Jeff, Missed ur call. Will holler tomorrow. Unless the 280 detonated, I'd have a hard time believing Johns pin came out, its pressed and welded in.
Jay, you sell both Deans pistons & John's top pinning service I believe. Repinning is cheaper and acceptable if the pistons are in good condition. Possibly he doesn't need new pistons/ rod work or want to spend that much.
Likely, Wiseco does not give Dean much of an option & the bent pins do work fine, but I have had motors in with a lot of hours and no issues at all and others in for repair with them worn thru/spun on the Merc 280 style. This was 2 years back, so maybe they've improved? Maybe it was the oil or something else? I'm guessing just the time and rpm involved. Mercury does the pins the same way obviously , since they get them from Wiseco as well . The idea / prototype for the soft bent pin came from a guy in Minnesota . Maybe you know more about its origin than I do? Ruck has one of his original pistons last I knew. Just giving another option to the gentleman and not in any way cutting anyones product.
I don't want to argue , just stating my experience that we personally prefer John's hard top pinning & believe its worth the extra per piston, used or new. Its obvious that a soft pin with a very hard ring wearing up/down on it WILL wear it thru sooner or later. Check out some of the info on Johns site .
http://www.us1.cc. And in the higher rpm / long hour motors we've seen it do this just as John has. Maybe the gentleman will never see more than 7500rpm & the std pin will outlast the motor. Its also possible his Mahles will never drop a pin either and he can just rering & reinstall them. I doubt that with the Mahle though. I've never had a failure w/ the hard pins wearing thru nor popping out though. Have you had any issues with John's pins? You do a lot more of these than we do.
BOTH options , Johns or Merc's are much better than the stock side pinned versions IMO. A lot depends on rpm and heat on the side pin versions living.
Its clear that Dean makes great pistons and for the price, they are really a bargain. I also believe that John has a slightly better idea on the pins. I've never seen one of his pins come loose. I've seen totally blown up motors w/ Johns pins still perfectly intact. I would venture to say that Johns pins destroying a motor are less likely than the std. Merc / Wizard wearing thru & those BOTH are FAR less likely to destroy a motor than a side pin design.
Possibly induction hardening just the ring land area where they don't need to bend would make the standard pins more durable?
Trying to give a guy with only a 100hr motor options to rebuild his motor like everyone else. The guy will want a fair amount of options & price range. He can spend $300+ on re pinning his likely decent Mahles/ cut down the tabs a bit, or he can spend $1200+ on a set of new pistons, get new rods, etc.
A good recommendation would also be to have the bores checked for roundness and diamond honed by Ruck, especially if he installs new pistons.
