to chip or not to chip

[greedykibler]

Hello, brand new to the site and diesels in general. Spent a few hours last night reading and searching thru different posts on this site and came up with a few questions. Just bought my 2001 7.3 yesterday and was wondering if it was dangerous to put a performance enhancing chip into a truck that has 120000 miles. I dont have a lot of history on the truck, just what was told to me at the car lot. My friend owns the dealership so im pretty confident in the truck, but he only knows as much as the person who traded in the truck told him. It seems to run really well, and drive well except for a little wandering in the steeringwheel which from what ive read on here can be adjusted at the steering box.

Back to my question, am I just going to eat my tranny and start breaking other things if I install a chip? Also, I have read a lot of people recomending the dp tuner. I would prefer the cheapest bang for my buck but would like to have some options and on the fly changing of the programing. I would like to be able to hit a button and adjust the horsepower while sitting in the cab. Was not quite clear on whether or not you could do that with the dp. The truck came with 35inch toyos, mbrp straigh thru exhaust, but has a stock air cleaner system.

Thanks for reading my post thats been posted over and over by every newbie to the diesel world.

[Strõkër~X]

i would thank that your truck would be fine, as for the mileage, if the truck drives tight, then you should be fine i've always heard that when the Powerstrokes hit 100K, they are just getting broken in.

welcome to the org.

[Hank]

Greedy:
You have picked the right place to get help. I, too, am new to the Powerstroke family and have learned a great deal from this forum. Actually, I joined three different forums the same night and have never been back to the others...not one time. Complete your signature. I know from experience it will help you get helped.
Mine is also a 2001 with 35s. It takes a good bit of rpms just to get the thing moving. I am jealous of the guys on here that talk about smoking the tires, etc. and I needed more power so I looked into a chip/programmer/tuner etc. Jody at DP Tuner is just down the road from me and always responds to my emails. He agrees with me that lowering mine back down to earth and using a smaller tire will greatly improve my mileage. After that, he wants to try an F5. I was impressed with his advice to spend my money on the most logical things first and then with him. Seems like a first class dude. See his email below:

I would recommend that you go with your plan of lowering it and going with the 33" tires to help with mileage.
We could try the F5 and I would go with stock, 60hp tow, 80hp econo, & 120hp race = $374.95 + ship.
After that is installed then see how it performs and how the mileage is. You could make a trip down and we could take a look at it if the mileage is still down.
Jody
DP-Tuner
116 River Bend Drive
Hoschton, GA 30548
828-221-0076
866-731-5606 fax

[JoeyCleland]

Get the DP, It can be adjusted on the fly from the cab. Do that and get yourself a Tymar and you will be all set. Dont worry about breaking it. They are built Ford tough.

[worx]

I started my 01 with 156K on it, went with a lower programmer first and now at 218K went to a chip. I had the tranny rebuild at about 210K and made sure it would take a chip, towing and more...
Jody has a good reccommendation above, but as with whatever you go with, get gauges on it first! I ran a lower programmer for a while without them, not the best idea, but am glad I have them now! Should have done them first, but wanted to get more power quick... now no worries...

[southern7.3]

dont mean to hi jack....but....hank what kind of mileage are you getting with your 35s?

[Hank]

12-13
New fuel filter, replaced K&N with a Fram Toughguard (Oil on K&N seems to mess with sensors) 50# in Cooper STTs, and using Deisel Kleen in every tank. Looking for help to improve it. Plan to drop it down a few inches and run 33s.

[greedykibler]

Originally Posted by southern7.3

dont mean to hi jack....but....hank what kind of mileage are you getting with your 35s?

Not sure on the mpg, the trucks that new to me. Havent managed to use more then a quarter tank of fuel. So which set of gauges should I get? Ive seen some that look like actual round gauges that mount in place of the trim on the left side of the windshield. I've also seen digital units that look as if they have all the gauges on them as well as access to your chip mapping.

[greedykibler]

A link to the programer you are refering to would be great also, thanks

[alabamafrog]

If it were me and I was starting fresh with a stock truck after I did routine maintenance/inspections and changed all the fluids I would get a Baldwin PA2818 air filter and make an adapter out of 4” pipe for about $40 Then add 3 Autometer gauges on the pillar pod for about $300 total and a Ts performance 6 position chip for about $300 and have the muffler and cat cut off and a straight pipe welded in for about $80. After all that I would drive it a while and do other little stuff as time allowed like the fuel tank/filter/pump mods ($30). So for around $700 and a few hours quality time with your new baby you will have a very powerful PSD. There are pics of these mods in my signature link.