I just picked up our new travel trailer and have used it a couple times. The truck does a pretty good job lugging it around, but I've talked to a few people that say a tuner will help even more. I really don't know much about them but I've heard Edge tuners are good for our trucks. Any recommendations as to which tuner/tune would be best for me for towing?

Also I should probably get some mirror extensions. I have the Lariat mirrors with the turn signals at the tips and I'm not sure which extensions will fit over that style of mirror. For those of you that have the same mirrors as me, which extensions do you have?

Thanks a bunch!

 

Tuner might help some, but if the motor, gear, and tire combo is what is in your sig, 4.10 gears would do the most for you. I wouldn't bother with an Edge tuner. Custom tunes is the best way to go.

 

I did look into getting the gears done, but was quoted 2400 to have it done. Way too much!

For custom tunes, I would have to bring my truck into a tune shop then? Dyno, etc? Not sure how that works.

 

You need a good mechanic friend that does work at home like I do. My '01 I paid roughly 1k for my 4.56 gear swap. Bought the gears online myself, then had him install them. He charged me $300. I had one shop quote me $1800. You can get the tuner and have the tunes emailed to you. Someone like this. http://www.morepowertuning.com/2003f150 There are others that people could recommend as well.

 

Custom tunes from one of the reputable mail order tuners, using a SCT device. MPT, VMP, 5 Star, Troyer.

 

Inform us about how much your travel trailer weighs, loaded.

 

BAM!! This right here X10!!!

A tuner will improve the performance yes, but when it comes to grunt and pulling that trailer around--or should I say "lugging" it around, that tuner is a band-aid for gears; there is no substitue. Gears will completely transform the way your truck drives every day, much less when lugging that trailer around. You should not be "lugging" anything.

 

The trailer is 4200lbs dry, so I'm figuring just under 5 thousand loaded.

I do agree that a gear swap would really help, but it seems overpriced from the quotes I've got so far and I haven't found a shop that sounds really familiar with doing the swap/getting the parts. A couple places even told me it wasn't possible!

 

You have both axles you gotta do.. Could probably get the gears and all for $500 and do it yourself but its not a job for the average back yard mechanic. Shimming is the hard part. Takes some skill to get them shims in there..

 

T
Double post removed.

 

Three items.
1. Your at or very close to your total combined weight limit of 11,500 lbs.
2. The larger tires are not doing you any favors.
The 17 inch tires are a 'de-rating' factor for towing limit.
In your user manuel refer to page 191 at GCWR, then to page 195 under Super Cab/Screw GCWR for 4.6/3.55 with 16 and 17 "tire sizes. a 500 lbs difference.
3. There is no other way to get more worthwhile torque than with gear change. You can put gears in rear but than you out of 4x4 use and may possibly have ABS issue from the difference in wheel speeds.
The idiot that told you it is impossible to change gears needs to be in another kind of biz. If they don't want to do the job, just say they don't want the job because they don't know how to do it correctly.. It takes shims, a dial indicator, a micrometer and gear contact paint to set it all up plus front crush sleeve and oil seal.
The front requires reverse cut gears and the same .
No tuning will make up for the towing torque what you want.
Good luck.

 

Gears are definitely the way to go for more pulling power. I have yet to change out my 3:55's (on the to do list), but I do run an SCT tuner with a custom 93 octane tow tune. It has a little more grunt, but I got the best results by changing the shifting characteristics, that made a pretty big difference. It now holds the shifts out longer and the shifts are crisper. Big improvement over stock. I'm towing a 27ft. travel trailer with a GVWR of 7400 lbs.

 

I'm torn as to whether to throw some money at this truck and do gears and a tuner, or to just live with it for a couple more years, do shorter trips, and put the money into a newer truck once the trailer is paid off.

My truck is still mint and will easily last another 10 years if I wanted it to, because I have taken good care of it. It's just that my needs in a truck have changed over the past couple years and will continue to change once little ones come along...

I like the fact that I don't have monthly truck payments with this one, and it does a decent job doing what I ask of it. Just not sure if paying taxes, and financing crap is worth it at this point when my '03 is still going strong!

Bluegrass - what do you figure my truck weighs? I always thought it was around 5000lbs.

 

I am in the same position as you. Same trailer weight, truck and gears but I have a 5.4. I found my truck does not enjoy towing that much weight at highway speeds. I added a programmer with custom tunes and it did help some. Gears are very expensive here too. There are only a few places that will do them and they want your first born so I haven't bothered (around $4000.00 for both diffs). I find that at highway speeds my rpms are high now with the OD locked out so I can't help wondering how gears will effect the rpms at speed anyway. My truck is in great shape too and I would like to keep it but the smarter option would be to either sell it and get a 3/4 ton or get a smaller and lighter trailer. I am leaning towards a lighter trailer.

 

Holy crap the shops in your area are outrageous! The owner of the one shop I went to used to work on Bigfoot. His shop quoted me $1800. Granted this was a few years back, but 4k is just insane. You can get G2 gears, install kits and oil yourself for under $1k. So they are way overcharging on labor.