Keith Browning

I have used those and the Knipex. The Snap-On set in the pic does work though but I have trouble using them and the Knipex seemed much easier to spread the rings.

I am barely pulling it off. Wifey has been looking for part time work and even that is hard to do. Recovering economy my ass! She almost had one job, didn't get it cause she does not speak Spanish. WTF!

For the front 4X4 shaft axle shaft snap rings - those rings are pretty stout! What is the best set of pliers? Or better yet, if you have an awesome set that works really well, what brand and what is the tool number? I broke my old Snap-On pliers some time ago but I struggled with them mostly because they were not necessarily the right size for the application. Since money has been tight I have been borrowing pliers from several guys. I can buy a set now and having tried a few am sure I like the Knipex best as they seem to require less effort. Cant figure out the tool number though. What say you?

Hah. I have no use for a truck. Beside that I am broke. You know, 1 income, wife, kids, cats, mortgage, food...

Just finished servicing a 2006 F350 that came from California. NO RUST. 86000, well kept and the owner is considering trading it in.

Awesome!

I have been busy for the last month or so... knock on wood. Plus, I now have coworkers creating work for me too.

I am thinking you need to find documentation for a customer as proof of or justification for a proper repair; long block. I am not aware of any such documentation but that does not mean it does not exist. My suggestion is to contact the Hot-Line with your diagnosis and findings and take their response as your documentation. We have discussed this several times here and there are also pictures. Go to the search bar above and type in "standpipe" select forums and click search to fond the discussions. In essence, the standpipes melt at a temperature of around 350*F which generally means that no matter what the overheating was caused by, the engine was severely overheated and damaged by the heat. The melted standpipe plastic WILL find its way into all of the oil passages making cleaning and repairing nearly impossible in a shop. If you do find documentation, please post it here but regardless, I suggest contacting the Hot-Line anyway.

I am glad to see the updated fittings as well.

Forget notifications and listings. Again I find myself asking WHY Ford doesn't simply include the parts required to install the turbo in the box WITH the turbo. All that aside, thank you for posting this Steve.

Glad I am not the only one seeing this. Thought I was just a whiner!

I am finding more and more that the IQA stickers that come with the 6.7L injectors are smudged before even opening the bag. They place the injector and the sticker in the same bubble wrap bag. While not wet, there seems to be some assembly lube or calibration oil on the injectors. My thought is that to begin with the IQA number is printed with ink that is not permanent. This affects only the serial number and the IQA number printed after the sticker was made. Makes the whole process pointless. Don't wipe the stickers either... you will wipe the numbers right off! I always have recorded the IQA numbers directly from the injector and written them on the repair order. At least I have an accurate record that way.

I found several on an LCF that was getting a repeat replacement of injectors because he refused to replace the fuel tank the first time. As I recall, the injectors looked very similar to these. Not sure if they were leaking.

Used our shop's today. Works well as expected. A Google search shows that you can find one in the $75 range.

Could have been a bad edge on the cups?

I did that once. Thought I did it a second time but it turns out I forgot to install one of the oil cooler adapter seals... and it was in a van.

Are you using an air tool or running them down by hand?

Ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law.

Kinda makes torqing down the manifold a little difficult, eh? Not to mention strange.

You do have a point Jeff. Trucks I see in the shop I have no idea what maintenance has been done or when, UNLESS it is a regular customer that has service records in the history section of our repair orders. I can make recommendations based on my vehicle inspection or as required to accompany particular repairs. .

Jim would have been all over this. When I read the term "Stealership" it makes my blood boil as this kind of thing is an INDUSTRY-WIDE problem. If I had a nickel for every truck that came in that a local shop threw hundreds of dollars worth in parts at and only God knows how much labor... annnnnd its still not fixed. Hence why it is now at my doorstep. Adding insult to injury, when its all diagnosed and repaired and the bill is presented the customer gives us shit about how much money it cost them to fix it. Did I Mention that the truck was elsewhere first? Same thing goes for the clowns on the Internet forums. They will trust a bunch of armchair mechanics sitting in their living rooms in their underwear surfing the internet before trusting someone with the skills, resources and ability to accurately diagnose and repair their trucks. Dealership or independent is irrelevant as far as I am concerned. Kills me. We are the stewards of our profession. As for the rest of your story, where do I begin? Did your shop "forget or neglect" to recommend plugs? Was it supposed to be done and wasn't? Was is recommended and the customer declined the service? I am thinking that service invoices MUST itemize things like labor rates, times and parts details. I would be questioning that as well.

Should send Ford a condolence card. I recommend Hallmark.

A few months back I was informed that my NMT for the Transit was cancelled, didn't think too much of it and was put back on the wait list. Fast forward to today and a coworker mentioned that Yonkers is no longer listed in the training center locations and as a matter of fact, we looked and there is no training center listed for the New York zone AT ALL. Has anyone heard anything on this? Did something happen to John Clark? Are they simply in the process of moving?

Anybody see strange failures with the front axle assemblies? I just finished up a 2012 F550 where the ring gear bolts were never torqued. All of them backed out and a few scraped up the case and broke out taking out the gear set. Took 58,000 miles to break. My companion in the shop was telling me he had a truck where the differential bearing caps were MISSING. We have also seen missing front axle universal joints missing the retaining clips causing u-joint failure. Not what I have come to expect after all these years.