D-4 ,7U liner seal installation lubercant

[rjh-md]

When installing cylinder liners ,the teck book calls for using liquid soap on the seals to install liners .I am having a problem with that ,as I remember using oil on the seals to make them expand to seal the liner and block .
Any comments on this subject ?
Rjh

[Old Magnet]

Cat is very specific in their instructions to NOT use a petroleum based product when installing liner seals.

[rjh-md]

On 3400 series engines Cat says to use oil on the upper rubber band on top of liner to swell the band ,so gess this does not apply to all the earily engines .I think ,that I remember using auto soap yrs ago on the liner seals .Not sure if thats still available ,so gess I will use liquid soap as a substitude .
Thanks for your input !

[Old Magnet]

I like to use the old style tire mounting soap, nice and thick and stays in place.....any good tire shop ought to be able to fix you up.

There are also some fancy O-ring lubes that are non petroleum based.

[Jack]

I once had the same question on a D2 5U engine a couple years ago. On a John Deere diesel I had used JD sleeve soap and it worked great, but I could no longer get it. A Cummins mechanic said to use grease and I tried it. It did work, although the sleeves drove in pretty hard and I was really worried that a ring or possibly many might have sheared. But we got away with it. Grease starts the rubber swelling immediately so you have to work fast. I wouldn't do it again. I should have called on Old Magnet first and used his tire soap.

I also know a mechanic who uses castor oil and claims good results but I haven't seen it done.

[steeltracs]

I remember years ago when installing Cummins liners that we used brake fluid so the orings would seal in the lower counterbores.