upgrades specifically for heavy hauling

[JRDbuilt]

Long time looker but do not post often.

What i have is an 08 F550 that i use for my car transport business.

What i am wanting to do is give it a little freshing up. and look into things that will help low end power and fuel mileage. which brings up a couple of questions.

Would going to a 71mm billet turbo from elite and a Batmowheel help out with the aggressive tow and haul tune from Innovative?

truck has an older SCT livewire. DPF back exhaust and intake.



planned changes:
Larger intercooler with pipes
fully deleted
Head studs
downpipe
71mm and batmowheel????

built trans and convertor


please let me know opinions and other options.

thanks for your time guys

[04hdfatboy]

i would add to that list traction bars. They will help with axel wrap expecially with heavy loads.

[the-last-international]

i think a good tune should do it for you. A really good tune can make those stock turbos come alive, but a 71mm would be pretty freakin sweet! Maybe try the tune and go from there,just my .02

[MD05]

Originally Posted by JRDbuilt

Long time looker but do not post often.

What i have is an 08 F550 that i use for my car transport business.

What i am wanting to do is give it a little freshing up. and look into things that will help low end power and fuel mileage. which brings up a couple of questions.

Would going to a 71mm billet turbo from elite and a Batmowheel help out with the aggressive tow and haul tune from Innovative?

truck has an older SCT livewire. DPF back exhaust and intake.



planned changes:
Larger intercooler with pipes
fully deleted
Head studs
downpipe
71mm and batmowheel????

built trans and convertor


please let me know opinions and other options.

thanks for your time guys

Moving the power band to a lower RPM will require a bit more than you are looking at. Something that will help with EGT's what I would think is the prime concern is the Industrial Injection Towning turbos or Elete Diesels Tow Max turbos. They move a lot of air and spool pretty quickly. The Tow Max units require a special air box/filter to accomodate the air flow. I am looking at the tow max units to be done in next month or two.

On the Powerstroke Nation Fourm, there was a discussion about RCD low stall Torque converters 1600rpm.... One of the cats from Spartan Diesel installed one and the report is he liked the way it worked., Look at the same for my 450 just need to confirm the performance with a oversize set of rubber (34.5 inch tall )

What gear set are you running? Mine is 4.30 but with the taller tires the actual is a 3.98. The truck pull very well at highway speeds, but with the high stall torque converter the trans heats up a bunch in town or lower speeds.

[blackcloud2k]

Not to be the bad new bear, but have you ever been DOT inspected since I assume you are commercial? If you delete and you get inspected you will have a nice ticket on your hands. That being said I think a full exhaust, and a good tune, with a cold side pipe will net you some good power gains, and lower EGTs, A new IC would keep EGT's even lower but wont net you much HP. The Elite turbo would be great but as was said, you will need some good tunes and supporting mods like headstuds to keep it all together. Looks like you have a nice list going there.

[JRDbuilt]

thanks for the responses and opinions guy. couple more questions and a couple of answers:

Yes i am commercially registered so if i did a "delete" i would have to just gut the dpf / doc instead of replacing it with a straight pipe. i run all local stuff so no over the road or very many scales to cross. don't run into DOT all that much with where i run

i know the list i posted isnt a cheap list but if i got into replacing both turbos completely ( tow powers or industrial injection turbos) and doing all of the supporting mods for larger turbos. i just would go order a 2013 f550 and start fresh.


With the kind of weight i haul. would i be able to handle a larger tune if i did the 71mm with the batmowheel in the high side.doing modifications like an intercooler ,studs, all the deletes, intake work, 6.0 manifolds, etc.??


im just to the point of do i go through this truck and do everything or order a new F550 and use this truck for the next 20 weeks, that their quoting me, til that truck can be delivered.

[MD05]

BK2
My 450 is not a Commercial rig, just do some side work. Did get stopped by the VDOT folks they were more interested in Tires and weight than looking under the truck.

JRD,
Rebuild old or Build New..... That is a tough question to answer.

If I had to do this over I would rebuild old and save the bucks, the running gear will last a long time if serviced right, guess it really fall into the insurance requirements catagory how old can you go before it become too expensive to insure or fall outside of the customers requirements for vehicle age.
Lots of Big Rigs guys ( I am a Former) Customer and insurance requirements get pretty tough on older machines plus the write off is done at 5 years. I would say unless you rig is ready for the bone yard it might be more cost effective to build relaibility into the current machine and keep the cost down. Even if it need a new motor a short block is way cheaper than a full rig, plus you can have it built to spec.

My two cents from the cheap seats

[Mxr695]

I agree I would rebuild , all the problems with the new powerstrokes cant make money if your truck is broken , like he said keep cost down throw a few dollars into what you have upgrade to a new truck in a few years atleast by then some of the bugs will be worked out of the new trucks .