Farmtrac

[Tap]

Have them check both the head and block for flatness. Use a good quanity gasket, I would not use one from Farmtrac. Torque the head bolts per spec. and re-torque them after some use. Do not use ether for starting.
Tom

The only time ether was used, and used very sparingly, was AFTER the gaskets were blown when we were trying to get it started.
The shop swears that they checked for flatness and warpage of the block and head, and they torqued to the accepted method. I believe them. Once I got the machine back after the first repair, I never re-torqued them. Is that a problem? Should I do re-torque periodically?
Maybe they are using inferior gaskets. What is the best brand gasket for this machine...FT? Ford? NAPA?

 

[Tom W]

The Farmtrac manual says to re-torque after 50 hours of use. I was surprised on mine when I did it that the bolts to the sides of the head were almost to spec but the ones down the center of the head took over 1/2 turn of the bolts to get tight. I don't know what is the best brand of gasket. A previous post said NAPA. Fel Pro generally makes good gaskets and one would think New Holland would supply good ones. I am not sure which Ford interchanges, but I believe the 2910 has the same displacement. The particular gasket brand may say whether to use a sealer or not.
Tom

 

[Tap]

The Farmtrac manual says to re-torque after 50 hours of use. I was surprised on mine when I did it that the bolts to the sides of the head were almost to spec but the ones down the center of the head took over 1/2 turn of the bolts to get tight. I don't know what is the best brand of gasket. A previous post said NAPA. Fel Pro generally makes good gaskets and one would think New Holland would supply good ones. I am not sure which Ford interchanges, but I believe the 2910 has the same displacement. The particular gasket brand may say whether to use a sealer or not.
Tom

My shop says that the FT book gives a torque/pounds figure for the initial torquing, but then refers to degrees of bolt rotation, for retightening. Seems crazy to me. Why not just stick with pounds of torque for all maintenance?
Someone on the QDMA forum suggested that there could be some stretch of the bolt threads and maybe replace them. The shop says that could be possible. Another friend suggested installing a head-temp gauge.
I don't want to take ANY short-cuts in this repair. I pray this is the last head gasket for this machine.
Thanks for all of your input!
Tom

 

[Tap]

The tractor is fixed. The shop discovered that the solenoid that advances the timing for cold weather starting was sticking. My valves were a bit pitted too. The shop says that the bad solenoid could have the tractor running with the timing advanced which could have caused all of my problems. They went to swap it with one from a new FT and that one was sicking too. We decided to use it manually. I'll pull the wire unless I need it to start it.
Any one out there with a FT might want to check their solenoid, too.