Cab off repair and lift installed on my 6.4

FourEyed · May 1, 2015

Hey guys, I'm pretty new here still but wanted to introduce myself and share a couple pics of my truck. I'm from Alden, NY (upstate). Had the cab off last month pretty much for up pipes, and I wanted to do some PM on it. 08 Job 2 truck, 167k on it. The goal is to get to 300k. The dpf has been relocated with the egr, and H&S tuner installed. I also plan to get rid of the plasti dip bumpers and go with a gloss black vinyl wrap.

While the cab was off I did the following:
Rudys HD up pipes
Oem Head gaskets ARP studs
New lifters, pushrods, rockers, etc
Heads got new valves and guides

Looking back I regret not doing pistons as it was already that far along.. but whatever it should be fine.

Standard cab off deal here

I ended up doing a Zone 4" radius arm lift with a 35x12.5/20. I know this lift gets some hate on here but for the price I don't think it can be beat. I don't do any hardcore off roading but for what it is it works great for me. Ride is like stock and the radius arms are awesome. I didn't want to go bigger because then loading the quads and bikes every weekend would be a pain.

DWhite · May 1, 2015

When you had the heads of did you have them checked for flatness or have any kind of machining done to them?

FourEyed · May 1, 2015

Oh yeah I did. they needed like $1100 or so into them :doh: Valves were shot, had new guides installed, and they were decked. It blew me away how good the truck ran and the valves had that much play in the guides..

Sideswipe505 · May 1, 2015

FourEyed said:
Oh yeah I did. they needed like $1100 or so into them :doh: Valves were shot, had new guides installed, and they were decked. It blew me away how good the truck ran and the valves had that much play in the guides..

Yeah these trucks are tough even when broke. Mine ran fine with a melted piston lol.

sootie · May 1, 2015

your truck looks nice. do those pistons show any heat stress? what tuning were you running?

FourEyed · May 1, 2015

Thanks! The pistons / bores and everything looked great. Kind of surprised how good it looked with 160k on it. It was deleted at 140k and I ran the H&S HD street tune. Had it in performance a couple times but mostly left in tow and street. I put a no limit intake and elbow on it and sinister coolant filter setup as well.

RSK · May 1, 2015

nice looks good.

FourEyed · May 4, 2015

Thanks!

FourEyed · Oct 1, 2019

Well here we are once again. I'm right at 198k, Just 30k since I did the top end, (and thought about pistons), and now have a cracked piston. Rebuild time. It happened out of nowhere, and I just got back from a 1100 mile trip with the camper and the truck ran perfect... until it didn't.

This time, I decided to tackle the job myself. Since I have a nice space, but no lift. The engine is coming out the front. I'm semi mechanically inclined, but not a pro by any means. Hopefully some of you will catch some mistakes I'm bound to make. I don't dd the truck, and don't drive it in winter. So all I have is time.

Once I get it out, I'm going to have my block rebuilt. Do some form of coated pistons, cam, and possibly try to go for more power while I'm there. Truck is in great shape, so instead of spending $60k+ on a new truck, I will make this one new.

Here's the rough plan..

Send injectors out to get tested (RCD)?
Was running GH tunes, open to anything
Coated HD pistons
RCD stage 2 cam
Heads, Lifters, pushrods, rockers, etc all have 30k on them, hoping to re-use
Rebuild transmission and do converter (starting to slightly slip)
HPFP - Chance it with the 200k one, or replace while out?
Debating drop in turbo, still doing research. Don't really want to do a dual fueler setup.

My buddy 2stangs8689 with the rescue in his 6.0.

[/url]20190914_112530 by Joe malucci, on Flickr[/IMG]

Starting to tear into it.

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Few hours later. Wasn't too bad to this point. Just taking my time.

[/url]20190930_211306 by Joe malucci, on Flickr[/IMG]

sootie · Oct 1, 2019

a drop in 71-73mm atmo and 59mm hp will give a significant bump in power, run cooler and smoke less. No need for extra fuel.

put new lifters in. for the 350.00 its cheap insurance.

White_monster · Oct 1, 2019

Nothing like a Precision 76mm into a 59mm vgt. Stock fuel it spools great and makes awesome power. Low egts too. Hit me up if your interested.

