Piston ring expander??

[spazworm]

Heya guys, been doing alot of work on my 4age lately, had the head redone at a mechanic but then it became aware that the piston rings needed replacing (idk why they didnt do it while the head was off ). Anyway i pullet the whole thing apart with help of the trusty 4age manual, starting to get ready to put the piston rings on.... anyway heres the the question...

Is it really a big deal to use a piston ring expander or not?? what are the pros and cons?

mucho appreciation guys

[Skylar]

I never wasted my money on one. maybe you should, maybe you shouldn't, I don't know.

Just make sure you don't bend the rings spirally.

[fixeruperer]

ive never used a ring expander.

pros = you have one more tool
cons = you have a tool you dont need haha.

they didnt do the rings when the head was off becuase, your only half way there once the head is off.

[Sam-Q]

there is a trick of putting feeler gauges between your ring gaps till there is enough clearance to go over the piston, sounds good to me

[--Redwork--]

Never EVER used a ring expander... I'm sure if you gave me one I'd have absolutly NO IDEA what the hell it was till you told me...

Definatly not needed...

[spazworm]

cheers for the feedback guys, very helpful

I'd say your about 80% there once the head is off, all thats left is to unbolt the sump, unbolt the big ends and push the pistons out the top, anyway the point is they knew it could have gone wrong, they should have at least asked me if i wanted to take the risk, instead of paying them thousands of dollars for doing work i have to redo anyway...