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russin fussin piston rings

DimitriT

DimitriT

Forum Sage
Past Site Supporter
In my efforts to get the cylinders back on I've managed to screw up two rings on cylinders 1 and 4.

The inner pistons go on easy but the outer ones are a major friggin pain.

Once a ring gets bent, is there any hope to using it? I've already ordered a new set. Fortunately piston 1 got the top ring bent and piston 2 got the bottom ring, so I only need one new set.

Any tips on getting those two outer pistons in cleanly?
 
DimitriT said:
In my efforts to get the cylinders back on I've managed to screw up two rings on cylinders 1 and 4.

The inner pistons go on easy but the outer ones are a major friggin pain.

Once a ring gets bent, is there any hope to using it? I've already ordered a new set. Fortunately piston 1 got the top ring bent and piston 2 got the bottom ring, so I only need one new set.

Any tips on getting those two outer pistons in cleanly?
Click to expand...

When method did you use? I"m interested as well, because this is the next step in my rebuild. The manuals show using a couple of ring compressing tools (expensive to buy), or large hose clamps. Reading through the forum though it seems best to get help from an extra set of hands and just compress the rings and work them into the block by hand. That's how I was going to approach it........

Interested to hear what others have to say.
 
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I turned the crank until the middle pair were about 2/3 up. I then slid a wood dowel under them so they wouldn't drop down again. Then I lowered the block down and lined them up so the crowns where in. I then poured about a tbsp of oil in each of the middle cylinders and wiggled the pistons in a little at a time while squeezing the rings with my fingers. A few taps on the block with the palm helped.

Once I got the two middle ones in I then removed the dowel and turned the crank until the outer ones were up against the block. Then I went through all sorts of hell trying to wiggle the outer ones in. The problem is the block would rock side to side. You'd get one side in and the other would pop out.

Four hands may be the way to go here.
 
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I?ve used this method twice without any damage. It works best with cylinders that are tapered at the very bottom. Both sets I worked with were tapered and I believe almost all are. First oil the pistons and rings liberally. Next turn the crank so that two of the pistons are as close as possible to the top of their travel. Many manuals say to push the cylinders onto the pistons and the rings will compress as they travel up the taper and enter the cylinder. THEY NEVER DO. Take a small piece of wood like a Popsicle stick or smaller and work the rings into the taper while pushing down gently of the cylinder. You can work the cylinders forward and backward a little as you push. You can work with a metal tool but be very careful not to scratch anything. NEVER HIT THE CYLINDER TO TRY TO DRIVE IT ONTO THE PISTONS. After the first two pistons are in turn the crank to lift the other two and work them in the same way. Don?t forget to put your base gasket on first. Others may be along to say Yea or Na but this is my method and I?m stickin? to it. LOL
 
I tried the hose clamp idea.....didn't work for me
But I did find if you buy a big enough tiewrap, you are golden.
I tried it with multiple ties,attached together but it took a single one.
Like this one at www.mcmastercarr.com
PN #69455K21
1/2 an inch wide and held all rings. Upper,lower and oil\\:D/\\:D/
Just have to have big snips to cut them but any reason to buy more tools
 
crag antler said:
I tried the hose clamp idea.....didn't work for me
But I did find if you buy a big enough tiewrap, you are golden.
I tried it with multiple ties,attached together but it took a single one.
Like this one at www.mcmastercarr.com
PN #69455K21
1/2 an inch wide and held all rings. Upper,lower and oil\\:D/\\:D/
Just have to have big snips to cut them but any reason to buy more tools
Click to expand...

What a great idea. Thanks for the link.
 
I worked with another person on this, set the first two piston in and had the other person bring the head down a little bit as I rotated the engine forward to bring the remaining two pistons up. Once the rings were at the base one at a time squeezed the rings in with my hands... pain in the butt, but it worked.

Wish I had large hose clamps
 
Noob Alert!

Noob Alert!

Warning! Profound Glimpse Into The Obvious!

Mr. DimitriT,

I have not had the pleasure of rebuilding the motor on my bike as of yet. But on a previous bike (like there's a lot,... NOT), there was just enough gunk in the ring grooves on the pistons to prevent the rings from compressing all the way. I'm sure your pistons are spic-n-span, but I wanted to mention it for the other noobs like myself out there who may be listening. Isn't there a special scraper tool? Or do you just soak the pistons in solvent? I think I used a flat blade screwdriver. Probably not the best thing.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
 
BassCliff said:
Warning! Profound Glimpse Into The Obvious!

Mr. DimitriT,

I have not had the pleasure of rebuilding the motor on my bike as of yet. But on a previous bike (like there's a lot,... NOT), there was just enough gunk in the ring grooves on the pistons to prevent the rings from compressing all the way. I'm sure your pistons are spic-n-span, but I wanted to mention it for the other noobs like myself out there who may be listening. Isn't there a special scraper tool? Or do you just soak the pistons in solvent? I think I used a flat blade screwdriver. Probably not the best thing.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
Click to expand...

Yea, I cleaned out the grooves with old rings and solvent. The new ones went in nice and slid around fine. The problem is when I was trying to fit the outer cylinders I would push too hard (get frustrated) and bend a ring. One edge of the ring would get caught outside the edge of the piston an get pushed down. Easy to do. I ordered a new set of rings. I'm gonna look into the wide zip ties or something similar. Seems like an excellent idea.
 
I've come up with a pretty simple way to do it myself. I cut some pvc pipe to size and then wrapped 2 pieces around the piston rings using them to compress the rings from either side. I keep them compressed with hose clamps. I crank the clamp down and then loosen it up just a bit. I put a bit of grease on the inside of the pvc.

Then line up all 4 pistons and hold the crank on the starter side with a wrench to keep it from turning. I then put a 2x4 across the top of the block and tap the block down over the pistons. Then pull out the hose clamps off and pull out the pvc pipe being careful not to drop the pvc down into the cases.
Works great.
Picture%202257-2.jpg

Picture%202255-3.jpg
 
rosco15 said:
I've come up with a pretty simple way to do it myself. I cut some pvc pipe to size and then wrapped 2 pieces around the piston rings using them to compress the rings from either side. I keep them compressed with hose clamps. I crank the clamp down and then loosen it up just a bit. I put a bit of grease on the inside of the pvc.

Then line up all 4 pistons and hold the crank on the starter side with a wrench to keep it from turning. I then put a 2x4 across the top of the block and tap the block down over the pistons. Then pull out the hose clamps off and pull out the pvc pipe being careful not to drop the pvc down into the cases.
Works great.
Click to expand...

Wow. Way cool. Another great idea in the arsenal.
 
BassCliff said:
Isn't there a special scraper tool? Or do you just soak the pistons in solvent? I think I used a flat blade screwdriver. Probably not the best thing.
BassCliff
Click to expand...
Break an old piston ring, it now is your scraper, or they make a tool that has various cutters on it to do the same thing.
me i've all but once or twice used an old ring.
 
crag antler said:
I tried the hose clamp idea.....didn't work for me
But I did find if you buy a big enough tiewrap, you are golden.
I tried it with multiple ties,attached together but it took a single one.
Like this one at www.mcmastercarr.com
PN #69455K21
1/2 an inch wide and held all rings. Upper,lower and oil\\:D/\\:D/
Just have to have big snips to cut them but any reason to buy more tools
Click to expand...

If anybody needs the tiewraps let me know.
I have enough left over to send some out\\:D/
 
The tiewraps are what I used years ago when I had the topend off.
 
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