I'm in a bit of a pickle. I've got myself a set of TTI longtubes and Y pipe all ready to be installed on my truck. My buddy was going to do it at his shop at school until he saw the rusty manifold studs and says he can't do em. I live in Rochester, NY and can't find a damn place who does headers. I don't know what to do! Also my buddy is under the impression you need to lift the engine to get to the headers on 4x4 1500's?

 

An impact wrench is helpful to get the bolts out. Try to lube them up and let them soak for a bit. Odd that he didn't even try to get one out?

Lift the engine? No. If you take the wheel off and the wheel well liner out, it will be much easier to get to. It's really not that bad if you are mechanically inclined at all. Otherwise, I'm not familiar with shops where you are.

This is for a different brand of headers, but may be helpful. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...aders-diy.html

 

He was confident in saying they will snap. Impact wrench sounds like a bad idea with rotted out studs though..

 

I suppose it depends on what shape the stud head is in. Lube and impact wrench worked for me. Someone suggested it to me and it worked. I was applying a lot of torque with a ratchet and was afraid it would snap that way. Good Luck.

 

His teacher works at a dodge dealership and said he wouldn't do it because its too extensive... not sire what to do at this point

 

Just do them in your driveway. Spray a tone of liquid wrench or something similar and let it sit over night then take your time. And if one sheers off its not the end of the world, just time to practice your tapping skills.

 

First of all, the engine DOES NOT need to be lifted. It's an easy deal in the driveway and the only thing you have to do to be able to get to everything is remove the plastic well liners.

Those bolts are a PIA, many guys have exhaust leaks and track them down to the sh*tty bolts being snapped, so IMO you are gonna have to deal with them at some point whether you do the headers or not.
Spray the **** out of them with a Liquid Wrench type product, let 'em sit for a day or two and then hit 'em again. If you break one, they aren't bad to get out with a Grab'It set which can be purchased at Lowe's or Home Depot for about $20.

In all honesty, the Hemi in a 1500 is the easiest engine to install headers on. EVERYTHING can be gotten to from either up top or underneath once you have the liners removed.

Here, this is a pic I took before I put the liners back on, you can see EVERYTHING you need to get to:

 

My buddy is saying he checked mitchell and alldata and even the TTI kit says you need to lift the engine. I explained that guys have done it without lifting the engine but he doesn't seem to buy it.

 

I dunno, I installed mine, helped a buddy install the same headers and watched Marty at KRC install a set of Dynatechs before I did mine just to see if I'd run into any issues and not only did the engine NOT need to be moved, but there was nothing in either the Pacesetter nor Dynatech instructions that said so.

I guess it's possible those TTIs are routed in such a way that may require it, but I really don't see where.

I'll see if I got a pic of the other side, but in the one I posted, you can plainly see that there is nothing in the way of either removing the manifold or installing the headers...


Here's one of the driver's side, now you can see because of steering components you gotta work this one into place rather than just lift it straight in like the passenger side, but again, you can see that NOTHING needs to be moved.



IMO, don't even mess with trying to talk to your buddy into doing it. He obviously has NO confidence in his ability to install them. I've found that half the time if you are gonna royally f*ck up an install, it's when you go into it with NO confidence. Do it yourself or find you a shop to do it. The only problem I see in finding a shop is that you are in an inspection state and if I'm not mistaken, LT headers will fail in an inspection state...

 

Here's that Grab It kit, IMO should be in EVERYBODY's tool box...



Saved my a$$ more than a few times...