Emgo piston pin circlips (2014)

I forgo the trouble of using circlips and use teflon buttons instead. They retain the gudgeon pin as well as the circlip and they won't damage the cylinder walls like a circlip failure. The only problem is that you will have to make them yourself as I know of no supplier of them.

JoelNelson said:

I forgo the trouble of using circlips and use teflon buttons instead. They retain the gudgeon pin as well as the circlip and they won't damage the cylinder walls like a circlip failure. The only problem is that you will have to make them yourself as I know of no supplier of them.

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Interesting... pics please... :mrgreen:

They are 1/4" thick by .685" diameter, slightly radiused to conform to the cylinder. Just buy a piece of 1/4" teflon sheet, cut out 3/4" squares, mark their center, drill it to fit on a bolt, a washer on each end and a nut securing everything to the bolt. Just stick it in the lathe, or power drill, and turn them down to .685" (or whatever size your gudgeon pin hole is) you want them to fit snug in there. I just sand them to fit the radius.

JoelNelson said:

They are 1/4" thick by .685" diameter, slightly radiused to conform to the cylinder. Just buy a piece of 1/4" teflon sheet, cut out 3/4" squares, mark their center, drill it to fit on a bolt, a washer on each end and a nut securing everything to the bolt. Just stick it in the lathe, or power drill, and turn them down to .685" (or whatever size your gudgeon pin hole is) you want them to fit snug in there. I just sand them to fit the radius.

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Thanks for sharing.

concours said:

OP, are you using a proper insertion tool for these modern tabless circlips? Or working them in using no specific tools? (screwdriver, or the like)
They are made to be inserted properly with this:
http://www.motoparthub.com/SM_12452_1_S ... AhDJ8P8HAQ

Convential methods usually result in over/localized bending of the circlip, thus the loose fit you've observed. Properly installed, those clips are as reliable as anything else.

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Interesting tool. They don't seem to offer them in the Norton pin size. Have you been able to use the 18 mm tool with Norton pistons?

Ken

lcrken said:

concours said:

OP, are you using a proper insertion tool for these modern tabless circlips? Or working them in using no specific tools? (screwdriver, or the like)
They are made to be inserted properly with this:
http://www.motoparthub.com/SM_12452_1_S ... AhDJ8P8HAQ

Convential methods usually result in over/localized bending of the circlip, thus the loose fit you've observed. Properly installed, those clips are as reliable as anything else.

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Interesting tool. They don't seem to offer them in the Norton pin size. Have you been able to use the 18 mm tool with Norton pistons?

Ken

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I didn't use my insertion tool on the Emgo piston retaining rings, I didn't need it. I had bought it for use on the round wire type circlips. (I have seen the tool offered 14-27mm size though) I used conventional retaining ring pliers, and, double checked after installing using one pin and tried to rotate it. The key is, to NOT over compress it, but rather, just barely enough to allow it to enter the hole snugly. Low quality rings will bend right behind the tab, the slimmest part, when over compressed. SOME when just barely compressed.
Of course, if the "standard circlip" is the simply wrong size, this is all irrelevant. :lol:

Interesting. I specify round wire circlips in the JE Norton pistons I have made, and I thought the tool might be useful for that. It looks like is would only work for a specific pin size, and the Norton pin is .6868", not an even metric size, so I wondered if the metric sized tool would work. I'll look around to see if I can find one that will work. If not, I suppose I could just make one. I'm kind of tired of putting them in with a screwdriver.

Ken

lcrken said:

Interesting. I specify round wire circlips in the JE Norton pistons I have made, and I thought the tool might be useful for that. It looks like is would only work for a specific pin size, and the Norton pin is .6868", not an even metric size, so I wondered if the metric sized tool would work. I'll look around to see if I can find one that will work. If not, I suppose I could just make one. I'm kind of tired of putting them in with a screwdriver.

Ken

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I'll find the linky tomorrow for the other sizes http://www.buxtools.com/

Thanks for the link. They don't seem to have a size that works for Norton pins, but I'll give them a call Monday to see what they can come up with. If they can't supply one, they give enough detail on their web site that I can whip up one for myself. It's a clever design.

