Replacing oiless air compressor ring & cylinder question

[The Cobbler]

Don't mouth off about how I should toss it in the garbage. It was a habitat purchase solely for the tank, but I decided to pass it along to a friend. I did repair the obvious ( broken ****** into the tank) , and then it became obvious the cylinder & ring was worn as it would only build about 60PSI
for a few $$$ I bought a ring & cylinder kit .as already mentioned I plan on passing this compressor on to a friend .
I have never installed a new ring on an oiless compressor. It seems quite large for the cylinder and needs to be compressed a bit . I know once the cap is installed on the piston that holds the ring it will push downwards some, making the diameter a bit less. It looks like it will still be a bit to large.
Just wondering if any one has any tricks on compressing the teflon or whatever ring to get it into the cylinder?

 

[whateg01]

Might help if you post the model. The oilless I've repaired either had a phenolic (guessing at that) ring that was spherical on the outside so the piston could rock in the cylinder or had a metal disc that sealed (mostly) to the cylinder wall. Not sure what yours looks like.

 

[The Cobbler]

I don't have the model , but here is a related thread. the ring & cylinder is pictured below
the ring is similar to leather ,but it' s some sort of man made material . I don't have pics of the piston etc at this time , but it's a thin pancake type that can rock back & forth in the cylinder

 

[whateg01]

Sounds like you don't have it apart yet. My experience is that the valves or head gasket are as likely to be source of that problem. So I would check those out while it's apart. If it was mine, I would bore a conical hole in a piece of nylon to guide the ring into the hole. But that's just me. How much does it need to compress?

 

[The Cobbler]

it is apart & determined a badly scored cylinder & very worn ring( daylight visible along edges ) . the reed plates look okay . new oring seals included for the reed plate & head so I'm good there too.
not sure on how much it needs to compress, I imagine when I get the ring installed on the piston it will curve down & might not need to be compressed too much .Now that I think about it, I do have a small ring compressor that might come in handy too

 

[Beerhippie]

This is why we used to call them "airless" compressors on the jobsite. Running one of those in dusty conditions wears them out in a week or two.