1500 Sport 4wd manifold stud replacement sucks!

[Ken226]

I used to own the 2wd version of this truck, and replacing the manifold studs wasn't that bad. I did it twice on that truck.

Put it up on jackstands, remove wheels, remove wheel liners, remove engine oil dipstick tube, then remove heat shields and manifolds.

About 15 minutes center punching, drilling and ez-outing the broke studs.

Re-assemble.


Well, i did my 4x4 today. The passenger side was just like the 2wd truck. No prob

The driver side was fu@king horrible. The dipstick tube is impossible to remove without either cutting off the lower bracket, torching a chunk out of the motor/front diff mount or removing the motor.

The d/s engine mount doubles as the front diff mount, and covers the dipstick tube mounting screw. The screw, if you nimble enough to fish a wrench through a gauntlet of wires and tiny spaces to reach it, will thread out about 2 turns before it hits the bracket. The dipstick aint coming out!!

I had to remove the exhast y-pipe, which means removing 4 rust seized in oxygen sensors, and 2 rust seized u-bolt nuts. Then fighting, banging and ******* cursing to get the thing out of the way so thst i could fish the d/s exhaust manifold and heat shield out, rearward and down, alongside the transmission.

Anyone find a better way on the 4wd trucks?

 

[R.L.K.]

Damn !

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[JB1]

Damn that sounds like a hassle

 

[bassheadhemi]

i had to undo the engine mount on the driver side and then slightly lift the engine to get acces to the dipstick bolt. lost a good 5-6 hours because of this when installing my longtubes

Sent from my SM-N950W using Tapatalk

 

[crazykid1994]

Hopefully mine goes inside of warranty... if it does go. I’ve got a 2017 4wd with just over 15000 miles so far and I’m hoping I make it till after warranty to swap in some long tubes.

 

[VB712]

I paid someone to install my long tubes haha

 

[BWL]

After doing both sides on my old F150 I paid someone to replace the one that failed on my Ram. They change them all the time so they do them quick (took them 2 hours to do mine) had a leisurely lunch and a short walk and it was back on the road vs me spending a long day skinning knuckles, cursing and wishing I had taken it in. Passenger side went at around 140,000 km. Drivers side is still good at 255,000

 

[meedom]

Ken226, how many bolts did you have to replace on the driver side and how many miles are on your truck??

 

[Ken226]

58,000 miles.

It had 1 broken stud per side. It was the frontmost stud on each side.

I bought a full set of studs ahead of time, so i replaced them all.



On mh prevous truck, a 2010 Bighorn, they went at about 70,000 miles.

 

[Tach_tech]

Sorry you struggled so much but you did way more work then you needed to. I do these all the time.

Driver side I just move the dipstick back as far as I can, and disconnect the steering shaft from the gear, then fish the manifold and gasket back and down past the converter. Also we stopped drilling those out years ago. Just weld a nut on to the broken stud.

Usually takes an hour or less, passenger side I can get done in about 30min.

 

[crackerjack1957]

Sorry you struggled so much but you did way more work then you needed to. I do these all the time.

Driver side I just move the dipstick back as far as I can, and disconnect the steering shaft from the gear, then fish the manifold and gasket back and down past the converter. Also we stopped drilling those out years ago. Just weld a nut on to the broken stud.

Usually takes an hour or less, passenger side I can get done in about 30min.

So you are bending the dipstick back?
Never had any luck bending tubing without tube bender.

 

[Tach_tech]

Ya I just bend it slightly back past the one A/C line that it’s right beside. I’ve never pulled the tube completely out. Just the dipstick out, not the tube.

 

[JB1]

Sorry you struggled so much but you did way more work then you needed to. I do these all the time.

Driver side I just move the dipstick back as far as I can, and disconnect the steering shaft from the gear, then fish the manifold and gasket back and down past the converter. Also we stopped drilling those out years ago. Just weld a nut on to the broken stud.

Usually takes an hour or less, passenger side I can get done in about 30min.

That’s a good tip

 

[crackerjack1957]

Ya I just bend it slightly back past the one A/C line that it’s right beside. I’ve never pulled the tube completely out. Just the dipstick out, not the tube.

Is it possible to it this way without a lift?
Recommendation on tools for header install?
Got to do an install myself the reason asking all these questions.
Thanks

 

[firehawk09]

After doing both sides on my old F150 I paid someone to replace the one that failed on my Ram. They change them all the time so they do them quick (took them 2 hours to do mine) had a leisurely lunch and a short walk and it was back on the road vs me spending a long day skinning knuckles, cursing and wishing I had taken it in. Passenger side went at around 140,000 km. Drivers side is still good at 255,000

There's plenty of things that I have done that seemed relatively easy but turned out to be a major pain. So I've finally learned to just let a professional do it.

 

[Tach_tech]

Is it possible to it this way without a lift?
Recommendation on tools for header install?
Got to do an install myself the reason asking all these questions.
Thanks

Ya it is, just easier with a hoist. Jack it up and take the wheel and liner out.

 

[glwhitetail]

Just had one break on mine this weekend. Camping up in Traverse City and could hear the leak. Goes in next week for warranty fix.

 

[dmt98239.dt]

Yep, happened to my 2013 Ram 1500 Sport - 2 studs on the passenger side. Got the broken studs out and all but 3 manifold bolts - tried everything to get them to budge with no avail. Last ditch effort is to weld a nut on top of the bolts tomorrow and hopefully with a breaker bar get them off.

Sent from my SM-T813 using Tapatalk

 

[ram1500rsm]

I wanted to tackle the job myself after watching a couple of youtube videos, but since i bought the truck used from Carmax, and had the 1st 30 days under warranty no questions asked, i decided to let them do it. Dropped her at their shop yesterday, and they called me up today to let me know it's going to take a lot longer as apparently 2 bolts got seized up in the passenger side,but they were able to extract only one...., so they're ordering a new head from Dodge, ******** it..... still all this is covered under their warranty though, but my time and the hassle of having to go back there to pick a courtesy car is not

 

[crackerjack1957]

I wanted to tackle the job myself after watching a couple of youtube videos, but since i bought the truck used from Carmax, and had the 1st 30 days under warranty no questions asked, i decided to let them do it. Dropped her at their shop yesterday, and they called me up today to let me know it's going to take a lot longer as apparently 2 bolts got seized up in the passenger side,but they were able to extract only one...., so they're ordering a new head from Dodge, ******** it..... still all this is covered under their warranty though, but my time and the hassle of having to go back there to pick a courtesy car is not

Better this than to have done yourself & ended up with same results.