06 f250. Replaced head gaskets with OEM and studded it about 40k or so. Had a weekend to do it. Heads weren't flat but had to put it back together again... Thinking somethings let go again. I'm losing coolant out of the cap again. Replaced cap already, still happening. So when I do this again, can I shave these heads and by how much? Can I reuse the head studs?

 

If they are ARP studs they state they can be reused. Not forever but a number of times. Nobody can answer your head question until your heads are off and they get measured. There is a limit that the wads can be machined down but without measuring it's is useless info.

 

The only other way your truck would puke like that is if the EGR cooler was leaking like mine was. When I bought my Excursion it puked under hard acceleration, heads were it great shape, it's just the EGR cooler.

Studs can be reused as they're not torque to yield like the stock bolts are. Have a machine shop check the heads, you may be able to shave some off instead of having to buy new heads.

 

I would double check to make sure it is not your EGR as well first. But I have heard that when you do head gaskets the head needs to be machined or replaced. Sucks that you weren't able to the first time.

 

Egr cooler was deleted in the first round of doing head gaskets.

 

Heads it is. Good luck to you.

 

Take the heads to a machine shop that is knowledgeable about the 6.0. If they've never been machined, there shouldn't be any problem taking enough off to get them flat again. If you've got some miles on the truck, spring for a complete valve job and you won't be going in again soon.

 

I think Ford literature says check for warping, if it's more than .004in replace them (no machining). Some have construed this to mean that removing .004 or even .006 should be ok. Others swear .009 - .010 shouldn't be a problem. Point is there's no published guideline from the manufacturer that I'm aware of. Also consider if a head is bowed away from the block in the center and you make a couple of passes with a mill or grinding machine until it makes a clean pass, how much did you take off? Many shops will tell you the number they dropped the cutter from first contact to the last pass but really, it depends on where you measure, you cut more on the ends and less in the center. So you have to have a little faith in the machinist and the number may not be as important as the knowledge and skill of the machine operator.

It seems logical to me an engine builder would know from experience how much is too much because he wouldn't want to repeatedly warranty heads on an engine type. Experience is a great teacher. Taking your heads to a machine shop that's not familiar with this engine could cost you some bucks and headaches even if they are experienced, have good equipment and are honest.

A last point. In my opinion, recycling is a good thing for the planet but I suspect in a effort to reduce costs on iron recycling, some companies skip a step or two and the end product has more copper, calcium and other undesirable materials in the mix than much of the iron we used just a couple decades ago. The recycled product may be cheaper and easier to sell but it's just not as strong or corrosion resistant as it used to be. I think that explains some of the cracking and corrosion issues on new vehicles (not just our trucks) And kinda messes up some old guys who commonly shaved heads .030-.060 without a problem "back in the day".

 

I had .005 and .008 taken off my heads. The machine shop said they have taken .010 off 6.0 heads before with out problems.

 

I have only come across a few heads that require you to take into account the deck thickness when milling a head. Usually you are given a reference point on the head as a datum point and then you place a go jo block on or against it and use depth mics to measure from the gasket surface to the block. If you do that before you start and after it is cleaned up then you know how much was removed.

Like I said there has only been a few heads that I have worked on like that.

You can distort a head a few thousandths just by torquing it.

To the OP make sure you find a machine shop that knows 6.0L's as Rusty said you can get a real ugly mess fast with the wrong shop.

 

^^ Another good point.

I worked in a machine shop for a couple of years in the 80's (lol) I've see Jo-blocks but never used them on cylinder heads. The few diesel heads I worked on were Volvo's out of shrimp boats.