Valve bridge orientation?

texascadillac42

texascadillac42

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I am in the process of reassembling the top end of an 04 6.0L and need some help. When I pulled the motor apart I took notice of which way the valve bridges were oriented, on the valves, but it took much longer than expected to get a good set of heads back, and now I cant remember which way the bridges sit on the valves.

I know which valves the bridges go on, but am not sure which direction the bridges go on their respective valves. One end of the bridge is slotted, while the other end is circular.

Any pics or help would be appreciated, thanks.
 
I never put mine on in any particular order. When i took mine off to do studs i just put them all in a bag then put them back on. Right now i have my spare 6L engine apart and when i took them off each valve bridge didn't have a distinct direction of how it should go. If i remember right there's some lettering or numbers on the bridges. and some of them when installed from the factory had the lettering/numbers on the bridges facing up and some where installed facing downward. So to me it didn't matter which end of the valve bridge was on which valve stem and i just installed them in whatever way! It's been almost 4yrs later since i did head studs and have drag raced and truck pulled quite a few times with no issues what so ever. I didn't even put the same valve bridge on the same valves.
 
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Thanks for the input. Each valve bridge I have has 609 stamped on one end of it, and something else stamped on the other end.

I cant see why it would matter which way the valve bridges went, but with the slotted hole on one end, and the circular hole on the other end, I wanted to make sure I wasnt putting something together incorrectly.
 
texascadillac42 said:
Thanks for the input. Each valve bridge I have has 609 stamped on one end of it, and something else stamped on the other end.

I cant see why it would matter which way the valve bridges went, but with the slotted hole on one end, and the circular hole on the other end, I wanted to make sure I wasnt putting something together incorrectly.
Click to expand...

slotted hole and circular hole? Not sure what you mean but all of my valve bridges are the same on both ends...they are not different. Mine have a 609 stamped on one end and the other is stamped C2. But like i said both ends are the same....heres a pic. Both ends have somewhat of a semi slotted hole.
 

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I have not found an orientation listing anywhere I have looked. The motion of the rocker pulls toward the pushrod. So the slot should be opposite the pushrod.
 
Valve_Bridge.jpg


It does matter.

We have photos of unmolested engines with the bridges going either direction.
 
This is what i mean when i took the heads off of three different engines, all of the valve bridges weren't on the valves the same. Some had the bridges with the C2 stamped facing up and some had the 609 facing upward. The holes or slotted holes underneatht the bridges where the valves stems sit into are the same on both ends. When i did stud on my truck i didn't put them in the same way they came out. And when my spare engine went in my cousin's truck after i went through it, i never put the bridges back in the same place or same direction either. No matter which way you turn the valve bridge each end is still the same and sits on the valve stem the same. Not sure why it'd really matter.
 
Glad to hear that it doesnt matter, the heads are finally back on and torqued down. I will post a pic later of the valve bridges I have , with 609 C3 stamped in them, to show the difference with the slotted end on one side and hole on the other.
 
Maybe they changed the valve bridges from the '03 engines to the '04.5+ ones cause i have C2 on the opposite end of the 609.
 
We have a few different year motors torn apart here that we use for mock up. If you need me to, I can go out and take a photo of an 03 specifically.
 
MAN..... I never even noticed that.... I just got mine back together last week... mine were flipped every wich way... I just put them back on kinda uniform like.. 609s on the bottom...
 
Yea we assembled this one with them all in the same direction, I think the 609s may have been on top when I put this one back together.... All the wear marks from the rockers lined right back up....
 
I didnt notice a pattern , so thats the best i could come up with. 609s up... down...??? all seemed the same to me... Truck fired right up after about 3 good long cranks so I guess it was good enough. Good luck with it man
 
looks like your valve bridges are different than mine. Ford musta changed them in later years.
 
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