Help with the ole tick tick tick

[Vulpes]

None of the bolts were frozen on mine and I felt they came out easily. However, I have heard of the bolts shearing off, mostly on 4th gen trucks. If they shear off and stick out, just use channel locks to unscrew them. If they shear off flush, weld a nut to the bolt with a mig welder and turn it out.

Below is the torque spec for the exhaust manifold bolts. Although I think it might be easier to time travel, than get a torque wrench in there to tighten up header bolts. I even modified, (bent it with heat), an open end wrench to make it easier to reach a couple of the bolts hidden behind header tubes.

1. Right Side: Using the sequence shown, Install the exhaust manifold retaining bolts and pre-tighten to 25 N·m (18 ft. lbs.) allowing the gasket to seat to the exhaust manifold and cylinder head.
2. Re-check the torque at 25 N·m (18 ft. lbs.) using the sequence shown.

Suggest using something like Permatex Ultra Copper RTV Silicone High Temperature Gasket Maker to seal the connection between where the header connects to the exhaust system but make sure not to get any on the O2 sensors.

This video is a for a 4th gen RAM header installation, but it's basically the same procedure.

 

[ChadAllen]

None of the bolts were frozen on mine and I felt they came out easily. However, I have heard of the bolts shearing off, mostly on 4th gen trucks. If they shear off and stick out, just use channel locks to unscrew them. If they shear off flush, weld a nut to the bolt with a mig welder and turn it out.

Below is the torque spec for the exhaust manifold bolts. Although I think it might be easier to time travel, than get a torque wrench in there to tighten up header bolts. I even modified, (bent it with heat), an open end wrench to make it easier to reach a couple of the bolts hidden behind header tubes.

1. Right Side: Using the sequence shown, Install the exhaust manifold retaining bolts and pre-tighten to 25 N·m (18 ft. lbs.) allowing the gasket to seat to the exhaust manifold and cylinder head.
2. Re-check the torque at 25 N·m (18 ft. lbs.) using the sequence shown.

Suggest using something like Permatex Ultra Copper RTV Silicone High Temperature Gasket Maker to seal the connection between where the header connects to the exhaust system but make sure not to get any on the O2 sensors.

This video is a for a 4th gen RAM header installation, but it's basically the same procedure.

Truly appreciate all the info. I don't own a welding machine and my brother the welder recently retired and sold his equipment. So I'll have to resort to drilling if a bolt snaps. Is what it is.

Unfortunately it's probably going to take longer than expected to get the repair done. I'm fighting with Mopar. We hit a bit of financial trouble unrelated to the truck, so I had to go with oem manifolds. Ordered from Mopar, paid the 50+ bucks for overnight shipping.......and it never shipped. Tracking shows a label created, but fed ex either never received it, or lost it.

Reaching a human being at Mopar has been a challenge in and of itself. Hopefully this doesn't delay me too much.

 

[cerbo]

Truly appreciate all the info. I don't own a welding machine and my brother the welder recently retired and sold his equipment. So I'll have to resort to drilling if a bolt snaps. Is what it is.

Unfortunately it's probably going to take longer than expected to get the repair done. I'm fighting with Mopar. We hit a bit of financial trouble unrelated to the truck, so I had to go with oem manifolds. Ordered from Mopar, paid the 50+ bucks for overnight shipping.......and it never shipped. Tracking shows a label created, but fed ex either never received it, or lost it.

Reaching a human being at Mopar has been a challenge in and of itself. Hopefully this doesn't delay me too much.

Label created is common when they don t have the shipment ready but just bang out a label to make the customer feel better and stall for more time. FYI. But you paid for over night so...

 

[Pikeman_66]

Truly appreciate all the info. I don't own a welding machine and my brother the welder recently retired and sold his equipment. So I'll have to resort to drilling if a bolt snaps. Is what it is.

Unfortunately it's probably going to take longer than expected to get the repair done. I'm fighting with Mopar. We hit a bit of financial trouble unrelated to the truck, so I had to go with oem manifolds. Ordered from Mopar, paid the 50+ bucks for overnight shipping.......and it never shipped. Tracking shows a label created, but fed ex either never received it, or lost it.

Reaching a human being at Mopar has been a challenge in and of itself. Hopefully this doesn't delay me too much.

