sleeve seal issues

[bolens1053]

I have a 54 fordson major with the mark 1 engine. I am in the process of doing a rebuild on it. I just got the block back from the machine shop and when I went to press in the sleeves they are all cutting the seals in the block. Has anyone else experienced this or know why it is doing it?

[Brian]

The most likely cause is you have the wrong liners. There are two types of liner in the Major, the early type with one seal at the bottom of the block and the later type for Super Majors which is slightly thicker and has a seal at the top and bottom. The World of Nearly Right Parts supply the Super one for all tractors unless you specify exactly that you need the single seal one. The liners should just push in and not require any excessive force, if you are having to press or drive them in see my earlier comment. The Super liner has a machined seal surface area at the top.

Also make sure you have a clean ring groove in the block and that you use plenty of soap not oil on the sleeve and "O" ring. Throughout my working life with these engines we used Swarfega Hand soap the green grit-less type.

[AdrianNPMajor]

Just wondering what you had done at the machine shop. Had the top of the block resurfaced? Anything else?
Best, Adrian.

[bolens1053]

the sleeves are the correct sleeves for the single seal type block. I think I have it figured out now I got the last sleeve to go in without breaking the o ring. I was using soap by itself before and I had the sleeves cold. On the last one I did it with the sleeve warm and I used a mix of soap and water and it when way easier than all the others and didn't cut the o ring. The machine shop just went through the block and cleaned all the surfaces on the block because it had been sitting out at a junkyard for a long time. They also rebuild the head, injectors, and connecting rods.