Thanks for the feedback and the vote of confidence. I have used ARP studs before and am familar with 30W oil and ARP moly torque specs. In fact I use ARP moly on just about everythng I reassemble that requires torque and have switched to a Case/IH moly grease for all of my farm equipment.

I have not looked at the passenger side clearance issue and it may be a show stopper for me. What I may have to do is disconnect the passenger motor mount and jack the engine over slightly to get the clearance. Again, I'm not a novice so I will evaluate before I start tearing the X apart.

Yeah, I have a Craftsman torque wrench now but it has been rode hard and put away wet. Time for a new wrench before I do this job and I'll look at PI. Thanks for the recommendation.

My problem is finding the personal time and time to put the X down to do the job. When I start I'll post progress reports and problems as they unfold but probably will not be until mid summer.

DSMMH

 

Just a few things on this subject.

First is the even with an X pulling the cab is totally doable if you have access to a lift (Matt and myself did it in less than 4 hours and we were not killing ourselves by any stretch).

Second if you are replacing just the head bolts you have to remove the heads and set the back bolts in place and hold them up with elastics or something simlar, I think you'd have to do the same thing with studs but either way the heads have to come off and you'd be disturbing the gaskets. The passenger side on the X is very tight quarters due to all the A/C stuff Ford crammed in there.

Third, if you've got the rad, intake piping, intercooler, A/C condenser, etc all out of the way, why wouldn't you go ahead and pull the engine, it's on bell housing bolts, torque converter bolts and motor mounts after that; then everything is easy access.

My honest opinion is that is in this case, trying to do studs, without replacing the gaskets and checking head flatness is a situation of tripping over dollars to save dimes. If you can get access to a lift this job would be easily doable in a weekend, and if pushed probably in one day. If not probably 2-3 days. If the head were/are sealing effectively they are likely OK warpage wise but the should still be checked if you've got them off the truck.

I do not want to be a naysayer, but I really feel that this job is best done either with the body off or the engine out. It is simply the best way to ensure the best quality workmanship.

Good luck, I am very interested to hear how the job goes for you.

 

Any updates on this job? Did it work out for you?

 

Anyone know what the dealer charges to install the studs?

 

I have never done head studs before, but they can be done without pulling the cab or the engine, you have to remove that big black box with the ac evaporator coil and everthing. I dont think there is a way to pull individual bolts and replace with stud, because there is not enough clearance.m when you pull heads without removing the cab or engine you have to rubber band the back 2 bolts or studs and remove them with the head. I plan on doing this in the near future.

 

I'm going to leave my headbolts in until my SCT decides they need to be upgraded At that time I'll pull the cab and do headgaskets and studs, EGR delete, and whatever else I can think of. With that said, I don't see a reason this wouldn't work. I would install the studs, torque them to near stock headbolt torque, then when all are done I'd go back around and torque to ARP spec (it should be higher torque spec).