FED EX is worthless! I don't know how they are still in business. I have had so many problems with them that I will buy something somewhere else where I have shipping options vs a fed ex only store.

 

[ChadAllen]

FED EX is worthless! I don't know how they are still in business. I have had so many problems with them that I will buy something somewhere else where I have shipping options vs a fed ex only store.

Unfortunately not fed ex fault this time. Talked to the dealer this morning. They printed the label, but never gave it to fed ex. It's been sitting in their office since Tuesday.

The guy told me at 7:30 this morning "I'll have a guy run your order to fed ex right now." It's almost 3pm now and fed ex still hasn't received it.

The dealership never once apologized and refused to refund my overnight shipping charge. Not thrilled at the moment

 

[Pikeman_66]

Unfortunately not fed ex fault this time. Talked to the dealer this morning. They printed the label, but never gave it to fed ex. It's been sitting in their office since Tuesday.

The guy told me at 7:30 this morning "I'll have a guy run your order to fed ex right now." It's almost 3pm now and fed ex still hasn't received it.

The dealership never once apologized and refused to refund my overnight shipping charge. Not thrilled at the moment

oh, I would be furious!!

 

[cerbo]

Unfortunately not fed ex fault this time. Talked to the dealer this morning. They printed the label, but never gave it to fed ex. It's been sitting in their office since Tuesday.

The guy told me at 7:30 this morning "I'll have a guy run your order to fed ex right now." It's almost 3pm now and fed ex still hasn't received it.

The dealership never once apologized and refused to refund my overnight shipping charge. Not thrilled at the moment

sometimes the updates are very slow, hopefully its moving .

 

[Vulpes]

Truly appreciate all the info. I don't own a welding machine and my brother the welder recently retired and sold his equipment. So I'll have to resort to drilling if a bolt snaps. Is what it is.

Unfortunately it's probably going to take longer than expected to get the repair done. I'm fighting with Mopar. We hit a bit of financial trouble unrelated to the truck, so I had to go with oem manifolds. Ordered from Mopar, paid the 50+ bucks for overnight shipping.......and it never shipped. Tracking shows a label created, but fed ex either never received it, or lost it.

Reaching a human being at Mopar has been a challenge in and of itself. Hopefully this doesn't delay me too much.

Sorry about the financial trouble, I can empathize. Hopefully it's temporary.

Your new cast iron manifolds will fix your exhaust leak, but they might also crack again in the same spot. The problem we have is: cast iron manifolds, steel bolts, aluminum heads all expand and contract at different rates from heating and cooling, something has to give. On the 4th gen hemi's this problem shears bolts off flush with the head, which is a major PITA.

The engineers figured out on the 5th gen models that if they put the steel bars that the bolts go through that run parallel to the manifolds, it stopped the bolts from shearing off. Unfortunately, it causes the manifolds to buckle and break in the middle. So be sure to put the steel bars back on when you replace the manifolds, or risk sheared off bolts.

If you are going to be doing your own work on this model, I recommend an ALL DATA DIY account, or something similar, since we can't get a Haines or Chiltons for these trucks.

 

[ChadAllen]

Sorry about the financial trouble, I can empathize. Hopefully it's temporary.

Your new cast iron manifolds will fix your exhaust leak, but they might also crack again in the same spot. The problem we have is: cast iron manifolds, steel bolts, aluminum heads all expand and contract at different rates from heating and cooling, something has to give. On the 4th gen hemi's this problem shears bolts off flush with the head, which is a major PITA.

The engineers figured out on the 5th gen models that if they put the steel bars that the bolts go through that run parallel to the manifolds, it stopped the bolts from shearing off. Unfortunately, it causes the manifolds to buckle and break in the middle. So be sure to put the steel bars back on when you replace the manifolds, or risk sheared off bolts.

If you are going to be doing your own work on this model, I recommend an ALL DATA DIY account, or something similar, since we can't get a Haines or Chiltons for these trucks.

Definitely a temporary financial situation. Just one of those times where something else expensive and more important broke (home AC) so I had to cut costs on this repair.
I think haynes has an online manual for our truck. They just aren't producing the printed manuals anymore.....at least I thought that's what I saw on their website. Have to double check.
I sure miss the days when all you needed was some basic tools and a big book by Chilton. Lol. I own one for every vehicle me or the wife ever owned......until now.

