If I had a way and knew how to get the cab off I would try it myself. Be nice to be able to have it done for cost of parts.

 

You dont need to get the cab off the truck....its just easier....

Its a bit more than the cost of parts...

I bought my dad breakfast.......and a few iced tea's....there are shops that do a pretty good job and will charge around 3-3500 bucks parts included.

 

Yeah the shop I had it priced at said $3,500 parts and all fluids serviced. But how do you make sure you get the proper torque specs and sequence with the cab on? I heard it was dang near impossible....

 

I dont know for sure....we took the cab off....but I dont see it being too bad if the a/c box is out of the way....6 of one half dozen of another...

 

I mean I've heard of people doing one at a time with the cab on, but I didn't know if you could do it the proper way it was supposed to be done, get the head off, have them machined, replace head gaskets, and do the proper torque sequence with the cab on. If it can be done, studs and gaskets is my next project!

 

with the cab on is done right....pulling the heads machining them and installing the studs...

what ya have to do is put the heads on and put each stud in one at a time just like a bolt....so the head can fit in the cab....studs are not much longer than the bolts....

 

I wasn't implying that doing it with the cab on wasn't the right way...I just knew that there was a certain way it had to be done and didn't know if it could be done that way with the cab on. Is removing the AC box some sort of huge PITA because everyone seems to want to avoid it. As long as I don't have to pull the cab and I can do it myself THE PROPER WAY (not one at a time without removing/machining the heads and replacing the gaskets), I'll take anything out I have to to save myself over $2,500. That kinda savings pays for the Powermax and over half of the injectors!!!

But after pulling my turbo and cleaning it, I'm much more confident in my mechanical abilities. I realize that the turbo is NO WHERE CLOSE to as large of a task as studs, but it always surprises me how easy most jobs are if you just take the time to do it yourself.

 

its well worth it....not too sure bout the a/c box I just wanted the cab off so my ribs dont hurt for a week....

Yea dont sweat it....take your time and remember its just a bunch of nuts and bolts....a ford shop manual will be your friend if you are un sure about anything.

 

The one thread I read about it didn't take the heads off and have them machined and didn't changed out the HGs, so that's why I wasn't sure if it could be done properly that way. But he did take out the radiator, intercooler, and fan so that he wasn't leaning over the whole front of the truck and could stand in there...so that sounded like a pretty good idea. But I would also probably remove the grill and possibly the bumper when I did it so that I wouldn't risk cracking any plastic. But I'm definitely gonna work on getting those parts and get a friend to help me tackle the job.

Is the Haynes manual similar to the Ford manual you're referring to? And what exactly are you doing when you're machining the heads? I've got 2 friends who are excellent machinists who would probably do it for me, but I was talking to their brother, who also has a degree in machine tool technology but does landscaping for a living, so he didn't know what I was referring to when I said "machine the heads". And to be totally honest I don't either haha.

 

1. look into buying a topside creeper...google it, that thing will be your best friend.
2. haynes are good enough to burn....spend a 50 bucks and get a ford shop manual on DVD.


COOL!!! yea I happen to be a mechanical engineer "tool designer" but I am also a tool and die maker.... heads were easy. setup on a 10" fly cutter, top of heads are parallel, indicated them in so I knew I would clean up over the whole surface, milled .005" off of each.....simple.....

pull the valvetrain and install new valve stem seals while you are at it....oh and mangnaflux them too....

 

No the Haynes manual is nothing like the ford workshop manual. From what I have seen I wouldn't waist my money on buying a haynes for these trucks. Go to alldatadiy.com and get online access to your model trucks shop manual. It's only like $20 for a years subcribtion.

Doing the heads with the cab on is the recomended way by Ford. It's totally doable. I would remove the front clip assembly like your talking about. That way you can stand in the engine bay to work on it. Head studs are not that hard to do, just takes time.

 

Thanks for all the info guys. When I finally get the time and parts to do it, I'll probably spend about as much time on the computer asking questions as I will in the engine...so I'll let y'all know what days I'll be doing it and y'all can all take those days off of work with me so you can stay on the forums all day answering my questions hahahaha

 

Yeah I just finished my junior year at Clemson in Mechanical Engineering...now I'm starting all over, changing my major to Sociology and working on getting into the US Marshals Service. Decided I liked engineering, but it wasn't what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

But to machine the heads, are the tools required something any machinist would have or is there a special tool you need?

 

You should NOT cheap out on the heads. Just call a real machine shop and pay the money

 

They both work at a real machine shop. But I didn't know becaues another friend of mine had studs put in his truck and he said they had to take it to a machine shop like 45 minutes away because it requires some special tool or shim for the 6.0 and they were the only one that had it. Didn't know if this was the case or not for real or if any machine shop should have the resources to get it done. I'm not going to be super frugal and risk screwing up something on my truck, I just don't want to pay big bucks for a machine shop to do it when I have a friend that can do the same job for dirt cheap.