3516 Disassembly

One thing I learned from taking apart the 3516 is that the manual is written by engineers. They often instruct you to take apart every single piece of a component possible when in reality you can just take off an entire unit leaving many components intact. For example the throttle linkage can come out as a complete unit versus disassembling every fastener which is tedious and impractical whilst it is still inside the engine.

At first it seems really daunting to take apart an engine that's this size. After using the manual and slowly taking it apart I realized it's like any other engine with similar components. The only difference is it's giant sized and the head requires an overhead crane to move to a workbench. Taking out the piston took a little bit of finesse. I ended up using the handle of a plastic sledge to push it out until the seals broke but took care not to launch it out the garage door. The J nozzle must be removed first before you can do that though otherwise you could damage it.

I found that bagging components and fasteners with like parts was very helpful in staying organized. It's very easy to start mixing up components and it's worth the time it takes to compartmentalize everything. The electric impact was very useful in removing all the many fasteners except for the head bolts. That required a much larger air powered impact.

Head with the valves and lifters inside.

Valve springs still installed. They require a special tool for removal.
It collapses the springs so you can remove the retainers.

Piston is an articulating piston. Here it is attached to
the connecting rod and the piston pin is next to it.

Piston with piston pin ande bearing cap with bearing installed.