I used to think head studs were a waste of money until last month

I always figured factory bolts were good enough for the 6.0L Powerstroke builds I do on the side. A guy named Dave at the shop near Spokane kept telling me to switch to ARP studs but I blew him off. Last month I had a 2005 F-350 come back with a blown head gasket after just 8,000 miles on a fresh rebuild. Pulled it apart and found the stock bolts had stretched on cylinder 3. Now I'm kicking myself for the 15 extra hours of labor. Anyone else learn this lesson the hard way?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew_nguyen647d ago

Wait, the stock bolts actually stretched? On a 6.0L? Man, I've heard stories but never saw it myself until now. That's insane, 8,000 miles is nothing, those bolts should have held way longer than that. I always thought head studs were overkill too, just figured the factory torque specs were fine if you replaced them fresh. But seeing that cylinder 3 stretch really changes my mind, that's a known hot spot on those engines too. Guess I owe an apology to every diesel mechanic who told me I was being cheap. Thanks for posting this, seriously, probably saved me a real headache down the road.

nelson.michael5d ago

...wait, 8,000 miles? That's barely broken in. I figured you'd get at least 30,000 out of them before even thinking about issues. Man, that's rough.