DAM**T Ring compressor!
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Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 10,237
Likes: 799
From: Indiana
DAM**T Ring compressor!
I guess I'm going to have to buy one. Nobody rents, loans or actually has the one I need. Only the 1 piece ones.
Anyone tried pushing the pistons down from the top?
Anyone tried pushing the pistons down from the top?
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 21,131
Likes: 12,691
From: South Carolina
traildog,
You don`t need to use a ring compressor.
Cover crankcase openings.
Leave one wrist pin clip off.
Set the jug upside down on the bench.
Partially install the piston into the bottom of the cylinder, push the ends of the rings in with a popsicle stick or your fingers, partially install the wrist pin.
Lower jug/piston over the studs until the wrist pin holes line up, slide in the wrist pin and install clip, lower cylinder. Don`t remove cover over crankcase opening until clip is installed.
You don`t need to use a ring compressor.
Cover crankcase openings.
Leave one wrist pin clip off.
Set the jug upside down on the bench.
Partially install the piston into the bottom of the cylinder, push the ends of the rings in with a popsicle stick or your fingers, partially install the wrist pin.
Lower jug/piston over the studs until the wrist pin holes line up, slide in the wrist pin and install clip, lower cylinder. Don`t remove cover over crankcase opening until clip is installed.
Road Warrior
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,959
Likes: 2
From: Florida
I tried a ring compressor, it was just in the way. I just pinch the rings with my fingers while I lower the jug with the other hand. I did it that way on my inline 6 cyl Kaw, and I've done it 4 or 5 times on my HD. That's how I do it.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 15,705
Likes: 22,718
From: Farmington ,MS
I could put the whole motor together with nothing more than a pair of channel locks ...but I prefer to use the right tools, you get better results. Talk to anyone who wrenches Harleys for a living... and they will tell you clips coming out of the wrist pins is one of the most common failures on motors that have been apart. Do yourself a favor and buy the correct tool for the job.
http://www.jpcycles.com/instructions/pdf/432-098.PDF
http://www.jpcycles.com/product/432-098
http://www.jpcycles.com/instructions/pdf/432-098.PDF
http://www.jpcycles.com/product/432-098
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 15,705
Likes: 22,718
From: Farmington ,MS
Trying to hold the piston and the cylinder while installing the clips greatly increases your chance of screwing up...yes it can be done...I would never do it...nor I have I seen anyone I would trust do it that way...to each his own.
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Before me and my buddies had tools we used a hose clamp many times to compress rings..Make damn sure the wrist pin clips are in properly..
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Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 21,131
Likes: 12,691
From: South Carolina
And another way, that only requires one set of hands...
http://www.nrhsperformance.com/tech_...assembly.shtml
http://www.nrhsperformance.com/tech_...assembly.shtml
Club Member
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 5,800
Likes: 7,828
From: SE Louisiana
Once you put the wrist pin in, you pretty much don't have to hold anything, bending the clips during installation is when they come out, whether they're installed on the bench or on the engine.