FourEyed · Oct 1, 2019

I will for sure take your advice on the lifters.. There's 30k on them, but might as well refresh.

Getting further into this it looks like there is a fair amount of oil in the cold side around the turbos. And the flange between them looks like it was leaking a ton there's soot everywhere.

Before spending a dime on the old ones I will just go with new. This might get expensive.. Lol

White_monster · Oct 1, 2019

FourEyed said:
I will for sure take your advice on the lifters.. There's 30k on them, but might as well refresh.

Getting further into this it looks like there is a fair amount of oil in the cold side around the turbos. And the flange between them looks like it was leaking a ton there's soot everywhere.

Before spending a dime on the old ones I will just go with new. This might get expensive.. Lol

Hit me up. I have some information on turbos you will like.

Connor M · Oct 2, 2019

Lol I did the same thing, rebuilt the top end and then lost the bottom end not too long after and should have done it all in one shot.

Your build plans look similar to mine but I'm not swaping fuel or air, just a better bottom end build.

FourEyed · Oct 2, 2019

Yeah I have looked through your thread a couple times.. Ignorance is costly.. There are many on here that have been there and done that with the older 6.4's.. That's why if someone tells me to do something now instead of later I listen. I made the mistake when I pulled the cab the first time.

Connor M · Oct 2, 2019

As the mechanic I just bought a block from said... "Spend 12 once or spend 10 twice"

FourEyed · Oct 3, 2019

Getting closer to having it out. I only have ~7-8 hrs into it to get to this point (I'm slow) .. But hoping to pull it Sunday. It took some time but it hasn't been extremely hard or anything to this point. I didn't even swear once yet, that's rare for me lol. Converter bolts were no sweat either.

20191001_202137 by Joe malucci, on Flickr

20191001_210145 by Joe malucci, on Flickr

Have about this much oil in all the boots through the cold side. Seals are starting to go.. Ehhh... Should replace the turbos I think. Something was leaking in the exhaust side too there's a lot of soot on top of the motor.

20191001_211409 by Joe malucci, on Flickr

FourEyed · Oct 4, 2019

Ended up doing a partial cab lift before attempting to pull the motor.. Tons of room now.

Trans is all disconnected, and motor is ready to come out. Waiting until I have some help before pulling the motor and trans.. If something lets loose on me no one would find me for days. lol.

6" cab lift.

[/url]20191003_202435 by Joe malucci, on Flickr[/IMG]

Plenty of room now.

[/url]20191003_202441 by Joe malucci, on Flickr[/IMG]

Connor M · Oct 6, 2019

Damn you work fast, mine has been sitting for over a month, nearing on almost two. I still haven't fully stripped my donor block. Hoping to knock out a lot next weekend and the week after when I'm off.

FourEyed · Oct 7, 2019

Got some time into it this weekend. Came out relatively easy, and I just did it myself. Confirmed #8 is cracked, and the cyl wall definitely needs a bore / cleanup.. I will get it stripped down the rest of the way and get it to the machine shop.

Found a broken stud on the turbo resulting in a leak at the driver side up pipe. This is probably where all the soot at the turbos came from. Also looks like my 30k mile Rudy's up pipes are leaking at the passenger side bellow. That sucks, now I need to spend more $ on up pipes... again.

Trying to decide what to do on some things. I get bit by the "while its apart" bug a lot. Truck ran fine other than piston, but debating replacing the following..

HPFP - Do I replace at 200k, or wait? filters have been religiously changed.
Water pump - Change it now?
Cam - Run stock or get a stage 2?

[/url]20191005_113920 by Joe malucci, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]20191005_114057 by Joe malucci, on Flickr[/IMG]

Broken stud and driver up pipe leak.

[/url]20191005_125251 by Joe malucci, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]20191005_133335 by Joe malucci, on Flickr[/IMG]

Looks like bellow is leaking

[/url]20191005_133345 by Joe malucci, on Flickr[/IMG]

The $10k+ Money shot.

[/url]20191006_154130 by Joe malucci, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]20191006_154949 by Joe malucci, on Flickr[/IMG]

Organized for later.. One more thing is 4 of the plastic rocker clips were broken and laying in the rocker box.. That design sucks for sure.

[/url]20191006_180524 by Joe malucci, on Flickr[/IMG]