Missing head bolt?

[Nybz]

Well took off the hood to clean up some electrical after getting my new to me tractor, and found what looks like a missing cylinder head bolt.

Darn!

Worse case, it has broken off inside the head, or the hole is striped. Best case just need to replace the bolt.

Has anyone had to deal with this before? Hopefully the threads are still good. But if I need to drill out and put a thread insert in, can this be done just by removing the head?

[Eugene]

I would pull the head at a minimum.

If the engine is on the stand, I would remove the oil pan and then plastigage the rod and main bearings. I would pull, at least, one piston for inspection.

Basically, I would wonder what happened to the engine.

[Barnyard]

Try a new bolt first and then we can take it from there.

[Jim Becker]

First thing you do is stick a screwdriver in the hole to see how far it is to the bottom. Compare that to the thickness of the head. If the depth is less than or equal to the head thickness, you have a broken bolt above or level with the deck of the block.

I don't recall, is that a blind hole of one that goes into the water jacket? If into the water jacket, there about has to be a broken bolt holding the coolant in.

[Frozenstate]

How does it run? If it isn't leaking anything in the hole, maybe run the tractor a while to evaluate it. Then dig into the head bolt.

[Nybz]

Well the screw driver goes down till it hits a pile of rust. So I would assume the bolt is broken off. I hesitate to poke at it with out taking off the head because it is not leaking at the moment.
TM tractor has got a replacement head bolt on the way with a new engine gasket set.

I wanted to wait till the winter to dig into the engine and clean up valves, pistons and check out main and rod bearings. But I just might need to find the time.

I need to run the tractor soon to check charging/electrical work. I ran pretty good with the missing bolt.
But I also need the tractor to be going to work soon as the weeds are germinating.

[tst]

I would change all the head bolts, old bolts tend to break when being reinstalled

[Slim140]

I would change all the head bolts, old bolts tend to break when being reinstalled

Or stretch..........if your lucky.

[inairam]

FYI - here is a head off inspection I did a few years back viewtopic.php?f=1&t=93111&hilit=valves

A number of members use grade 8 or 9 bolts for the head. do some searches

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

I assume you already have the coolant drained?

[Nybz]

I assume you already have the coolant drained?

I don’t have the coolant drained. But I will when I get my parts in the mail and ready to take off the head.

I would change all the head bolts, old bolts tend to break when being reinstalled

I like the sounds of new head bolts. I will do some searching for lengths. Nothing worse when finishing up a project and then ‘snap’ old bolts give way, usually to do with a ham fisted PO.

Does anyone know if that middle long bolt that is missing from my picture goes into the water jacket?
I am surprised it isn’t at least leaking any oil.

[tst]

yes it does, that is plugging the water from leaking now, new head bolts, with Teflon sealer on install

[Glen]

Hi,
Below is a post I wrote info on about replacing the head gasket. The info is at my first post on the page.
You could use the product tst wrote above instead.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=102173&p=807860

Below is the Cub service manual, I would read about the head in the engine section before beginning the work.
The head bolt tightening sequence is on page 1-14.

http://farmallcub.com/rudi_cub/www.clea ... index.html

Below is a pic from TM Tractor of a Cub block with the head off, and no parts in it.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Unless the coolant level is pretty low coolant should be fountaining out of that hole unless there is a piece of a head bolt still in the hole. The bolts do not always break off at the top of the block. Have you tried putting a bolt in it to see if it will screw all the way in? If you do not have another head bolt have put a screwdriver in the hole and measured how far it goes? The length of the head bolt is in the parts manual.