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CAT 3208 exhaust manifold bolts! yeah for me.

viper

Titanium
Joined
May 18, 2007
Location
nowhereville
Well, we starting sifting under the black funk of our excavator to further investigate an exhaust issue. We found a really special surprise!!! You gotta be happy for me!! A front side or RH exhaust manifold totally broke in half. Probably ran a year or more like that!

Anyway, exhausts are one of my HATED passions. GD bolts break, rusted through, etc. This engine probably has 10,000 hrs on it. I am curious to ask anyone with plenty of experience with the 3208, do I have any chance of these bolts actually coming out? Should I just go ahead and plan my day around dealing with broking bolts in the block?

Because if the limited life left in the engine, I have half the notion to find some half ass way of wrapping the manifold in something to help with the problem but I usually get bit when I try stuff like that. I must not carry the "master shade tree" certification.
 
I seem to be lucky when working on Cat exhaust studs/bolts.

They always come right out... Maybe Cat actually used good bolts... 3/8ths Impact gun helps ...

A job for quality impact 6 point sockets. (a set of metrics also, to help with bolt heads that have rusted smaller)

The leaking exhaust was clogging up air cleaner...

Have had zero luck with patches/goop/wraps. fix it right.
 
impact would be my old reach. I think some people miss that point that the impact is not just faster, it has a better chance of breaking bolts loose. I need to find a manifold though.
 
Wrong one. Need an 8L6273 which has a straight out collector.. Not as common since I think they were primarily for equipment, not trucks.
 
It's probably best to contact GD directly and ask them for recommendations on how to remove those goddamn bolts.
 
Best to get on phone and call around..
Tractorparts.com shows the number.

Most parts yards have not input all the fiddly/cheap bits into computer...
I still say ~ an hour of phone work...

Another option is sandblast broken ends, heat ends up to red , blast again..

Bolt down to a flat plate, and Torch braze with silicon bronze rod, and powder flux..
 
I Googled the 8L6273 part number and found new ones at $178.
8L6273
I also found used ones, but I'm too lazy to email the sellers for pricing. They are out there though.
 
I think I have one pinned down for 75 bucks. Just do not feel comfortable welding this. All the vibrations and joulting in the machine plus 1200F. I just hope the rest of the system is not tweaked and will accept the new part without issue.

Now I have to do some praying that the bolts will come out.
 
I have not messed with a friends 225 exhaust , but there should be flexible joints (piston type ring sliding into a short bore) They stick a little taking them apart. Clean up bore, free piston ring if possible.. assemble..

It is just a machine, easy enough to fix. Quit worrrying, start working...

Oh, a search for parting out Cat 225's brings up many hits...

Sometimes searching by part number alone, won't get you there...
 
not saying its a way out,but i have patched manifolds with wire screen and red hot 2000
its like cement,and sticks really well.kinda like putting a cast on a broken leg.couple hose clamps til cement cures with the help of a heat gun and away you go.
always seems to me the exhauts manifold bolts come out of a diesel way easier than a ford gas 5.4 in a pickup.

in my garage days i was the broken bolt extracting master....
 
Good news - Cat uses grade 8 on everything, even the sheetmetal, so if they are original they will be good bolts. Your manifold is probably unweldable, judging by other old Cat exhaust parts I've worked on, seems like when they get as old as your machine if they are weak enough to break from the heating and cooling they just crumble into dust when you work on them.
 
Patching turbo diesel exhaust manifolds just does not seem to hold, the extra backpressure during boost blows off patches.,

Only PITA bolts I usually see on a diesel, are turbo mounting bolts, The hot side bolts on turbo housing, and any bracket that bolts to a manifold..
 
I would soak the bolts with your favorite penetrate a good long time.
I have had good luck with CorrosionX.
Give it plenty of time to soak in.
I like to slap the bolts around a little to try and free them up a little.
More soak time if you can.

Good luck.

K.
 
Well, I hope the high grade bolts means we can win this deal! I am hoping all the oil on everything coupled with the rattle of a diesel and the vibes that run through the machine will get things in my favor. Bolts just seem to be missing everywhere on this machine. One is gone already from the manifold so that is a plus for me...

The big question now is if the rest of the system is tweaked bad enough from the impact that caused this damage that the new manifold will not fit right. I am worried I will have to "adjust" some other stuff in the system and old brittle cast just does not adjust very well. There is a couple different sections making up the Y pipe to the muffler. It is all cast. great...
 
I wouldn't think its going to be all that bad. Most of the cat stuff I've worked on was easy. I bet you it will go better than you are thinking.

Sometimes if a bolt feels like its going to break, give it a little heat with the torch, than hit it with the impact wrench.

Putting stuff back together after many years of use and abuse, big pry bar and new gaskets everywhere usually will do the trick.

Mm
 
Sometimes if a bolt feels like its going to break, give it a little heat with the torch, than hit it with the impact wrench.Mm

Hello Mmfh
I was going to suggest trying with engine warmed up to operating temperature, not sure if this would help. Also give the head of the bolts a few good wraps with a hammer, the shock might help loosen them up.
 
I second the suggestion to get some Kroil penetrating oil it is the best thing around for manifold bolts and in general. Others don't work nearly as well.
 








 
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