Stripped a head bolt on a 6.0 Powerstroke in a parking lot outside Tulsa back in 2018

I was doing a buddy a favor fixing his work truck in a Walmart lot. The bolt just gave out at 130 ft-lbs and I had no tap and die set with me. Had to drive 45 minutes to the nearest NAPA and buy a thread chaser kit. That one mistake added 3 hours to what should have been a 2 hour job. Now I never leave home without a full tap and die set in my service truck. Anyone else learned the hard way to bring extra tools on a simple job?

2 comments

2 Comments

michael8031d ago

You mentioned the bolt gave out at 130 ft-lbs, but that's actually a little high for a head bolt on a 6.0 Powerstroke. The spec is usually around 90 ft-lbs for the initial pass, then 180 degrees of turning after that, not a straight torque number. You might have been over torqueing it by a good bit if you went straight to 130 ft-lbs without the angle turn. The bolts stretch a certain amount, so just cranking them down to a set number can lead to breaking one if the threads are dirty or the bolt is old. I've seen guys snap them at lower torque than that just from not cleaning the holes good enough. Still sucks you had to drive all that way to NAPA, but at least you got the kit and learned the lesson.

gibson.troy1d ago

Nah bro, TTY bolts need that angle turn for sure.