Q1) Can I install head studs with cab on AND not remove heads? I presume the problem area would be the AC box on the passenger side otherwise all other things being moderately easy to remove.

Q2) Has any one done this?

Q3) Or is the only way to install studs with cab on and with out head removal is to simply remove the engine?

The alterative to the cab removal would be... Q4) raise the cab ~2-8 inches therefore avoid AC evac, powersteering and so on?

Thanks
-Chad

 

I did them cab on and without removing the heads. Replaced them one at a time. I did remove the ac stuff, which gave a ton of room on passenger side. Driver side rear was the pain. Was able to get clearance by moving insulation there, loosening motor mounts, and jacking up the motor on driver side juuuuust right.

 

You will find your answers here. Basically what tfunk did.

 

I realize youtube is convienient, but that video did not answer my questions. It, infact, led to my questions. I dont need to remove the heads and replace the head gasket. I want to add head studs.

 

If you don't have an issue not I would let it be. You know what they say about sleeping dogs...

If you do the one bolt at a time you still have a higher risk of compromised sealing of the head gasket. Some get lucky and others not so lucky. Removing the head and cleaning the mating surfaces is the
best practice. Also to install then with cab on is not really that hard. Just make the lifting bracket to make it less work to manage the weight of the head. There are some tricks like installing the studs and
using a zip tie in the places near any hard to get into places. One other thing to do is remove the cover from the evaporator in the engine bay. Just a few screws and some clips that hold it on and the
heat shield in place. I remove that any time I an doing the back injectors on the passenger side. One tool you might find very handy is the offset wrench for getting at the back bolts/nuts. Snap On makes
a nice one. Also when dealing with offset wrenches. So long at you keep it at 90º from the head of the wrench you don't have to do any math. X stays at X value.


This is the setup I use for doing offset torquing of the oil rail bolts.



The same concept works with larger torque values and larger wrenches.

Being that my background is in mechanics My thought is do it right or don't do it.

 

Thanks Sean. I am pretty comfortable around the 6.0 with just about everything including injector replacements 1 through 8 to include the troublesome #7 access, this would be truck number 2. Since I want to hang on to it for a looong time and I want to tune it for mpg, I want to add the insurance of head studs. I simply prefer not to crack the heads, and since the heads likely have never been cracked and the truck is low miles I doubt there is distortion in the heads that would render 'one at a time' head stud install a waste of time because the head seperates from the block. I have the basic SCT X4 tuner, I simply want to sqeeze mpg out of this truck when daily driving. I will be inspecting the major fail points soon after my road trip because I just got this truck and don't have time to do it before hand. Studs are one thing I have never done on any 6.0 and want to consider all options and approaches.

 

I did the one at a time replacement for studs on my friend’s truck. His had 125k miles, no evidence of head gasket issues. Almost a year later and no issues, running Innovative Diesel’s Ultimate X or Xtreme Street tunes. YMMV, of course

 

What year is the truck and how many miles?

 

2006 F250 KR CC SB 130K miles.

 

If it has not blown yet and your not going to kick a boat load of power. Then likely it won't.

 

If you're still questioning the advice here is a recent article that the author asked further reputable shops to get answers. No one that I've seen will recommend it.
Diesel Tech Q&A: Replacing Head Studs and Fuel Filters | Trailer Life

 

I think it could be done successfully if the head gaskets are not compromised, but that's going to be a somewhat rare condition, and unknown unless the heads are pulled. So the success rate is low. It works sometimes. You can try if you don't mind the potential of taking it all apart again. It does work with some motors, but they don't have the PS6.0 head gasket history.

In that article, I'm glad to see they mentioned thread chasing. While it's somewhat mentioned with spark plugs threads, it seems to be an unknown technique elsewhere. Running a tap down pre-threaded holes has the potential to weaken threads. Usually, taps in the consumer market are not the same quality that industrial or manufacturing taps are, and they come in grades, not just starting to bottoming. And there's spring back from the original thread cutting that gets compromised. Running a worn tap is still not the same as running a chaser or modified bolt to chase the threads. You can get direct size chasers or use chasing files. I tend to do the bolt thing. Keep in mind with studs the movement is not with the block threads, but up at the nuts with clean stud threads, so your not getting the frictional drag and wear that happens with the bolts.

Plus, I'm not sure if Nav rolled the threads rather then tapped them. However, in contradiction to my view, Nav has in their service manual to run a bottoming tap down the head bolt threads.

The comments from Tripp Trucks are a hit and miss for me. I'm guessing his "torque chatter" is the transition from static to dynamic friction during fastener movement, which is why you need a sufficient gap to not have that as a factor. And why I actually prefer degrees of rotation rather than torque. The comment that the ARP studs do not stretch is flawed. Every fastener has to stretch, to develop a constant tension. Not understanding that means they don't understand the function of fastening.

 

I would think that even if you go one stud at a time, you will still have to follow the recommended torque pattern. Will you go straight to the 210 lbs with each stud (not recommended) ? ARP recommends to go at 3 steps to get to the max torque. I think that its too risky. In order to gain a lot of clearance to both heads, before you start, after releasing the fan shroud, remove the left side motormount and drop the engine to the frame. The turning of the engine will give a lot of clearance to both sides of the engine.

 

TMT is right, everything stretches. Young's modulus = stress/strain. ARP studs presumably have a higher value so stretch less for the same torque.

 

Head bolts are a fine line. They need to continue to stretch with the expansion of the heads following temp without exceeding the yield point. Snugging it up to a higher torque then specified either by intent (more is better), poor calibration of the wrench, or higher lubricity of the lubrication (if stated) can get you there. Maybe not at the moment, but later on a hot motor run or continuous fatigue from multiple occurrences.

In other words, stay elastic and not go into the plastic range. More is better gets you less forgiving.