I ran over my own rod

[Tx Firefighter]

Sounds dirty doesn't it?

Last night, 60 miles per hour, all needles pointing in the green, I heard a noise, the truck lurched suddenly, I ran over something, and the engine died.

I knew it was bad when I saw the trail of oil behind me on the road.

I ran over one of my own connecting rods. Ordinarily, they stay inside the engine, doing their little dance with each other. Seems, one of them wasn't happy and wanted to relocate somewhere. It decided to make a door in the engine right behind the fuel pump. It bounced off the frame rail and landed in the road.

The engine had about thirty miles on it since full rebuild. The rod broke right underneath the wrist pin, and then bounced around, finally breaking the rod cap in two. I'd suspect I had an assembly problem, but the rod bolts were still intact. The rod itself failed. Wierd deal. The rods were used out of an old core engine. I just had new bushings installed and reused them in the new engine. Who knows how many zillions of miles the rods had on them, but for some reason, after the new wrist pin bushings and being put into the new engine, something went awry.

My lovely wife towed me home with a tow strap and her little 3/4 ton truck. She never made a complaint. She wanted to just bring me my trailer, but dumb me, I have the trailer locked and the key in my pocket. As cold as it was, I just wanted to get home quickly, so we just flat towed it.

I guess, tomorrow, I'll put the 292 inline 6 back in the truck. That will make 2 engine swaps in one week on this truck.