Ring squeezer question

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Apr 29, 2004 | 07:54 PM

lee

Thread Starter

Laughing Gas

Joined: Jul 1999

Posts: 1,047

Likes: 22

From: Lacey, WA

Ring squeezer question

HELP!
I'm so darn mad right now

I could bite a 10 penny nail in two.

I just broke an oil ring while trying to install a piston in the block. I'm using the metal band with the square drive adjuster style of squeezer that I got at the local Shucks. I had it "squeezed" as tight as it would go but was obviously not tight enough. While tapping the piston in I broke the ring!!!!

Someone set me straight on what kind of ring squeezer I should buy.

Also are there any tricks to doing this that I don't know of?

Thanks,

Apr 29, 2004 | 11:10 PM

bassdude

Elder User

Joined: Sep 2003

Posts: 785

Likes: 1

From: colorado

those things bite! i just threw mine against the wall after i barely got the last piston in the hole.

oh well can't expect much for 10 bucks.

Apr 29, 2004 | 11:41 PM

mark a.

Lead Driver

Joined: Mar 2004

Posts: 8,922

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You just have to faness it right. First you put it over the piston, tighten it up then put it in the bore and tap the compressor band lightly at the top, so it is flat with the deck you don't want it wound like a spring, then tap the piston untill its close to the rings going in, then tap the end of the compressor again and retighten, and then tap it in. You just have to take your time with them.

Apr 29, 2004 | 11:48 PM

bassdude

Elder User

Joined: Sep 2003

Posts: 785

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From: colorado

yea i didn't mention that it was workable. i VERY gently tapped the compressor so the edge just went into the beveled edge at the top of the cylinder. then tapped the piston down in and it worked OK. the thing that ticked me of was the ratcheting mechanism stripped after the first one so i had to hold the thing tight with one hand and do everything else with the other.

Apr 29, 2004 | 11:56 PM

mark a.

Lead Driver

Joined: Mar 2004

Posts: 8,922

Likes: 152

I've had the little pins at the end of the bands come out and reek havoc. Then they wont wind up right.

Apr 29, 2004 | 11:58 PM

DW2455

Posting Guru

Joined: Jul 2003

Posts: 1,486

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From: Independence, MO

Use plenty of oil and take a rat tail file and chamfer the tops of the cylinders to make shure there are no burs or edges that will snag a ring as it goes in. DW

Apr 30, 2004 | 12:52 AM

Racerguy

Hotshot

Joined: Aug 2002

Posts: 12,679

Likes: 15

From: BC, Canada

After using a tapered ring compressor like the one at http://www.powerhouseproducts.com/st...de=PISTON+RING you'll wonder how you ever did it without one.