Funny how things work. I had my truck 10 years before I needed to change the water pump, never touched the thermostat all that time, no leaks. Finally when I installed a new water pump I used a new stock thermostat housing / water outlet but could have re used the old one it was nearly perfect. I did install the stainless reinforcement ring for added insurance. I did consider the diesel site hoses, but I didn't like 2 things: silicone hoses from my fleet experience are prone to unexpected failures, and I don't like unique parts you can only get one place. I had an idea to use the billet housing with the straight neck, and cut the curved neck off of a stock OBS housing and attach with a short piece of straight hose and 2 Gates Power Band heat shrinkable hose clamps. Seemed like a lot of extra parts and work and I just went with all stock parts with the reinforcement ring.
