John Deere A Oil Ring Question

[Anonymous-0]

I started rebuilding a 1942 A. I pulled the pistons and ordered a set of rings. My new ring set calls for an oil ring on the 3rd and 5th groove (different types of oil rings). The piston has oil drain holes only on the 5th groove. Should this 3rd oil ring (3-piece ring) be installed in a 3rd groove without drain holes? My old piston only uses one oil ring (bottom). I can easily put another compression in groove #3 like is is.

 

[Lee B]

You should NOT place an oil ring in a groove that is not drilled with drain holes for the scraped off oil to return to the crankcase. I can't imagine what excuse or reason your ring set maker could dream up to suggest that you do. The additional oil ring would just be fouled by it's own oil and not be able to do anything for you.

By all means place another compression ring in that groove as it was meant to have.

Worked hard from time to time, these engines don't use very much oil, certainly not enough to employ two oil rings.

Talk about ShadeTree work, I reuse my compression rings whenever I can. With a very good file, I bevel off the upper and lower outer edges and then file around the circumference until new metal shows all the way around the outside of the ring. Under the best magnification I can employ, I can NOT see any difference between a new ring or one of my 'reconditioned' rings other than color. After several engines have been done like this, I can report that there is NO difference in actuality at all. They break in just as fast, they last just as long, they work just as hard. From lawn mowers and power plants, VWs on to my 44 A it's the same story - compression rings can be re-used.

 

[Mike M]

Have you checked the end gaps ? They are bound to be bigger then NEW rings due to edge wear and filing the sides.

 

[alabamafrog]

Here is a link to pretty much the same thing a couple days ago with more info in it;
http://ytforums.ytmag.com/viewtopic.php?t=494433&highlight=

 

[kendak]

thats the reason I love this forum...I can be down in the dumps & read something as funny as [reconditioned rings]& laugh until I cry..Lee you've got to the KING of cheap...thats the best I've heard in awhile...take care ...Kent

 

[Vern H]

Lee,
When I was a kid, (and I m pretty agey now,)I worked in a mine in so. AZ with a pretty savvy man-he ran the job- who told of hacksawing and filing rings out of pipe for hit and miss pump engines on a ranch on the Hassayampa river north of Wickenburg. Depression times of course. Whatever works for you! Be cool, VH

 

[Lee B]

Oh, of course Mike. And I always throw them away when the end gap approaches an inch or so...

Seriously, the file removes so little metal I'm not sure one could discern a difference in the end gaps. So actually the answer is NO, no real need to as they have already been test run once.

kendak:
Cheep? Have you priced rings lately? I did an overhaul of a VW for $20 once but it's been several decades ago now and that was the JC Whitney price on the engine overhaul gasket kit back then. It needed everything new but instead got everything used except for (some of) the gaskets. It ran just as long and hard as any other VW engine I came across back in those days.

As Vern pointed out, under depression conditions this will be much more common. That pretty much describes my situation when I wind up doing this.

 

[kendak]

Lee; not laughing at you but with you ...BTDT..back in H.S. in the early 60's I had a 56 Chevy with a blown up motor & a wrecked 55 Ford with a good motor & trans....in the farm shop with a torch & welder I put that Ford motor & trans. in the Chevy...shifted it with a rod through a hole in the floor board..ran good until I lost a front wheel doing about 70 on a gravel road & cleaned out the ditch & culvert...wish I had that much energy now...take care ...Kent