Studs without gaskets...what would you do?

[jonnyjeeps]

So i got my truck back from the dealer last week, they replaced the egr cooler, head gaskets, rebuilt hpop, New orings for injectors and a battery all under warranty which is out in 3 months. So its just in the nick of time and im happy about it.
The problem is i asked if they would stud the heads and they refused.
I know its not a good idea to change the bolts out for studs normally, but
what i all this work was just done?
What do you think, should i put the studs in one at a time?

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by jonnyjeeps

So i got my truck back from the dealer last week, they replaced the egr cooler, head gaskets, rebuilt hpop, New orings for injectors and a battery all under warranty which is out in 3 months. So its just in the nick of time and im happy about it.
The problem is i asked if they would stud the heads and they refused.
I know its not a good idea to change the bolts out for studs normally, but
what i all this work was just done?
What do you think, should i put the studs in one at a time?

Yes it can be done, but I don't recommend it... theres always a chance someting can move without you seeing it.

[mustangman02232]

just do one at a time and you should be all set since they were just done.

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by mustangman02232

just do one at a time and you should be all set since they were just done.

I'm highly against this....

[jonnyjeeps]

Ok so i know all the worries about the gaskets, that said if there was
ever a ok time to do this isnt it now.
Assuming the current set up will go another 85k
how many miles could one reasonably expect if you did the studs one at
a time in the worst case scenario, or best?
I should also mention i have been a non diesel mechanic for 8 years and i
am having a hard time convincing myself that this is a bad idea

[kingranch89]

i have heard of plenty of people being succesful doing them one at a time why not give it a shot if you know what your doing

[ianstew]

I beleive the worst thing that could happen is you'd end up having to pull the heads and do it over again. People have done it, and it's worked, but people have also done it and it hasn't worked and they ended up having to re do it, pulling the heads and repalcing the gaskets.

I guess if there were a better time to do it, now would be the time, since it has fresh gaskets on. If the gaskets are new, and they ensured no head warpage, then I say go for it. I would.

[mrnecsteve]

If I were doing it on my own truck,(I am a risk taker )
I would do it as follows on my own truck.
1 find the torque up bolt pattern and reverse it.
2 Loosen each bolt incrementally about 10-20 percent of max torque value (engine cold with no coolent pressure
3 Do again but stop at about 50 percent.Remove the batterie connectors so that the engine is not going to crank under any circumstance
4 Using the stud procedure start swapping one at a time,using the normally specified bolt pattern.

As the gaskets were probably replaced using the new head bolt specs and I dont plan to mod my engine ...I would probably not even mess with them in the first place,but instead pay more attention to keeping the oil cooler/egr system flushed and cleaned on a regular basis.(or disabled)

[melmount]

what year do you have? 03 an 04 original head gaskets had less plies. I think they went from 3 to 5. If you have an 05 up you most likely got the same stuff back.

[jonnyjeeps]

Its an 05 i dont know which parts were used i could look if it helps