Hey all, I recently bought an '03 F-250 with the 6.0. Its bone stock for now, but the first thing I want to do are the durability and longevity modifications to the engine, which to my knowledge is head studs and egr delete.
The big thing I'm trying to find out is if I can do the head studs myself, does the cab need to come off, and how spendy us it to have someone do it?

I don't plan on going nuts with the truck, but I need it to work everyday and plow in the winter...and be slightly quicker than the Cummins down the street haha.

Thanks y'all

 

I'm not sure those items are tops on the list for durability and longevity. The early 6.0's had a first generation HPOP which can come apart and expose your engine and injector system with debris.
If that's important, changing the o-rings on the oil rails, etc would be a good idea due to their failure rate.
I've hear of guys changing out their studs without removing the cab, inserting the back two studs into the head and holding with tie downs until in place. Many threads here.
Oil cooler is probably not far behind. Check you running eot's vs ect's to determine a possible plugged cooler, knowing a delta of more then 15* running sustained, unloaded at 65 is a place to start.
Be careful with egr deletes depending on where you live. Some states won't pass emissions regs.
Good luck.

 

Don't get the cart before the horse. The "bulletproofing" concept is based on "fix everything we knew was wrong in 2009 all at once". Things change as failure patterns become more clear and root issues get nailed down. Studs are really only either the solution if you actually blow the heads, or part of adding toys to turn the power up, they don't do anything special on their own. There's a pretty good list of basic things like "what oil to run" that figure into longevity way more than studs. It's not as sexy as throwing in $5,000 of bling parts into a truck, but it's significantly more important to keeping it running past 300k miles.

Get gauges. Get your maintenance done correctly. Install a few updated parts. Don't buy trouble by tearing what might be a perfectly OK engine in half to fix a problem that might not exist.

Good reads:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...used-6-0l.html
Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums - View Single Post - Just bought 06 F350 FX4 6.0!!
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...eral-info.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...-pressure.html


If you plan on plowing with it, search the 6.0L forum for information on DC Power alternators, upgraded alternator wiring, and find out how not having a large enough alternator can brick your FICM and make the truck a lawn ornament until you replace one of the computers that got burned up:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...epair-com.html
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...lternator.html

6.0L specific forum and tech folder:
6.0L Power Stroke Diesel - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/3...ch-folder.html

 

Thanks for the replies, it is very good food for thought. Essentially I'm hoping to keep the truck for a while and want to do what I need to do to run it safely with a basic tuner, just to keep me smiling.

I have a '65 F100, which is the fun truck, but I want the work truck to make me smile too haha.

Essentially what I'm thinking is exhaust, tuner, and whatever I need to not make coolant soup out of it.

 

I have a 2006 6.0 and I am just like you, want it to last a long time. So I considered doing all the bulletproofing too. After much research I decided to do the important stuff first. Installed a scan guage II and egt gauge to monitor all the vitals. Next was the blue spring upgrade to be sure fuel pressure was good, coolant flush of the gold crap Ford uses and put in ECL coolant and a coolant filter system, and installed an MBRP turbo back 4" exhaust with the cat removed. I then bought a SCT x4 tuner with Matt's custom tunes from "gearhead". I have decided that I am not going to do any of the bulletproofing until I need to. Several members on here running thousands of miles tuned without issues. Why tear into a motor that is having no issues. And if you watch your numbers you can see what's needed if need be. I will just keep the 4-5 thousand set aside in case I ever need it. By the way, you will love your truck tuned. It comes alive like you can't even imagine.
You can do everything I mentioned above for about $800 bucks. Add another $400 for the tuner. Best thing about the tuner is you can shut the EGR off.

 

I was not aware that there was a common modification for the fuel, do you mind going in depth a little on what it entails?

I was always in the thought process that if you put a tuner on a healthy stock 6.0, head studs are essentially required...not true?
Also, on the egr side; if a tuner can simply shut off the function, what's the purpose of spending the money to delete it? I do want the egr gone as it sounds like it attributes ultimately to head gaskets, but if I can just turn it off, what doesn't that do that a full delete would?

Good discussion guys!

 

The blue spring mod is simple. You just change out the spring for a New one that is "Blue". The purpose of the upgraded spring is to increase fuel pressure. Common problem in losing injectors is low fuel pressure. This spring will get your fuel pressure to about 65 pounds of pressure. I think low pressure is under 45. I could be wrong. There are guys on here much smarter than I am that will correct me. Very cheap mod and easy to do for added insurance.<br /><br />
You will get a lot of opinions on both sides if tuners are ok on stock head bolts. I have read that the stock canned tunes that come with the tuner are a little more harsh than custom tunes. My truck is an 06 and I had an 04 before that. I have been here on FTE reading about the 6.0 since then. I bought Matt's custom tunes from gearhead because he is we'll known for writing great custom tunes and they are safe for non studded 6.0's. There are several guys that have stock 6.0's running tunes with no issues. I just tuned my 06 and now wish I would have done it years ago. It is a completely different truck tuned. I plan to do head studs in my truck, but not until I have to. That may not be never but I am ready to if I have to.<br /><br />
As far as the egr. Most get failures on their EGR coolers from getting clogged up and rupturing. If you have maintained your coolant system you may not ever have any issues. Most problems with egr coolers is poor maintenance. That is why I suggest flushing the system completely of the gold coolant from Ford and using an ecl coolant. I also put a coolant filter on my truck to eliminate the egr cooler from getting clogged. A tuner will turn off the EGR valve. All this does is keep the EGR valve closed. This is a good thing as the exhaust gases can't enter the intake. Coolant still cycles through the system and the EGR cooler. So an egr cool can still clogg and rupture from a poorly maintained coolant system. Getting a $129.00 scan gauge II to monitor EOT (engine oil temp) and ECT (engine coolant temp) is an easy way to see the operation of the EGR cooler. EOT temp should never be more than 15 degrees higher than the EWT driving level, unloaded at 65 mph. These 6.0's are great motors and will go 300,000 miles when properly maintained. This is really the first Ford motor that met the new EPA guidelines. There was a lot learned off our 6.0 diesels and the EPA guidelines. Do a search use the search function here on FTE and you can learn everything you need to know about our trucks. We have several experts here that really know these motors. And they all give great advice. FTE has saved guys a lot of grief over the years. I trust this forum more than my local Ford mechanics. And that says a lot.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ue-spring.html

 

Lots of opinions still on studs. Just remember, the 7.3 was designed with 6 head studs or bolts per cylinder. The 6.0 only has 4 and has been subject to head gasket failure with tuners as a result.
I know many guys will tune and wait for the the possible head gasket failure but many believe that it's not "if" but "when" it will fail.