Thinking about doing headstuds/gaskets on my 06. Here is the situation, I owe way more than what the current market supports as far as value on this truck. So now I need to make this truck beable to be reliable and survive my needs. You can see in my sig what i have done to the truck and what I plan to do tho the truck as of right now. Now for reliablity i am thinking of doing headstuds and gaskets along with something with the egr valve. What do you all reccomend I do to increase reliability and make this thing last. What do you all think about pulling the motor instead of the cab when doing the headgaskets. I really dont have a good way to pull the cab off. I belive I can do the headgaskets myself as i have done many newer gas engines headgaskets and dont figure there is any real difference, any opinions on that? The truck has 75000 miles on it and the only problems I have had with it is cac hoses leaking and the stc fitting cracking causing a no start situation. the truck pulls trailers weighing in from 3500pounds to 15-17000 pounds. The truck plows in the winter sometimes running literally 30-40 hours nonstop. But not really idleing for that length as you are regularly on and off the throttle. thanks for your opinions, Aaron

 

I would pull the cab and do it that way. I think that makes it to be the easiest job by doing that method, but that's just my thinking on that. I would weld shut the egr valve and then bypass it and be done with it. But be care the metal in the up-pipes requires delicate work(might want to have an exhaust shop do it). What I have in my siggy and I'm running stock gaskets and no problems and I run it and pull hard so I don't think you need to get crazy with gaskets if install of the studs and heads is done correctly. However, like everything else in the paragraph, this is just my opinion.

 

You'll want to check the heads and block, or have them checked, to ensure they're perfectly flat.

I'd also recommend keeping the stock intake instead of spending money on the K&N intake. The stock air filter is a far better filtration unit and can support more HP/Torque than you're planning for.

Add a coolant filter and consider a bypass filter for the TorqShift. I purchased both of those from Dieselsite and installed them myself.

 

Can you even pull the motors out the top on these? I thought the cab had to come off to pull motors on them.

 

you can pull them through the front. from what i've read it is more of a PITA than removing the cab but it can be done.

 

Bean had a couple of them pulled from the front at his shop, but it just seemed like too much work then it was worth, but he is the one doing the work, so it was his choice.

 

I am just not sure what I would use to lift the cab up and get it high enough to clear everything. The motor will come out the front from what I have been told if you remove the area by the grill.

 

it will come out the front. it is just going to take more time cause there is more stuff you have to remove, take apart, disconnect, blah blah blah you get the drift. but sometimes we can only do what we have to work with. if you don't have any way to get access to a lift then take it out through the front. just think of it this way. it may take longer but thats more time you get to be away from the wife and more time to drink

 

I'll second doing the EGR delete while you're doing the studs/gaskets.

 

I am thinking the egr delete also. what do you all think about doing the x-over line also?

 

I did my own head studs/gaskets without lift the cab, or pull the motor out. It's not easy, but possible. First you'll have a lot of "fun" with your turbo, but for the second time I took it out in 30 minutes with all the hoses and everthing. If you take out the AC box on the passenger side ( I took only the half of it out, so I didn't have to drain the AC ), you'll have all the room to get to the heads. Take both fender liners out, and you'll have access to the headers as well. Now, put them back with the studs is a little harder, here is what I did. I put the studs in to the heads, and I put some zip-ties on them to make sure they are not hanging out at the bottom. On each sides you have 2 positional rings for the gaskets and the heads, you can lower the heads carefully on the block without moving or mess up the gaskets. One more time, you have to be careful, but if you have a floor engine lift, you will be able to do this. Now the hard part is to tight the studs to 245 lb/ft . No problem on the pass side, only on the driver side at the back with the bottom one. Pull away your heat shield from the cab, and if you still dont have enough room, put a floor jack under the motor, and really carefully lift some on it. That 1/4 of an inch will give you some more room, so you will be able to put your socket and torque wrench on it. If you do this, you will do it without lifting the cab, whats "easy" but... is it really that easy? Pull the engine? Oh boy, just think about it.
I did this the way I said it, and maybe it sounds really hard, but I'm sure, that it's still easier, than any other way.
And now, the last advice, what I learned. If you do this way, make sure you do only one side in the time. I'm talking about the headers. I had a really hard time to reposition them, because I took both sides off, and they didn't want to go back to place. I spent more time dealing with those, than the whole heads / studs / gaskets.
Do whichever way you want to, I just wanted to share my experience...

Good Luck!

 

I'll pull the cab when I do studs, and I'll do EGR delete and maybe some other mods at the same time.

 

i had bed plate work done in va. and they lifted the cab.
i had blown head gaskets replaced in id. and they pulled the eng. out the front.
the diesel tech. said he did one head gasket job w/o pulling eng. and it was just to hard of a job.
do what works for u.
gene

 

What all do i need to buy to d othe egr delete, and where do yu all reccomend getting the studs and gaskets? Any special gaskets?

 

The stock gaskets are best. Best price for the studs I think is at northernautoparts.com. For the EGR delete you don't really need to buy a kit, just do a search on the forum here for some how-to and discussion articles. I would just remove the scoop from the passenger side up-pipe and weld it closed, then I'd remove and bypass the EGR cooler and block off the port into the intake. With an '06 I think you'll need tuning to keep a check engine light from coming on though.