I guess I'm saying that I would expect to see more failures as time / mileage wears on. While my engine only had a 111,000 on it it was not new hut failed anyway and when finished, it will be a virtually new engine. There may be many people who have this problem and don't know it. Time will tell if this becomes a new issue. Problem is I think it will happen when these motors are out of warranty.

 

All the superduty's are out of warranty unless you purchased an extended warranty.

Personally I'd like to know how many of these lifter failures have been on the rear vs. front lifters. I don't recall seeing any lifter failures on the front eight but I'm sure there have been some.

 

Mine was front.

 

If the original push tubes are too long anyways, how many guys are compounding the issue with decked heads that either 1) use the longer tubes, or 2) didn't get the valve length cut?

Ask your machine shop to trim the valve stems by 50/1000 and run the 6.4 tubes, or is that too much? Either or?
How to Machine the 6.0 - Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum

Well, he IS a rebuilder so I imagine he just wants to sell more remans

 

Lifter failure has been happening since the engine first went into production which is why Ford designed and produced a shorter Pushrod shortly after they quit putting those engines in trucks. Ford made the change before the aftermarket companies started manufacturing them which is why all replacements are the shorter version.
I would never recommend tearing into a perfectly good engine to change anything but if you're in there, it can't hurt to change a few parts out to prevent possible failures.
As NPCCPARTSMAN says above, You don't need to buy a reman engine because you lost a lifter and camshaft but since you have to take the engine completely apart to replace the camshaft, you may as well measure everything, hone or bore the block (Blocks over 160K mi. usually have egg shaped cylinders at the bottom).
You should also magnaflux the heads, and do a complete valve job. Then it's your choice whether you are going to re-use a bunch of parts with whatever mileage is on them.
Believe it or not there are engine builders who state on their web sites that "we inspect and replace all parts as needed" and then they call it a reman!
Personally, I would never tear an engine completely apart without remaning the whole thing unless it is a low mileage engine and it's a strict budget that I'm working with. Even then, I'd replace every lifter and pushrod.
If you aren't comfortable doing all of this yourself, then you should probably buy a reman or find someone who you can trust to do it right.

 

Gearhead2012 is the guy that built my heads and advised me to use the shorter pushtubes. He has his OWN personal opinion about 6.0 valve train that's too long for me to post but he's right on.

I understand the gentleman wants to sell more reman's and for the average guy that may be the only way they can go but I also want it known that there are alternatives.

 

Well, I will say this is turning out to be a bit of a heated discussion, although it isn't answering the questions I was hoping it would. I do however thank all that have commented here. I believe I'll start a new thread and ask a little differently as to how many people have actually had lifters fail in a given mileage range and ask that the people that have actually had it happen to them to respond. What i'm looking for here is a 'body count' so to speak. Thanks again for any and all input.

 

"Lifter failure has been happening since the engine first went into production which is why Ford designed and produced a shorter Pushrod shortly after they quit putting those engines in trucks."

So you are saying that Ford put these engines in their trucks for the entire run (like five years) and only then realized their mistake and started making shorter replacement push rods to sell people that had problems? That's just plain bazaar.

 

No that's figuring the numbers to see if they can make it past the factory warranty.

 

It's a conspiracy Peter.

 

Kinda like the STC fitting, dummy plugs and stand pipes. CPS sensors for 7.3's. I am glad ford at least makes a better OEM parts to replace the common failures instead of selling the same problematic parts like the 6.4 radiators.

 

With mine it became a question of what would you replace "while we're here" and then it stopped being a question and it was "just order it and do it". The driving factor was that I / we didn't want to have one simple re-used part fail (like a $12.00 lifter) and be back where we started because we made a poor choice. You start to look at every part and ask "could that possibly fail and if it's new the chances are much less"

Barring the block, the pistons, connecting rods, and the crank were the only thing we didn't replace or machine, simply because I just couldn't afford to go any further. I guess to answer your question, would I break into a motor to address the lifters? No. If I were there doing head gaskets and studs? Probably. I would certainly pay attention for the sound of one failing. Even though it ate my cam, I think it could've been much worse.

If this experience has taught me anything, I think it's that I'm going to pay more attention to my service intervals, even though I rarely exceeded 6,000 miles between oil changes and used Motorcraft synthetic since day 1. I still have no definitive answer. much less speculation, on why that particular lifter went wrong.

 

I see your point, it is a tough call as to what to do and how far to go when it comes to PM. I guess each individual has to use his own judgement and go from there, I know in this economy I won't be opening my engine up unless it blows up, and even then with it being one of three other vehicles I have it would have to sit for a while, at least May when my earth work business starts back up for the summer. Thanks for the input, and I wish you well with your truck.