I'm working on a couple of repairs and have encountered a few questions:

1. Are the bolts supposed to come out of the top of the end link? Mine don't so I don't know if that's the way it is or mine are so far gone that they are frozen in the sleeve. My poly bushing kit does not have any new bolts so I'm hesitant to lay into it with a 10 ton press and ruin the bolts (I don't know how much they are from Ford to buy or if I can even buy them).

2. HPO rail plug. I'm removing my HPX as I'm tired of it leaking (hopefully when my HPOP comes back as a T500 I won't need it anyway). I've seen 33 ft-lbs and 96 ft-lbs. As I go towards the 96 ft-lbs it feels like I'm going to strip the threads out so I backed off and they are at 33 ft-lbs now (I don't need that headache and my wife would go through the roof). I got the ones from Riffraff as I misplaced the ones I took off 8 years ago (go figure). The HPO line connections to the head (or pump for the matter) are 19 ft-lbs. I use Loc-Tite on those but both have an o-ring (which provides most of the seal) so I'm not to keen on gronking the rail plug.

3. I'm also replacing both HPOP gaskets. I know that the HPOP and reservoir mounting bolts are 18 ft-lbs (from Ziggy. in the tech sticky) but is there a spec for the cover bolts too? I know the gasket provides the seal but I'd like to make sure that the force is distributed evenly across the gasket (Sous isn't the only OCD person around).

Hopefully this fixes most to all my oil leaks (still have to tackle the oil cooler). The valley is covered (as well as the front of the reservoir) and there is a lot of weepage on the paper towel test. There are years of buildup everywhere and will take a few tries and several cases of Simple Green to see the metal again.

Thanks for any help!

 

The 96 ft/lb. spec is for the HPOP drive gear bolt, not the fittings or plugs! The head plugs are 15 ft/lbs. The head fittings are 19 ft/lbs. and the pump fittings are 25 ft/lbs.

 

Thanks. I appreciate the info.