It looks like the crimp of the head gasket where it goes around the combustion chamber has worn a ridge in the head surface so it may need an expert to look at it and maybe have the head resurfaced just enough to give it a new area to crimp down on.It,s kind of hard to see just how bad the surface is just by the picture but as I said an experts opinion should make a real decision and take look at it.

You guys are good at reading these pictures! The "wear ring" on the head where the cylinder sleeve pinches the head gasket against the head is very slight. It would, however, be ideal to have 0.001" or so taken off to really true up the sealing surface.

Anyone know how to make a tool to remove the pre-combustion chamber?

I made a tool from a 1 7/8" socket to remove the fuel injectors which works well (see pictures), but don't know what it takes to make a tool to remove the pre-combustion chamber.

KansasD7

Kansas D7: I had several 3T D7's in the 1960's, some ended up with cracked heads. I always had them sent off to be reconditioned. I even remember the compay. Swick-Guth out of Salina, I think. I was told to never let these D7's get low on coolant. or you would risk craked heads. I think mine had the narrow valve settings. Foley Tractor sent them off for me. Darrol SW Kansas.

All the chamber tool is is a long hex piece of steel that goes down in the splines of the chamber but don,t have one to check the size you need but the ones at the dealer shop were two different sizes and was a hex piece that was machined down on the small side to fit smaller chambers. If you have some bigger headed bolts you,ll have to see what size the splines take to make it out of.The tool really needs to have the hex longer than the bolt head so if you can come up with the right size you need then you could pick up a piece of hex material at a place that sells material or weld a couple nuts on close to the head of the bolt and one on the outer end to turn it with.They have to be in line so they,ll go down in the splines ok.

SJ, thanks for the tip on building a chamber removal tool. It looks like a 1 5/8" hex. I will see what I can find. I will post a picture when I get something that works.

Darrel, thanks for the note on keeping the coolant topped off on my 3T1.
I didn't even know there were narrow versus wide valve heads on these until I heard it here. I haven't gotten to the point of finding out if my radiator holds coolant, but that will come when I get this engine back together.

KansasD7

KansasD7

If you put later model heads (wider spaced valves) on your 3T, you'll also need to get the wider rocker arm assembly and cups to go with it.

Also forgot to mention.....the early 3T heads had a set screw in the side of the head to 'lock' the precups in place. If you don't remove those set screws, you'll be unable to remove the precups and it will ruin the threads in the head.

CAT dealership with a young buck in the shop ruined 2 good heads for me like that many years ago.

I checked and my 3T14387 is "new" enough to have the heads without the set screws, so at least I have that going for me. Thanks for the reminder.

KansasD7

I'm looking at the spoting in the exhaust port and rust in the intake port. I had a head once develope porosity--leaked (a lot!) right through the iron. Maybe you should check for the condition if you havn't already.

Thanks for the tip. I haven't cleaned up all the ports yet, but I will look closely when I do.

KansasD7