I put the old one back in and same thing is happening, QUOTE]
You put the original piston back in, with the original ring and it is still too tight to kick over?
Definatly assembling it wrong then. If you are using a new ring in the both the new and old case then I would agree with Ol'89r that the ring gap might be too tight.
The first thing to do is to make sure that the ring is properly positioned. I don't know about a four stroke but on a two stroke the ring end gap is locked into one spot to assure it doesn't align with the exhaust port. It not only has to be in the ring grove but the end gap needs to be in the right spot. There is probably a tiny little "tab" down in the ring groove on the piston that locks the ring in position. If the end gap isn't over this tab then the ring will be held out of the groove too far and it will be really tight!
If the ring isn't too big (proper end gap) and is positoned properly then I start looking at how the connecting rod is positioned. You mentioned that the crank was replaced so it is possible that something is wrong down in the bottom and it doesn't bind up until you force the connecting rod into the position it has to be in.
Rod