very well put and RIGHT ON NEAL!!!

 

Neal.
You obviously have no idea of what's involved in pulling the cab.
Or even seen it done.
Just because it does not conform to your ideas of normalcy, does not mean people that do it are"morons".
"There is more than one way to skin a cat".

 

Home skillet



NEAL could pull his truck apart and put it back to gether befor you could figer out where the dip stick is in a 5-speed !!!!!!!!!


if you ever talk to neal you will see why i say that

 

Well sit down and think about this Mr. Expert...aka Neal.

The only thing that needs to be disconnected are those things that are connected to the engine or frame. You are looking at disconnecting the steering shaft from the column, main brake lines off the master cylinder, shift linkage, throttle cable, wiring harness(s). And they probably just pull the A/C compressor off the engine so that those components stay with the cab. Then the main bolts holding things on. Obviously there are some things that I am missing but they are fairly minor.

Fenders, grill and the like are connected and come off with the cab. I have personally seen an Expedition in the shop with the entire body off. I was interviewing for a part time non certified mechanics position. Just doing oil changes and the like. BTW I know my way around a shop and can do anything from A/C work, engine rebuilds, welding, to reconditioning an entire combine. I have been turning wrenches on the farm since I was a kid. Anyways...on this Expy the only thing up front that was in place was the bumper which is bolted to the frame. Everything else was up in the air.

Neal, just because you have 2000+ posts doesnt mean you are an expert and everyone should just bow down and kiss your a$$. It just means you spend WAY too much time on the net and like to pretend you are the authority on everything. Home Skillet might know just as much if not more than you...but hes just a "junior member" so he must not count. BTW Im not really all that impressed with your 14.52 or whatever the heck it is time. Sure its fast but not that fast, besides i could really care less.

Maybe Im being harsh...Ive had a rotten day, just had a fight with the sig. other during her time of the month and you are pushing my buttons. Nuff said. Sorry if I have offended anyone. I just needed a vent. Time to zip up my flame-resistant suit.

 

For what it's worth, who ever said that he was replacing HEAD gaskets?? I do believe that if memory serves me, he said VALVE cover gaskets, BIG difference. Wait... somethings coming to me here.... Ok, that's what I was thinking it said.

 

And if the dealer needs to remove the cab for a valve cover gasket, how much do you think that will cost the customer? That is scarey.

 

I checked with a local dealer after posting this question, just to see for myself. The dealer told me that FORD "requires" them to lift the cab if they have the ability.. (in which he said they have special tools, and showed them to me.) There was a '97 or newer pick-up with it's cab off when I was in the garage. The mechanics said it takes less time, and the engine is so much easier to access. They have this down to an art at this particular dealership. They said they laughed at first at how bizaare it sounded when they first had to do it, but mow think it is a much easier and more practical way.

 

HI!... HOME SKILLET/ MN4X4 : Obviously you don't know my back ground. I was and still am a licenced mechanic, worked at 2 FORD dealerships and 4 smaller garages. I have since gone into construction, because the money IS WAY better. I have probably rebuilt more engines in my life then you 2 together have seen, from motorcycle engines, to my 625H.P PRO STREET RANGER 408 to my new 715H.P 408. I have built tubed chassis cars from the ground up and restored cars from the ground up. I've also probably worked on and been behind more H.P then you both have. So get your info straight before you make yourselves look like idiots, which you currently do. I'm here on this site to share my knowledge and experiences with some fellow members to help them out. If the search function was working, you could go through my posts and see that 90% of my posts are helping fellow members out and trying to make the job at hand easier for them. I never said I KNOW EVERYTHING, I'm here to help out fellow F-150'ers. By the way MN4X4 : I could'nt give a rats @ss if you think my truck is fast or not. It's only my tow vehicle. I have a much FASTER PRO STREET RANGER. Sure a 14.52E.T is nothing spiecal for a car, but for a 4500LBD truck that is still N/A, it holds it's own. I don't see any other N/A F-150's on this site doing those times, do you? If you do send them my way, I sure would like to meet them and see their trucks. Just for a laugh, I printed out this post and brought it to my FORD dealer, which I worked for for 3 years. I had to pick up some new gas struts for my hood anyways. I showed the thread to the service manager and 4 mechanics. 2 of them my buddies. They laughed their @ss's off!!!! Even the service manager said that they have done over 200 head gasket replacements in the last 3 years and never EVER had to lift a cab or body off. He said if they had to do that they would be bankrupt by now!LOL! He told me there was only once that they ever had to lift a cab off a F-150 and that was because one of the head bolts actually snapped off in the block. They wanted to see if they could get it out without removing the engine but ended up pulling it anyway. He told me they tried lifting up the cab all in one piece and they did. But it took forever and the customer came back several times because of squeeks and such. Also when they lifted it with the fenders ON, the inner fenders got bent slightly from the weight of the front end. This caused the truck to be sent off to the body shop after it was all done for fitment problems.So stick to what you think, and I stick to what I know, O.K? THANKYOU.

