Ford 4000 valve spring settings

[Flannel Farms]

Evening all, I've a 1968 Ford 3 cylinder diesel that I did an in engine rebuild in. I loosened the nuts that push on the push rods and attempted to put them back to the way I found them but I'm not sure I was successful. The tractor runs but stalls at low idle and feels like it is low on power. I did new lower bearings, new piston heads and rings, new gaskets all around. I haven't found any leaks. I was wondering if the valves aren't seating correctly and if anyone had the correct torque settings for the push rod nuts. Thanks all!

 

[Destroked 450]

The pushrod nuts don t torque
They have to be adjusted with a certain amount of clearance between the rocker arm and valve tip
Do a Google search or pick up a I&T manual for the clearance setting and adjustment procedures

 

[Flannel Farms]

I've attempted a Google search with no luck. Have you found it somewhere and if so would you share the link please?

 

[Old Ford Mechanic]

Clearances are .0014-.0016 intake and .0017-.0019 exhaust. I set them cold and get the engine to operating
temperature and do them again. A manual will help you understand this procedure. Correct valve adjustment is
critical for proper engine performance.

 

[Flannel Farms]

(quoted from post at 18:07:11 06/05/23) Clearances are .0014-.0016 intake and .0017-.0019 exhaust. I set them cold and get the engine to operating
temperature and do them again. A manual will help you understand this procedure. Correct valve adjustment is
critical for proper engine performance.

Thanks much! I will grab a manual from this site.

 

[Sean in PA]

Hard to believe that you knew enough, or were brave enough, to do all of that and not know how to adjust the valves.

 

[Flannel Farms]

(quoted from post at 18:57:13 06/05/23)
Hard to believe that you knew enough, or were brave enough, to do all of that and not know how to adjust the valves.

It needed to be done and I don't have the resources to farm it out, so I jumped in. Spent a lot of time laying out what I took off so I could put it back in the same order. Getting the front end loader off was the worst part.

 

[George by Geneva, NY]

You are setting the rocker arm clearance. A tip to save hassle of getting to the rockers for hot adjust is to add 0.003 to the cold adjust amount and call it good. When it is hot the clearance will be OK. Old Y blocks had same procedure, hot set, real pain burning fingers by hot manifold and loosing the rocker cover seal, figured out to add the 0.003 to the hot set when cold and eliminated the hot work. The added amount is for that length push rod, the tractor has about the same length, maybe even the same part, so you will be OK. Besides it is real hard to do rocker cover removal after tractor is assembled.

 

[showcrop]

You can probably find a few dozen You Tube videos on setting valves. Once you have your clearance value as Old Ford mechanic posted you can follow the procedure for virtually any over head valve engine.

 

[RodinNS]

The go/no-go lash adjustment others have spec'd is a COLD lash setting. If you don't have go/no-go gauges, just use a standard
feeler gauge and set the intake spec at .015 and exhaust at .018 COLD. The easiest way probably is to pull the injectors and
find TDC of the compression stroke for each cylinder and set them at TDC. Or you may find the markings for TDC on the flywheel
front face through the inspection port below the starter. You can find TDC for #2 and #3 by rotating 240 degrees to find TDC on
the next cylinder. Firing order is 1-2-3. Or just pull the injectors and use a bare welding rod in the hole to find TDC.
I'd probably use a combination of degreeing and feel for compression while watching the valve train to find top dead center..
A manual would be greatly advisable.

Rod