Might be a dumb one, but 88 Seal question

[Heliarc]

That binding...I just got mine back together today and ran it.It was doing the same old "need to get it wound up thing" again but anyhow I got it wound up and ran it because it felt nice to drive it.After awhile I started losing power pretty bad.Then the engine just stopped dead.I thought I really screwed it.Then literally 5 seconds later I turned the clutch by hand and it felt just fine.It restarted and I managed to crawl home.Can a blocked muffler be doing it?

Oh, about this part "backwards sucks, unless You're looking something in the eyes, hard".

Mind if I use that for a sig?

[BrewCityMusic]

Just a pain in the *244* as they say .... Thanks, Cart King

[Doc's BoneCracker]

Hey Brew I recently had an issue with the same sponsor only mine was it took two weeks to receive parts and that was after 5 phone calls and $16.00 in shipping for a $3.00 part that weighed .1 oz. Come on get really sponsors the US mail don't charge these rates.

[Dave Box]

BCM,

So you have a new top end (albeit a suspect cylinder) and it runs for a while before it feels like it is seizing?

Do you absolutely remember putting the rings in the right way up? (They have a taper).
You are of course running 40:1 oil.
Just to rule out any stupidity with the back axle what would happen if you removed the drive belt and ran it for a similar length of time?
Is there a possibility that the muffler is blocked or even one of those flying mud insect thingies has blocked the tailpipe? Perhaps open a gap twixt the pipe and the muffler.
If it is still happening maybe (as soon as it bogs down) you could whip out the spark plug and try to turn the engine by hand to determine if it is heating and binding on the piston.

That is all I have sorry. BTW kudos to you guys for naming and shaming. I know others will disagree but I like to be warned off. Similarly I always used to sing the praises of Everything Carts as I never got anything less than superb service. That said they have been bought out by another firm so now I just don't know.

Dave

[BrewCityMusic]

OK, Dave - it's morning and clearer heads are prevailing, the answer to #1 (the rings) is not really (I swear there was no difference in the taper, they were symmetrical - I even broke out the magnifying glass to rule out my middle-aged eyes being suspect) ... THAT said, I could always just pull it again and double-check while praying I didn't mess things up too bad - what I CAN confirm is that it was an unholy B*&^)^ to get the rings in place enough to tap the piston into the jug and accordingly, the jug down over the piston/rings for reassembly - is that indicative of the rings being in all kaddy-whompis ?!?!

40:1 ... Yeah, sorta - I had about 2gal of 128:1 in there so I added 2 more gallons of 40:1 - but that was after the initial fire-up ... Maybe ran for 30 seconds without the belt on 128:1 but I figure that's OK as I had gear oil all over everything BIG time (as evidenced by the smoke)

Never thought about the axle, I *did* do a suicide lap (I call it that because it's pretty hard to drive, avoid hitting anything, and watch the clutches all at once with all the trees around here) while watching the clutches closely to rule out any hijinks or binding, etc back there and all looked well

Tailpipe OK, does the same thing with or without muffler cracked (already thought of that one)

OK - all that addressed, here's the plan: I have about 16 acres to mow this AM and early afternoon (appraisers are coming tomorrow, yeee haw) but I plan on devoting the later portion of today to the cart - as to this taper you speak of, that's likely going to be the first thing to check, along with any damage I may have done to the jug if they were in fact backwards.

NOW - I was a little hacked last night but I'm not pulling the plug totally on Cart King just yet, the fact that they forgot to send my seals and clutch tool was likely a legit mistake (albeit annoying) and the jug issue isn't something I can *totally* fault them on as it was "drop-shipped" from another vendor in MO ... What I *didn't* like was the fact that when I called them, they said it was unlikely the vendor would replace it until they recieved and inspected the one I got (which is what led me to break down and just clean it up/use it). Another cart supplier I know (that I can't mention here) had a similar issue w an order last year and had a replacement out overnight with a call tag for the bad part, THAT is pretty much the way I like to see things run but that's just me, I guess. We'll see how long it takes to get the non-shipped parts.

[racin161]

Brew read my post pistons & rings exposed!! go down as RIB got it posted for me K And thanks again RIB also I'm sorry to say The first time I tried to install rings on a 244pg I did in fact have the rings installed wrong and even called the supplier thinking it was there fault until my dumb AZZZ figured it out before there return call but I hadn't tried to install the piston in the cylinder I was lucky Hope this helps. HELI I did watch your video and just a tip if you load the piston in the jug first you can make life easy on ya. Then just slide the jug and piston over the rod and insert the wrist pin and clips

LOU

[Heliarc]

Thanks Lou.I might be pulling my cylinder again to make sure the rings aren't in the wrong way so that'll help a bunch.I also swore there was no taper on them and I have good eyesight.All I saw were some markings so I put them in with the markings facing the head.Would the rings even go into the jug if they were backwards?Also the grooves of the new piston looked completely square.

[racin161]

Trust me there not.There is a bevel and the rings if installed right will just compress by finger and the piston will go right in the hole with out forcing it.

[Heliarc]

Right on.I should be able to get it out and apart tomorrow.I'll have a good close look at those rings again.It still cranks over nice so I'm hopeful it isn't FUBAR.

[BrewCityMusic]

Well NOW I have a real dilemna, LOL - just for fun this afternoon, I pulled the plug and squirted some gear lube in the cylinder and turned it over and over and over until I was afraid I'd burn up the starter wires, put the plug back in and it started just fine, and seems to be running OK this evening (took about 3 miles total on it, stop and go, hills, etc) however it seems to run totally differently, it used to start right up now it turns over for a bit before slowly catching, once she's up and purring though it seems to run fine except it won't get up to full-ish RPM's very easily (I'm afraid to push it *too* hard) ...

As to the "easy in" to the cylinder, like I mentioned THAT didn't happen at ALL so I think I'm just going to get new gaskets and call it a "redo" - I likely didn't damage the existing rings, I would think (correct me PLEASE if I'm wrong)

Dale