3000 gas rebuild

Ok so what are my options for rebuilding my 3cyl,

I notice there's an in-frame kit for the diesels but not the gas - why not!?

Is it a matter of if my gas burner has 3720 on the hourmeter (dunno if it works) then it's going to need bored and turned?

I really didn't want to break this thing apart but with the CI oil pan (it's actually a 3400) it looks like I've got to pull the front end off anyhow.

How often do the PS lines and misc hyd get screwed up while I'm doing this?

The lower end on these tractors give very little trouble. Just support the tractor under the clutch housing and use long bolts at the front bolster and slide the front end forward enough to get the pan off.

so you're saying I can rebuild it in the chassis (after pulling the pan)?

Obviously I'll measure the bore and bearing clearances - I'm hoping to get away with a re-ring & de-glaze.

What kind of hours should I expect to get out of a machine? 5000? 10,000?

A diesel will run much longer than a gasser.
No scientific figures here but given good maintenance I'd say a gas will run 4-5K and a diesel nearly twice that.
As for an inframe overhaul it really depends on how much wear is in the bores and on the crank.
I did that to a 3000 about 10 years ago that had a lot of bore wear - heavy ring ridge. Probably should have been bored but I just rerung it and had the valves done. Deciding factor for me was I measured the rod journals and they were still in spec. I also looked at all the main bearings and they looked good. So that made me decide not to pull the engine and pull the crank.
New rings, rod bearings and valve work significantly improved the engine's performance but I didn't expect to ever put another 4-5K hours on it either. But at my normal 100 hrs/year I figured it would last me for a long time.
The cost was about 1/4 of what my friend Kenny has spent on several of his engines doing it right with a bore job, pistons, crank work, etc, etc.
As it turned out I sold that tractor a couple of years later when I found a better one and believe I gave good value to the buyer. Had I gone whole hog on the engine I couldn't have sold it as no one would have given me the extra $ back I had in a new engine.
I'm not saying to do shoddy work here. But I am saying you have to be pragmatic and take into account that it is a 40-50 year old tractor that wont get the hours put on it like it did when it was brand new.
It's a fine line you gotta walk sometimes.

I was thinking of plastigauging the bearing clearance as well as a visual inspection with it in the chassis for the crank, maybe slap in a set of rod bearings as I'll need to pull them anyhow.

So even with a bore worn to a ridge standard rings sealed? What did your end-gap end up being?

I've heard of people buying oversize rings and file fitting them to a worn standard bore....

Looks like I'll probably be ordering parts piecemeal as the engine kits all come with pistons etc. So I'll need a gasket set, piston rings and possibly rod bearings. Of course, I'm not ordering anything until I tear it down first.

I overhauled a 2000 gas a few years ago for a friend of ours. He was hoping to get by with just rings and bearings. The ridge was so bad I had a hard time pushing the pistons out, I'd say about .010" at the ridge and it tapered back from there. If it was .005 I would have cut the ridge, honed it with a rigid hone in place and put file fit rings in it.

Ended up pulling the engine, tearing it down to a bare block and having the local machine shop bore it and sleeve it back to standard, he will not bore one oversize unless you sign the disclaimer that the block may have pin holes and leak shortly after running it. Reused the std pistons, they cleaned up and checked out fine. New bearings, wrist pin bushings, new rings, new valve train kit, new clutch, etc... It was worn out pretty bad, didn't have enough ring seal to suck gas up anymore, wouldn't even open the scraider valve on my compression tester. Back together, starts better than new.

Most places will put together a kit for you, you just have to call them up and tell them what and what you don't need. One of my sources lists gas engine kits in stock.

Thanks for the info Mike, is re-sleeving to stock a NJ thing? I figure if they offer oversize pistons and rings it'd be cheaper to just bore/hone to that. Were these blocks "known" to be porous overbored?

The diesels were well known for cavitation problems. As I understand it, vibration caused microscopic bubbles to form in the water jacket and wear pinholes into the cylinder walls.
I have inquired here before about that problem in gas engines and there didn't seem to be any consensus about it. The general advice was that gassers ought to be sleeved as well.
But without specific examples ever offered I am still undecided about it.

'

ALWAYS remove the ridge before removing the pistons? Unless its very minor.

And a ridge means there is lots of wear. cyl do not wear evenly, bottom of stoke, the piston will try to turn on the wrist pin and will "bell" out the block at that part, so block is out of round, and tapered.. .rings do not like a tapered block or out of round, will break new rings, pistons will slap. So,,

However with the newer oils.. lots of blocks now still have the hone marks in them, no ridge other than a bit of carbon, and life is good.. question is were is your block in all of this. What kind of old oils were used, was the engine overheated, etc

Now gas engines and diesel engines run at the same rpms should have the same wear, especially in tractor where your running 1600 to 2000 rpms equally. In car applications the gas engine run 5000 rpms where diesel runn 2800 rpms so yes the wear there is significantly different. Tractors however are almost identical in rpms, same block. So its only the oils that will make a difference.

It is the overdrive tranny in cars that is allowing gas engines to now last over 200k miles. Lower rpms!! when you double rpm, you increase wear by a factor of 10. so rpms is the key. Again, in tractors rpm is identical, so wear will be very near identical. Only difference is in the oil. A diesel oil is ALWAYS an improved hd oil. Gas can anything from raw distilled crude with no additives to the same hd oil. So... running a very good hd oil in gas will give the same results as a diesel. Low rpms now allow cars to run 200k with good oil changes. Some go to 500k and more.

just my ramblings this morn.

Resleaving to stock isn't a NJ thing as far as I know. Just this shop, he's done lots of fords and a few have bit him in the butt. I think it's more of an age thing too. Diesels are more common here so most of them are seen with cavitation holes. Around here you'll see 5 diesels to one gas.

I looked at what was in stock for oversized Pistons and there was not much.

Cylinders wear with a taper at the bottom little wear so setting ring gap at the top will get you in trouble. You can bore these engines in frame Iv'e done it several times.