[j.smith]

I'm looking into bulletproofing my 6.0. The truck is a '06 with 102,000 miles. I understand that there are certain parts of the bulletproof process that is absolutely necessary, but other parts might be for just added performance. I'm looking to do what is absolutely a must, for as cheap as I can. Under the hood, the truck is completely stock (cat delete, no tunes). New OEM injectors with about 10k miles on them, though. I rarely do much towing and if I do it is very light. The truck is my daily driver though so I want to do what I need to take care of it. I'm also getting prepared for a near 10k mile trip to Alaska. SO what is NECESSARY? I plan on doing an EGR delete, but if I'm not towing is the oil cooler and head studs really necessary? There is so much info out there on bulletproofing and I'm just looking for clarification.
Also, I do most of my own maintenance, but not sure if I'm comfortable with taking the engine apart so I will probably be paying someone to do it. Trying to keep the process budget friendly. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

[j.smith]

What is necessary in "bulletproofing"

This helps a lot. I always thought with this stuff it would be better to get started before anything fails, but what most of you are saying is wait till I see issues. And as far as I can tell everything is great right now. Original owner changed the oil about every 6k and took immaculate care of it.
I have the edge insight monitor to keep an eye on temperatures. I saw a decrease in EGTs when I cut the cad which was great. My EOT and ECT run around 180/90’s and if it’s a hot day the EOT will maybe get up to about 210. They always stay about 10 degrees of each other, unless I’m WOT pulling a hill or something and the EOT might spike closer to 15-18. But it comes back to about 10 degrees difference for most driving. I don’t have degas pressure yet (next on the list), and then the trans stays steady around 150, 160’s tops.

 

[j.smith]

If you have the money to tear it apart and do everything, its worth doing... But, there is no cheap way to do it unfortunately. As long as you keep on top of things that need to be done and you monitor the truck, you are going to know when its time to bite the bullet.



Ohh, and don't run anything other than stock or a tow tune...................

I was expecting to drop a couple $k but didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg right now. So I’ll wait till it proves it needs it! Would you even recommend doing an EGR delete at any point soon? I’m tune free! Don’t plan on running any tunes anytime soon. No need for it really