Felpro head gaskets... Yay or nay?
 

Well, it's head gasket time for me, will be putting ARP studs in, and I have run into a major hitch... I need a +.010 gasket, but there's none in all of canada from Cummins, and they're saying it'll be 1 to 3 weeks delivery, and I have to pay $50 bucks shipping... I think that's a big steaming pile... My work has to be done this weekend. My buddy says to ONLY use cummins gaskets, and well, I don't have the grounds to argue, the price is the same for either set, but is there anyone who can offer input on the Felpro Gaskets? I saw that the one I'd get is made in england (it's not china:tu:)

Any input greatly appreciated



Oh, one more thing.. what's the likelyhood of stripping the teeth of 5th gear on the NV4500 while still running the HX35?

my vote is cummins brand:hellox:

maybe i'll be able to find the head gasket alone from cummins and use felpro on the others... The problem I have is it's getting cooler and I need to get the right antifreeze mix into the truck before it gets seriously cold... 3 weeks waiting is not going to cut it. I also won't have time to do it in 3 weeks

You mean FAIL PRO they can't even make a decent valve cover gasket, I don't think I'd trust a head gasket

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Also stripping teeth on 5th gear is unlikely but if you lost 5th gear it would probly be the notorious 5th gear ring nut backing out

OK. duly noted! maybe with some luck I can find a cummins headgasket for friday delivery.

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I'm firing off emails to all sorts of heavy equipment dealers to see what they have available, 5.9's were used in some Case crawlers, as well as all sorts of skidders, etc, so maybe I'll have some luck there

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One more thing... Is an HY 35 turbo from an 01 truck much of an upgrade from the HX35 of the '94's?

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On the 5th gear thing... I'm quite certain it's not the nut that backed off, the upgraded nut is on it with all the locktite etc... I've also lost 5th when the drive gear C clip popped off, but this time I lost fifth gear with a growl and clatter, and I can hear it ticking when I'm in other gears as well... from the speed of the ticks I'm thinking I lost about 2 teeth on the drive gear, as it's only about once every 2 or 3 driveshaft rotation that it's bad, though there's most likely damage to both anyhow... I should have new gears on the way maybe tomorrow if I'm lucky, or wednesday

an hy is a downgrade!!!!:scare2:

yipes... I thought it was a slight upgrade... guess i was misinformed

I was curious about the late model variable vane turbos, I saw a mechanically controlled one on youtube that seemed to work ok... tuning them could be a bit of a challenge... probably have to have a way to regulate them both from Exhaust pressure as well as boost pressure to have them work well

Use a genuine Cummins Gasket.

Luke

got some in stock you can get to me by friday?

I have a felpro gasket on mine,looked identical to the cummins gasket except for the part# had fp then the #.The key here is make sure the head is not warped,take the tome to take it to a machine shop check for cracks&warpage.It would not hurt to have it planed to make sure you have a straight surface,a few thousandths off won't hurt any thing:pca1:

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Ooops forgot,put arp headstuds on it for sure!!:pca1:

I just had .008" planed off it, and plan to put studs in... Hopefully businesses wake up around here soon and get back to me on the availability of the cummins gasket. I will use the felpro if I have to and it's good to hear one review of them that's not negative

every cummins dealer should carry a .030" Marine gasket...

That's what i used and i only had my head pressure tested... it was straight as an arrow 8)

Head gasket (cummins) will be here tomorrow, settling for a Felpro top end kit for the rest of the gaskets... At least if those fail i don't need to take the head off

that is FALSE!

I have one of each at home and they look like brothers, but come from different mothers.... When I get home this weekend I will show the difference in the 2.

Genuine Cummins gets my vote.

Head gasket Cummins. I'll use fel pro valve cover gaskets though. The valve cover gaskets i got in a kit from Cummins are junk. I used the Cummins valve cover gaskets on mine and fel pro valve cover gaskets on other peoples trucks. No complaints yet.

Sent from the recliner butt naked

I have a set of the Cummins valve cover gaskets and in my climate controlled home, without installing them on a vehicle, the gaskets started cracking, so I now have a set of Felpro VC gaskets....

I used felpro vc gaskets when id did my last valve adjutment about 3 months ago and all 6 are failing but I just got 6 cummins vc gaskets from the dealer and they say made in usa on the box and all six gaskets say made in india so Im not to happy with the cummins vc gaskets at the moment either maybe when I take them back they will make it right

On the kit I got from Felpro, all gaskets are made in the US except for a couple O rings that were made in india... I would like to find better ones, but all the auto parts stores only carry garbage nowadays

Well, got the back of the tranny off.. here's what I found
Attachment 36086

I'm still fighting to get the driven gear off, doesn't seem like my splines are worn at all, but I know my countershaft is pretty much done for, the 5th idler bearing race is pitted, and I think my mainshaft rear bearing might be on it's way out, which would explain why I broke the 5th gear if the teeth werent riding properly... I'm going to toss it together and I should make it home at least... any tips on getting the 5th gear driven gear off without a gear puller,... I have a slide hammer I might try hooking a chain to and maybe that'll help a bit... so far prying on it hasn't helped, I have a propane torch heating it as we speak

You cant beat factory headgaskets. You may have to pay a bit more, but its well worth it. A HG job is a PITA to begin with, let alone repeating the process from using an inferior gasket. Personally I dont have much confidence in Felpro HG especially in high horsepower applications, but their soft gaskets do kick ass.

