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Ford Power Stroke engines are built to handle serious heavy-duty work, but keeping these beasts running smoothly requires dealing with a few factory shortcomings.

We've learned over the years that you have to treat engine development holistically. When you modify or fix one part of a diesel engine, it can affect everything from the air-and-fuel mixture to underhood temps and structural loads. So, to get the most out of your platform, you need engineered fixes that deliver both durability and serious performance.

With that in mind, let's cover some of the latest developments in engineering for Power Stroke motors.

The Ultimate 6.4-liter Power Stroke Fix: Billet Self-Oiling Valve Covers

The 6.4L Power Stroke suffers from a notorious top-end flaw. When Ford transitioned this platform to a high-pressure common rail system, the upper valvetrain was left starved for oil.

Without proper lubrication, a devastating domino effect occurs: the rocker arm pivot ball and valve bridge wear down excessively, creating massive valve lash. This creates a destructive shockwave that beats up the hydraulic lifter until it fails, sending metal shrapnel through the engine and wiping out the camshaft. If you hear a strange ticking noise, it might not just be an injector; it could be your valvetrain slowly self-destructing.

Our engineering team developed the ultimate preventative solution to stop this catastrophic engine failure in its tracks:

• Integrated Drip-Edge Oiling System: Borrowing a brilliant concept from the later 6.7-liter Power Stroke, we engineered a custom oil routing system built directly into our valve covers.
• Constant Pressure Lubrication: This system delivers oil under constant pressure directly to the rocker assembly, completely eliminating top-end lubrication issues.
• Thermal Regulation: The integrated oil galley’s cooling effect drops oil temperatures by 5 to 6 degrees.
• Acoustic Dampening: The valve covers act as a sound-dampening component, effectively muffling the engine by about 10 decibels at idle for a quieter cabin experience.
• Premium Billet Functionality: While everyone loves the look of clean, shiny billet aluminum under the hood, these covers aren't just for show. They serve a vital mechanical purpose: ensuring your live metal-to-metal components never run dry.

Overcoming the 6.7L Power Stroke Spun Bearing Issue

The 2011-and-newer 6.7L Power Stroke is an incredibly popular platform, but the cores coming into our shop reveal a guaranteed, hands-down failure point: spun rod and main bearings.

The root cause comes down to incredibly tight factory clearances. Ford engineers tightened the bearing clearances down to just seven-tenths of a thousandth of an inch, roughly a quarter of the width of a human hair.

When truck owners put heavy 15W-40 oil into these engines, especially in cold northern climates, the oil takes too long to travel from the oil cooler and filter to the front of the crankshaft. That heavy oil simply can't flow through those tight spaces fast enough upon startup, leading to starved bearings.

When we build a 6.7-liter remanufactured engine, we address these factory problems directly:

• Altered Crankshaft Clearances: We completely disassemble the block and open up the clearances on the crankshaft and rods so the oil can actually do its job.
• Tack-Welded Crank Gear: The factory press-on gear lacks an alignment pin and is prone to spinning, which instantly bends all 32 pushrods. We tack-weld the gear to the snout to permanently lock it in place.
• Pro-Tip For Stock Owners: If you are running a stock engine, always follow the manufacturer's oil weight specifications for your climate (like a 5-weight or 10-weight) to prevent startup starvation. If you are running a custom Choate engine, always use our modified oil specifications.

Pushing the 6.0L Platform Beyond the Normal Limits

We haven’t forgotten about our 6.0-liter Power Stroke fans. While standard upgrades often focus on the classic perfect storm of EGR cooler and head gasket failures, our research and development team has been pushing this platform into radical new territory.

Working alongside some major gasoline racing icons, we bring elite gas-world infrastructure, Spintron testing, and advanced engineering to the diesel world. We've developed some high-performance race builds with massive custom engine sleeves, ultra-low compression ratios, and 2618 billet pistons designed to withstand insane amounts of nitrous oxide.

The custom processes, coatings, and tolerances we perfect on the track directly inform the reliability of the daily drivers we build for you.

Why In-House Manufacturing Matters for Your Build

When you buy a replacement engine or a high-performance upgrade, you are making a massive investment. You rely on that truck to earn a living, transport your family, or get you across the country without issue. That's why we stay away from white boxing, the widespread industry practice where companies slap their brand name on someone else's generic outsourced part.

At our engine building and manufacturing shop we write our own programs and run our own advanced CNC machining centers in-house. By controlling the design, tool paths, prototyping, and final quality checks under our own roof, we know exactly who made your part, when they made it, and how it was tested. You get total transparency, proven reliability, and lifelong customer trust.

Choose the Right Choate Power Stroke Engine For Your Needs

Whether you need a reliable daily cruiser or a full competition setup, our remanufactured engines are engineered across four distinct tiers to eliminate OEM shortcomings:

• The Model C: Upgraded beyond factory stock levels and fixes known OEM weak points.
• The Daily Driver: Rated for 500 HP (platform dependent), featuring torque plate honing, full engine balancing, a harmonic balancer, head studs, valve seats, a rear cover, a pickup tube, oil pans, and welded crank gear.
• The Workhorse: Rated for 600 HP (platform dependent) for heavy towing, adding O-ringed heads, a billet flex plate, coated/fly-cut/de-lipped pistons, a stage 2 cam, chromoly pushrods, and welded cam gear.
• The Cass-quatch: Our full custom build rated for 1,000+ HP, designed strictly for high-performance competition use and tailored entirely to your specific goals.

Ready to get the most out of your Power Stroke build without compromising durability? Contact our team today to discuss your next engine upgrade!