Head gaskets at home

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How many of you have done studs and gaskets at home cab off? How long did it take you and how was it for the guys who don't pull them day in day out?
I have a lift and had planned on doing it as I already have all of the parts and hate the thought of paying 1750.00 labor only.
 

hunterER7

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I did mine at home. 2 hours to pull the cab by myself(first time pulling a cab). And the rest was easy. Only thing that sucked for me was my trucks lifted 10". Other than that. Only thing that sucks is coming back down to set the cab gotta make sure everything's tucked on top of the motor. And realigning the cab can be a pain. Other than that make sure you disconnect the ebrake cable. I pinched mine and had to cut it.


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I did mine at home. 2 hours to pull the cab by myself(first time pulling a cab). And the rest was easy. Only thing that sucked for me was my trucks lifted 10". Other than that. Only thing that sucks is coming back down to set the cab gotta make sure everything's tucked on top of the motor. And realigning the cab can be a pain. Other than that make sure you disconnect the ebrake cable. I pinched mine and had to cut it.


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How long did you spend on the full job?
 

Lipka101

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20-24 hours with a lift even after doing it a couple times. I spend a lot time making sure everything is clean and not forgetting anything.

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hunterER7

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20-24 hours with a lift even after doing it a couple times. I spend a lot time making sure everything is clean and not forgetting anything.

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I'll second that.
I took my time. I also Did a full top end rebuild with performance pars and fuel system. Some custom fab work as well. Waiting on pats and heads at the machine shop. All that jazz. Total, I'd say I probably had about 32-40 hours in t. But again that wasn't just doing heads. I think it can be done in that 20-24hrs at home no problem


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sootie

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going slow, it takes four hours up and four hours down for the cab. thats beer breaks, topping fluids, seized bolts etc...
 

hunterER7

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going slow, it takes four hours up and four hours down for the cab. thats beer breaks, topping fluids, seized bolts etc...



Lmao! Beer breaks turn into no work. Gotta hurry up to take those breaks


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ro3rasher3

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Is it better to lift the cab? I am hearing more often that's no absolutely necessary. I don't like cutting corners and if I keep running SCT's extreme race I'm gonna have bigger issues that pulling the cab. I'm a new guy here so sorry to butt in. But I've done everything but studs and external oil cooler...not sure the latter is getting done if temps keep holding. Appreciate any input.


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Lipka101

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Is it better to lift the cab? I am hearing more often that's no absolutely necessary. I don't like cutting corners and if I keep running SCT's extreme race I'm gonna have bigger issues that pulling the cab. I'm a new guy here so sorry to butt in. But I've done everything but studs and external oil cooler...not sure the latter is getting done if temps keep holding. Appreciate any input.


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I've never done it cab on. Never will, I can only imagine how bad it would suck hanging over top of that thing and pulling the heads. Not to mention torquing them down.

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ro3rasher3

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I've never done it cab on. Never will, I can only imagine how bad it would suck hanging over top of that thing and pulling the heads. Not to mention torquing them down.

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I agree man. You just want to hear someone experienced like you say "heck, don't sweat it" but the real gear heads I know have all said the same... I'm ordering a new head from Powerstroke help down in GA, will wait and do it all then. I've one more quick one for you if you got a minute..before I do get the apr's installed I've been cautious about what tunes I run, so I settled on the Livewire ts 1505p and run just the canned heat and was pretty happy with it for a year, bit of course if it's not broke I'm gonna screw it up every time. I didn't have a flare at all running regular tranny tune with the on the fly performance, but I almost got spanked by a late model power wagon 4th thru 6th (almost) so I decided to run tranny performance and ever since I get a flare to a flutter falling into 6. Even if I run tow and haul on the shifter. I've got it 4" turbo back and it's always sounded as good as I've ever heard but now when it dives into 6 you can tell transfer and tranny are stressed as ETT goes to 175 and it's hard to get it back to 5.
I don't think the wot settings will help but was wondering about maybe tacking a few pounds of pressure or cv lockup. There's another group of setting labeled tap to shift but this is all above my skill sets and I can't afford to melt this tranny, although I will say I've not seen a tougher transmission than those factory trannys through those few years. Didn't mean to go so long but can tell you're up on this. I get deer in headlights when asking most anyone else. Many thanks.


