Soon I'll be doing this repair to my truck. My question to those that have done it is. Do I have to take apart the cylinder head or can I leave it alone?. I think only the rocker shaft has to be removed right? Also how hard of a job is it?

 

Some take off each head, and send the out to a machine shop to be checked or skimmed (flatness spec is .002 inch, your printer paper is about .0038). The shop can handle valve seals for you, they come in the HG kit. The kit is about $300, the shop is about $200.

 

To get the heads off you only need to remove the head bolts and the rocker shaft. You also need to remove the push rods and be sure to store them in the order they came out. If you are just putting a new gasket on then you don't need to tear down the head but if you are also replacing the valve stem seals then you will need to break down the head to do that. To do the job right you really should take your heads to get resurfaced and they can also do your valve stem seals for you so you don't have to worry about it.

 

Lets say I'm not gonna send off the heads, and just replace the HG. What seals can I reuse or should I replace them. Not looking foward to send off the heads.

Forgot, I need to replace the old bolts...ugh! this set for $200

 

With the heads off you can do the valve seals, borrow tool from parts store. It is more of an adventure to do them with head on the engine ( a variety of old dog tricks to do it). You can also test for flatness with a good straight edge and a feeler gauge. Or call around and see what a shop would charge just to check for flatness. But beware of Bubba and the belt sander...

 

Get a hold of Will Tillery he can send you redone heads and gasket kit for $510 you jut have to send your old heads back wit a label provided.

Don't spend time on doing head gaskets and not have heads done. Just a waste of time. Doing valve stem seals isn't fun either. Just get them from Will

 

So I'm going to send the heads out to the shop, resurface and replace seals for $200.

I got the head gasket kit I posted earlier.

Question- I think my oil pump gasket/seal needs to be replaced(leaks from the front of engine). I've yet to check what else I needs to removed. What am I in for?( parts to remove)

Thanks for your time.