Modification Priorities

[TwoBearBill]

What do I change first? Then what next?

I have a 2001 F-450 7.3 with 65,000 original miles on it. We are full-time RVers, so I use the truck to pull our 40ft 5th wheel travel trailer around the country and for all-around transportation when unhooked from the RV.

I bought my truck a little over a year ago, and I love it. It weighs 9,960lbs by itself, and the truck and 5th wheel have a combined weight of 27,400. We average 17.2mpg when not pulling the trailer and 8.9mpg when towing it. That's a year of miles from the Texas Gulf Coast to the Rocky Mountains.

I want to get more pulling power and more braking, but would like to keep it reliable so this is the last truck I ever own.

All the posts on everybody's mods are great, but I get lost quickly.

Where do I start? Exhaust first?

[jesilvas]

I'm heading up to the Talamena Byway new year week with our trailer.

Most popular things are the DIY intake setup, a free flowing exhaust (I just used a free flowing muffler), gauges to monitor all your temps and data, and then a chip with tunes on it tailored to your needs/desires.

The intake is sometimes called a Tymar intake, or a 6637. The filter was origianlly a Donaldson filter, and then people just used their own brand they like. I use a Baldwin PA2818 clamped to a piece of 4" exhaust, clamped to the intake tube.

Exhaust is your choice. Bigger allows less back pressure and lets the motor breathe more, which is always good.

Gauges can be analog or digital. I have the analog gauges, but I would rather go back and do digital. That way you can plug into the computer, read all the on board sensors, and then add your own you want to monitor. Most popular are transmission temp for auto trans, exhaust gas temps in the manifold to keep from melting the pistons, and boost for fun mostly. Monitoring things like boost, high pressure oil pressure (ICP), fuel pressure, and the like let you see if something might be going bad.

For your truck, if it's an auto trans, I would get a modified valve body to firm up shifts and reduce heat. Brian's Truck Shop in Lead Hill, AK is popular. John Woods also makes great transmissions and parts too.
For me, I also added an external spin on filter to help keeping it clean.
The best thing is to keep it cool. A trans cooler from a 6.0L Powerstroke is a direct bolt in cooler that is HUGE compared to yours. Only thing to modify is the way the lines hook up. Easy.

After all that, people will get a TS 6pos chip and get custom tunes burnt onto it from Tony Wildman, PowerHungryPerformance, and many others. The custom tuners let you tell them how you want it and what you'll be doing. They can tune it to be safe for hauling a big trailer. They can tune it to change transmission paramaters to your liking. They can do anything you want.

After that, you'll never stop messing with it Just a warning.

Also, if you don't understand how these motors work, read this: How HEUI works and best to convert

Where on the coast do you like to go?

[TwoBearBill]

Makes sense to improve air in first, then air out second.

I should have listed mods I already have:
Rear air suspension
Digital readout with Boost, Exhaust temp, and trans oil temp

It does have an auto transmission, and I do have a oil cooler from a 6.0 that my son-in-law gave me - I just haven't swapped it yet. (hard to find places to work on it when you're full time RVing)

Thanks very much for the link on how the engine works - I'm familiar with diesels and a fair mechanic, but I'll read it cover to cover!

My wife and I grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast near Corpus Christi, so we don't like going to the coast if we have other choices. One of my favorite places is Rockport for the fishing. We're headed to Santa Rosa Beach, FL (near Destin) for a couple of months next Spring - our son is getting married in May.

[jesilvas]

Good deal. Probably wanna flush out that cooler really really good if it's used. Just in case.
I betcha if you got a hold of some of the people around Texas or wherever, they'd let you come over and have a day of it swapping the coolers out.

What kinda trailer you got?
RV PIC THREAD

[TwoBearBill]

Added a photo to the RV thread - hope I did it right.

Thanks for your help!

[garbageman918]

awesome post. just wanted to say thanks!

Originally Posted by jesilvas

I'm heading up to the Talamena Byway new year week with our trailer.

Most popular things are the DIY intake setup, a free flowing exhaust (I just used a free flowing muffler), gauges to monitor all your temps and data, and then a chip with tunes on it tailored to your needs/desires.

The intake is sometimes called a Tymar intake, or a 6637. The filter was origianlly a Donaldson filter, and then people just used their own brand they like. I use a Baldwin PA2818 clamped to a piece of 4" exhaust, clamped to the intake tube.

Exhaust is your choice. Bigger allows less back pressure and lets the motor breathe more, which is always good.

Gauges can be analog or digital. I have the analog gauges, but I would rather go back and do digital. That way you can plug into the computer, read all the on board sensors, and then add your own you want to monitor. Most popular are transmission temp for auto trans, exhaust gas temps in the manifold to keep from melting the pistons, and boost for fun mostly. Monitoring things like boost, high pressure oil pressure (ICP), fuel pressure, and the like let you see if something might be going bad.

For your truck, if it's an auto trans, I would get a modified valve body to firm up shifts and reduce heat. Brian's Truck Shop in Lead Hill, AK is popular. John Woods also makes great transmissions and parts too.
For me, I also added an external spin on filter to help keeping it clean.
The best thing is to keep it cool. A trans cooler from a 6.0L Powerstroke is a direct bolt in cooler that is HUGE compared to yours. Only thing to modify is the way the lines hook up. Easy.

After all that, people will get a TS 6pos chip and get custom tunes burnt onto it from Tony Wildman, PowerHungryPerformance, and many others. The custom tuners let you tell them how you want it and what you'll be doing. They can tune it to be safe for hauling a big trailer. They can tune it to change transmission paramaters to your liking. They can do anything you want.

After that, you'll never stop messing with it Just a warning.

Also, if you don't understand how these motors work, read this: How HEUI works and best to convert

Where on the coast do you like to go?

[jesilvas]

Originally Posted by TwoBearBill

Added a photo to the RV thread - hope I did it right.

Thanks for your help!

Looks good

Originally Posted by garbageman918

awesome post. just wanted to say thanks!

You're welcome. I was bored and hadn't regurgitated information in a long time