Replacing block drain plugs with petcocks
The block drain location on the driver's side of the engine block. There was a drain plug installed originally, and one of the previous owners of the truck replaced the hex-head bolt with an Allen-head bolt. He then apparently epoxied the bolt in, because the bolthead immediately stripped out. Using an extractor and a LOT of elbow grease, I finally got the bolt removed. I needed to remove the front driveshaft and the oil filter to get to a position to remove the plug. Instead of installing another bolt, I got a petcock with a 90° bend. This is known on TheDieselStop as a BajaGringo drain, after the gentleman who came up with the idea. This allows you to hook a hose to the petcock and drain coolant out of the engine block without making a mess, and if clean buckets are used, you can even re-use old coolant if you so wish.
The BajaGringo drain installed on the passenger's side. Note that the starter has been removed. I needed to do this in order to remove the old Allen-head drain plug.
Removing external parts and accessories
Heads, gaskets, and the block after head removal
Removing timing gear cover and camshaft
Installing BajaGringo drains