860 Head

I was told that the head I have on the tractor is a "high compresson" head. I uderstand there is a "low compresson" head or strandard head.

This is the second time this has happened with this head. The orginal head blew a gasket years ago and when I had it refurbished the shop screwed it up and found a replacement head...a so called high compression head. Anybody know the part numbers of the high and low compression heads? Are these numbers cast into the head? I want to get a low compression head so maybe I wont blow another gasket. Replacing it is a real pain!

Thanks

Paul

Chase the threads of the head bolts with a tap, lightly oil.

On install start in the middle and work your way out. Take the torque up in three stages. Use a bending beam wrench or a clicker that was just calibrated. I do not like clickers, they lose calibration too easily.

Run engine, check for leaks, get it hot. Then retorque. Check valve lash. This is probably the most important step.

The 172 is not a hard engine to seal up.

I suspect the head your shop found was your old head milled down.

I never thought about an LP head. Bet thats what I've got on the machine.

The head gasket I used had was for a gas engine(don't know thwe P/N) but anyway it gave me conern as the gasket material between say no 3 and 4 cylinders was very small...like 1/4 inch as I recall. The space in the block between the cylinders was much greater. The orginal gasket I took off had a much wider space between cylinders.
Based on your comment it looks like maybe I orginally had an LP gasket. This time when I rebuild I'll go with an LP gasket.

Thanks for the info.

Paul