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Breaking in new rings


sb64

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Some of you have read my previous post on the 728 eating through plugs. I am ordering new rings very soon, and I was just wondering, when i put the new rings in, and put everything back together, do i have to use any break in oil, or keep the RPM's down? Is their anything else I have to do to make sure the rings seat properly? BTW i am getting the regular softer rings, not chrome.

Thanks in advance,

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Vary the engine speed. Do not run at WOT for long periods of time till the rings have had time to seat. Start by driving it around at lower speeds, gradually increase engine speed as you get more running time on the engine. Still vary the throttle up and down as you use the engine. Once you feel that you have broken it in sufficiently, then use it like it should be used.

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Use it for a half hour and drain the oil and replace with new oil. If there were any metal fragments left from the rebuild, you'll remove them. I do this with all new purchases and rebuilds. You'd be surprised how many engines have debris right from the factory.

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I would add, that I would not replace rings, chrome or otherwise, without a quick hone on the cylinder. Then I would run straight 30 weight, non synthetic (although you have to look hard to find straight 30 in synthetic, Royal Blue or Amsoil maybe?) and I would run it for a few hours, maybe 5-10, and then change out to oil of choice.

That is just my opinion.

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BrettW,

Yes, I do hone the cylinders before i replace the rings, usually I use the fine stones, and if it is too bad, then i use the med. stones. Thanks everybody for the help.

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When I went to small engine schooling, it was taught that you do not baby an engine after reringing. An engine needs a good load, such as running the mower deck to raise cylinder preasures and seat the rings up good. This is especialy true with chorme rings. In all of my overhauls, both on my own engines and at the shop I used to work for. After installing the new rings, always with a good hone job on the bore to get the proper cross hatch pattern in the cylinder walls, we would put the mower deck on, fire her up and turn on the deck, after about a 1/2 hour just spinning the deck, and with a few throttle changes between 1/2 throttle at the lowest and only for a very short time there to full power. Remember an air cooled engine will not, repeat not, cool propely under a load at lower than full power (3600rpms), so dont leave a load on the engine for very long below that rpm. We check the rpm with an electronic tach during this time to maximize power and make sure its not overspeeding with and without the mower deck running. After that initial half hour we go cut some grass. I have never had issues with rings using this process. Now on my 7112 that I bought that has a 16hp cast single Briggs in it, The hone job was poor and it has had issues with rings not seating for most of the spring. I bought it this way and havent had time to redo the ring job. But it is also finaly starting to not burn oil and smoke while mowing. Another example is a IH Cub Cadet 70 that belonged to a friend. It was fully overhauled, nothing was left out in the process. But after rebuild it was used as a butt buggy at shows and never run much over idle to 1/2 throttle. At full power it would smoke like a freight train. Took 2 plow days pulling a 8" moldboard plow to finaly get the rings to seat up and we worked the snot out of it. Once they seated the smoking stopped. Making sure you get that proper cross hatch pattern in the cylinder wall is very important, otherwise you havent broken the glaze on the walls and the rings will not seat up properly. Good luck on your rebuilt. Mike

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O.K. so your saying to hook up the mower deck, and let it spin at full throttle, or keep moving the throttle between 1/2 and full throttle?

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Varry the throttle but dont leave it at lower than full power with the deck engaged for more that a couple min, the engine will overheat. Last engine of mine that I did a ring job on, after it was back together, I ran with deck engaged at almost full power for like 5-10 min, then throttle back, hopped on and went and cut 2 acres of grass with it. Changed the oil a few min after I was done mowing to flush any debris out of the block, put fresh 30wt valvoline in and it was happy. New owner has mowed for over 6 years now with no problems. Now if an engine was rebored and has a brand new piston head, I might be a tad bit easier, but not much. Most everything we got in brand new at the dealership had never been run, it was rare to see a Cub Cadet, Hustler ZTR, Scag ect that was test run before we uncrated it. Most get put right to work at full power once sold. Very little run time at lower rpms at the dealer before sold. If your bore is within book specs, piston head looks decent. Decarbon it, good hone job(I use my cordless drill with the 3 stone style hone and 30wt oil), wipe out the bore good, I usualy flush it with carb cleaner into a wrag held from below the bore. I relube with oil prior to tapping piston in with new rings. The hone, ring spreader, ring compressor sleeve are all fairly cheap at Harbor Freight tools or you can get them on loan from places like Autozone. Try to use OEM rings and gasgets when possible over aftermarket. Good Luck. MIke

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Thanks, I do have thos tools and alredy used them last night. And yes, I ended up getting OEM briggs and stratton parts. Thanks everyone.

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I ran my new command at varying speeds and worked it hard going up hill with a trailer of wood. I could feel the power increase! I changed it to synthetic at about 7.5 hours.

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I just did a rering on my 16hp Briggs single in my 7116, Ran the old girl about 10 min at varying throttle settings, then hopped on and went and mowed one of my yards. I wil recheck engine mount and drive shaft bolts tomorrow then I have 2 more to mow. No more oil burning, rest of the engine looked excellent on the inside. I am convinced they used the wrong rings, there was no ridge, rings had a huge and I mean 16th of inch gap. Engine had a 20 over piston when I took it appart, other than the rings it all looked recently done other than what appeared to be a poor hone job(if it was honed). New ring gap is correct by the book. Cheers Mike

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Well, I put them in and ran it around for about 25 min and then I changed the oil, and I went out to do some tilling with the 30" rear mount. No smoke, but I did retorque the head bolts.

Thanks for all the help.

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Sounds like you have a winner. Keep the oil changed and the air filter in good order and you will be good for years to come. Briggs are very picky about having good clean oil in them. Espicaly so in the new ones from the lowely 3.5hp push mower to the high doller Vanguard big blocks in commercial ZTR's. You still cant beat these older Briggs engines, I will put them up agaisnt a Kohler any day! Briggs's only krutch, so to speak, is that darn updraft carb. Had they gone with a more simple carter like Kohler did without the updraft part. Cheers Mike

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It's funny you say that because my first simple tractor was a 1964 Simplicity broadmoor. The fist style broadmoor ever. When I got the tractor, I had carb issues with the updraft, then I found a carb kit, and with very tedious adjustments, I never had a problem. I used that all year round. And yes I agree with the oil and filter on the Briggs. When it says to clean and change oil after 25 hours of use, theirs no way around it. I'm not much of a fan of newer small engines, but I do like the modern day kohlers. And yes, my favorite older small engine will always be Briggs.

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Even the modern day Kohlers are not the top dog anymore like they once were. The prefered power plant in commercial ZTR's is a Kawasaki V twin, followed by a Vanguard, Kohler and Honda come in a distant 3rd. But, with the rise in fuel prices, more of the commercial guys have gone over to diesel engines in thier newest ZTR purchases. Most of them run diesel pickups and many with a bed mounted aux fuel tank, so they can refuel thier ZTR in the field. When money permits, I do plan to replace the 16hp Briggs in my Landlord with a 10hp diesel. It will be much more fuel effecient over the old Briggs. Unfortunatly, there are Briggs's made today that you couldnt give me, Intek's for one. Only Briggs I will own today is a Vanguard, the rest are a total throwaway design, just like everybody else. I think the only worse carb over a Briggs updraft was what Tecumseh used, those were horrid to deal with. Mike

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