 

[Pikeman_66]

Definitely a temporary financial situation. Just one of those times where something else expensive and more important broke (home AC) so I had to cut costs on this repair.
I think haynes has an online manual for our truck. They just aren't producing the printed manuals anymore.....at least I thought that's what I saw on their website. Have to double check.
I sure miss the days when all you needed was some basic tools and a big book by Chilton. Lol. I own one for every vehicle me or the wife ever owned......until now.

Hey, I have been there bud, we got home from Wisconsin last July and our air conditioner compressor went out and the roof on the house sprung a leak. That hit hard right after vacation.

 

[Vulpes]

Definitely a temporary financial situation. Just one of those times where something else expensive and more important broke (home AC) so I had to cut costs on this repair.
I think haynes has an online manual for our truck. They just aren't producing the printed manuals anymore.....at least I thought that's what I saw on their website. Have to double check.
I sure miss the days when all you needed was some basic tools and a big book by Chilton. Lol. I own one for every vehicle me or the wife ever owned......until now.

I hear ya, it's always something. I just had a new a driveway poured and hope I have no other unexpected expenses till next year. Although, it does help a lot to do your own repairs!

 

[ChadAllen]

UPDATE: Parts arrived today...... buuuuutttt check out how everything was packaged. I ordered the whole kit. Gasket, bolts, heat shield, and manifold. Everything is just thrown in the box. No packing material to prevent damage. The gaskets are damaged, because of course they are.
I called the dealership back. They are still refusing to refund the overnight shipping charge that they screwed up, and in order to get replacement gaskets I have to send the entire kit back to them. They are refusing to cover the return shipping.... so it'd cost me another 75 bucks on top of the 50 I paid for overnight shipping I didnt even get.
You guys, I'm trying REAL hard to stay a fan of this brand. But I'm about ready to go truck shopping. I've yet to have a single good experience dealing with Ram dealerships.

 

[silver billet]

@RamCares, are you able to help out the member in the post above?

 

[Pikeman_66]

UPDATE: Parts arrived today...... buuuuutttt check out how everything was packaged. I ordered the whole kit. Gasket, bolts, heat shield, and manifold. Everything is just thrown in the box. No packing material to prevent damage. The gaskets are damaged, because of course they are.
I called the dealership back. They are still refusing to refund the overnight shipping charge that they screwed up, and in order to get replacement gaskets I have to send the entire kit back to them. They are refusing to cover the return shipping.... so it'd cost me another 75 bucks on top of the 50 I paid for overnight shipping I didnt even get.
You guys, I'm trying REAL hard to stay a fan of this brand. But I'm about ready to go truck shopping. I've yet to have a single good experience dealing with Ram dealerships.

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That’s just plain incompetence at that dealer for packing that way. Likely works in a parts dept. unsupervised and never checked on. You can not ship parts like that guaranteed to be damaged on arrival.

 

[ChadAllen]

UPDATE: The dealership won't budge on the shipping issue and they are insisting I send back the entire order, not just the damaged gaskets. That's an expensive shipping fee. The more I look at the gaskets, I can clearly see tool marks and some carbon they didn't clean off...... these aren't damaged gaskets. They are used. They charged me for new and sent me used parts. The dealership is 2 and a half hours away from me, so rather than shipping them, I'm taking off work tomorrow to drive the boxes up to the dealer personally, that way I can inspect the replacements before accepting them.
it's a huge hassle I don't need right now. I haven't even gotten to the stressful part yet..... praying bolts don't snap while I remove the old part. I love my truck, but I'll say it again, I've NEVER had dealerships treat me as poorly as the numerous Ram dealerships I've dealt with the last 3 years.

 

[PurpleRT]

What a cluster fcuk. Yep Ill be getting my ridiculous shipping fee back at a bare minimum.

