Stripped Valve Cover bolts

Josh@DirtyDiesels · Apr 2, 2014

So this weekend when I was down at MPD we found a handful of stripped valve cover bolts in the rocker box. Go to reinstall valve covers and the passenger side is leaking terribly because the bolts won't tighten down. OF course they are all in the very back so impossible to get to... Planning on pulling the cab this weekend and installing helicoils in the stripped holes. Anyone ever done this before? Anything to watch out for?

psdguy95 · Apr 2, 2014

Just make sure you drill and tap as straight as possible. Helicoils are easy to install.

Pizza pig · Apr 2, 2014

tig wire in the hole and put new bolts works when we find stripped bolts

Ad8 PRODIGY · Apr 2, 2014

Heli coils are legit. Like said already, don't drill a deeper hole, so I like to find out the depth of the hole with a wire then mark the drill bit. Drill straight as can be and make sure you tap it straight too.

Its a pretty straight forward job...

Josh@DirtyDiesels · Apr 2, 2014

Greg@MFI said:
tig wire in the hole and put new bolts works when we find stripped bolts

figure I might as well fix it right and helicoil them. It is leaking really bad.

cfdeng7 · Apr 2, 2014

Yeah deff helicoil them. It's pretty straight forward. Like stated just make sure to drill straight

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sootie · Apr 2, 2014

dzlpwr said:
figure I might as well fix it right and helicoil them. It is leaking really bad.

JB weld duh?! LOL

OBS F350 · Apr 2, 2014

The very back one on my d/s head is stripped lol just my luck. Although it doesn't seem to leak. Helicoil is definitely the way to go. With the cab up you should have zero issues getting a nice straight shot at it. If you can do injectors on a 6.0 these will be no problemeo.

Josh@DirtyDiesels · Apr 2, 2014

I'm going to try and tighten the loose ones first if I can and hope the stripped ones somewhat hold. If that doesn't work the cab will come up and do it right.

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dieselflash · Apr 2, 2014

I think I would pull the evaporator case out before pulling the cab being as it's one side.

Josh@DirtyDiesels · Apr 2, 2014

dieselflash said:
I think I would pull the evaporator case out before pulling the cab being as it's one side.

Rear one on driver side is stripped too and not leaking. The passenger side rear bolt is stripped too. Pulling the heater box wouldn't help at all

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dieselflash · Apr 2, 2014

I just wanted to sound smart I guess lol

HOOV3R · Apr 2, 2014

Helicoil brah.

Josh@DirtyDiesels · Apr 3, 2014

Dug into it today. Was able to get the iffy ones on the side to tighten down enough to hold... The one in the back the threads were completely gone but luckily it goes all the way through so I was able to nut and bolt it and get it sealed up nice. Next time this thing comes apart for headgaskets it is definitely getting new rocker boxes and all new VC hardware... screw this!