What difference does Made in China make? 20 years ago, you probably would have been saying the same about Japan. Quality is quality regardless of where it is made. The Chinese make some really high tech products and some that aren't. A walk through a Harbor Freight is a good lesson.
 
Scott I have ASSUMED that the Victor set available from CNH was still being made in the USA. Those have been quality gaskets. Also FP Diesel or formally Fel-Pro sets are quality gaskets. It takes to darn long to install head gaskets to risk using a cheap set. Those are the only ones I will use and the Fel-Pro is a bargain compared to the CNH price. Maybe others have have had good luck with different brands and will chime in, but those are what work for me. I should mention 99% of the engines I work on are the multiple head CASE. I have very little experience with their smaller engines and different MFG's. Rod.
 
Rod & Scott: I truly believe that the secret to Head Gasket life, other than avoiding Ether, is to Re-Torque the Head Bolts as CASE instructs, regardless of what the head gasket says. CASE says after assembling & filling w/ fluids, to start the engine & bring to operating Temp. Then, starting w/ the #1 Head Bolt, back off 1/4 turn, and bring back up to torque. Then on to #2 and so on. It's a pain, I know, but CASE says to do it.
 
I used the head gaskets that came in the kit from Abilene machine in my 2590, most likely imports but they are holding just fine, not that I wouldn't feel better with name brand ones but they looked to be made the same as the ones that came out of it, the shop book for a 504 says to back off 1/4 turn and re-torque to 210 hot, the book for a 400 does not mention backing them off before re-torquing
 

While not exactly a new procedure, loosening and retightening is a good practice, if you simply try to torque from the or1ginal setting you have to break the original torque to move it, backing it off 1/4 assures you are starting from a lower setting and the bolt can then retorque. As stated none of the older books suggest that method but all engines will benefit from it.
 
Ok... my I&T Shop Service Manual No. C-32 for Case 1370 does not say anything about back off 1/4 turn, so I just retorqued it to 210 ft.-lbs as it said. And nothing happened. So I guess this was wrong.
Is it bad?
Should I back of and retorque them if I adjuste the valves some time in the future?
 

I would, as before stated, this is a relatively new procedure but one that makes perfect sense. It applies to all engines in my opinion.
 
Hi Mel, we are getting off the gasket question a bit but as a example of different tightening procedure a few years ago I replace a head gasket on a Chrysler 2.5 engine.
The tightening instructions for those head bolts were similar to JD con rod bolts. Torque to a given value and then tighten the bolt a certain amount of degrees more. You
could feel those bolts stretch and needless to say they are only used once. Rod.
 
Get the gaskets from your Case dealer. When you get the gaskets the majority of the gasket should be made of a metallic material, like the exhaust manifold gaskets. If the dealer trys to give you the old stock, they will be a black vinyl. You don't want those. Also only use the intake manifold gaskets from the dealer, they are vinyl, the aftermarket paper ones rip and will drop down.
 
Nice to hear from you Eric. Have you been keeping the case tractors going in your area? Did you tractor pull the 970 last year? Take care.Darrell
 

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