1999 F250 Supercab Super Duty, 5.4 Gas, 3.73rear.
On occasion will be pulling 8000lb 5th wheel.
What would work the best? Program or 4.10 Gears

 

Hi uffdabill,

Well, towing 4 tons with a 5.4 motor is not going to be a desirable situation - you probably know that already. So I would not expect either of those mods to make a tremendous difference as you're talking about a total load on the motor of 14,000 lbs - that's just too much for a 5.4 gas motor to have to haul around, even with 4.10 gears - it's just too much load on too little motor.

But.......we have to do what we have to do, and sometimes we just have to deal with what we have available to us - many of us are in that same boat!

The gear ratio change will net you *no* increase in engine power - but what it *will* do is to give you a 9.9% increase in torque multiplication, all the time, at any rpm, at any speed, and in any gear - and that's handy for towing, to be sure. It's like getting 10% more motor under the hood, basically.

The Superchips tuning, on the premium gas tow-safe program, gets you about an 8%-10% increase in power - and you'll have that gain all the time, at any throttle position, at any rpm, in any gear - once again, it's like getting about 10% more motor under the hood. So in round numbers, the amount of torque you put to the wheels with *either* of these mods is going to be roughly close.

The Superchips tuning will give you a little bit more overall benefit to the vehicle, as it will help the transmission live a bit longer thanks to reduce slippage - and the delays & retards being removed will help performance above & beyond what the raw power gain does.

I think the net effect on your towing capability will be roughly the same with either the change to 4.10's or with the Superchips Micro Tuner - I feel the Micro Tuner comes out slightly ahead due to the total combination of everything it does - delays, retards, etc., in addition to the shifting improvements in the automatics and the power gains.

If this were *my* vehicle, this choice would depend on how often and how far I had to tow that 4-ton trailer, and whether it was an automatic or a manual - if I had to tow it with any kind of frequency I'd want to have not just 4.10's, but 4.56 gears - *and* the Micro Tuner, as well as an intake & exhaust. That way you've got more power, you've got significant additional torque multiplication, and the motor will be able to breathe much better - which is important when towing due to EGT's.

With a manual tranny, I might think of doing the gear ratio change first - but with an automatic, I'd do the Micro Tuner first, due to all it's benefits in addition to power gain - to the transmission, the reduce slippage, etc. - and that is going to be a *big* issue towing 4 tons.

Bottom line? It's a tough call when you're limited to just one of those 2 mods - some will say do the gear ratio change, and that will certainly help. Personally, I think I would do the Micro Tuner first, simply because it's so easy, it's cheaper, and not only actually adds power to the motor and increases torque to the wheels, but it also helps the automatic transmission via the reduced slippage, removes the delays & retards that induce further slippage and hurt performance, etc. Then if that is not enough, *then* do the gear ratio change. that would probably be the route I would take, if I did not have to tow that 4 ton load very often.

I can only hope that info might help you in your decision a little bit ( as opposed to just causing confusion), and best of luck whatever you decide!