Steady torque stresses the already weak welds more. An impact doesn't use steady torque, it goes "TWIST TWIST TWIST TWIST". I imagine it works better because it gives the weld a small amount of time to recover instead of being steadily stressed.

 

^^ exactly. You put a very high strain on it by applying steady torque from a hand ratchet. The impact has breakaway torque. That's all we ever use warranty and non. Now would I impact out any other type of plugs? Prob not the best idea but for this design it's by far one of the most important factors. Along with it being hot as well. It sucks to work on hot engines but it also helps the plugs out.

 

And you won't have the issue of them breaking anymore either, as the early plug design was the major problem with them breaking. With the new plug desighn, they don't break!

So, if you have the truck long enough for it's second round of plug changes, you'll be able to do it yourself without worry of them breaking.

 

My plugs were done around 100k @ the dealer by the previous owner.

Its at 167k now and I feel like I need to do them again. The dealer told me all 8 broke when they did it. Hopefully the breaking is over for my truck.

Think with around 67k miles on the plugs I stand a high risk of breaking?

 

Overkill at the very least. You should get at least 75K out of a set of plugs. Since you had them replaced with the new style, they should not break anymore. The problem was the early design of the plug, corrected somewhere in the 2006 models, and everyone who changed their plugs with the new style since.

 

Yeah if you are using the new plugs with antiseize there's no reason to change them that often.

 

Btw, there is a class action suit against ford about this spark plugs. You can read about it here. http://www.sfmslaw.com/class-action-...ses.php?id=996.

 

i used to work for a ford mechanic who was the "spark plug king" and he helped me change out my plugs and we didn't break off a single one. First we drove the truck around and got it to normal operating temperatures then pulled off the coil packs and soaked them with pb blaster (not too much) let them sit for awhile. We then took I believe a 3/8 impact driver tuned it down a little bit and they all zipped right out no problem. I don't know if I got lucky but he's been doing it ever since these problems started. I know it seems like it should work but the key is to keep the engine warm while doing it. I hope this helps anyone doing their plugs.