Well, I don't feel so bad about these rear main bolts, since it happened to someone else. Tonight I took my 6 year old son along with me to the shop and he 'helped' me install the #1 and #6 pistons. We then installed the cylinder head and torqued it down. The head bolts all were fine. On all the bolts I use a light coating of 30 weight oil.
On John Deere engines, the head bolts are 9/16" and are tightened to 90 ft lbs and then turned another 90 degrees. The head bolts marked SPECIAL are used in high output engines and are turned 130 degrees after torquing. The rod bolts are torqued to 60 ft lbs and are turned an additional 90 degrees.
On the rod nuts on the 261, I lost some of the little stamped steel 'pal' nuts. I have some fine thread jam nuts at work that would fit all right, what would be the harm in installing the jam nuts with locktight? I would use the jam nuts on all the rod bolts, just to keep thing even.
CC to Fred--I have my first customer's tractor in the shop now about half torn down waiting on him to tell me how much he wants to fix. I have 5 more to fix up, including 2 complete overhauls, so I better quit messing around with this truck motor and get back to the two lungers. At least I will be better able to use the truck after the 261 is installed. After I get this bunch of tractors done, I should have enough money to really be able to go through my 51. Maybe I can get it fixed up like Steve's someday.
As far as pulling, if they weigh the tractors and you are rated on what percentage of the tractor's weight you are able to pull, nothing beats a John Deere B, 50, 520, 530. These are not big tractors but they really pull hard. A good running stock B will usually pull 110% of its weight every time.