Edit: spray those bolts down the night before w/ some pb blaster and let them soak overnight

 

[Vulpes]

UPDATE: The dealership won't budge on the shipping issue and they are insisting I send back the entire order, not just the damaged gaskets. That's an expensive shipping fee. The more I look at the gaskets, I can clearly see tool marks and some carbon they didn't clean off...... these aren't damaged gaskets. They are used. They charged me for new and sent me used parts. The dealership is 2 and a half hours away from me, so rather than shipping them, I'm taking off work tomorrow to drive the boxes up to the dealer personally, that way I can inspect the replacements before accepting them.
it's a huge hassle I don't need right now. I haven't even gotten to the stressful part yet..... praying bolts don't snap while I remove the old part. I love my truck, but I'll say it again, I've NEVER had dealerships treat me as poorly as the numerous Ram dealerships I've dealt with the last 3 years.

What that dealer did is messed up. They should make it right.

FWIW - I've never taken my truck to the dealer, bought it used, but I heard enough stories about negative experiences involving work on trucks at dealers that I decided never to take mine.

In case you can't get gaskets at the dealer. These gaskets from the parts store are what I'm running based on recommendations on the forum: FEL-PRO Exhaust Manifold Gasket MS97083

Just take your time with the manifold swap. I gave myself two days for the headers, but ended up not needing all that time, but it took the pressure off to hurry. I don't believe you'll have any broken bolts, because of the flat bars they use on the manifolds now. Let us know how it goes.

 

[ChadAllen]

What that dealer did is messed up. They should make it right.

FWIW - I've never taken my truck to the dealer, bought it used, but I heard enough stories about negative experiences involving work on trucks at dealers that I decided never to take mine.

In case you can't get gaskets at the dealer. These gaskets from the parts store are what I'm running based on recommendations on the forum: FEL-PRO Exhaust Manifold Gasket MS97083

Just take your time with the manifold swap. I gave myself two days for the headers, but ended up not needing all that time, but it took the pressure off to hurry. I don't believe you'll have any broken bolts, because of the flat bars they use on the manifolds now. Let us know how it goes.

I agree with you on not taking my vehicle to dealers for work. With any vehicle I've ever owned, I will only ever let a dealer work on it if it is a recall or under warranty. They can do all the work they want to on it if it's free. LOL. Other than that I will either do the work myself, or if the issue is something I'm not qualified to do (transmissions) I take it to a local mechanic I trust. Dealerships are called stealerships for a reason.
I didn't realize when I ordered these from mopar.com that they would actually just be forwarding my order to a near(ish) dealership. I stupidly thought It would be coming direct from the manufacturer. Ignorance on my part. Won't do that again.

My first interaction with a Ram dealer was when the rear window leaked. It was still under warranty, but they tried scamming me for a grand in repairs. Long story short, it ended with the service manager getting in my face and threatening to kick my ***. When I dared him to do something he called me a cheap *** and kicked me off the lot. That was my first experience with Ram dealers. I was hoping that was a one-off, but this time it's a different dealership.

 

[ChadAllen]

UPDATE: Drove to San Antonio where the parts shipped from and exhanged them. Finally have the parts.......aaaaannndd now the forecast is for rain the next 3 days. Hahaha! If I had a garage, that'd be great, but now I gotta wait on the weather. Oh well. I'll just spray the bolts every morning with penetrating oil until I can finally get the job done. Sheesh

In the meantime, I have another story you guys might enjoy. It's not Ram related, so don't crucify me. My dad has an F-150. He needed a tuneup and he's at that age where he could do it himself, he just doesn't want to, so he took it in. For some reason, he took it to the Ford dealer. I have no idea why.
45 minutes after he left, the truck began throwing codes for misfires on various cylinders, VVT timing codes... the works. The dealer, of course, played dumb and now wants to charge him 3 grand to replace all 4 VVT solenoids, valve seals, oil and filter.

Who here wants to bet when I drop the oil for him I find bits of ceramic? My dad and I both instantly said the same thing "They broke spark plugs and just left the pieces in the engine."

When it rains, it pours, fellas.

 

[ChadAllen]

Rain is delayed till tomorrow....so awwwaaaayyyy we go. I keep fighting the urge to skip waiting for the penetrating oil to do it's thing and try to remove the bolts.......but I'm gonna be a good boy. Lol wish me luck, guys.

yes, I know the truck is dirty. Yes, I know that's criminal. Baby has been parked for a week and before that we were filming out in the country for several days. She's getting a bath as soon as the manifold is replaced.