This was my first major job on the truck, I had to change an injector at my sisters place which was 4 hours away from home on the way back from a vacation.
The rear two ficm bolts and the rear valve cover bolts are a pain in the butt! I wish i had a 12 volt ratchet because theres almost no space to use hand tools back there. you cant even see the bolts
whoever had the valve covers off last tightened the dummy plug so tight that i couldnt even get it out without worrying about ruining it. ill post a picture later. i had to use the biggest torx bit i had to get out the standpipe because i couldnt find a 12mm allen head anywhere. so i ended up taking the oil rail out without even removing the dummy plug.. is that bad?
replacing the actual injector was the easiest part. piece of cake. i torqued it to 32 ft lbs in stead of 28 because thats the lowest my torque wrench would go.
anyways, in putting the valve cover back together i discovered a "stripped" thread in the back, it just kept turning, and when i removed it i saw pieces of helicoil come out .. i removed all the helicoil i could and bought a new bolt and thank god it tightened up fine.. i really didnt want to install another helicoil back there because you couldnt even see in the hole, there was only about 3-4 inches of clearance from the truck to the bolt hole.
putting the air filter and intake back together was almost the most frustrating part. i wanted to throw it across the barn. getting the filter inbetween the two plastic pieces is a real pain in the ****...
but anyways she fired up and runs fine now.. just thought i would share my experience lol if anyone has any questions holler !

 

Next time, reassemble the air filter with the ends first, and put the whole thing in as one... It's much easier.

 

You're fine on the dummy plugs. They only have to come out if you were to replace them.

 

Imgur

this is what the dang dummy plug looks like after torquing on it

 

If you can't find an allen socket in 12mm then ther are tow other options.
1 Get a regular 12mm aller wrench and cut it so you have enough bit to
work with. The stand piped and dummy plugs are both allen and not torx.
2nd option and I have to credit Ron for this one. Chisel shank turns out to
be right at or so very close to 12mm that it will do the job.
Then in both cases all you have to do is find a 12mm socket to use them with.


Sean

6.0L Tech Folder

 

If you thought #4 was hard better hope you never have to change a passenger side. These trucks are relatively easy to work on, just need patience.

 

A quick fix for stripped valve cover bolts is just to thread a SAE bolt in. If you have a welder you can even built the stud bolt. And I'm not the only one doing this - when I traded my heads in for reconditioned ones, 2 of the bolt holes were already "converted".

 

I did several of mine with heli-coil's after I took over my own maintenance and repair. It's pretty easy on most of them and works great. You just have to know when tight enough is tight enough on the cover bolts. And I've never bought a new valve cover gasket either.

And patience is definitely the MOST important thing.

 

I agree, it wasn't hard, it was pretty basic stuff just frustrating and a pain in the butt. The SAE bolt is a good idea.. And as far as the standpipe that was 12mm Allen I know it wasn't torx but I had a torx that fit almost perfect in there and it wasn't too tight and it came right out, the dummy plug on the other hand I had the 10mm Allen socket and I had my torque wrench on it and it was tight enough to where I said forget about it and just left it in... As far as I know the 12mm ones are updated and the 10mm are old, so I guess somebody changed out the standpipe but not the dummy plug

 

Yup, if you've got 10mm, you best be changing it. Dummy plugs seem to fail easier than stand pipes for some reason unbeknownst to me.