Towing 10k+ with a 7.3L/Auto

JustinOOO9 said:

The 7.3l is certainly capable of towing 10k tell us more about the truck though? Any mods, lift kits, tires, tuning, 4x4 long bed, short bed 2wd?

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2002 ext cab short bed F250 4 or 6" lift otherwise all stock drivetrain

Back in 95 I bought a new 7.3 because I had a 30’ x 10’ ocean boat but I lived in the interior of Alaska and was planning on fishing in Valdez. A buddy of mine had a 7.5 gas truck that we towed with it the first time down and the fuel mileage was horrendous. We had to carry a 30 gallon barrel of fuel in the bed because we couldn’t make it between some gas stations without running out of gas. He didn’t have an external tank but had the dual tanks on his truck still wasn’t enough. I think we averaged about 4 miles to the gallon with his truck. So after that fiasco I bought the diesel. It averaged 12mpg which meant we didn’t have to carry any extra fuel. The road to Valdez is hilly to mountainous with a few flat spots and that truck did great for four years, but the winters killed my enthusiasm for the truck it wouldn’t stay running in Fairbanks extreme temps. With all that said I had no problems with the truck or the transmission, all stock, towing my boat. Your mileage may vary.

not knowing mods I would at least recommend:

-6.0l transmission cooler- easily knocks 25+ degrees of trans temp compared to factory 7.3l trans cooler and easy install. The single bigest towing improvement for me.
-wicked wheel 2 turbo wheel-It eliminates the infamous turbo surge the late 1999-2003 7.3ls are prone to getting especially when towing heavy. no mods needed its a direct swap. Few most boost psi and SLIGHT performance gain and no surge that actually hurts the turbo.
-Optional but requires more $$$. If you plan on tuning look at the php hydra chip. a heavy tow tune will really help the truck and is like a 25hp tune so not hurting anything the shifting is amazing for heavy loads. Generally speaking a stock truck will never have to worry about egts but an egt guage, boost, and trans temp are gold for heavy haulers. Personally the edge insight monitor is better than the standard pillar pods but research and choose your preference.
-Valvebdoy-The 4r100 is somewhat mechanically modified by replacing a valvebody with a customized one. Bryan truck shop and sam wyse are good sources as john woods left the 4r100 game. Mine was made for firmer shiftts for towing but is nice to drive empty. Less heat, wear and tear and you just "feel" the shifts a little more pronounced its actually good vs the heat soaked smooth shifts everyone "thinks they like" the smooth means longer delay between shifts vs a simple bump in the shift for better perfomance but some just think the bump bugs them lol.
**Since you have larger tires you have to be careful. Your truck will shift into a higher gear at lower speeds and lug eaiser since you cant easily reprogram the PCM. It thinks its going faster than what it really is with the larger tire diamter. You can use forscan and temp license to change the tone ring number or wire in the superlift box etc. but in general the 7.3l pcm can also be flashed by Ford IF they still run 7.3l repairs. some are phasing them out.