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I bet the box was made in the USA:w2:

Status update... I've moved the 5th driven gear a whole 1/8th of an inch... that's being optimistic though... it has moved, I can see the bearing cage behind it has some wear, I'll see about replacing it... i've pretty much mangled the retainer plate with the crowbars getting that damed driven gear off

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got it about 1/2" off now, my neck is getting pretty damned tired and I'm starting to lose daylight, got the torch back on it warming it back up again too

OUCH

Here's the other OUCH I found... crappy pic, but I think the point will still come across
Attachment 36080


And, after 3 hours of prying, heating and hammering, I got the driven gear off... whew

press fit:ouch:

Wow, 4 hours to take it apart and 10 minutes to put it back together, ... isn't it usually the other way around? Tomorrow I tighten the locknut and put the rest of it together.

What a day:dang::argh::scare2::bat:

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I don't remember it being that hard to put on there... this gear was snug but not a press fit... perhaps the banging gears tightened things up a bit

:yeah: Way to go bro.

OK, back at it.. have to put a new transfer case rear main seal in... the one I put in last time was crappy, it didn't have a boot, this one has a boot and about 4 sealing lips... should be a bit better... the trick is to get it on there without getting covered in oil


I hear the recommended oil change interval on the NV4500 is 16000 miles under heavy service... you'd think with that frequent a change interval they'd have thunk to put a drain plug and a decent filler onto the bastards... I'm going to put my bucket of gear oil in a tub of hot water for a while or I'll never get it in there

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Well, things aren't quite going my way.. the new seal is 1/2" bigger than the old one... bloody morons at the tranny shop! and I'm having a heck of a fight getting the tcase back on.. .I can deadlift 250 lbs without a problem, but I suck a bench presses, besides the fact that a tcase is hella awkward and I don't have a decent floor jack... I kinda have a couple tiedown straps across the frame that's holding it off the ground now, I'll see what else I can do to make it go in. The tranny is all back together now though.

pffft.... me and ALL my friends can deadlift over 400lbs... you're puny !

well, tcase is positioned... splines are being a PITA though.. if can get them another 1/4 inch I can get the nuts on which will help... I used straps to winch it together so far, then I fired the engine up and reved it in 5th, and that smartened the splines up a bit.. II'm indoors now since a hailstorm just decided to come through and soak me and I don't have much feeling left in my fingers

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Oh, and the felpro valve cover gaskets in the kit seem to be a silicon rubber.. I've usually had pretty good success with those

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I'm a skinny fusker.. 135 lbs soaking wet... but I have good news.. all the hard parts are done, t case is bolted up.. all I have left to do is the tcase shift bracket, tranny mount bolts, front driveshaft, and filling oil... and with any luck it doesn't go boom too soon again... Once again I'm warming my fingers though!

Good to see you're not giving up on it...

These are stout and ruggid trucks... i just signed up for my 500.000 mile badge at the "High Mileage Cummins Club"

It did have 490.000 miles on it when i swapped the motor and driveline to a different body...

These motors and drivelines will outlive their trucks... that's for sure !

I dunno... I think they're the best of the big 3, but there have a long way to go... every truck has it's set of problems, the F6.0 was just a lemon, the 5.9's got fussy when they got the vp44, and the 12Vs have tranny problems.. so pick your poison I guess.

Anyhow, It's all back together and seems to be working well, though with that scored countershaft I don't know for how long.

Now I'm off to my buddys place and we're going to do the head gasket and bump the timing 2 degrees. I think my original head gasket died because I overheated the EGT's and it cooked the HG under the exhaust ports, my buddy's truck was leaking in all the same places and he's curious too... If I have a bit a more aggressive timing it should lower the EGT's which will help.

See attached photos of Felpro and Cummins gaskets. You can see see the difference.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/12/09/egyseja4.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/12/09/y5upu2us.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/12/09/u7aze4u4.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/12/09/agu9ary6.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/12/09/yge7eje6.jpg

The Cummins is a standard head gasket. I didn't order it thicker or anything and it feels like a superior gasket. Not to mention all the extra sealant used around water and oil passages....

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

:tu:

Thanks for posting the pics and proving my point.:tu: You'da man!!

I certainly can see the difference... but, I was very disappointed in my headgasket.. It is stamped MADE IN CHINA

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my buddy and I, with the help of 8 other people to drink the beer, got it done in about 8 hours... all went well, we had the tools we needed, etc, but it stumbles a bit under acceleration... I can't feel it in the truck, but apparently you can hear it in the exhaust pretty clearly, going to go back tomorrow, check the lift pump pre-screen, fuel pressure, and bump the timing a 2 degrees or so and see if that fixes it... the old head gasket was rather toast(ed) under the ports, and it was bad for about 1/2" in 2 places.

Anyhow, gotta get some sleep... only had about 4 hours last night, and I don't know how much I'll get away with tonight either

There are some fake Cummins gaskets floating around out there as I know a few on here that sale them as genuine.

Luke

everything I've heard use a Marine Gasket the best

This was a genuine cummins gasket direct from cummins, not Ebay... Now unless someone pulled the wool over their eyes....

I just have an issue with paying the same for something that is made in china that a couple years back was made in any reputable country... If they want to go to china, I should get a better price too

No sooner do I get one set of problems sorted out, I get another... Today the throttle stuck on me, luckily not in a hazardous situation, and I mashed the pedal a couple times and it was OK again.. so I pull over and find that my throttle cable is frayed down to 1 strand... I was a block away from a dodge dealer so I find out there's a 3 week backorder on them... auto parts stores had none, and I couldn't believe it, but there's none around. So I brainstorm, go to a cycle shop on the other side of the road and pick up a cable, some clamps, and for 8 bucks I am mobile again... At least mobile enough to get back home (200 miles) where I have a parts truck. I still can't believe I couldn't find it at a wrecker....

Way to McGeyver it bro!!:tu: