Please eacuse me if this is a regular topic, I'm new to this board having just been directed to it earlier in the week. At any rate I have a reciently acquired a '96 F-250 4x4 with the 5.8 liter engine and an overdirven transmission. The thing has 4.10 gears in it according to the door sticker. I have no idea what horsepower its supposed to be putting out.

I will be using the truck as my primary transportation but more importantly as a tow vehicle for our boat, and that is the most severe use it can reasonably be expected to see, I'm not a racer at heart. But there is actually a lot to that, the towing that is. Our boat/trailer combination weighs 6,620 pounds empty. We tow from West Virginia, through the eastern "mountains" to the coast of North Carolina. The one-way trip is just a bit over 450 miles. My previous tow truck was an '86 Chevy 4x4 with a somewhat modified 350, 3.73 gears, and a manual 4-speed. It was probably putting out an honest 325 horsepower. The trips were hard on it. I went through 3 engines, 3 transmissions and two rears during the 7 years I used it. At best the truck's power was only marginly up to the task of towing through the hilly stuff. I don't really expect much more out of the Ford and to tell the truth I am concerned about the automatic transmission. For now I guess my real question is would the superchip be of much value to me? When I read the posts about the things having memory it disturbs me. I figure that most of my use is without the boat on the back so if this thing has a memory it will be of the wrong stuff. I'm also not all that wild about having to put hi-test gas in the thing, I drive about 50,000 miles a year and the extra cost adds up after a couple of years. So what are your thoughts on towin with and without one of the chips installed? I'd appreciate any comments either way.

Thom

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1996, F-250, 5.8 L, 4.10 differentials, 4x4, automatic w/overdrive

 

Well, if ya think an additional 25hp and 45lb-ft torque is awesome, then yes get it. It will help in towing your boat, and will help you in traffic. It gets you better gas mileage, like +2 or 3 mpg.

Talk to Mike Troyer, who sells them. His info is below.

Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com


Good luck!

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1999 Ford F150 XLT 4x2, Cloth Seats, Amazon green, 16" All season tires, Soft Tonneau Cover, CD Player, 4.6 liter Triton V8, 3:55 ls, towing package, 4 speed auto, K&N Airfilter, soon Superchip and K&N GEN II.

Fast46Triton

The Terminator!

 

Well, Tina beat me to it once again!

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1999 Ford F150 XLT 4x2, Cloth Seats, Amazon green, 16" All season tires, Soft Tonneau Cover, CD Player, 4.6 liter Triton V8, 3:55 ls, towing package, 4 speed auto, K&N Airfilter, soon Superchip and K&N GEN II.

Fast46Triton

The Terminator!

 

Fast46,

Thanks for the comment. I don't recall anyone else mentioning improved fuel economy and a couple of miles per gallon would make up for the greater cost of the hi-test stuff. By the way, it must have been the voices that made me type in that milage above. I do put quite a few miles on a truck in a year, something on the order of 25,000 but certainly not the 50,000 that I had typed in - goodness only knows where that came from - those damned voices in my head I guess! Whatever .... Do you really think that an additional 25 horses would be that noticable? I wouldn't think it would be that much big deal. I have been guessing that this engine was rated at something on the order of 300 hp or thereabouts and so an increase of 25 would only be about 8%, not a whole lot. I get the impression that one of these chips will run me something in the neighborhood of $250 by the time it arrives at my door and $10 a horse sounds a bit steep for the first increment. What do I know? What you have to keep in mind is that I'm an old dinosaur who was raised on small blocks and hardware changes to get power - the chip business is all very new to me. That's why I so very much appreciate any comments anyone cares to make.

