JD G block question

Isn't that what any gasket is for? If you don't use one her belly will be oily forever more, and the crankcase would always be low. Deere was thrifty. If it didn't need that gasket, they would not have used it. So, if they used it.....they must have figured that you needed it. They sometimes leak there even with a proper gasker. Use your favorite sealer to help it, but I shy from RTV. Anytime you see it spew out so that you can peel off a ribbon of it, tells me there is a similar ribbon on the inside waiting to float off and find a bearing or an oil pump.

>>>Second, is there a torque spec. on the nuts holding the block?

Yes, but I don't have that handy with me on the road, but go to a standard torque chart and look up what 3/4" threads are in coarse/Gr.3 for that purpose (my chart says 234#, reduce by 25% if you lube the threads), and tighten them in even increments to that, and you'll be in the best part of the neighborhood.

>>>Lastly, how tight should the studs for the head be screwed back into the block? I've heard you can crack the block if they're too tight, so was hoping to find some help on this one too.

I don't have that number (you would not be wrong if you used the numbers for a 70 A/F head), but it would seem to me that it they were in there looser than the torque of the head nuts that you would eventually spin until they were, forces toward equilibrium and all, at the same or close to the same torque. They are an interference fit, but not a tapered one. Apply your favorite thread sealant so that they do not weep anything, make sure you put the LARGER diameter threads into the block (check it with a finger spun nut), double nut the stud and torque them at least to the head nut torque is what I would do until or unless you find some who can give you that number for sure. But personally, I would want those studs in there tighter rather than looser. JMHO.

Frank

To B.L. Anderson: Make sure the threads in the block are good and clean before you put the studs in, or you can crack the block, BTDT. Then I would use the double nut method Frank mentioned and screw the studs in until they bottom out and call it good.

I have never found RTV to bond to even dry, clean, steel for any length of time. Back in the late '60's, when RTV was first developed by GE, my Dad had three laundromats (yes, I was a laundra-brat) and we did all of our own repairs, so I could knock down a Westinghouse/GE/Frigidaire washer and install tub bearings when I was 10. GE advised to use this new "stuff" that they had developed to seal the tubs, tranny cases, door rubber strips, and mix & fill valves. 18 months later they recalled that service order as the RTV would not hold up after several heat up/cool down/get wet/get dry cycles. After that we used some Lok-tite products along with Permatex. I don't use RTV for that reason, because it doesn't adhere, demonstarted by its propensity to peal away in strands. I wish I had a nickel for every bearing I have removed form a machine that had strands of RTV wound around the cage and balls.