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I ordered/purchased a 2018, have 101K miles on it so far, and after six years of fine service I can tell it is a keeper. I'll be keeping the truck long term and being in my 50's it may be the last new one ton SRW I have. This combo brings forth even better feelings than my 7.3 w/ZF6 and my 12 valve before it. To that effect, I decided to do what I could to make the existing drivetrain last longer. Truth be known I like this 6.7 and 6R140 so much that I'll be replacing what ever component does give out with the same thing, well maybe upgraded a bit. Maintenance has always been done excessively but wanted to kick it up a notch.
Swapped to all CAT spin on filters
Increased oil capacity to +16 quarts
Installed a bypass filter
Upgraded the oil pan heater
Installed Banks rear diff cover
Seriously thinking about replacing the CP4 with a DCR.....
The reason to swap to CAT filters is the availability of high quality filters. Caterpillar is the largest manufacuter of diesel engines and are worldwide. This allows them the market to produce the highest quality filters without concern for pricepoint. If you have a high-value piece of equipment you're not worried about a $10-30 cost delta on a filter, this can't be said for the personal transportation market.
The new oil pan offered multiple advantages. Inceased capacity, more oil equals less work it has to do, therefore longer life. The pan came with two threaded ports, one for the heater, and I used the other as the return port for the bypass filter. And last but not least, the drain design allows for total evacuation of the used oil. When I removed the factory pan more oil was left that I would have ever thought, ~10-12 ounces.
Marketed bypass filter setups are way over-priced, IMO. Liked the thought of maximum filtration but the entry price....way to high. I ended up spending ~$100 on parts and $45 on the filter, this I can live with. Used the amsoil bypass filter, as other sellers do not offer anything close to their receipe. Your basic choice is a toilet paper filter can or the amsoil. As I run amsoil oil anyway, the 2 micron spin on filter fit the bill. Couple of hydraulic hoses, fittings, and a filter base and we're in business. At ~$150 the ROI argument really goes away.
Since working in Alaska many moons ago and living in snow country, I install all kinds of heaters on my vechicles, something about cranking up a car in subzero temps like it was 70 degrees outside makes me feel good. On top of this the weakness of the 6.7 is oil flow, using to thick of an oil in cold temps has taken out many of them. Until now I used a 150watt heating pad stuck to the bottom of the oil pan. With the new pan there is a 400w immersed element.
Pics of install....
The new engine block oil filter adaptor has extra ports, used the 1/4" NPT one for the supply to bypass filter. The oil pan has a 1/2" threaded port that I used for the return. Mounted the filter base on outside passenger frame rail.
Pic of new main tank water seperator and fuel filter setup. The filter on top of engine is replaced with a manifold.
The oil heater fitment is tight, the connector has to be pointed toward front of truck, but it does fit. About 1/8" clearance.
When the truck was new I added a in-bed aux fuel tank and placed a water seperator filter between it and the factory tank. Swapped out to the same part number filter as the new main tank filter set-up. I was using the shorter version but wanted to simplify, the bottom still sits three inches above the body panel edge.
Also picked up the cat version filter for the S&S DPK I installed a few months ago. This will go away if I choose to do the DCR pump conversion. Haven't swapped the filter out as its only has a couple thousand miles on it.
Also picked up the cat version filter for the S&S DPK I installed a few months ago. This will go away if I choose to do the DCR pump convertion. Haven't swapped the filter out as its only has a couple thousand miles on it.
Would you mind sharing the part number for the CAT filter?
Ain't it though. I bought a three pack of all the filters to get started and have stacks of other filters for my machines, try to buy in bulk and keep on hand so when I need to change fluids all the stuff is already sitting there, but they ain't stacked that deep.
Ain't it though. I bought a three pack of all the filters to get started and have stacks of other filters for my machines, try to buy in bulk and keep on hand so when I need to change fluids all the stuff is already sitting there, but they ain't stacked that deep.
In my previous life we worked with mostly CAT equipment, that color is like the color of home.
How was the oil filter bypass addressed?
Ford uses one in the filter, and Cat doesn't put the bypass in the filters but either in the filter housing or the block.
How was the oil filter bypass addressed?
Ford uses one in the filter, and Cat doesn't put the bypass in the filters but either in the filter housing or the block.
Each to his own, however I feel it is addressed due to the larger surface area, I run the proper weight oil for cold weather (5w), and I usually heat the oil anyway when temps dictate. I agree if one exceeds required filter change intervals (meaning partially blocked filter) and uses a cold weather 'heavy' oil there could be issues with oil pressure. Both the filter mount block and filter have higher flow rates than the OEM counterparts.
I make informed choices, some do not. If I was making a product to hand to john Q. public I'd have a bypas valve in it to CMA.
