The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

At the beginning of the year we fitted a new crankshaft to our 61 Super Major. Everything went well and there were no apparent problems.

During the summer the head gasket failed. We stripped it down and sent the head to be skimmed. When refitting the head at the weekend I noticed 2 of the pushrods were bent... the inlet for 1 & 4 which suggested to me a timing problem. When fitting the crankshaft we checked and double checked the timing marks and I am certain they were ok.

I will investigate further at the weekend (assuming its still raining and harvest is still on hold) but am I looking in the right area or could this be caused by something else?

David,

If it was a timing problem there would be more than just those two bent. What it could be is a sticky valve or, possibly the pushrods were not fully home in the tappets when you fitted the rocker mechanism.

Thanks for the advice Brian.
Now that I think about it, the engine was upside down while we fitted the crankshaft... is it possible the push rods have moved when we turned it over and that caused the problem?