?) are the only people to have bent LBZ rods, and they ran a whole season at 750+rwhp with dual cp3's etc..
X2 i have had thought about trying a set but my only worry with that high of power is it wouldnt take but a injector being a little off ect to bend one for what i have planned . good option for alot of guys though really.
I knew I was forgetting at least one of each.
Not needed at all is a little misleading, but at under 700hp I would be comfortable without them. Winston has done 760 on fuel and much more on nitrous with no main studs, but if it was me I wouldn't be pushing it that hard.
There are some bone stock LB7s that have been over 700 for a long time - a few running deep in the 11s on spray. If I was going to build a(nother) motor it would have one of the rods I listed above in it. I don't see the point to spend the money building a motor that is only marginally better than stock. Push your stock one until it gives up and then build something to handle all of your future plans.
Misleading? ok...
Show me a truck at 800hp+ that has had a failure due to having stock main bolts. 99% of us are fine without main studs
Rods....
The Howard x-beam is actually forged then machined. Weight about 7grams more than Carillo and about 70grams less than all the others including stock.
The Howard x-beam is actually forged then machined. Weight about 7grams more than Carillo and about 70grams less than all the others including stock.
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I asked Eagle about rods a year ago and they were not making them and had no plans of it for now.
Thats good to know, I'm picking up an LBZ long block on wednesday and planning on having my LB7 piston cut and coated to use with the LBZ rods and short block. Talked to guy today and he said it would be better to hold off on getting them C&C and use the money towards rods. Maybe I'll give it a try anyways if it will hold that kind of power.
Is there anything a guy can do to strengthen the LBZ rods while they are out?
Misleading? ok...
So then why does GUY recomend them in almost every build at the verry least if not new caps? My caps had evidence of walking when my motor was tore down. I think if your not doing caps and studs at least do studs.
When I build my engine I will be doing main studs im just asking him to prove his statements.
Exactly
And main studs are not something you just bolt on after the crank walks
Misleading? ok...
The question is:
People have had crank walk at 500ish?
Misleading? ok...
I put main studs in my 800hp+ truck so I don't think I'll be able to personally show you one that fails due to having stock ones. If Winston's 800hp+ has problems due to not having studs I'll tell him and you both "I told you so". For $300 why wouldn't you put main studs in a built motor that you plan to take over 700hp. Winston's motor came to us with a broken crank and surprisingly even though it didn't have studs the main journals were all perfectly fine - on my build it still wasn't something I was willing to bet on. 99% of us (you included) haven't built a motor, so of course 99% of us don't need main studs.
Agreed. I'm not saying that a motor won't last a good while at 700+ or 800+ hp without them. I'm simply pointing out that blindly saying "they are not needed, only head studs" is pretty dumb. Believe it or not most products in the performance market come about due to demand - if they aren't needed they typically aren't made unless they are a gimmick like a tornado air filter or Duramax throttle body spacer.
The engine's apart getting new rods and pistons and a bunch of short block machine work. All that stuff is expensive. It's a big deal going back in there and you want everything not just strong enough, but much stronger than it ever needs to be. So why cheap out over another $300 for main studs?