4-Ring Pistons

The third ring should be installed by putting the middle part on first and take care that the ends not be over any void in the ring gland of the piston. The small thin flat rings should be installed by pushing the one end of the ring into the groove on top of the middle part and then just push it down all the way around till all the ring is in the slot abouv center part. Then put the last ring on the bottom of the center part by the same process of starting one end and then rolling it all the way around the piston and pushing it down till all of it is in the lower slot. Never let any two ends of the rings intersect at the same location. If possible the three ends should be approximately a third of the way around from the other ones.
Make sure the center ring does not overlap. Most of these type rings have a colored end so that it can be seen easily to assure that it is not overlapped. If you try to put the piston in with the ends of the 3 piece ring overlaped it will destroy the piston and the cylinder bore.

I have this theory that the 4 ring piston causes more wear in the cylinder simply because of more stuff riding up and down but I certainly wouldn't try to out engeener the engeeners who designed the 4 ring piston. I would just put it together and not worry. They did nicely for about 30 years till they came out with the 3 ring piston.