Ken

lwmcd1 said:

My understanding is that Emgo products are generally sub-quality.

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Emgo doesn't manufacture the products they sell so quality control probably hard for them and although some here have posted they were disappointed with some of their products I've been satisfied with ones I've bought. However since Emgo products aren't usually as expensive as some others I accept some risk when I buy them.

I did use their JCC pistons with rings and after more than 9,000 miles they are performing fine. Oil consumption extremely low and at least my leg tells me compression very strong.

rx7171 said:

lwmcd1 said:

My understanding is that Emgo products are generally sub-quality.

Click to expand...

Emgo doesn't manufacture the products they sell so quality control probably hard for them and although some here have posted they were disappointed with some of their products I've been satisfied with ones I've bought. However since Emgo products aren't usually as expensive as some others I accept some risk when I buy them.

I did use their JCC pistons with rings and after more than 9,000 miles they are performing fine. Oil consumption extremely low and at least my leg tells me compression very strong.

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I was for decades, also very skeptical of the Emgo brand, (first time I saw a sloppily glued Emgo oil filter, "my GAWD!") and a few things happened along the way. The quality has come up... and, there have been more aftermarket makers of stuff of much LOWER quality.
I took the advice of an old master that uses them daily at http://www.gatecitycyclecenter.com/ and "Emgo pistons and Hastings rings, never have any trouble with 'em".

Douglass Harroun said:

Anybody notice they fit loose? And damage the pistons after a few miles, pounding the clip grooves, causing burrs?
Doug

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Pointed this out a couple of years ago, they done exactly the same to my pistons, reckon they must supply 17mm clips instead of 11/16''

Available for JCC pistons unknown but novel approach.

comnoz said:

I have had very good luck with the Emgo/JCC pistons and have fit hundreds of them. I do not use the JCC rings -they are very poor. You definitely have to watch the circlips, some are correct and some are not.

JCC supplies pistons to many OEM manufacturers such as Subaru and Yamaha. I suspect the circlip and ring package is from a different source. Jim

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Hello together,
I want to continue with an older subject and wrote the following letter to JCC's Website. Let's wait for their answer.

For some reason, a few days ago, I had to disassemble my engine. The JCC- Pistons which I bought from M.A.P. Enterprises in the US looked perfect after the few miles in use.

But there is another issue I want to describe here:

In this Forum I read that JCC- pistons are just as good or even better than the originals made by Hepolite, AE etc. But we were warned that the Piston pin circlips sometimes get undone resulting in disastrous results within the whole engine.

I found on my pistons:

the circlips had different diameters: between 17,75 and 18,3mm which lets the smaller ones rotate in their notch. The bigger ones sat rather safe without having rotated.

As well as that the smaller ones had a chamfer worn in which certainly wasn’t there when I installed them, because I always fit the pin circlips with the sharp edge outwards.

Unfortunately, I cannot add a photo here which clearly shows the condition of those rings.

The bike is a 1973 Norton Commando 850cc. The size of the pistons is +0,08.

I intend using new American made pin circlips DIN 472 for bore- size 11/16" to get the engine running again and hoping that the hardening- quality of these circlips are better.

I'm writing this to you because I think that you should know the issues of your products and hoping to receive an answer in the near future.

Best Regards

Klaus Monning

So far with the letter. I suspect that JCC are just using circlpis for a 17mm bore which as Standard should have an outer unsprung diameter of 18,3mm. But the bore for our Piston Pins are 17,44mm. So, the circlips should also be 0,44mm biger than the Standard metric ones. Which means, the right Diameter should be something like 18,7 to 18,8mm. Let's see what the American made rings are when I receive them. I'll Keep you informed.

All the best and good health for all of you.
Klaus Monning

lcrken said:

... I specify round wire circlips in the JE Norton pistons I have made,... I'm kind of tired of putting them in with a screwdriver.

Ken

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Installing round wire clips can be a real PIA. But there's an easy way to do it.

See the vid a 5:18