Diesel Bombers - 05 6.0 EGR Cooler questions

I know this has been beat to death, but there's so many different opinions and results out there, I'm not sure exactly what tot do.

My neighbor has an 05 6.0, that his EGR cooler is bad on. He said he had found a replacement OEM style cooler, that supposedly moved the cooling channel outside the cooler housing, supposedly keeping it separate from the airflow...not sure if this is true or not, but I haven't seen the cooler he's talking about.

As I started doing a bit more research on the EGR issue for the Ford 6.0, I discovered there's a million different opinions and experiences with this issue...I'm a Dodge guy, so you'll have to forgive me my ignorance.

One thing I haven't been able to get a solid handle on is the difference in experiences between people who own 05's, that have and haven't had to get a tuner to disable the CEL after doing a cooler delete...Some say they don't have a CEL, some say the do, and had to get a tuner to delete it. One guy on a forum stated that River City Diesel told him specifically for an 05, to do a EGR cooler delete, there was no requirement for a tuner to cancel the CEL. But I've read where people said they did need to run a tuner for an EGR cooler delete on an 05. Does anyone know of a way to test prior to the installation, to find out if the delete will require a tuner?

My neighbor doesn't have a lot of money, and this is his work truck, so there's no plan for high horsepower mods, nothing crazy, and he's not going to have the money to get a tuner anyway...the EGR cooler he found was around $150.

The reason i brought this up is that I told him I'd do the work for him-I'm aware of what I'm getting myself into, as I've seen 5 or 6 videos showing what has to happen to get to the cooler, and I understand I'm in for at least 8 hours of work, unless I can get my buddy to help me out-he's done a full EGR delete on his, so he at least knows what all has to happen.
Before I did the work though, I wanted to do my due diligence, to find out if I could either delete the cooler, or pull it and take it in to get the ends welded up-that way, even though it is leaking right now, it would still at least flow the coolant, and stop the flow of coolant through the intake, which I know he could get it done far cheaper than buying the new EGR-and then try to convince him to buy the oil cooler instead, since I'm going to have to be in there anyway.

I did read a ton of threads where guys used freeze plugs to seal off both ends of the EGR cooler, but I also noticed that most of those guys seemed to have issues later on, with the plugs either falling out, or leaking later, which is why I'm considering pulling it, taking it in and having someone weld a plug on both ends.

My biggest concern is I know he doesn't have a lot of money, I know he's not going to be modifying it for horsepower or performance later-it's solely a worktruck, and in NC, the CEL will have to be off for him to pass annual inspections. I'm not willing to dive into doing an EGR cooler delete of some sort, to find out on the tail end that the CEL is on, and I just cost him an additional 3-500 dollars for a tuner just to delete it. Also, I'm concerned about the condition of his oil cooler, but knowing unless he doesn't have to buy the EGR cooler or delete, he's not going to be able to afford the oil cooler.

Any suggestions or thoughts? I really don't want to have to do an new EGR cooler now, and then find out a month or two from now, that his oil cooler was bad, and now he's out two EGR coolers and an oil cooler.