ok, so my truck's not the hoss i thought it was... - Diesel Forum

fsad · 11-09-2009, 05:34 PM

see sig for truck specs

i recently pulled a toy hauler (est 5k lbs) home and found that my 200k mile truck is not the hoss i had hoped it would be. had a headwind for sure, pull was on I-25 in colorado from 5000-7800 and down to 6000 feet elevation. had trouble staying at 55 mph even! and the EGTs hovered around 1200, but never over 1300.

now, i have an intake, and exhaust, but im thinking i need a chip, so here's where you chime in.

i dont want to put a chip in, then end up needing injectors, a bigger turbo, head studs, more pumps, a new transmission, etc....

can it be done?

is my rig just tired (it says 225 hp on the valve cover, and whenever it gets dyno e-checked, the readout says about 130-150 hp at the rear wheels.

is 1200 EGT a bad thing?

is 55 mph livable (i was extremely embarrassed during that trip).

is there something that could be wrong (i dunno, injector timing, lift pump ooomph, or the conundrum valve - tells you how much i know about diesels)

thanks for the input!

mike

remember i live in colorado and will pretty much be pulling the TH in this state and utah and arizona and NM. not sure the exact weight of the TH but could get hefty with the 100 gall fresh tank, the 33 gal gas tank and my other gear.

.

94strokerace · 11-09-2009, 07:09 PM

Intercooler! Intercooler! Intercooler!

Sure you can chip it, but be picky of your tuner and be sure they know you tow a lot of weight and a lot of the time.

1200* but not much over..for not too long. Where is your pyro probe? Pre or post turbo?

Another thing, select a gear where your rpm's are around 2800ish. This will help your egt's.

fsad · 11-09-2009, 09:38 PM

2800 is goin to be 2nd gear!

pyro gage is pre turbo, where its supposed to be, so ive read.

as for tuners, any recommendations are welcome, im on a tight schedule would love to go camping over thanksgiving...

BiodieselPlace · 11-09-2009, 11:06 PM

Like 94Strokerace says. Intercooler. Should lower your EGTs and give you more power.

130-150 HP at rear wheels sounds a little low for your 97?

I live in AZ and double tow 12,000 lbs up 6% grades to 9,000 ft in AZ, CO, NM and Utah. Pulled my 8,500 lbs fifth wheeler up to Yellowstone this summer with my almost stock 96 with 3:55s (3,000 mile trip).

Yes, you will need to get into that 2nd gear at 2,800 to 3,000 RPM sometimes (45-50 mph)!

Intercooler is absolutely my next mod!

Followed by a Tony Wildman chip for Low and Heavy Tows!

Good luck!

realbadlarry · 11-10-2009, 10:36 PM

5K is not that much weight, but a headwind will kill you. Chip is good and you probably won't need more mods, unless you want them. An intercooler will not give you more power, it will actually cost boost lbs. It Will cool the air going in...so cooler exhaust coming out. I just put on an Adreneline pump from dieselsite...I'll let you know once I pull with it how much it helps. With stock tunes and injectors...it would probably be hard to get much past 1300...I have 5 position chip for towing and such from Dale Isley at Tymar performance. The chip will help a lot by itself. Beans, Swamps, Tony Wildman, they all have good burns now...just depends on what you want/need.

94strokerace · 11-10-2009, 11:04 PM

The idea is to get air moving, in fast and out fast, and that is done with rpm. Disengage OD, downshift or whatever you need to do in order to achive 2500+ rpm if you see that normal highway gear selection isnt adequate to maintain a safe egt. I have a wrist shaker, so i am not sure what that is for you auto folks. As far as losing boost with an intercooler install, i did not lose anything but about 100* egt off of my pyro. If i did, its not measurable by my boost gauge.

fsad · 12-03-2009, 04:30 PM

POST HAUL REPORT, CHIP INSTALLED:

ok, so i went with BTS on the chip, he got me a stock, high idle, low, medium and high tow mode, and one all out setting.

truck with out trailer, with chip: night and day on power, especially the #6 all out position (btw, could ford have put the computer somewhere else

)

still rather high egts (yes my probe is pre-turbo)

OK, so hooked up the new TH, took the whole shebang to the scales before our week long trip.

any guesses....

17,340 lbs! whew! (after the trip, i took the truck with all the gear to the scales, and got the weight: roughtly 8900 (i have a 43 gallon H2O tank, 2 propane tanks, tons of tools and other crap in there, plus wife and dog)
so basically the TH weighs about 8500 loaded (this trip, had ITS 100 gallon tank full, the fuel station 36 gallons full, a dirt bike, two bicycles, 7 gallon H2O jug, and other crap) 8500.

THE TRIP:

truck did NOT like the mountains, the worst was Monarch pass at 11, 300 ft - 25mph, 2800-3000 rpms, 1st gear, and 1200 degrees. not too exciting.
mostly i kept the chip in the low tow mode, as bumping it up only increased the EGTs rapidly and didnt offer any more oooomph. the entire trip, i drove by the EGT gage, adn not the speedometer, since i NEVER even came close to the posted speeds for the most part. my goal was to keep the temps at or below 1200. very rarely i went over but no longer that 5-10 seconds and never above 1250.

not happy!

for the most part, though, we typically take back roads, two lane stuff that you cant really go fast on anyways, but i live in colorado, adn this summer most of my trips will be high. and some regular highway driving, where i would really like to NOT get passed by sorry old smoking garbage trucks and bicyclists.

oh, and i need airbags....

i suppose the next step is to check out the truck and see what the compression is, the HPOP pressure, and anything else that should be checked to see if this is something to invest into. (204k miles, btw, water pump went out on the trip, but fortunately i was in farmington, and there was a dealer, i hate to say it, that took care of me, or should i say took care of themselves!) dont even ask what i paid. :doh::doh::doh:

but what can you do, i was thankful i wasnt in nowhereland and freaking the wife out.

anyways....das my story and im sticking to it. anyone know a good, trustworthy mech in colorado springs area (i have dealt with a particular shop who's initials are PP, and am not too thrilled with them, as they have suggested things i need (that i didn't, like brakes, etc) and finally when i was researchin chips, called them, they were so busy, they'd "call me back". next day, i called again, and they were so busy, they'd "call me back". they

never called.....

i wanna have the truck looked at and fully checked out before i go any further. i was tempeted in farmington while my water pump was getting fixed and started browsing the new SD's. but i just can't see spending that much money on a vehicle. and i love my OBS.

HHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!!!!

thanks for reading,

mike

Nit · 12-03-2009, 05:48 PM

INTERCOOLER, you really don't have a choice at thsi point, and then RPM, yes second if you have too.
Bet you were surprised at teh truck weighing 8900#, by the way the GVW is only 8800#.

If you get going faster teh air speed will cool you off, or add an electric fan on teh outside of teh rad adn push air over it. Plus make sure you manually downshift adn that teh tranny has locked up the TC.

I was towing an old heavy TT one day up a nasty mountain and had to go all the way down to second to run the hill, on the way back I cranked it up , hit the dual electric fans and kept my foot in it, 90mph all the way up teh hill, 2400 in OD at 1200 degrees, passed everthign on the road that stretch.

powerstrokin1997 · 12-03-2009, 07:19 PM

x2 on the intercooler. i was having the same high EGT problem. i was driving by the pyro whenever i was hooked up to the trailer (only about 7500lbs) and had the wheeler in the bed. it was a slow drive everywhere. i installed an IC from a 01 superduty, problem solved. only $100 for IC w/ pipes and spider and now i can keep up with my dads 05 6.0 leaker and my uncles cummins.

the install takes a bit of time but well worth it. good luck

Anthony

**pjwoolw** · 12-03-2009, 10:05 PM

I would think the 3.55s are hurting you the most in the hills. Don't know if your wheels and tires are taller than stock. If they are thats hurting you even more.

fsad · 12-04-2009, 11:03 AM

thanks all, heres the scoop

my tires are NOT that taller than stock, id say and inch if that.

yes, im sure the gears are hurting me but i was hoping to save the axle stuff for last, hoping that the mods would over come them.

i DO downshift when needed and hardly towed in OD at all as then the EGTs would skyrocket. like i said, i was in the 2500-3000 rpm range most of the time and drove by my egt gage.

no radiator issues, no fan issues as one poster suggested. i would watch the water gage as well,, no problems (hopefully no MORE problems, as the water pump is done now (please dont mention the radiator)) [IMG]http://*****************.com/forums/images/smilies/eek.gif[/IMG]

im searching for a shop that i can have help me check the compression, etc. in the colorado springs area

i can certainly check the uppipes for leaks, i do notice a rather dark tranny tunnel when im underneath the truck, and swear i have been smelling fuel or exhaust in the cab lately. oh man......

and i DID get a chip, see the post a few pages back on the post-trip report.

thansk
mike
.................................................. .................................................. ......................................
97 F350 CC 4x4, 203k miles; BTS 6-position chip, 3" Down Pipe, 4" exh, no cat, flow thru muffler; Tymar intake; Mag Hytec tranny and rear diff covers; trans, egt and boost on the A-pillar; 285/75/16 Geolander A/T-S's on MBwheels #72's, 2" rear wheel spacers. (shimmed bumper 'bout 5/8 - 3/4 inch out); 3.55 gears (stock); interior and engine you can eat off of; Warn premium manual hubs; RSK, X-code front springs with wedge shims to correct pinion, 5" SD Icon rears (lost the huge block - truck sits level); lengthened front drive shaft 2", bilstein 5125's on all 4 corners. overall lift height, 3.75" front, 2.5" rear.

fsad · 12-04-2009, 11:31 AM

forgot to mention that i averaged 8.11 mpg over the 1175 mile trip!
thanks,
mike

.................................................. .................................................. ......................................
97 F350 CC 4x4, 203k miles; BTS 6-position chip, 3" Down Pipe, 4" exh, no cat, flow thru muffler; Tymar intake; Mag Hytec tranny and rear diff covers; trans, egt and boost on the A-pillar; 285/75/16 Geolander A/T-S's on MBwheels #72's, 2" rear wheel spacers. (shimmed bumper 'bout 5/8 - 3/4 inch out); 3.55 gears (stock); interior and engine you can eat off of; Warn premium manual hubs; RSK, X-code front springs with wedge shims to correct pinion, 5" SD Icon rears (lost the huge block - truck sits level); lengthened front drive shaft 2", bilstein 5125's on all 4 corners. overall lift height, 3.75" front, 2.5" rear.

jac97psd · 12-04-2009, 06:40 PM

Innercooler and 4.10 gears and it will be like night and day.

scootdog · 12-06-2009, 06:17 AM

jac97: thats what i was thinking. i gots 4:10 gears in my 97 XCAB 4X4 and never had a problem pulling anything. pulling overweight loads up mt. passes at 65MPH with stock everything. now i got a built trans and superchips tuner on 40HP an no problems. go for gears, you might lose a little in mileage, but you can pull a third world country! and a stick outta my ex ole ladys arse!!!!!

jac97psd · 12-06-2009, 11:09 PM

Yup got 4.10's in my 97 psd f-350 DRW and it will pull a house down. Now I just need to start modding it. It is bone stock and had it since new. It has 232k miles on it and just been in the shop for tranny rebuilt and I've done some minor things. Belts, hoses, etc...