Thom

 

I too would say YES to getting the Superchip. It would improve your hp/torque all the time but you would "notice" it more when your pulling that boat. If using premium gas is your only concern (the cost that is) Then pull the chip out when your home and put it back when you go to pull the boat. Personally I wouldn't recomend pulling the chip, I like haveing the extra power at my disposal all the time. And I've notice that I get more miles per tank than I did before the chip!! Another question you raised was the manual over the automatic regarding pulling. Actually the Ford automatic will do a better job than the manual. And the Superchip will help the automatic here too by firming up the shift points. A real plus when towing. I think you might see real improvements adding a chip. My 02

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97F150 XLT SC 4x4 Flairside 4.6 V8 5sp Dk Toreador Red, 3.55LS
ARE tonneau cover, p255/70rx16 tires (came w/235), Superchip
Pioneer CD w/4 Polk Speakers & Clarion APA5240amp, skid plates
bed liner, side window deflectors, reese hitch, K&N air filter
40s-2chamber Flowmaster, Bosch +4 spark plugs, rustproofing

 

well said Mike. I just have to add something. The Horsepower of the 5.8 in a 1996 f250 is 210hp and 325lb-ft torque. The horsepower is nowhere near 300. Mike, the 240 you are getting is for the 7.5 liter, which is really 245 horsepower.

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1999 Ford F150 XLT 4x2, Cloth Seats, Amazon green, 16" All season tires, Soft Tonneau Cover, CD Player, 4.6 liter Triton V8, 3:55 ls, towing package, 4 speed auto, K&N Airfilter, soon Superchip and K&N GEN II.

Fast46Triton

The Terminator!

 

Thank you all for the comments. I have an E-Mail in to Mike to check on getting one of the chips, it appears to be what I should do. Its interesting on that power output - I made the bad assumption that anything with around 350 cubic inches should be putting out power approaching 300 horses, guess I've just got to used to what to expect from Chevy small blocks, looks like I'll have to adjust. You know, its interesting and really very inprecise, but I still have my '86 Chevy half ton 350 powered short bed. Now the new (to me) Ford is very much nicer of course, its smoother, it is larger, and overall its a lot more comfortable but it was pretty clear to me right from the get go that the old Chevy, despite its 200,000+ miles and 3.73 gears would easily blow the Ford off the road if they were running head to head. My real hope is that the Ford's other attributes will make it a much nicer towing vehicle and from what I've seen from it so far I have little doubt that it will, its just so much nicer to drive! There is this though, if I had known that it had such a miserly power output I probably wouldn't have bought it but now that I've got it I like it well enough so its a keeper. At any rate thanks again for your comments and depending on what comes up for me in the next couple of days I should be putting in one of the chips within either a couple of days or at worst two weeks, I'll let the world know how it works out towing wise.

Thom

 

DearThom,

Actually, that was a very nice post, explaining very well your needs. The 1996 5.8 (351 cu. in) engine was rated nowhere *near* 300 hp, it's much less, more like 240 is the highest factory rating I've seen on a 5.8 F-series. The Superchip normally can be expected to add approximately 10-12% more peak horsepower, and 12%-18% more peak torque. So you will definately notice it, but not just because of the raw numbers. The Superchip is the only chip that works *ALL* the time, not just at wide-open throttle, so it's perfect for towing, easy driving, or the drag strip, whatever your needs. It will firm up the shifts on the automatics, making them last longer due to reduced slippage, and also improving overall driveability quite a bit. It's by far the single best bang-for-the-buck power gainer you can install on a computer controlled vehicle. Your fuel mileage should actually increase, not decrease, and this is just the by-product of the optimized spark advance on part-throttle.

Feel free to give me a call or drop me a line in email if you'd like more details about what the Superchip can do for you. And there are a lot of members right here using them, who are great to talk to as well.

All the best,

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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com

 

Dear Fast46triton,

While I appreciate your enthusiasm, you are wrong in your assumption that I was talking about a different engine.

The first Lightning, powered by the 5.8 (the 351) engine has the highest rating I've seen on the 5.8 in an F-150, and that was *exactly* 240 hp. My original statement was that the highest power rating I have ever seen on a 5.8-engined F-series was 240, which was correct.

Bests,

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Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com