The folks that market the dcr have a video which is a part two follow up to a previous d r install…the video’s attention quickly turned to the discovery of rust in the fuel system…..traced back to the metal can fuel filters which apparently got water in them and the duration of time the water was in the metal filters was enough to cuase the inside of the metal filters to rust…spreading rust thru out the fuel system. I could be wrong but it looked to me that the water was in the non water separator element …so even draining the water separator element would not get the water out of the main filter.
so .proceed with caution if you replace the oem plastic filters which do not rust with metal can filters which could rust.
in my mind..this would not be a move in the direction of reliability.
Someone on here posted a video of an engine guy showing how much oil it takes to fill the pickup tube, pump, galleries in the engine block, and I think the camshaft on a 6.7. It was like 2.5 quarts. Of which most backflows back to the pan once the engine is shutoff. He didn't show what he did, but I'm guessing his "fix" for this was to install a one way check valve of sorts in the pickup tube so it couldn't drain down and get oil pressure faster upon startup. I understand the concept of holding the oil in the system, but if 10-12oz of old oil left in the bottom of the oil pan bothered the OP then he probably wouldn't like 2 extra quarts being held back. Although with the filter setup he's running that oil shouldn't be rife with contaminants.
Don't forget to keep up on coolant maintenance. These trucks have a fluid-fluid cooler on everything. Modern diesel engines tax the coolant pretty bad as well. Not from the perspective of cooling itself, but I read an interesting article a few years back that explained how the cylinder pressures that are being created on these things are expanding and contracting the cylinder walls with each firing. This rapid expansion and contraction creates cavitation of the coolant on the surface of the water jacket side. If the additives in the coolant that help prevent this cavitation get used up then you subject the blocks to erosion. Leading to problems down the road.
Each to his own, however I feel it is addressed due to the larger surface area, I run the proper weight oil for cold weather (5w), and I usually heat the oil anyway when temps dictate. I agree if one exceeds required filter change intervals (meaning partially blocked filter) and uses a cold weather 'heavy' oil there could be issues with oil pressure. Both the filter mount block and filter have higher flow rates than the OEM counterparts.
I make informed choices, some do not. If I was making a product to hand to john Q. public I'd have a bypass valve in it to CMA.
"dirty" oil is better than no oil, and the way the 6.7 oil system drains after it is shut off lack of a bypass isn't doing any good in a worst case, but as you said to each their own.
I was hoping the OP had found a filter base with a bypass in it like some oem's have used in the past.
Even limited flow can cause cavitation and bearings don't like cavitation any more than starvation. The bearings just last a little longer with cavitation damage than no lube.
The oil heater will go a long way in preventing the most common need for a bypass, but when Ford is cheaping out on the passenger side locking hub, I doubt they would have put a bypass in the filter if it wasn't saving them money on oil starvation related failures.
Someone on here posted a video of an engine guy showing how much oil it takes to fill the pickup tube, pump, galleries in the engine block, and I think the camshaft on a 6.7. It was like 2.5 quarts. Of which most backflows back to the pan once the engine is shutoff. He didn't show what he did, but I'm guessing his "fix" for this was to install a one way check valve of sorts in the pickup tube so it couldn't drain down and get oil pressure faster upon startup. I understand the concept of holding the oil in the system, but if 10-12oz of old oil left in the bottom of the oil pan bothered the OP then he probably wouldn't like 2 extra quarts being held back. Although with the filter setup he's running that oil shouldn't be rife with contaminants.
Don't forget to keep up on coolant maintenance. These trucks have a fluid-fluid cooler on everything. Modern diesel engines tax the coolant pretty bad as well. Not from the perspective of cooling itself, but I read an interesting article a few years back that explained how the cylinder pressures that are being created on these things are expanding and contracting the cylinder walls with each firing. This rapid expansion and contraction creates cavitation of the coolant on the surface of the water jacket side. If the additives in the coolant that help prevent this cavitation get used up then you subject the blocks to erosion. Leading to problems down the road.
CP4 replacement is on my radar too.
I think a 12v gear motor on a switch with oil being pumped from the pan into one of the oil ports would prime the 2.5 qts pretty quick.
The folks that market the dcr have a video which is a part two follow up to a previous d r install…the video’s attention quickly turned to the discovery of rust in the fuel system…..traced back to the metal can fuel filters which apparently got water in them and the duration of time the water was in the metal filters was enough to cuase the inside of the metal filters to rust…spreading rust thru out the fuel system. I could be wrong but it looked to me that the water was in the non water separator element …so even draining the water separator element would not get the water out of the main filter.
so .proceed with caution if you replace the oem plastic filters which do not rust with metal can filters which could rust.
in my mind..this would not be a move in the direction of reliability.
Found the video you referenced. A few points you may have missed, or at least didn't write, the brand water seperator used did not function as intended, they had removed the 'water-in-fuel' sensor and the fact that not all spin-on filters are made equal. This is why I went with CAT, the largest diesel engine manufactuer in the world, they know how to design their filters. And, the aftermarket filter housing I went with keeps the WIF sensor and you have two places to drain, in the housing and on the bottom of the water seperator filter. In the example offered in the video, not only did they use inferior filters, they were not warned of WIF, nor had a way to drain the water.
