Changing Exhaust Manifolds

[Stanbery]

Does anyone have any tips on removing the exhaust manifold bolts? I just talked a buddy of mine into getting an ATS manifold since his cracked. My truck came with the manifold on it, so I didn't have to take the bolts out. Aside from the obvious penetrating oil, im not sure what to do here.

 

[dpuckett]

When I got my head examined, the guy at the macine shop knew about the brittleness of the bolts, and hit them with penetrating oil (wasnt PB, but something similar, maybe Penetro90). He then took a drift punch and placed it on the head of each bolt, hitting the drift a goodly whack with a hammer in the 5-8# range. Then let it sit a minute or two, and they all came right out with an impact. I was impressed, to say the least. It had shrunk about 1/8in overall, and I was sure the bolts on the end would break as soon as they turned 45deg.



Daniel

 

[bgilbert]

Soak them with PB for as long as you can/want. I think I let mine soak overnight and got lucky, all of them came out with no breakage. Wish I could've said the same about putting ATS's allen bolts back in. Got one cross threaded and broke it off in the head#@$%! .

 

[Stanbery]

We're going to attempt it this saturday. A service guy at the local diesel shop said to heat the bolts up, then spray the heads of them with cold water and that would break them free. Sometimes I just don't trust the people around here, that sounds a bit risky

 

[MMiller]

I've had mine out twice. Both times I used a 3/8" impact and they came right out. Penetrating oil is a good idea, and thats about all I would do. I would use an impact as the "beating" it makes help loosen them up, as opposed to a breaker bar, ratchet or end wrench. Tap the threads, and I always put new bolts in from Cummins, I will never reuse them.



Michael

 

[TWorline]

I am tearing a 8. 3 Cummins down at work and it actually has stainless bolts in the exhaust manifold, not sure if this is factory or not but it is not a bad ideal.