An inframe in my near future

[Waterloo]

Waterloo is going to ramble a bit here... And it is a ramble, and I hope it helps...

You should be good outside, just make sure you have something to remove and set the head with, a fork lift or some sort of gantry crane, it is heavy, and don't forget to remove the plugs from the old head which need to be installed in the new head...

And that marine spray, that was a parts life saver, use it liberally, we had no issues when assembling, everything was rust free. And we went through some real wet weather too, and everything was stored outside, there was no indoor storage for anything.

When you set the liners, only use mechanical gauges to measure, the digital ones can really mess you up.

Set the hood off to the side, get it out of the way...

That front structure should just lift out as one unit, radiator and CAC, set it aside.

When tearing down, use zip lock bags and a sharpie. Remove the bolts for say the turbo, mark bag turbo, set aside, water pump, same thing, each component that you remove put all of the nuts, bolts and pieces in their own designated zip lock bag. When it comes time to reassemble, it will be a breeze. Rawze showed me that, and three months later when putting the motor back together, after forgetting most of this stuff, it went back together very smoothly.

And put the front end, steer tires, up on blocks, both sides, you will need the room underneath to install the bearings, oil pump, pan, etc... I spent a lot of time under there, get her as high as you safely can. We used sheets of 1/4" plywood under the truck to work on. Much easier on the body than gravel or hot asphalt.

One thing you should replace is the oil cooler, it is behind the EGR Cooler inside of the block in the water jacket. On mine we skipped that, and pretty much left that side of the truck intact as mine was replaced during the first botched in frame. I would replace that cooler, you have the motor apart, do it, because they do fail with age.

When assembling, use lots and lots of Slick Lube, something that looked to have been used sparingly, if at all on the first in frame. My lower end bearings were shot, and they did not even have 100,000 miles on them. The cam shafts, make sure you use the proper Loc-Tite on the camshafts where the gears attach. Very VERY Important. And the plate, I believe it is on the injector cam, that needs to be replaced too. That old style plate is prone to cracking, so replace with the beefier part.

When you fill the motor with oil for the first time, Rawze used a small electric pump we borrowed from Mr Hagg. We plugged it in to the block, where the oil filter resides, there are a couple spots that you can screw a line into. We used all of the old oil to refill the motor using this pump. We stopped when oil was coming out of the oil galleys flooding the interior of the head. We also poured a few gallons of oil in the head too. She started right up.

Like Rawze said, get a canopy, I brought my own, the 8x8 one that Home Depot sells for around $79. Secure it to the truck with a rope from the center and you will have a nice work area. Or get the larger 10x10 and you can wall it off, which may be a better alternative to the smaller canopy.

Also have a paint area set up, use the paint that Cummins sells, and use Por 15 as an extra layer of protection, especially on the oil pan, don't waste your money on the stuff Home Depot sells. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning rust off of old parts, grinding and what not, and then painting. I saved some parts, others were to the point they needed to be replaced. The oil return from the turbo to the oil pan is one such item that had to be replaced. I would just figure on a new one of those too...

You will find all sorts of stuff, you got it apart, at least spend time on the rough stuff, because the last thing you will want to do after completing this job is to tear back into that motor. Trust me on that.

And this is a good time to do the front engine mounts, along with the front structure mounts and cab bushings.

It was honestly not that difficult a job when you really look at it. Other than cutting the liners and setting the head, which was a painful experience for both me and Rawze... Cleaning the top of the block, sanding, very hard on the back, especially the rear cylinder area... When I say sanding, we used stones and oil, along with leveling blocks, time consuming, and make sure you plug the oil galleys in the block when cleaning and sanding the top of the block, very important.

And that is the thing, Rawze pretty much left me alone, he was off doing his stuff. We had issues getting the new parts, took over a month, than a solid month of daily rain, and more rain and even more rain... We could do little to nothing out there, which was very frustrating, so I helped Rawze around the house... It was a fun time, and Rawze is a beyond gracious host.

I would say do it, if you get into trouble or have a question, like I did a few times, I just pulled out my phone and went to Rawze's video series on his rebuild or directly to Cummins QuickServe. I rarely went to Rawze for help, as he had already answered the question in his videos, no need to bother the man.

And you will find all of the torque specs in QuickServe, just go to the engine assembly section, there you will find all of the steps required, and please follow the steps, which is what most shops do not do and really botch the motor up. Cummins does really give you everything you need and it is free to access, use it.

Sorry for the long winded rant... Just wanted to let you know it is not that bad, and with patience it was actually kind of fun. One of those see one, do one teach one times in my life.

Good luck!