Calling Allen in NE or other engine expert

These other fellas have nailed it right on the head and let me say right up front that I've never been closer to a Case than about 10 feet; never been inside one, so don't know anything about your tractor. Hey! They are the orange ones, aren't they? :>)

But, iron is iron I guess and please be forewarned that you, nor anyone else here for that matter, are not going to like what I'm about to say and I’ve received a lot of static over the years, ‘cause I’m so darned bull-headed and picky about this subject. This just is one of my pet peeves, so give me the benefit of the doubt here and allow an old man a soapbox for a minute, okay? :>)

Let’s face it, the piston/cylinder is the most critical area of any engine; this is the very heartbeat of that engine.

If you stop and think about it, that whole machine (whether it is a tractor, a car, truck, power-plant or boat) is built around that piston/ring/cylinder-wall fit and it's compression seal against the head. This is the exact location where the power comes from and this is the area where oil consumption is controlled. If there is any oil-burning going on, it is going to happen here at the combustion area.

Over time, things tend to wear; the cylinder wears, the rings wear, but more importantly and what many builders never, ever think about, is that darned piston.

Forget the pin and the outside of the piston for a minute. What I worry about is the ring grooves, because under normal conditions those rings are continually moving in and out. In addition, they are forever changing direction & actually ‘slapping’ from land to land at every single stroke that piston assembly makes.

On top of the rings, you have hot combustion gases and their resultant pressures burning away anything and everything that is combustible it it’s path (trouble is, this includes the engine oil too).

Underneath and inside the rings, the engine oil is always trying to ‘push into’ and lube this area of normal engine wear. It is a constant and forever ongoing battle, one force pitted against the other force. This goes on continually anytime the engine is running and happens far worse when the engine is cold.

End result is that the ring is wearing not only at the cylinder wall, but it is also wearing against that piston groove and it is not wearing in a sharp, well defined, square-edged fashion either; it wears in a “rounded” fashion. Wear comes at the upper and lower edge of the piston groove and also at the deepest edge of the groove. Pistons wear, it is just that simple, even though this wear is oftentimes not all that evident.

So, what happens? A guy will put a new ring against that worn piston and/or cylinder wall and they just do not match. From all indications, they seem to fit, but they just do not!

They never will either, no matter what you do. You are “building in” an oil consumption & ill-fitting engine component problem, right off the bat, right out of the box. We’ve torn this engine down and went to all this work to, in turn, ‘build in’ a problem.

Additionally, manuals and a lot of the experts will tell you that maximum cylinder bore taper and cylinder wall wave should not exceed .012” to .015”. Boy! That’s a stretch! New engine manufacturers use a figure of .005” absolute maximum differential. Zero taper and wave is considered ideal.

What I’m trying to say, is that if I’m going to go to all the trouble involved in rebuilding an engine, the very ‘last thing’ I’m gonna do is put a new part in that engine to wear against an already worn out old part….It just simply doesn’t make any sense to my mind. I install the whole she-bang in as a new set: a new cylinder (sleeve or bore), new piston/pin assembly and new rings, all of which are compressing against a fresh, well-machined head.

What type of ring to use? Given an ideal fit, it doesn’t matter one fig and it is totally up to you and how you are planning to use the engine.

You have three choices: cast, chrome or a combination of the two, which is known as a “moly” ring. The chrome rings are the hardest of the bunch and resist wear more and usually last longer; cast rings are cheaper and softer, but just don’t have the long term, anti-wear staying power of chrome. Like the others have already stated, a cast ring will break in faster because it is softer.

Disclaimer: Can you get away with just ‘ringing’ an engine? Sure, absolutely. Happens every day. If the engine is just doing light duty work, it will probably last for many years this way.

The point I’m trying to make though, is that just because Bob the Beast Builder tears down an engine and throws in a set of rings, this certainly does not mean that he has a “new”, durable and long-lasting engine.

What he has really ended up with, is a very limited, ‘kind of a refreshed’ & “patched” engine with a few band-aids applied along with some leak stopping gaskets thrown in here and there. Further, the life expectancy of this motor will only be about 30% that of a new or a correctly rebuilt engine. Sorry for the long rant Glenn, hope ya get ‘er going okay,

Allan

This is a totally individual call.

It is up to the guy who is doing the job and how he wants to build it. Also, let's be honest. The bottom line of the repair can speak very loudly sometimes.

Now, your dad will probably get along just fine in his way of doing things on his own rigs. This is what he wants to do and I certainly can respect his way of thinking.

However, on the other side of the fence and since I was trained to do this work professionally, I have always looked at this issue as if I am the guy who is going to run it.

I build other people's engines just as if they were mine and if I'm building an engine for someone I want it to last a long time and so does he, because you start getting into some hefty money by throwing in all the good toys and all the necessary & required machine work.

If some feller pays me around $2K to $2500 for a gasser engine O/H, I'd better be darned sure that it is going to run him out to at least 4000 ‘hard’ hours or better, or else I'm gonna have a mad guy on my hands.

And, like I sometimes forget to say, these are just my own personal opinions and are stated as such.

Allan

I mean, why in the heck didn't cha say so in the first place? This changes everything!

Let's just throw in a $2 set of rusty old casters in this humped-backed old rascal; flush 'er with a little Bon-Ami down her throat a few times and call 'er good 'cause ya know as well as I do, the iced tea is awaitin'! :>)

Naw, I’m just a teasin' ya! LOL!

Seriously tho, If I were in your place, I would use the cast rings, because those chromes are really gonna fight you on the seatin' part...sounds like you just had some oil rings go limp on you?

Allan