Ford 1700 3pt cylinder piston replacement

[BenL]

Replacing the seal on my 3pt cylinder piston, old one came off in pieces. Noticed the piston head that moves in the cylinder has a couple deep scores in it. Before the seal entirely failed the 3pt worked, just drifted down after a while. I’m thinking it’s not worth messing with the scoring given the prohibitive cost of fixing anything with these tractors. Nothing inside the cylinder I can see that caused the scoring. Any thoughts from those with more experience?

 

[RickB]

Hone the cylinder bore, dress the gouges in the piston so it doesn't damage the bore any more and put it back together with new seals. As long as the cylinder bore doesn't damage the seals and the piston doesn't damage the cylinder bore it will work just fine. Worry more about the cylinder bore than the piston. The piston skirt and ring land don't seal anything. Whatever caused that damage is long gone.

 

[BenL]

By dressing the gouges, are you refer to light sanding or filling them with something? New to the tractor restoration world, sorry.

 

[RickB]

Grind/sand them so there are no protrusions or sharp edges. Filling isn't necessary.

 

[fried1765]

Replacing the seal on my 3pt cylinder piston, old one came off in pieces. Noticed the piston head that moves in the cylinder has a couple deep scores in it. Before the seal entirely failed the 3pt worked, just drifted down after a while. I’m thinking it’s not worth messing with the scoring given the prohibitive cost of fixing anything with these tractors. Nothing inside the cylinder I can see that caused the scoring. Any thoughts from those with more experience?View attachment 691193

Probably someone will beat me up for saying this, but it would get those scores cleaned out thoroughly with laquer thinner, and fill them with JB Weld.
Then polish smooth.

 

[RickB]

I won't beat you up for that. There's nothing wrong with that approach. There's more than one solution to most problems.

 

[BenL]

Probably someone will beat me up for saying this, but it would get those scores cleaned out thoroughly with laquer thinner, and fill them with JB Weld.
Then polish smooth.

I was thinking of the JB weld approach once polished up, being that some people use it in engines. A slow moving hydraulic piston shouldn’t be too taxing on it.

 

[fried1765]

I was thinking of the JB weld approach once polished up, being that some people use it in engines. A slow moving hydraulic piston shouldn’t be too taxing on it.

I think JBweld will work just fine.
There is no heat generated by that piston/cylinder.

 

[90cummins]

NO!
Do not fill!
Stone or file the gouge flat so it doesn’t damage the cylinder.
the gouge will have no effect on the seal sealing. My concern would be the filler JB WELD or what every you use may flake off & damage the new seal.
As was mentioned it’s the cylinder surface that’s important for sealing not the piston surface.
90cummins