Changing rings and removing a cylinder ridge

I"m in the process of replacing the rings on my "49 John Deere B. It has a pretty significant ridge on the end of the cylinder bore, ~.020" per side and is about an inch long.

The ridge is deeper on the top of the bore than it is on the bottom. Will a ridge reamer be able to remove take care of this? I"ve never used one before and don"t know if it can be remove material on only one side.

Thanks for the replies.

The one sided ridge is due to the side loading forces of the piston. Long stroke engines and long pistons will put significant force on one side of the bore as it strokes. As wear goes on, one side will have lots more ridge than the other. A ridge reamer, should even it up well enough to get the piston back in.

If you're saying 020 on each side of the cyl, thats 040 over, std rings are only good for 010-015 over. If its worn that much its time for a bore and new pistons.

Any where that needs a ridge reamer is ready for two things bore out or junk.
Walt

I agree with Walt, if you need to ream the ridge it's time for a bore job. The ridge is the part of the cylinder that is still original, it's the rest of the cylinder that's wore. 0.020 on each side is a lot. You may break the pistons trying to get them out when the rings hang up on the ridge.
If the cylinder is wore that much at the top it's most likely wore bell shaped, which means more in the middle or bottom and the rings can't expand and contract that fast in each stroke to compensate and seal. So if you only remove the ridge your engine will most likely still burn oil and smoke.
The wear can also be caused by over-heating, I would remove the block and get it boiled out it may be full of debris or rust.

Thanks for the replies.

From what I know about the history of the tractor, the rings I have removed are the original. After spending some time with a rigid cylinder hone, I have confirmed that the bore is indeed tapered. In an ideal world, I would have the block bored .045 over and install new pistons.

This tractor is primarily a cultivator tractor. I am changing the rings in an effort to balance the compression between cylinders and make it a little easier to start. I'm not trying to return the tractor to 'like new' condition, so a bit of blow-by is not a problem.

The pistons came without too much trouble. The #1 compression rings had a 1.5" end gap (one of the pistons actually still had broken bits of ring that had been rounded over floating in the groove). The other rings had about .350" end gap. Changing the rings will reduce the gap by 50%.

Pulling the block to have it rebored isn't financially feasible right now. The rigid hone reduced the ridge on the bottom of the bore, but it is still present on the top. Since I need the tractor back in operation for spring, I think I can either reinstall the old rings or find a way to get rid of the ridge. It sounds like the reamer might worth a try.

If those new rings hit any ridge will probably damage the ring and piston. If that happens a broken ring can cut a deep groove in the cylinder wall. Hal

use a die grinder and remove the ridge, then get some .045 rings and file the ends until you get the proper ring gap. Will run that way for years.Maybe not as good as new, but better than you have now.

You need to remove the ridge or you will break the new rings, like others have said. I don't know about the ridge reamer, but it should work for you. On my cub the bore was to small for a normal reamer so I got some rough grit stones for my cylinder hone and ground out the ridge, then put the finer grit stones on and made it all uniform with a cross hatch. Then put on the corresponding rings. .02 oversized or whatever it happens to be.

A Good Ridge Reamer will lock IN the cylinder and act as a Lathe..
It will start cutting from the bottom of the ridge and advance toward the end of the cylinder.
It will "register" with the ridge depth and remove the appropriate amount.
Then, Hone the cylinder WELL-all evenly Full-Length until ALL old ring marks are gone..
That is about all you can do to re-condition a worn cylinder and the rings will seal and last about 40% as long as a new re-bore.
DO look closely at the Ring Lands on the pistons...they should provide a good fit for the rings and not be loose, or the rings will flutter and leak..
Above all, get a Good Valve-Job..!!

Ron..

Why not do it right the first time? You won't be sorry.

I have not seen a ridge reamer that will work on a two cylinder Deere. The normal ones found are made for engines that leave the ridge near the top of the block not like the Deere that leaves it an inch or more down from the edge. A good honing and some careful work on the ridge with a dremal is what will work down in that far.