Great stuff. I learn a lot from Bob and others and really appreciate the info.
It looks like the decision on "cab off or motor out" sort of depends on the equipment you have available.
I think it would be a almost tossup for either method for first timers, although I must admit that cherry picking the motor out sounds way less stressful than getting the cab up on supports.
He is right about the AC. However the only two downsides to unhooking it are 1) it is messy and potentially somewhat toxic for a shade tree mechanic to disconnect the fitting because there is some pretty nasty stuff under pressure that comes whooshing out, and 2) it can be $100-200 to get the system recharged afterwards. I am told that you don't want to drive with a discharged AC system because it hurts something in the system. I am just leaving the electric connection down on the pump off and not worrying about AC: in Seattle area, we worry more about drowning in rain and dying from lack of sun.

We tried starting the engine today and now understand why numerous threads talk about "a lot of cranking". Our local pro mechanic asks me "did you fill up the cavity where the metal oil cooler lives under the fuel and oil filter tower?" Well, duhhhh, no. And be sure and fill your oil down through the oil filter housing: apparently that helps fill some of the top end places like the oil galleys that sit on top of the injectors. Also, I was surprised when he told me that once the engine fires up, and runs for a few seconds, shut it down and refill the oil. He claims that the total oil capacity of that engine when you overhaul the top end and drain all of that stuff is closer to 20-24 qts than the usual 15 needed for a routine oil and filter change.

It has not started yet after about 20-30 starter bursts of no longer than 30 seconds each.
Going to check various electrical fittings tomorrow and make sure all of them are plugged in.


We'll post a longer thread with what we have learned once the beast is actually running.

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A great series of Ford sponsored videos of a Master Mechanic at work. Very educational.

Sorry, did not answer your two questions.
1) What stuff to disconnect?? Well, any wiring and tubing that runs between the chassis and the body. This is what takes time for a first-timer because you are looking at all of this stuff under the hood and trying to figure out where it goes. The video about will help a lot.
Plus, when you are ready to lift, have one or two "spotters" whose only job is to watch as you make a very small lift to besure that some important tube or wire bundle is not being pulled apart. The main engine harness and battery cables and a few other things should be tied close to the engine so they cannot snag the cab as it goes up.

2) Where to lift?? The slide show shows were we placed out lifters, close to the center of the front door of the crew cab. We adjusted the lift points so that the cab was a bit front-heavy and then supported the front on a beam across two oil drums and under the radiator support.
IMPORTANT: remember that the base of whatever is holding the sides of cab up have to be far enough apart to allow the wheels to roll out from under the cab. We did not pay attention to this little thing until we were trying to roll out the chassis and "Holy s..t, Batman, the wheels are hitting the cab supports." Not fatal but more time to re-support.

We are now in the "attempting to re-start phase. |That is another lesson all in itself. More later and a more complete "do's and don'ts." Hang in there. It is not rocket science: it is harder than that!

 

And here are a few other suggestions.
1) Buy the 2-volume official Ford shop manuals. We never buy a piece of machinery without also buying the shop manuals. They are not cheap but when you are spending thousands on parts and the equivalent of thousands in shop time if a pro did it, it is well worth the price. 1) the drawings of the components are great and help you relate names of components to their location on the truck; 2) they have pretty good disassemble/reassemble descriptions. They are not perfect but together with all of the great u-tube videos out there you have most of what you need.
2) Be extra careful when you do a reassembly: there are many sensors and relays etc that absolutely need to be plugged in or the engine will not restart. Fill all of the upper end oil cavities as you reassemble. Ours is not starting right off, partly because the engine cranking has to push oil into all of the uper end oil cavities that are need to e.g. fire the injectors, and we are now in the process of checking everything we did. Hopefully, we will not have to pull the cab a second time. (one of the Ford Master Mechanic videos shows a top-end rebuild firing right off. I don't know what he did but no one I've talked to has had a top-end rebuild start right up.
3) Consider buying a complete top-end parts kit with upgraded oil cooler, EGR, o-rings, injector seals, head gaskets, ARP bolts etc etc. It will cost you around $2k but it saves you multiple trips to the Ford dealer parts guy and contains stuff that you would not think of replacing, mainly many many o-rings and seals. DO IT!! My personal guru is Mike at Diesel Outfitters who puts together a terrific top-end package for around $2k. Much of the stuff is genuine Ford parts, except for stuff that isn't so great in stock form like the EGR, head bolts etc.