Exploratory Surgery on '41M

Posted by Ray M41 on November 26, 2001 at 19:03:39 from (66.85.183.117):

The old girl has been running good but lately tends to foam her coolant when I put her under a sustained heavy load. Never got hot. The coolant was getting pretty airy so I decided to pull her down and check the head gasket. Took her apart and found some curious things. She must have been resleeved. There is no ridge and no sign of the sleeves being reamed. The pistons fit tightly. Compression test indicated 115 lbs across the lot. The #1 sleeve has a chip broken out of the collar. Probably happened when the new sleeve was inserted. No sign of damage from a loose chip popping around. It appears that was where it could be leaking. In inspecting the gasket, signs point to a leak. I took the head nuts off uniformly with a torque wrench and some broke at 60, 80 and 100 lbs. The former owner is of little help. I thought he did a head job but all he did was replace one burnt exhaust valve. Still has the original seats. They look OK. He didn't retorque the nuts after he warmed it up. One valve spring was 1/4" shorter than the others. I order a new replacement spring and the new spring is the same length. I inspected the springs closer and see that the short and the new spring are of heaver gauge wire. They all test at 58 lbs when compress to 1 3/4". He used some type of a shim spacer under the springs. These are not listed in the book. The valve spring seats are not the rotating kind indicated for gasoline but the plain ones used for distillate. The head has a #8574 DC marking cast in it. My book tells me this is for gasoline or LP gas but the DC does not appear in the book. DBX and DBY are noted. It have domed pistons. These are not shown in the book. I thought domed pistons were for souped-up engines. The hood has the cut out for the small gas tank but it was missing when I bought it. I always ran gasoline. The exhaust manifold was an older style (without the damper) and when it finally burnt up I replaced it with a modern one, and she sure runs better. The head has a ½" long tiny hairline crack over the combustion chamber on #3 cylinder. I showed it to two old time Farmall mechanics and they both said they would sooner call the leak at the #1 cylinder and not this. Much relief. There are some letters stamped in the block deck just to the side of the pistons. The #4 has a E, and the remaining have a D. Just curious what if anything this means. Everything else appears in order and I'm fixin to put her back together. She runs and I'm not prepared to do a major overhaul right now. I read in the archives that there are many M running with cracked heads. Will appreciate any comments on what's the meaning of what I've found. Looks like she lived through some hard times and was patch together as best as could be done.

Follow Ups:

• Re: Exploratory Surgery on '41M Ludwig 06:18:49 11/27/01 (0)

Post A Followup Name: E-Mail: Subject: Re: Exploratory Surgery on '41M Comments: Optional Link URL: Link Title: Optional Image URL: Email Notification: If you check this box, email will be sent to you whenever someone replies to this message. Your email address must be entered above to receive notification. This notification will be cancelled automatically after 2 weeks.

TRACTOR PARTS	TRACTOR MANUALS

We sell tractor parts!  We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]