Valve Seats

Sam from WA · Apr 11, 2012

What"s your opinions about valve seats? I"m working at overhauling a Waukesha 144 in my Oliver RC66. Is it worth the trouble to cut the seats out and install hardened seats or just grind the old ones and call it good? The tractor will never have any real load on it, its just a show tractor. I haven"t had any problems with any of my old John Deere 303 and 341 gas engines with their factory seats.

robgIN · Apr 11, 2012

I think you just answered your own question. If it were me I would just grind them the best I could for that purpose. You have to let your budget and common sense win out sometimes.

rustyfarmall · Apr 11, 2012

(quoted from post at 09:17:27 04/11/12) What"s your opinions about valve seats? I"m working at overhauling a Waukesha 144 in my Oliver RC66. Is it worth the trouble to cut the seats out and install hardened seats or just grind the old ones and call it good? The tractor will never have any real load on it, its just a show tractor. I haven"t had any problems with any of my old John Deere 303 and 341 gas engines with their factory seats.

The question is how badly worn are the original seats? Most of these old tractors do not need the new hardened seats, but if the original seats are worn so badly that resurfacing them will result in the valve being recessed down into the port, then it is time to cut out those old seats and install new valve seats.

JRSutton · Apr 11, 2012

Do a leak test.

If you've never done it, it's easy - just turn the head on its side and pour kerosene into the intake and exhuast ports.

If it drips through the valves, they probably need grinding.

If it seeps through very slowly, you can probably just get away with lapping them.

If it stays dry, don't bother doing anything with them.

(obviously the valves still have to be mounted with the springs for this)

wisbaker · Apr 11, 2012

Am I missing something here? Most of the really old tractors were designed to run on distillate also known as tractor fuel. My understanding is it is almost like kerosene. Would that not be lead free? Did distillate heads on our letter series John Deeres and Farmalls have hardened valve seats? Whats the story? Was this a conspiracy between the lead and automotive industries to put lead in our gas and poison or air and water? Leaded gas has not been generally available for 20 years here, why aren't we hearing stories about massive failure of valve seats in our internal combustion engines?

Jon Hagen · Apr 11, 2012

I think your OK with the soft seats and valves if you don't work it long and hard.
I have a 341 in a 4020 tractor that runs a 13 inch grain auger every harvest It sees near 50%-75% load for 100 hrs per year. Have not even had to adjust the valves in near 20 years of lead free gas.

JRSutton · Apr 11, 2012

sorry - misread your question - thought you were asking if it was worth doing a valve job!

for your intended use, I wouldn't bother with hardened seats. The original design should be more than adequate for that.

Fritz Maurer · Apr 11, 2012

Very well said. I've held the same belief for years. It makes even more sense now, I never considered the distillate angle. Even my own machine shop subsrcibes to the Armageddon of unleaded gas on cast iron seats. But in this case the hoax can be a money-maker for them if properly proliferated.

Valve Seats

Sam from WA

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robgIN

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rustyfarmall

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JRSutton

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wisbaker

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Jon Hagen

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JRSutton

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Fritz Maurer

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