Shovel rebirth

That sucks so bad!!!
I use shellac head gasket sealer on my rocker boxes. Strong stuff, like glue, won't leak.

i have indianhead shellac, but didn't know if it was ok with the gasket. will try re-torque first ( double check sm). heads are torqued and dont want to fool with them if at all possible.

Sometimes it's tricky stopping leaks in the rocker boxes. Sometimes if you don't torque the nuts down in the correct sequence, you will have problems. Also, the gaskets will tend to "wander" as you torque the nuts down, causing leaks.
You'll get it right. Ya need the patience of Job when working on a shovel. You might try using the maximum torque number (15 ft. lbs.), instead of a happy medium. Good luck!

just a PITA, remove gas tanks, re-torque, cross fingers and toes, put back together. even 15 ft/lbs doesn't seem enough, am i looking at the right torque?

on a lighter note...saw a polaris atv in detroit this weekend, had 20" wheels and tires on it. had to turn around and take pics. i will post the pic in a thread 2mro.

My manual is for 1970 thru early '78 and it says 12 to 15 ft. lbs. also. I will say that mine are torqued a bit more. I had a couple very small leaks around mine and simply put a boxend on the nearest nuts to the leak and carefully tightened 'em up a bit more. No more leaks.

When you shellaced the gaskets, did you do both sides? I use Permatex gasket maker or copper gasket spray paint on all my gaskets - except the head gasket I replaced. I used Gaskacinch on that.

rocker cover gaskets went on dry...just as they did with old top end, they did not leak then. tried the boxed end wrench while it was running and bleeding, but leak did not stop, so i shut her down. have not touched it yet. maybe i should have flat-blocked the cover mating surface, but it looks so good, i didn't want to alter it. i am going to try torque at about 17 ft/lbs, if it still leaks i will pull it off and shellac it. i mean whats the rush at this point...i am only DYING to get in the saddle...:gah:

Try tapping into the ShovelheadUSA forum. Lots of info on rocker box leaks.

My experience has been once they leak they don't stop until re-installing them.
Sorry... :gah: Your gonna have to pull the heads again. Try shellac on both sides of the gasket. Check for flatness too.

I think I might try shellacking two gaskets together and installing them doubled up. 'Just a thought.

Yes, that has been done with success I read somewhere.

This might be a bit off the wall, but here goes. I know that a board can be straight before cutting - that is, no warp & no cup - perfectly straight. Then you rip it and you get two warped boards. Perhaps this happens with metal? Take rocker boxes off the heads and maybe they could flex a bit - put 'em back on and they leak. Just a theory.

will verify flatness first, then process with whoopin its a$$. thanks for the input.

Don't know how doubling the rocker box gaskets would affect the compression but,I bow to your knowledge.

Still I'm not gettin it. Dont the rocker box sit on TOP of the head ? Now doubling the head gaskit, I would think would do what you say. Fix my dumbness.

OK, Thought I wuz havin anudder senior moment,got sceard.:roflmao:

Yikes! I can't take caffeine in those amounts anymore - I'd be off the chart!. Yeah, we were talking about rocker gaskets. I would never double a head gasket, though the thought intrigues me . . .

If I drank one of those I'd crap my pants. :roflmao: