cracked front cover

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I paid like $300 extra to get a new cover on my rebuilt engine because I figured why start with something already stressed? Just that much shorter path to stress cracks again. Think about it..... besides thermal expansion and vibration we literally have the hydraulic force of the diameter of the core bundle x oil psi.
 

Big Bore

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My 96 did the same thing, but it probably had something to do with the mechanic who serviced the oil cooler. Took truck in to dealer with an oil cooler leak, picked it up, took gooseneck to get a load of drywall for a house and it started leaking coolant, drove right back to dealership. Mechanic comes out to parking lot with two gallons of coolant and starts giving me a song and dance and tells me it has a crack, right at the same spot everyone in this thread has. Funny, service manager never mentioned it. Later found out...if you take the bolts out of the rear of the cooler before taking the front bolts out, the cooler will twist that front mount and crack it. I point this out in bold so people who have the factory stock cover on an OBS, and really any 7.3, may avoid this issue by removing the front bolts first, or at least loosen both and remove one of them so it can't torque the mount. I ended up building a new engine and put a new cover on it but I still have the old one in the shop. Used it to mock up lines for dual remote IPR setup I still havent installed :D That truck was wrecked and engine is in a buddies truck and hasn't had any issues. However, I also related to him how to avoid the problem if he has to replace the cooler or service it. Had I known a SD cover would fit and solves this issue, I would have used that at the time.
 
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KBMKVIII

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My 96 did the same thing, but it probably had something to do with the mechanic who serviced the oil cooler. Took truck in to dealer with an oil cooler leak, picked it up, took gooseneck to get a load of drywall for a house and it started leaking coolant, drove right back to dealership. Mechanic comes out to parking lot with two gallons of coolant and starts giving me a song and dance and tells me it has a crack, right at the same spot everyone in this thread has. Funny, service manager never mentioned it. Later found out...if you take the bolts out of the rear of the cooler before taking the front bolts out, the cooler will twist that front mount and crack it. I point this out in bold so people who have the factory stock cover on an OBS, and really any 7.3, may avoid this issue by removing the front bolts first, or at least loosen both and remove one of them so it can't torque the mount. I ended up building a new engine and put a new cover on it but I still have the old one in the shop. Used it to mock up lines for dual remote IPR setup I still havent installed :D That truck was wrecked and engine is in a buddies truck and hasn't had any issues. However, I also related to him how to avoid the problem if he has to replace the cooler or service it. Had I known a SD cover would fit and solves this issue, I would have used that at the time.


Also I believe if someone is changing years of front cover, depending on year, the oil pickup is on the other side of the front cover.
I have a 96 that I got a new front cover from ford at time of the build.
-Few years back I cracked the old one. I must have been drunk bc I went to install the hpop res gasket, I used the screen one and it cracked. Ran fine with a jb fix for years inside the res with no signs of it eroding or peeling, no I do not recommend this but for temporary purposes it will work-
When I went to put on the front cover I noticed that the pick up location for the pick up tube was on the other side of the front cover.
So at the time I opted to get the one that fits correctly instead of changing the pickup mount location
I’m not around the truck to see what month my truck was built in.
Maybe I just have the older style one
 

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