Can anyone give me a tip on how to remove the rear turbo pedestal bolt on a 2003 6 liter. Cab is in place, and for the life of me, I cannot see how to get a wrench on it. I came in over the output tube, from the passenger side, and got a ratchet on it, but no room to turn it. No can do from the drivers side. Any suggestions? Am doing my EGR delete, and gotta get the turbo off.

thanks in advance.
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Somewhere on here I read "walk away when you get frustrated". So far I've done more walking away than wrenching today. The difficulty I am having with this one bolt is getting it to brake loose with the the tiny amount of leverage I am able to bring to bare on the problem. I can get a standard 3/8" drive ratchet on it, but only have about 5 degrees of movement, and no way to put any pressure on it. A box wrench will fit in there, but once again, only the short ones. I read where someone on here claimed to be able to do it with a 1/4" drive ratchet. Tried that too. Same thing, no leverage. Darn thing just won't break loose. Doesn't look like it can be reached from a creeper below, either. Triflo is all over this and other bolts to see if they can be coaxed off.

Any suggestions?
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10mm 6 pt wrench, a 36" long pipe and a hammer, a second set of hands.

put the wrench on the bolt, line the pipe up with the end of the wrench and have someone wack the other end of the pipe with the hammer. also the pipe will go in from the passanger side,O ya watch your fingers.

 

Yes. That is effectively how I did it, except no second set of hands, and no pipe. I put a larger longer open end wrench up against the oped end of the 10mm, which came uot into an accessible point just above the turbo, and gave it one whack, very carefully. Popped it loose. Thanks for the input. Now if you'll excuse me, I must go see the chiropractor. Clearly engine work on these trucks was intended to be done with the cab off. Just out of curiosity, how long doe is take to lift the cab in an appropriately equipped facility?
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I have yet to find a practical reason to lift a cab on a 6.0. the engine can be on the ground in 4 hours, or heads off in frame in less then 5.

 

It took me over 2 hours to get that same bolt off. LOTS of cussing, beer, and little patience is what it took for me.

 

and I have a time stamped photo from Cheezit to prove it!!!!!

 

I have used this wrench at work when changing turbos and have never really had a problem.

 

If you have an E series van, that bolt would be the easy one

 

When I did my work I removed the radiator and fan/stator assembly. After this stuff is removed you can stand in there between the motor and front grill... of course this depends on how big you are....

 

I am headed for the the intercooler, so taking the radiator out has to happen. Putting on the crank case vent filter, and want to clean out all of the old oil. I think I'll do that next.


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You can get all of the head bolts out without having the cab off, or removing the engine?

 

Spray it with penetrating oil at least a few hours before, I did the day before. Use a 6 pt wrench or 6 point socket if you have room. I was laying on the engine with an arm around each side of the turbo, put the wrench in and got it seated with my left arm on passenger side, then did the grunt work with my right hand stuffed through a small space on the driver's side. Done it twice this way, first time used a wrench, second time used a socket, either way be sure it's a 6-point so you don't round off the bolt head.

 

That is how i removed mine.

 

After having done it both ways I found it was a lot easier to do heads cab off in frame than pulling the motor (unless you have more work to do to the engine internals). I have a Ford Tech friend of mine that has done a set of heads in 6.5 hours (he averages 8) and that's from pulling it in the bay to driving it out. That's at a dealership (and verified). He's done over 500 6.0 head gasket jobs since they've been out.

I realize that it's a personal preference for everyone and MOST people don't have a way to remove a cab.

Do you remove the whole front end to get the motor out cause engine on the ground in 4 hours is definitely smoking fast.


To the original subject: Aren't flexhead ratchet wrenches invaluable for working on one of these trucks? I wonder how we got along all these years without them.