Tried rebuilding a 6.0 Powerstroke with aftermarket studs instead of OEM head bolts

Helped a buddy do one two months ago over in Tyler. We followed every step by the book, torqued everything right. Thing ran smooth for maybe 3 weeks then started puking coolant at stoplights. Pulled the heads back off and found the studs had actually stretched. Never saw that before. I always thought aftermarket was better but I guess not always. The OEM head bolts held up fine on my old truck for 120k miles before I sold it. Has anyone else had aftermarket hardware fail on them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

thea_knight1d ago

Bet those studs were from a bad batch of chinese steel.

mark_nguyen951d ago

Were those studs from one of the cheap eBay kits or a known brand?