 

Yo!

You guys need to settle down! Set the coffee down and slowly back away...

Out of curiosity, I polled a few Ford dealers in my area (Bay Area, Ca), and guess what, I was told that Ford requires properly equiped shops to pull the cab. By require I (and Ford) mean for warranty work. If it is at the owners cost I am certain that they don't really give two hoots how they do it.

I kinda gotta side with everyone else, Neal. The fact that you can't just say that there are probably multiple ways of doing it, instead you say that it is totally wrong, period, makes you sound like a "know it all".

Anyway, it seems to me that no one has answered the guys question, so here goes:

If it is under warranty, I wouldn't worry about it. If your neighbor has to cover the cost I would get estimetes for doing it both ways.

just my $0.02

 

Hey Neal...

Well I just talked to a good friend of mine who just happens to be a Ford mechanic. They pull cabs all the time to do work like this. It is just easier for them to do...and they dont have any problems like you mentioned. And he said that every other dealer who has the capability does so because that is what Ford recommends. That is the same answer others here have been giving, except for you. You are outnumbered...could it be that you are wrong???

Yes Neal I will admit that you are helpful in other posts that I have seen. But you just come off way too much as a know it all as seen in previous posts in this thread. It seems that you are unwilling to accept anybody else's opinion/answer other than your own.

 

HI!... You guys can THINK I'm a know it all, all you want. I don't really care. It seems that you guys are all getting upset because "I" don't agree with you. All I know is that 4 of my friends have had head gaskets replaced on their F-150's and "NONE" of them have had the CAB pulled off to do it. I just ran this thread past my brother that has been a mechanic for 15 years. He laughed his @ss off as well. I was just stating my opinion, it's still a free country is'nt it? LOL! Well at least CANADA still is I don't know about where you guys live. Remind me never to have engine work done at a U.S dealership. All I know is that I am planning on installing a set of "P.I" fully ported/polished heads on my truck in the late summer early fall. I will be doing this myself WITH THE CAB ON! I predict half the time your dealers would take to do it. I don't have to admit I'm wrong, I'm not. Just because some people don't agree with me, does'nt mean I'M wrong. Just like the people that told me that I would never get my F-150 to run 14's. Been there done that! Now I get one's that say I can't go 13's N/A. Going to be there this summer. I'm done with this thread now because you guys are just getting STUPID! If threads like this is what makes your lives interesting then you need to get out more. OH well I got to go, I have other members to give a hand to, bye!LOL!

 

Highly intellectual person, I see.
How come everyone "laughs their a$$ off"?

 

head gasket - cab on or cab off? = can be done either way, personally I've only done and only seen it done with the cab on, and I would never try taking the cab off as ford doesn't pay enought for me to risk trying a new way, but I've heard of guy's who do pull the cab and say that its easier and quicker (i'd lilke to see how long it actually takes them, as some people like to say they are quicker than what they actually are)

Its just like doing an engine in a windstar - do you drop the whole subframe or do you take it out the top? its the techs call, I take them out the bottom and I like it that way so I've never tried to take it out the top - can be done either way

I don't laugh at the guys who pull the cab or take the engine out the top, but i would laugh at the guy who pulls the cab to change a valve cover gasket

 

I took a look in my Ford factory service manual on cd. In the instructions for valve cover gaskets there is no mention of removing the cab. Is this something new? Is it documented some where that Ford requires this? I would like to see if it is. The instructions seem pretty straight forward. It doesn't look all that difficult.
I also looked at what holds the cab on. It's quite a bit more than a few bolts.

 

I used to think the missionary position was best but after years of training I learned there can be more than one way to do any job and still have the same satisfying outcome.