How to get conrod bolts into conrod caps

[fix]

Im afraid i have yet another question about my waterboxer rebuild.

Im putting the crank back together but cant get the new conrod bolts fully into the conrod caps. Ive tapped the bolts with a hammer as much as i can but they wont go fully into the caps, ive tried to gently push them in with a vice which didnt help at all. So far ive got one bolt in nearly all the way with about a 5mm gap, and another one with about a 10mm gap.

Does anyone know the best way of getting the bolts fully into the conrod caps? I assume tightening up the nuts on the conrod wont push the bolts through.

[kevtherev]

more info needed
new bolts?
new caps, rods?

[toomanytoys]

DO NOT tighten the nut up on the cap to pull them in.. this can twist the cap/rod end and open up clearance..
Ideally the cap should be very well supported on the jointing face and the bolts pressed in..

Page 13.55 clearly shows it in the Bentley manual but I dont know haow to add it in here...

[fix]

Sorry I should have said I'm putting new bolts into old conrods and caps.

Thankfully I haven't tried forcing the bolts in by tightening the nuts I didn't think that would be a good idea. I did try pushing the bolt through the cap using a vice but quickly realised it wasn't going to work, I didn't use that much pressure.

I haven't got a bentley manual I wish I did. The haynes is so vague but I guess you get what you pay for! If the page you're talking about is going to help and you can scan it in you could always email it over rather than working out how to put it on here.

So is it common for new bolts to struggle to fit into old rods and caps?

Took the old engine out today so I need to get the new one in asap!

[ricicles]

i used a deep socket 10mm i think, put that over the treaded end and pushed the bolt through in the vice. hope this helps. Andy.

[fix]

Im going to try that method ricicles and also put the bolts in the freezer and heat the caps up, hopefully that should help ease them in.

[fix]

Ive got them bolts in the caps using a vice, went in fairly easy.

The only issue i have now is that the splines on the bolts wont easily go through the rods. I had to hammer the caps and rods together fairly hard so they joined together correctly, I hoped once they had gone through once they would go back together quite easily but they need to be hammered together again.

Will i be ok hammering them together on the crank without damaging the shells etc? I could try using the vice but it will be quite awkward doing it that way.

[fix]

Bolts and caps now on the crank thanks for the help