Exhaust stud replacement to fix Hemi tick. Difficulty level?

[Max Steele]

Dealer told me it would be a $940 fix. I'd rather do it myself, but was curious as to how tough it would be and if it's better off just letting them handle it. Thanks

 

[Rlaf75]

What's your mechanical abilities? It's a pain in the @$$ if you dont know what you're doing.

 

[Tach_tech]

Depends if the stud broke outside the head or not. If it broke outside it’s very easy to get out. If it’s broke flush or below the head and you don’t have a welder it can be very tricky.

 

[Bandit517]

As @Tach_tech and @Rlaf75 said, it depends on your mechanical abilities and if the studs broke flush with the head or not. If you're pretty mechanical and have the time and a welder doing it yourself isn't the worst thing in the world. If you don't have a welder you can drill them out if you're careful and use an extractor but that has the potential to go bad. I'm about to do mine but I'll be pulling the heads off for cam and lifter swap while I'm at it so I'll be able to extract the broken bolts while on the bench vs in the truck still.

 

[Rlaf75]

It may just be worth taking it in and letting them do it. That way if something gets screwed up then it's on them. At the dealer you're looking at probably 3 to 4 hundred in parts (exhaust manifold and bolts) and a few hours of labor at I'm assuming $150 ish per hour so they are in the ballpark

 

[indept]

It may just be worth taking it in and letting them do it. That way if something gets screwed up then it's on them. At the dealer you're looking at probably 3 to 4 hundred in parts (exhaust manifold and bolts) and a few hours of labor at I'm assuming $150 ish per hour so they are in the ballpark

Most likely if the screw something up they'll call you and say" you need new heads which will cost you $*** more. As for parts, from what I've read here in this forum, they put the same manifolds back on. The only new parts are bolts & gaskets. If your lucky they might machine the manifold surface but most usually don't do that.

 

[Wahrsuul]

I've watched a few of the youtube vids on it and decided it would be best to leave it to someone else. I got a couple quotes around here for $500-$600.

 

[MartyZ]

Make sure you resurface your OEM headers so you don't snap those shiny new bolts.
See this thread for more information if you haven't already:

Exhaust Manifolds | Warped

I'm well-aware that the 5.7L HEMI has a fairly common issue surrounding the exhaust manifold bolts, causing the "HEMI tick". About 10 days ago, I noticed my truck had a tapping noise when cold-started. I assumed that this was the infamous HEMI tick and honestly didn't give it much thought. It...

www.ramforum.com

 

[MartyZ]

And to answer your question, It wasn't too bad. Considering I did ARH Long Tubes and had 3 bolts snapped flush with the head.
I'm an amateur welder (by amateur I mean I've welded a lawn mower deck and a firewood rack. so almost no experience) The weld method worked amazing.
I would highly recommend this as the alternative (drilling / E-Z Out) is asking for messed up threads or a hole in your block.

 

[RLJ10X]

Like i always say, The easiest fix, is to fix it before it breaks. Pitch those troublesome iron logs in the recycling, and bolt up a pair of high quality Shortys, and you're done.

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

It's not all that difficult. The manifolds are available via rockauto. So are replacement bolts, gaskets, etc.

Jack up truck, place jack stand. Take off wheel, remove inner fender liner, spray down bolts on a cool manifold with pb blaster, take them out slowly. If you have broken bolts they will typically be in the rear.

Drilling out is not difficult but requires patience and precision.

Welding is easier. And requires less precision

Mine took about 8 hours start to finish and I did both sides had 5 broken bolts with only one that was not flush.

I drilled and did not weld

 

[PoMansRam]

Dealer told me it would be a $940 fix. I'd rather do it myself, but was curious as to how tough it would be and if it's better off just letting them handle it. Thanks

Did they say what that fix included?

Like said above, from what I've read, typical dealer fix is replace bolts and gaskets, while reusing the exhaust manifolds w/out even attempting to check it for true/flat.

A few of the broken bolts will probably require a nut to be welded to it so the stud can be backed out. Even with that, this is probably a 1hr dealer job for a tech that does it often. Not sure what book time is.

 

[Livinalittle]

I'll be honest, it was my least favorite repair to date. Several of my bolts were rusted round so I had to cut the heads off with a die grinder.
I took my manifolds to a machine shop and had them CNC'd flush for $150. I removed the broken studs with a welder and some spare nuts.
The good news is, the cold start tick has not come back and I have a welder now.

 

[TEL]

I would get more quotes for sure, I had mine done on both sides for $370. Second time having it done, as soon as I tow my trailer up some big hills it happens so I am not sure it’s worth fixing.

 

[EdGs]

On my '15, when I felt the heat shields were loose, I felt underneath the heat shield and didn't feel any stud attached, so I knew there was a stub sticking out.

I also got lucky with only having the top rearmost bolts broken on each side, and in the same way.

I wasted the most time d*cking around trying to get the drivers side manifold out without removing the oil dipstick tube. At least 2 hours.
A small pair of vise grips clamped lightly to the base of the tube, a few upward taps, and she popped right out (I have a 2wd also, the bottom bolt for the dipstick tube is easier to get to vs the 4wd).

Sanded my manifolds as flat as I could (they were both warped about .030 and twisted a bit at the rear cylinder), then reinstalled with new gaskets and hardware. And she has been fine for almost 20k miles since.

 

[MOPAR78]

Like said several times, it is a pain but well worth the savings especially at that quote. You could use the savings and get some headers. Just be patient & persistent. It took me about 20 hours over 5 days (a lot of chill time needed in between) to complete. But it was a complete Stainless Works system from the heads to the rear bumper, so I was happy with the final results.

Good luck!!

 

[JMUSPSA]

I had my driver side done and cost $359 including gasket and bolts, one bolt was broken off flush. The other side needs done but the mechanic was backed up. I’m going to take a look at the passenger side and maybe try it myself.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Not hard at all .... we did this on my buddies truck a few months back but replaced the manifolds with shorty headers for less than what dealers and shops wanted ....

Don't stay with the oem headers because chances are they will end up snapping again ... don't put a bandaid on it, fix it right ....

 

[Benchmark]

I have the same issue right now with my 2019.
Has anyone had success getting RAM to cover this under the extended emissions warranty?

 

[uncle527]

2014 Ram, 5.7. The tick was driving me crazy so I just had the exhaust bolts and gasket replaced on driver side. It cost me $395 at an independent garage. Problem solved.