440 trailfire pistons

[tmartin]

I need help finding the correct pistons for my trailfire 440. I ordered and installed parts unlimited pistons for the kawasaki intruders etc and installed and found them to be too short. The machine runs but only has 100 psi compression with these in because they do not come up to the deck. How do the old arctic cat 440 pistons compare or why wouldn't they work?

[jdrob]

TMartin First off what year of engine is it ? The wiseco vrand lists 2 different part numbers for certain years ! I am not sure of the specs but the F202 engine has different cylinders ! They require the "O" head gasket and the older ones are just the fiber gaskets ! The 79-81 trailfire 440's list a piston along with an kawi intriguer, drifter . Not the Intruder, invader piston ! They are both listed as 68x60 but i am wondering if the pin placement on the older trailfires is placed lower in the piston body ? I don't know if this helps or not ? check it out . Also the 100psi may be from worn chrome in your cylinders ? Did you mic them and see if they are in the specified range ! Just a few thoughts... Jdrob

[mwking]

What Part Unlimited part number did you use? Dennis Kirk lists Parts Unlimited piston # 13437 for both the Intruder and Trailfire (all years). I had asked the question a couple of weeks ago about the difference between this piston and the 13425 piston they list for the early 70's 440 Kawasaki powered Arctic Cats. I was wondering about the 13425 piston because they still have chrome rings available and I have some good cylinders with cast sleeves in them.

Murray

[lwb140]

i think the deck height is thje same i had , well still have a deal ongoing with ring type , id check your ring material , in no authorety but i think you need iron rings with chrome bores guys jump in and help but i have first hand experience that chrome rings wont seat in us chrome nicocil jugs long expensive story wade

[tmartin]

TMartin First off what year of engine is it ? The wiseco vrand lists 2 different part numbers for certain years ! I am not sure of the specs but the F202 engine has different cylinders ! They require the "O" head gasket and the older ones are just the fiber gaskets ! The 79-81 trailfire 440's list a piston along with an kawi intriguer, drifter . Not the Intruder, invader piston ! They are both listed as 68x60 but i am wondering if the pin placement on the older trailfires is placed lower in the piston body ? I don't know if this helps or not ? check it out . Also the 100psi may be from worn chrome in your cylinders ? Did you mic them and see if they are in the specified range ! Just a few thoughts... Jdrob

I did not mic the cylinders but i am certain its a piston malfunction. You can actually see that the pistons do not come up to the deck. They are probably close to a millimeter short of the deck. Called a few companies and local dealerships and they have run into this issue before. I sent an old piston to GPI industries. Worse comes to worse they can make some.

[tmartin]

What Part Unlimited part number did you use? Dennis Kirk lists Parts Unlimited piston # 13437 for both the Intruder and Trailfire (all years). I had asked the question a couple of weeks ago about the difference between this piston and the 13425 piston they list for the early 70's 440 Kawasaki powered Arctic Cats. I was wondering about the 13425 piston because they still have chrome rings available and I have some good cylinders with cast sleeves in them.

Murray

I used parts unlimited 09-689. They are not actually listed as trailfire pistons but in marshall and bell snow they were the same number and listed as trailfire pistons. The ring shapes were different as well as ring placement but they cleared the ports. Should have done some measurments i guess. I have a number of people chasing this now and will let everybody know what i find.

[mwking]

tmartin: Sorry I had the Dennis Kirk Part # not the Parts Unlimited #. 09-689 is the correct piston, Dennis Kirk # 13437, according to what I can find. I have some of these pistons so I am very interested in finding out if they are going to work right. The other one listed for the early 70's Arctic Cats with Kawasaki motors is Parts Unlimited #09-688. Can't figure out why there are two part numbers and there is not much info online. The only difference I can see so far is that the Arctic Cat piston lists the bore in inches and the Deere piston is in mm, but they are the same measurement.

Murray

[Matt]

Agreed that 09-689 is the correct piston, and is listed as so in other catalogs. They're running in my Sportfire, and I'm sure many, many other Trail/Sport/Liquifires. Maybe the box/label wasn't correct for the piston?

[dik175]

09-689 is correct L-ring top rect ring second -- o9-688 same app but has 2 rectangular rings have used both styles -both work

[JD600]

As i recall, the pistons never come completely to the top of the bores. Have you performed a pressure test? Its possible that your head gaskets are leaking and thats where you are loosing your compression.

DE

[mwking]

dik175, that's good news. It's good to know there is another option if getting pistons becomes more difficult. I know that some of the aftermarket pistons for the Kawasaki powered Deeres have a rectangular ring in the top groove. I wonder why Parts Unlimited would have two part numbers if the earlier design would work for both? The L-ring on the top is similar to the oem pistons, but they are not interchangeable with the oem pistons so why bother? Maybe they thought they would sell better if the design was closer to the oem piston.

[Setzep]

I found the same issue as the original poster with these pistons. While troubleshooting my poorly running 1980 440 trailfire I ran a compression test, both came up at 130psi (factory pistons). I then came to realize the crank seals were bad.. So I broke it down to replace the seals and while I was in there I measured ring end gap on the factory pistons, it was a little wide so figured I'd replace with new rings, well instead of finding factory style rings I decided to get new pistons/rings (09-689). Set ring gap to .010" and re assembled with new gaskets, seals and the 09-689 pistons. Now I only have 100psi compression on both cylinders!! Dammit!! Looks like I have to either find factory style rings for the original pistons or just simply put the factory pistons and rings back in it to regain my 130psi of compression..

Has anyone else found this? Also, where is a good place to find a set of the original style piston rings?

Thanks

[Setzep]

Update:
This morning I removed those damn 09-689 Pistons and replaced with the factory pistons/rings that I removed. Compression is back at 130psi. I compared both and it appears the factory units have a slightly larger dome to them. Now

[jjtt]

So what is the correct piston? I am confused, I need replace in 79 Trailfire with a TA440A-C202 what do I use?

[tmartin]

I have been running the Gpi pistons that they made me. Exact match to the factory art casting. The 09689s broke a ring for me in the trailfire as this is the piston meant for the liquifire. I have had the Gpi (growth products) in for over 1000 miles no issues. I do not have a dk book or parts unlimited book handy but a piston from a early 70s arctic cat Panther 440 or cheetah should work. Same motors