Farmall 300 head gasket

Bansheetaz

New User
Well I need to replace the head gasket again on my 300.. 3rd time in 2 years. So now I'm looking for advise

First.. is felpro ok to use on these? I've used them with great success on many cars and trucks with no failures. Or is there a more preferred gasket.

Second... the gasket says to use sealer and to retorque. Would copper spray sealer be the thing to use?


Third.. when I retorque.. should I take the Tractor and do some plowing or is just running it around going to get it hot enough.. this latest failure appears to be from insufficient torque even though I did retorque. Maybe I need to check the head bolts 3 times.
Thanks for any help provided
 
Amongst other things, cleaning via wire brushing and lightly oiling the bolt threads will help. I think I'd apply 1 drop under the head also on the spotface on the cylinder head.

The torque is just a guess at clamp loads based on unknown friction. Light oil helps reduce friction and turn more torque into clampload.

It would be a good idea to look with a straightedge (24" carpenter's square in good condition probably good enough) to check the surface of the block and underside of the head for any out-of-plane condition, or something like a sleeve that's sticking up and "stealing" the majority of the clampload away.

If the headgasket fails are always in the same spot there's some type of a surface contact issue there...pitting or a burr or something is farther away from the plane.

In my opinion Fel Pro is a good gasket and one I would specifically seek out, but this is all from automotive use.
 
I had the head milled last time and checked the block for
straightness. All looks good. No pitting anywhere. The gasket
has several spots where the material has pushed out from the sealing
ring. Which looks like not enough torque. And before I
disassembled this time I found several but not all of the head bolts
where not quite up to proper torque. Thanks for the help
 
I really think you have another issue going on, head gaskets generally do not fail like that.

It was not torqued adequately, or you have a bad head or block.
 
I would also recommend running a tap down the threads in the block to make sure they are clean and then blow out the holes. I have also ran a die over the head bolts to be sure the threads on them are good and clean also. Any foreign material in the threads will take away clamping force.
 
Based on your last conversation, it sounds like you are just not torquing it enough. As suggested, make sure surfaces are clean and threads are cleaned and oiled. I would spray some aluminum paint on both surface of the gasket, then install and torque. It might be advisable to get a different torque wrench to compare with yours. I would warm up good, then re-torque, maybe more than once.
 
Copper coat would be a last resort to me, it really makes it tough to pull the head later if needed.
 
What brand of aluminum paint would you use. Is that something home depot would have? I've got several torque wrenches. I'm going to check the sleeve height as well. Thank you for the help
 
If you haven't,you need to clean all the head bolt holes with thread chaser,and blow them out.If you find one with rust,or carbon,inspect it carefully.Wire brush all the head bolts on a wire wheel on your grinder. Lube the bolt threads with engine oil,lay them on a rag to let the excess drain off.Also lube the underside of the bolt heads.Make sure your torque wrench is in calibration. You can not torque dirty bolts,in dirty holes.Mark.
 
Correct me if I?m wrong, but l?m 99.9 percent sure the head fasteners are all studs and nuts. I would not go to the trouble to spin out the studs to tap the black threads. Probably cause more problems then help. Unless there is a stud that has bad SAE threads for the nut that won?t clean up with a die. I agree with others that say there is some other problem. This is just a glorified H engine. They were far from known to have head sealing issues. Are you a puller? Running bumped up compression, maybe nitrous even?
 
If it is in the same spot or in the same location along the block/head I would look for a sleeve not set to the same protrusion. Might need to pull them and reset to the same deck height.
 
If it is in the same spot or in the same location along the block/head I would look for a sleeve not set to the same protrusion. Might need to pull them and reset to the same deck height. Also are you getting the correct hole size for the sleeve so they are tight around the sleeve top. Not an 1/8 inch or so away.
 
I found the cylinder sleeves to be too high. I'm going to get the block all taken care of and it should be good to go. .

Thanks for the suggestions
 

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