Head Bolts

[oliverkid]

Hi guys. I was disking with my 1955 the other day and it blew a head gasket. So My friend helped me pull it home and we got it all tore apart. We called Maibach and they said it was OK to reuse the head bolts, but we talked to an EX-Oliver dealer owner and he said they replaced them any time they did a head job. I was just looking for some more opinions on the subject because at $900 for all 14, I really dont want to get them if I dont have to.

 

[e]

They are not torque to yield so yes, it OK to reuse them by definition. However, I have had it where I will go to retorque the head and when I do, one of the bolts will break. Typically it will be a fatigue failure that originated long ago. I think such a failure is pretty rare, but I now replace the head bolts everytime to save the hassle of tearing everything back apart.

If you do a little digging into the markings on the top of the original bolts and the torque value they get torqued to, what you come up with is that the OEM bolts are basically grade 8's with a heavy hex. So, what I do for bolts is order the correct size and length in grade 8 from McMaster Carr and have had good luck with using "off the shelf" bolt.

 

[Anonymous-0]

First of all what made the headgasket fail? Have you checked the head bolts to see how they look? How much did you check when you pulled it apart. Where did the head gasket fail? Do you have a one inch mike? If I had your e-mail address I could send you my check list

 

[johns]

e makes a good point. I got new grade 8 bolts from our local supplier and it was under $50 for all of them on my 310 diesel. I think mine were 5/8"x7 1/2" or 8". Double check yours and go from there.

 

[oliverkid]

The copper O-ring on #6 failed and the gasket got sucked into the water jacket. We believe it was due to the fact that the head bolts hadnt been or wernt torqued right when the motor was rebuilt buy a so called professional (before we got the tractor, we arent that stupid). Anyway my email is [email protected] . We would appreciate anything you can tell us.

 

[DGH]

I would get bolts from your local Cat dealer. They are grade 8 with an extra large head.

 

[BradWi]

I did a little pullin with mine so the guy that helped me put it together used studs from cat they had fine thread on top and we used heavy washers under the nuts.The fine thread allows for better clamping force i guess.we also re used the oil feed bolt and it holds 35 psi boost pressure with no problems.The head was wire o ringed too (250.00)