Replacing the rings on a FD501V liquid cooled twin cylinder 17 hp Kawasaki off an LX279. Looking at the parts list on both the JD catalog and the Kawasaki catalog, both show to be using 5 rings, the oil ring with two rails, a top ring and a bottom ring. I ordered the JD ring kit, part #M144034. Has 5 rings in it.
I removed the piston. There are only 4 rings, the oil ring with two rails and a single top ring, no second or bottom ring. There is a shallow groove in the piston between the top ring and oil ring, but it is not nearly as deep as the ring grooves. What am I missing here?
I suspect that Kawasaki did a running part change of the piston ring set, and the replacement parts go to the newer part used, and they expected the rings to be replaced with the piston.
I would say there is a good chance you will need pistons. Just be aware that there was another engine manufacturer that changed to mahle pistons several years ago, from another piston manufacturer that used a smaller wrist pin diameter, which also required you to purchase new rods.
Well, you hit the nail on the head. JD replaced the two ring piston with a 3 ring piston. Would have been nice of them to show that as a replacement on the parts list. Took the service tech at Trigreen a minute to figure it out as well. Fyi, anyone with this same issue who does not want to replace the piston can get a two ring set for an LX188, same pistons on the original LX279. I went ahead and replaced the pistons with the 3 ring. Got it together today and started it, no smoke at all. Pistons, rings, case gasket and oil seal...all told about $220. Didn't plan to put that much in it but it sure runs nice now. Anyway, thanks again for the good info.
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FYI: If one ever has to change pistons to to ones with a smaller wrist pin, most competent machine shops can push out the old wrist pin bushings & turn out some new re-sized ones.
That has to be cheaper than splitting the cases & switching rods.
