Can valve stem seals be replaced without pulling the heads?

[Cheaper Jeeper]

I suspect my valve stem seals are shot, based on the fact the way that the engine seems to "load up" with oil when sitting idling.

I've have a valve spring compressor for gassers that can be used to remove the vavle springs with the heads still on the block. They look like this

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Anbody know if there is a heavy-duty version that will handle the bigger springs on our IDIs? Anbody ever done this on their IDI?

 

[zigg]

I've done it on a 6.9. I built my own unit that bolted onto the hole where the rocker was, and it worked flawlessly. There are some updated 7.3 seals that are used on the earlier 6.9's with good results. Unfortuneately, my engine had bigger problems, and it wasn't much of a solution.

The big thing is to figure out where TDC is, and then make sure that from there each cylinder you work on has the piston at the top, and when you pop the valve springs and keepers, then the valve can't fall down into the cylinder. (There's only about 1/32" clearance between the piston at TDC, and the valve!!

Zigg

 

[Cheaper Jeeper]

I've done it on a 6.9. I built my own unit that bolted onto the hole where the rocker was, and it worked flawlessly. There are some updated 7.3 seals that are used on the earlier 6.9's with good results. Unfortuneately, my engine had bigger problems, and it wasn't much of a solution.

The big thing is to figure out where TDC is, and then make sure that from there each cylinder you work on has the piston at the top, and when you pop the valve springs and keepers, then the valve can't fall down into the cylinder. (There's only about 1/32" clearance between the piston at TDC, and the valve!!

Zigg

Got a picture of your home-made spring compressor?
I've actually done this before on a gasser, so I knew about getting each one to TDC before workingon it, but thanks for making sure by pointing it out...

 

[RLDSL]

That one you have will work on most of them, there's a few where ther's not enough overhead clearance and one of these does the trick for the real tight spots like #8 it comes with a nut and you take the handle and cam off and tighten the nut with a wrench.
that one doesn't grab as well so the tool you have is the one youll want to use most.
Take the engine side cover off of the AC evaporator to get a bunch of extra room to work on the passenger side.