Farmall 300 update, sleeve question

I don't have pictures this time because my hands were too dirty and now it is dark, but I decided to pull the head since I had three valves that I could not seem to get loose. That part of the job went fine, and now they are all moving and I will continue oiling them and tapping them back and forth till they move freely. Once the head was off I began to drive the #1 piston down with a block of wood and a sledgehammer. #3 was the stuck piston, all the other three had had good penetration from the ATF and were moving easily. #3 began to move, but the sleeve lifted about 2" out of the block, at which point it stuck and would not come further and the piston remained stuck in the sleeve. I took down the rod bearing cap and turned the crank so that it was out of the way and drove #3 back down and moved the piston about 1/4" down, then I got a piece of hickory 1X1 from the sticker pile and drove the piston and sleeve back up and out. Once it got out I realized that I had broken off the top ring of the sleeve from the rest of the sleeve, presumably when I was trying to break loose the piston. I got the remains of the sleeve off the piston and am now wondering if it is possible to buy just one sleeve for this engine. I have found piston and sleeve sets of four, but nowhere that I can buy just a sleeve alone. The piston is fine. Also I have seen some head gasket sets that claim to work for both H and 300 engines and I am wondering if that is true of all H head gasket sets or only some. I got the head gasket set for my H at NAPA a couple of years ago and was happy with it and would do that again if it would be suitable for the 300. Thank you all very much for your help.
Zach

Update, I have found where I can get a single sleeve. I tried searching for C169 sleeve and it came right up.
Zach

Glad it came loose. Pulling the head was the safest option. Consider lapping the valves to see how much valve seal you have.

Zach-I rebuilt a 350 several years ago that had one piston stuck like You describe. The rings were not reusable, and I would hesitate to use the old rings that had hit the top of the sleeve hard enough to break it away from the rest of the sleeve. Good Luck-John

I believe there is a place called LA Sleeve that might be able to help...

Greg

Put the oil ring from each piston into the correct sleeve and measure the end gap. I'll bet you the pricw of new rings that you are way over spec.
Also drop a ringless piston in each hole and measure the gap at two places and and two different heights. Out of tolerance there also I'd bet.
Also put a set of the rings back on a piston and measure the clearance of the ring in the groove. Lots of clearances and wear points to inspect before you decide to keep the old parts.

For $332.00 you can get a new set of sleeves w/pistons and rings from this forum. Do it right the first time. You will be glad you did. Hal

For $332.00 you can get a new set of sleeves w/pistons and rings from this forum. Do it right the first time. You will be glad you did. Hal

Or. he will have spent $332 on sleeves and pistons for an otherwise junk tractor...

Remember, this 300 had a mysterious squealing noise when it was parked. Zach still does not know the source of this noise yet. After rebuilding the engine he might find out that the rest of the tractor isn't worth saving.

In your educated experienced opinion, which model Farmall would be worth fixing? I have a F300 & I would say it's worth saving.

(quoted from post at 12:25:19 05/17/12) Or. he will have spent $332 on sleeves and pistons for an otherwise junk tractor...

Remember, this 300 had a mysterious squealing noise when it was parked. Zach still does not know the source of this noise yet. After rebuilding the engine he might find out that the rest of the tractor isn't worth saving.

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We disagree again. $500 (don't forget machine work) is nothing compared to the overall value of the tractor. Also, with his budding parts business I'm sure he could sell a rebuilt long block in no time. OR he could make an extra strong H.

This is certainly an interesting discussion. My philosophy in this matter is that the sleeves look like they have very little wear and there is no ridge at the top, therefore I am not certain that they are worn beyond spec or to the point that it would bother me for what I am going to do with the tractor. If I get the tractor running and it smokes or clatters or otherwise shows that it needs a rebuild then I will rebuild it. If it has good power and does not smoke or make bad sounds I will happily leave it unrebuilt, since I do not put enough hours on my tractors to make much of an issue. I guess what it comes down to for me is that I would rather take a chance on a $120 price to get it running and see what it needs than pay $500 up front to rebuild it. If I need to rebuild it I will have wasted $120 whereas if I do not need to rebuild it and I do anyway I would have wasted $380. Maybe not the best reasoning but I am a cheapskate.
Zach

Actually, I would probably try to find a used sleeve for it. After all the other three are used.

I might seriously consider rings. They are super cheap (I would guess around $50) and I certainly wouldn't trust the rings on the rusted and beaten cylinder. If they crack you just ruined a piston and that would stink.

I am a little jumpy on rings because when I took out pistons I had two cyls that had pieces of rings fall out rather than single rings. Then it does this...

(quoted from post at 15:47:47 05/17/12) In your educated experienced opinion, which model Farmall would be worth fixing? I have a F300 & I would say it's worth saving.

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So you'd fix it, no matter the cost? Must be nice to have unlimited funding.

Model has nothing to do with it. It could be an old H, or it could be an ultra rare SW6TA Diesel. For the rest of us who are not made of money, there is such a thing as "too far gone."

I simply think he should get the tractor running, find out what all is wrong with it, and decide what to do from there. It's a prudent, conservative approach.

I agree with your frugal approach, but once the buyer has made the decision to purchase, it has already been taken into consideration.
If you aren't gonna fix it, why buy it the first place.

If you aren't gonna fix it, why buy it the first place.

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You buy it to see if it's worth fixing, and if not, you part it out. Hopefully there are enough good desirable valuable parts to cover the cost of the tractor, if not turn a little profit in the end...

I never buy a tractor that I can't at least break even if I had to part it out. Even if it's a running tractor in good shape, I could get in an accident on the way home and do enough damage that fixing would be more than I would want to take on.

(quoted from post at 05:24:30 05/18/12)

(quoted from post at 15:47:47 05/17/12) In your educated experienced opinion, which model Farmall would be worth fixing? I have a F300 & I would say it's worth saving.

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So you'd fix it, no matter the cost? Must be nice to have unlimited funding.

Model has nothing to do with it. It could be an old H, or it could be an ultra rare SW6TA Diesel. For the rest of us who are not made of money, there is such a thing as "too far gone."

I simply think he should get the tractor running, find out what all is wrong with it, and decide what to do from there. It's a prudent, conservative approach.

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I would say I am doing that with this 9. There is no way you can justify rebuilding a gas start engine , you just do it.