Gudgeon pin

In internal combustion engines, the gudgeon pin (UK, wrist

pin US) connects the piston to the connecting rod and
provides a bearing for the connecting rod to pivot upon as
the piston moves. In very early engine designs (including
those driven by steam and also many very large stationary or
marine engines), the gudgeon pin is located in a
sliding crosshead that connects to the piston via a rod. A
gudgeon is a pivot or journal.

Overview
The gudgeon pin is typically a forged short hollow rod made
of a steel alloy of high strength and hardness that may be
physically separated from both the connecting rod and piston
or crosshead.] The design of the gudgeon pin, especially in
the case of small, high-revving automotive engines is
challenging. The gudgeon pin has to operate under some of
the highest temperatures experienced in the engine, with
difficulties in lubrication due to its location, while remaining
small and light so as to fit into the piston diameter and not
unduly add to the reciprocating mass. The requirements for
lightness and compactness demand a small diameter rod that
is subject to heavy shear and bending loads, with some of the
highest pressure loadings of any bearing in the whole engine.
To overcome these problems, the materials used to make the
gudgeon pin and the way it is manufactured are amongst the
most highly engineered of any mechanical component found
in internal combustion engine.
Design options
Gudgeon pins use two broad design configurations: semi-
floating and fully floating.
1. Semi-floating
In the semi-floating configuration, the pin is usually fixed
relative to the piston by an interference fit with
the journal in the piston. The connecting rod small
end bearing thus acts as the bearing alone. In this
configuration, only the small end bearing requires a
bearing surface, if any. If needed, this is provided by
either electroplating the small end bearing journal with
a suitable metal, or more usually by inserting a sleeve
bearing or needle bearing into the eye of the small end,
which has an interference fit with the aperture of the
small end. During overhaul, it is usually possible to
replace this bearing sleeve if it is badly worn. The
reverse configuration, fixing the gudgeon pin to the
connecting rod instead of to the piston, is implemented
using an interference fit with the small end eye instead,
with the gudgeon pin journals in the piston functioning
as bearings.[4] This arrangement is usually more difficult
to manufacture and service because two bearing
surfaces or inserted sleeves complicate the design. In
addition, the pin must be precisely set so that the small
end eye is central. Because of thermal
expansion considerations, this arrangement was more
usual for single-cylinder engines as opposed to multiple
cylinder engines with long cylinder blocks and
crankcases, until precision manufacturing became more
commonplace.
2. Fully floating
In the fully floating configuration, a bearing surface is
created both between the small end eye and gudgeon
pin and the journal in the piston. The gudgeon pins are
usually secured with circlips. No interference fit is used
in any instance and the pin 'floats' entirely on bearing
surfaces. The average rubbing speed of each of the
three bearings is halved and the load is shared across a
bearing that is usually about three times the length of
the semi-floating design with an interference fit with the
piston.