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sootie

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get custom tunes. the canned ones are garbage. Gear Head SRL gets my vote. then when you stud it, get the SRL ++
 

Lipka101

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I agree man. You just want to hear someone experienced like you say "heck, don't sweat it" but the real gear heads I know have all said the same... I'm ordering a new head from Powerstroke help down in GA, will wait and do it all then. I've one more quick one for you if you got a minute..before I do get the apr's installed I've been cautious about what tunes I run, so I settled on the Livewire ts 1505p and run just the canned heat and was pretty happy with it for a year, bit of course if it's not broke I'm gonna screw it up every time. I didn't have a flare at all running regular tranny tune with the on the fly performance, but I almost got spanked by a late model power wagon 4th thru 6th (almost) so I decided to run tranny performance and ever since I get a flare to a flutter falling into 6. Even if I run tow and haul on the shifter. I've got it 4" turbo back and it's always sounded as good as I've ever heard but now when it dives into 6 you can tell transfer and tranny are stressed as ETT goes to 175 and it's hard to get it back to 5.
I don't think the wot settings will help but was wondering about maybe tacking a few pounds of pressure or cv lockup. There's another group of setting labeled tap to shift but this is all above my skill sets and I can't afford to melt this tranny, although I will say I've not seen a tougher transmission than those factory trannys through those few years. Didn't mean to go so long but can tell you're up on this. I get deer in headlights when asking most anyone else. Many thanks.


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I'm far from experienced. I've worked on them a bit and I own a 6.4 so I get my share of wrenching. My 6.4 still has stock trans running around 600hp. Now, I don't know of this will fix it but good custom tunes aways make a trans last longer. I'm not familiar with 6.0 tuning or know who to go with but start doing some research on tuning. I think my ******** tuning is what made mine last this long.
This being said a pressure increase will help a shift flare. The flare is the clutch slipping because of too low fluid pressure or clutches are starting to go and aren't grabbing as they should.

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6.0 Tech

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I've never done it cab on. Never will, I can only imagine how bad it would suck hanging over top of that thing and pulling the heads. Not to mention torquing them down.

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I prefer doing them cab on personally... I pull the radiator, core support, cac, fan, and inner shroud and stand in there. Then its all nice to work on. You can stack damn near all the parts in the engine comlartment as you take them off, then hop out once and put it all n the ground. Then hop back in and lift the heads off. But we all *** chickens our own way:hammer:
 
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I prefer doing them cab on personally... I pull the radiator, core support, cac, fan, and inner shroud and stand in there. Then its all nice to work on. You can stack damn near all the parts in the engine comlartment as you take them off, then hop out once and put it all n the ground. Then hop back in and lift the heads off. But we all *** chickens our own way:hammer:

It just seems like so much work if guys really can pull a cab in under 2 hours some much less than that. Then you have everything open. But if you are comfortable one way go for it. Btw do you take on any side work I see your the 6.0tech
 

6.0 Tech

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Yeah i do quite a bit, youre a little far though... LOL. Back when i was doing a chit ton of head jobs, i could have the heads sitting on the bench typically about the same time the cab was coming off for some of the other guys. Typically about an hour and a half.
 
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Yeah i do quite a bit, youre a little far though... LOL. Back when i was doing a chit ton of head jobs, i could have the heads sitting on the bench typically about the same time the cab was coming off for some of the other guys. Typically about an hour and a half.

**** I see your in mesa now. For some reason I thought I read you were on the east coast. Always good to know though I usually avg 2 trips to the west coast a year
 

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