Humor me

[6speedsd]

So I got to thinking last night (not sure if that's a good thing or not). If a truck has had HG done once before before you purchased said truck, who's to say that the max hasn't already been milled off that set of heads? I mean basically it's a crap shoot if you ever want to get them decked as to if you'll even be able to again, or if they are nothing more than an expensive boat anchor.

What got me to thinking... Mine had the HG replaced at a dealer at roughly 78,000 miles, before I bought the truck. I now have 155,000 on it. Considering pulling the heads later this year and studding it. Hasn't shown any signs of having blown HG...just preventing the inevitable. I started thinking about the fact that it's been done once before, and that once I have them off, they may not even be reusable because they've already had the max amount if material taken off.

Another thought (and forgive me if this is a dumb thought), was what are the odds that they are still flat currently, considering the gaskets are uncompromised at this time. Is it possible to get THAT lucky?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Magnum PD]

Can you just stud it now?

 

[msmith]

^^^Good question. Subbed

 

[6speedsd]

Can I buy studs now? Yes. Can I afford to have heads machined and/or replaced because too much material has already been taken off? No! lol

I don't have much income in the winter mths... that's why I was considering doing this later this year after I save up for it during the summer.

Just pondering what my odds are that they are still "machinable" or even that they could still be flat and not need machining. That's why I mentioned possibly being a bad thing that I started thinking too much last night! :blah:

 

[Magnum PD]

I'm not a 6.0 guy, but stud it while you got a good seal.

 

[06_Whitebull]

I'll ask the guy who built my heads....he does a couple hundred a year so if anyone knows he does...

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's a crap shoot in your case.

 

[6speedsd]

Considered it, but I'm not doing the "1 at a time" deal without removing the heads. But on the flip side, I don't want to remove the heads, stud it, then reinstall without at least having them checked. Here lies my issue... if I have them checked, and they need machining, then what? Or if they need machining, but can't take more material off without them being trash. Same scenario. The funds aren't there for that right now. I'd hate to go to the work of pulling heads, only to reinstall without having them checked. Makes no sense to me to do that. That's why I am considering doing it later this year.

But again, I'm mainly just thinking out loud. And really curious if there's a possibility they are still flat from the previous machining. That's my main question here for all the guys that know these things.

 

[6speedsd]

I'll ask the guy who built my heads....he does a couple hundred a year so if anyone knows he does...

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's a crap shoot in your case.

Thank you sir.

 

[Cak301]

If the original head job was done at a dealer I would say there is about a 99.9% chance that nothing was milled off when they did it.

 

[6speedsd]

Really? Well that's not very encouraging! But then again, most dealers around here do shoddy work, so who knows.

 

[6speedsd]

Then what's kept it from blowing again in the past 70,000ish miles? Pure luck?

 

[mustube]

Not sure how good the records kept by dealers are but you could ask whichever dealer did the work for a copy of the paperwork on it. If you don't know who did it, an oasis report should point you in the right direction.

 

[Magnum PD]

Stock studs now right?

 

[Cak301]

That's kinda my point. Most of the dealers I know of don't take the time to do a head job correctly. It's all about turn and burn. They put a straight edge of them and if they are within the Ford specs they put them back on even if they aren't perfectly flat. I don't think it really has anything to do with the mechanic it's just the nature of the dealership world.

 

[backwoodsboy]

IMO it's a crap-shoot.
My experience with 6.0 heads is that even with remans direct from FoMoCo you have a 90% chance of needed them machined again, and a 50% chance that the heads no longer have enough material to deck properly.

 

[Mwilbur516]

If the original head job was done at a dealer I would say there is about a 99.9% chance that nothing was milled off when they did it.

You are 100% accurate with this statement. They don't typically check for cracks and rarely, very rarely ( unless paid for by the customer) have them machined.

That's kinda my point. Most of the dealers I know of don't take the time to do a head job correctly. It's all about turn and burn. They put a straight edge of them and if they are within the Ford specs they put them back on even if they aren't perfectly flat. I don't think it really has anything to do with the mechanic it's just the nature of the dealership world.

Again, this dude is on the money. 100%true. Even if the mechanic wanted too, the dealer isn't going to waste any time/money they don't have to. They're betting in it getting outta warranty and you either paying to do the job again or trading it in on a new one.

IMO it's a crap-shoot.
My experience with 6.0 heads is that even with remans direct from FoMoCo you have a 90% chance of needed them machined again, and a 50% chance that the heads no longer have enough material to deck properly.

Another absolutely excellent post. This guy is about as accurate as he could possibly be as well.

OP, listen to these guys. They obviously know what they're talking about.


Sent from my BNTV400 using Tapatalk

 

[6speedsd]

Yes, stock TTY bolts currently.

I have the Oasis on the truck. That's how I knew the work had been done. EGR blew at 72k, HG replaced at 77k. Only showed 23.3 labor hours on the job. Only stated that the HG were replaced.

 

[Mwilbur516]

My advice is have your heads checked. Magnaflux them and pressure test. Do a valve job and install new guides. Then, have tnem o-ringed. If done correctly by a good machinest, you'll have a set of heads that will seal for the long haul. Use OEM or equivalent gaskets (I hear good things about the RCD gaskets) and don't run stupid timing in your tunes.

Sent from my BNTV400 using Tapatalk

 

[6speedsd]

Oh I'm listening... trust me on that.

 

[6speedsd]

What's a typical price now for having heads worked over? No machine shops local to me any more. Back in the day there were tons of them, but they've all closed up shop. Talked to a fellow member briefly the other day about it and he used a shop about 4hrs from me, but said they charged over $900, which seems high to me, but I have nothing to compare that to.

Probably not the easiest thing, or most cost effective, to ship a set to someone that's not local huh?