Well I finally blew my head gaskets on my 2003 f-250 6.0 psd 4x4. I found a deal on a set of ARP head studs and black onyx head gaskets. Does anyone know about these head gaskets? Also any tips that will make my life easier doing this gasket swap with the studs would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance

Duke Averill

 

i have the black onyx gaskets and havent had a problem with them. good product if you ask me but some others like the oem better. dont know what but they do. best tip i can give you is pull the cab, makes it way easier

 

alright man thanks for the info. How long does it take to take the cab off?

 

took me a full day and thats with breaks for lunch and bsing and taking my time to check and double check and check again to make sure everything was off that needed to be. if your gonna work on it during the weekends plan for one weekend pulling cab and some disassemble and another 2 to put it all back together. or if you have a full week off thats your best bet because it usually takes that long to complete the whole job

 

Ok Thank you again

 

dont pull the cab its a waist of time i do the head gaskets in the truck, the trick is you pull your heater plenum cover next to the passenger valve cover out and then the lower 4 bolts starting and the cab and working out rubber band those up so they are out of the block and on the driver side the rear bottom one is the only bolt you can not take out so do the same, instead of taking a day to pull the cab and then a day to put it back on in that time you can be driving your truck again, i have seen it done both ways in the shop and in cab is so much faster

 

I've heard about taking the cab off, but do you have to completely seperate
everything? "etc. AC"

 

no you only have to take off 2 a/c lines. plus bending over the hood all day long doing heads and having to pull them outta there is a major pain in my opinion. with the cab off i think its much easier. its really not bad. im 19 and have pulled 2 of them now. its easy and if i can do it almost anyone can

 

you dont need to undo any ac lines only reason you would need to do that is if you remove the cab and i would rather lay on a seat cushion and do 2 seats of head gaskets then pull one cab and i have a lift to lifit off the frame at work just dont like pulling cabs unless its a 6.4 cause they were built to be removed

 

Lots of different ways you can do this, and preferences. I recently did a motor swap on my truck and would not hesitate to pull the motor again if I needed. Motor can be removed by yourself with a 2ton picker, no help needed and can be out in 6-8 hours easy.

IMO doin it in the truck will kill your back.

 

How much???



This is the cheapest I have seen ARP studs.
$399
Rollin Smoke Diesel. 2003-2007 Ford 6.0L Powerstroke ARP Head Stud Kit

$398
6.0L Powerstroke Stud Kit

 

Billyboy, nothing is attached.......

 

like fallguy said there are many ways to do it. and yes i was talking about removing the cab so you do have to pull the 2 ac lines. i prefer pulling the cab, others like doing it other ways. pulling the cab is easiest for me because im not that big of a guy so all the room i can get is better so that i can make sure i get the correct torque specs and be able to get the head on correctly without damaging the gaskets.

 

I agree with rdunagan, I did mine with the cab on, and the whole time I was thinking how much easier it would be to have the cab off.

But its VERY do able with the cab on...Just a warning the heads are HEAVY. I had to have my brother help me get mine back on...

I also took my hood off the truck so I had a better lighting set up and didnt have to worry about banging my head. LOL

Id say take your time, you will need patenice.

Best of luck to you.