First thanks everyone for posting your experiences with these trucks you have saved my family and I alot of money.
Anyway my head gaskets went at 51,000 pulling a camper. Ford fixed it for me but them putting studs in too wasn't happening. So after doing lots of research I decided to change the bolts to arp 2000 studs without taking the heads off.
I did not lift the cab or have to jack the engine up or let it down. However,.. It was hard to get to. For some reason I thought you had to replace the short head bolts under the Intake Runner. Yet when I got the studs there were no short bolts. After looking at the factory torque sequence you can tell that the small bolts are not meant for holding cylinder pressure. This makes this job ALOT easier. Because of this the intake stayed in place.
I also was unclear about how much torque the original bolts were under. (65 and 85 plus 3/4 turn) As I took them loose I screwed my torque wrench up until it stopped clicking at 155 to 160 ft/lbs. Imagine how much more the head gaskets are being squashed by torquing to 245! These studs are awesome, once they start to get tight it only takes a little more to get to 245. They don't stretch at all!
The driver side valve cover was pretty easy to get to. I would closely inspect the wiring harness as part of it was rubbing through on a sensor in the intake runner. I started with the first bolt in the torque sequence and went ahead and torqued up to 245. ARP says to torque in three equal steps and the original bolts were already up to 160 so I figured ***. The lower rear bolt in the back just shaves the firewall and is hard to get out. The stud drops right in though. Drivers side was pretty easy.
The passenger side is a different story. The airbox cover had to be removed as I had read. This still did not help. The A/C evaporator had to be moved. After alot of grunting it will move out of the way without disconnecting and losing the freon charge. This makes the job more interesting. The lower rear bolt still hits the plastic duct framework mounted on the firewall. You should be able to see this from underneath. I could not see where lowering or raising the engine would help at all. The cab would need to move up about 6-8". So I got out my sawzall and notched the plastic piece out so the bolt would come right out. Much easier. I was able to put the same piece back with two small bolts, four washers and some silicone. All it does is guide the air from the fan to the air outlets inside. Maybe my truck was a little different but moving the engine forward 1 inch would have helped more than up or down.
It all went back together pretty good, I replaced the oil rail plugs on each side as a $30 precaution. I would recommend a name brand torque wrench and a strong arm, friend or cheater because 245 ft/lbs in tight places is not easy to put out.
It was hard to start for the first few times. I assume this was from changing the oil plugs and getting air in the rails. Everything runs good so far, I pulled my camper today and I still have all the antifreeze I left with. I think my head Gasket problems are over.
I'm going to swap my fathers bolts out soon. His head gasket is in good shape but has 85,000 miles. I'm not too worried about "unseating" the seal. There are guys on VW turbodiesel sites having similiar problems and they are fixing LEAKING head gaskets with ARP studs! The factory bolts remind me of all-thread. Why put threads 3 inches on the bolt when you only need a little more than 1 Inch?
As far as chasing the threads in the block I didn't do it. The ford tech may have, but I doubt it. The bolt holes don't go into the water jacket like some engines and I think this keeps the threads cleaner. They all came out with oil on them. There is plenty of slop in the threads to squeeze the oil in the bottom of the hole out as you snug the studs with an allen wrench.
I did this with the full knowledge that if it didn't work I had the ability and time to take off the heads. This probably took around 8 hours but would be faster a second time. You will need lots of different length extensions, short and deep 18MM six points and short and deep 11/16" 12 pointers for the stud nuts.
Hope this helps someone as you have all helped me!
ARP Studs without head removal finished
Linear Mode
