Ford 6.4L vs. Navistar MaxxForce 7

[Power Hungry]

So I learned a very interesting thing today about the 6.4L.

As we all know, Ford dropped the Navistar built 6.4L from their engine line in 2011 and replaced it with the 6.7L engine developed and built by Ford. Now there is no question the the 6.7L is a fantastic engine... So long as you keep water from getting in the fuel. What's interesting it that we've seen an increasing number of 6.4L engine failures do to cracking pistons. Well, it seems that Navistar (International) had the same problems with their fleet engines, but they've fixed it.

I learned today that in 2010-2011, Navistar redesigned their pistons for the 6.4L (MaxxForce 7) to help eliminate/correct the issues with pistons cracking. Later versions of the engine with the updated pistons no longer seem to have the issue. I'm not exactly sure what the changes to the pistons are (material composition, weight, shape, etc.) but as I understand it they should be able to drop right in the earlier 6.4L Ford engines and help resolve the cracked piston issues.

Now, I have not verified this information, but I will be sure to research this further. In the meantime, this may be a solution (albeit an expensive one, since this means yanking your engine) for the problem of cracked pistons.

Out of curiosity, has anyone else heard of this or can confirm this? I'm interested in hearing your thoughts.