2003 ram 1500 5.7 hemi bad valve springs swap

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Schelling53

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Ram Year
2003
Engine
Hemi 5.7
I have been doing some searching and found that the 2003 and early 04 hemis are knownot for their bad valve springs. Mine has 135000 miles on it so I decided to swap the springs before I dropped a valve. To do this you will need a hemi valve springs compressor. I rented mine for $15 from ramairperformance. I replaced themy with melling spring part number vs-1450 which has the dampers on them. O'Reilly auto parts can order them but I bought mine from summit racing. I also opted to do new valve stem seals while I was at it. You will also need a torque wrench, 8mm deepwell, air pressure regulator, air hose with a spark plug thread end on it and a sizable air compressor. I used a compression tester hose and drilled the check valve out of the threaded end so I could push air through it.

To do this properly you will need to remove the air filter, inner fenders and the brake booster. I pulled the master cylinder off the booster and tied it up out of the way without taking the lines off and then removed the brake pedal pushrod under the dash an then remove the 4 nuts on the inside of the firewall. Honestly easier than it sounds. With all that out of the way you have easy access to both sides. Also obviously have to pull the coils off the valve covers and I just did one side at a time and set them up on top of the intake manifold. Grab a yellow paint marker or silver sharpie and number the coils and plugs before you remove them. Then you can pop the plastic wiring retainers off the valve cover studs and pull the valve covers. Once they are off the rocker assemblies are next just loosen and remove all 10 bolts and pull the assemblies out. The intake assembly has an I on each rocker arm. Then pull the pushrods out and lay them out in order that you removed them. The short ones are the intake and long ones are the exhaust. Next remove 1 spark plug from each cylinder.

You are now ready to pull the springs. Start on which ever cylinder you prefer and spin your air hose into it and then with the regulator set to 80psi connect your air hose and pressurize the cylinder to hold the valves out. Then bolt the spring compressor into rocker mounts. Tap the top of the spring with a small mallet to loosen the keepers before you compress the spring. Crank the nut down and grab a magnetic pickup tool to remove the keepers. Set them in a safe place and release the spring compressor. Then remove the spring and seal. The seal will pull right out with a pliers. Put the new seal on the spring on top of that and recompress it. Then the keepers go back on. I use a drop of engine oil inside the keeper to hold them to the valve stem while I release the spring.

All in all it was a relatively easy job but takes time and patience. I had about 10 hrs into it when I was done. I did all the intake valves from the top and the exhaust valves through the wheel well. Pics are attached.
 

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Schelling53

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2003
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Hemi 5.7
More pics
 

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Schelling53

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2003
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Hemi 5.7
The last picture you can see how much room the brake booster gets you. The torque sequence on the rockers is center then second forward second aft then forward and then aft. Torque spec is 195 inch pounds or 16.25foot pounds.
 

speedk1ng

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Were you able to replace the valve stem seals while you were in there replacing the springs?
 
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Schelling53

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Yes I was. Just pull them off with a pliers and slide the new ones on and tap them down with a deepwell and a mallet. I'm going to do a cam and lifters next month because I have a tapping noise on cylinder 7 or 8
 

speedk1ng

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Yes I was. Just pull them off with a pliers and slide the new ones on and tap them down with a deepwell and a mallet. I'm going to do a cam and lifters next month because I have a tapping noise on cylinder 7 or 8

Cool...who did you purchase your replacement valve springs and stem seals through?
 
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Schelling53

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2003
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Hemi 5.7
Springs are vs1450 from melling. Ordered them from summit racing and got the stem seals from O'Reilly for like $20. Cost me $120 to do what the dealer said would be 1500
 
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