I have a set of Probe forged aluminum pistons in my Grabber. I damaged one and had to order a new one from Probe. They had 1 left on the shelf. Took it to the machine shop today. First thing he did was weigh it and said it was 29 grams lighter than the others. Called Probe to see what could be done. asked if they had a heavier pin. Nope. Sorry. Left it at the machine shop. He's gonna call aroud to other manufacturers and see if he can get a heavier pin of the same diameter. Last Probe pistons for me. These were almost $600. Great quality control. Almost seemed like they didn't care.
I may end up having to buy a complete new set. Hopefully will find out by this weekend. Won't be probes BTW.
I wonder if they moved manufacturing offshore or changed plant/process without changing part numbers. I ran into a similar problem with Eagle rods on the big block side a few months ago. They made significant changes to the design and kept the same part numbers. I ended up buying a "new old shelf set" from a guy on another board. Don, ask around and someone might have a set stored away somewhere. Might save having to re-balance everything if you can find one. Still...this doesn't say much for Probe's organization if they can make that kind of change without identification and tracking. Cleaver
I talked to the machinist the other day and he's going to try to add weight to the pin. But the thing that bothers me is the Tough Crap attitude they had.
I got the same kind of response from JE too. They would only sell me a set of 9 but wouldn't sell me a single. Last pistons I bought were from Keith Black. I was very happy with their quality, they were very helpful on the phone, and had the best price going for a set of true forged pistons.
When I broke two of my Probe 347 pistons and inquired about buying replacements they said they could do it but I needed to weigh one of my good pistons to tell them what weight they had to match.
Good point on telling them weight's. Should be a standard question when buying single replacement's. I run Probe 12.5's in my 347 and very pleased with them, as is the fellow who balanced the assy. Have got KB's in the 306 "stang" engine, and they have been in there for a long time. Two draw backs to them are "Heavy" and the ring gap "must be set "wide" to stop any detonation damage. They are good piston's but have to be installed according to spec's and your particular application. Found out the hard way on that deal.
I knew what the weights of the other pistons were. The guy at Probe either couldn't or wouldn't tell me the weight. He said it was the only one available.
