Cracked a Piston..need help on upgrades

[canada6.0]

Hey guys,

I have a 2008 F450 KR with 187,000km on it (little over 110k miles).

I bought the truck used last year and did the DPF/EGR delete, S&B intake and an H&S mini max, along with changed all my fluids, etc.

I have been religious with all my maintence and the truck has been reliable until two days ago.

I was merging onto the highway with my tuner on hot and noticed my truck started running rough.. I pulled over on the side of the highway and shut it down.
My mechanic just told me its a cracked piston, apparently he has done 4 of them in the last three weeks so its quite common.

I love this truck and don't want to change out but i do want to combat this breaking piston thing once and for all or else I will just get rid of the thing and might look into a gas truck.

I am planning on putting in:

Pistons:
Elite Diesel Heavy Duty or Rudys Ultimate pistons
- which one would you guys use and why?
- would you get the special coatings put on for the extra money?

Pushrods:
Elite Diesel Chromoly Stage1 or Stage2?
- which one would you do? Stage2 requires trimming the headgasket?

Head Studs:
Elite Diesel H11 or ARP?

Rings:
Zero Gap rings or stock ones?
Is it worth the extra money or should I stay stock?

I do enjoy the boost and playing with my truck occasionally, but this is primarily my daily driven race hauler (towing a 12,000lbs trailer 3 times a week).
The goal is to build a reliable daily driven bottom end that will sustain 700-800hp if I decide building my truck up later on.

Is there anything else I should be doing while i am in there?
Ideally I would love to do the Carillo rods as well but its not in the budget as this was an unexcepted build and I didn't really budget for it.

Thanks in advance guys!

[h1gg1n5]

subscribed... I'm interested in hearing suggestions as well.

[strokinpower]

I just cracked my #8 a few weeks ago. I just went back stock. What caused yours?

[canada6.0]

Originally Posted by strokinpower

I just cracked my #8 a few weeks ago. I just went back stock. What caused yours?

I'm not sure.. why but mine cracked number 8 as well.
Strange.. last year I hadn't heard of any of the 6.4s breaking pistons now everyone seems to be breaking pistons 2 and 8.
Is it just a coincidence thats its the EGR side that is cracking? (Mine has been deleted half its life so I am not sure of the correlation)

My mechanic had three 6.4s he was rebuilding when I stopped by there.
2 were cracked pistons and one was for a lifter that took out one of the lobes on the cam (?).

I love the power that these motors put out but why are they all falling apart now that they have some mileage on them?
My 6.0 gave me 600,000 out of it with no motor problems.

[strokinpower]

My injector hung open.