V-10 needs more torque
Thread Starter
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Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
From: Wausau, WI, USA
V-10 needs more torque
I have a 2000 F250 HD with the V-10, 3.73 rear axle ratio and auto OD transmission. We are towing a 5th wheel camper, 8500 lbs. Truck does OK on rural hiways but has some trouble with long grades on the interstate. What chip do you recommend and why ? I've heard that you should also change the air intake and exhaust with high perf. chips. Will a new chip help me out on the long grades and the downshifting ?
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 306
Likes: 0
From: NC/PA
Larry, I've driven several V-10s (autos/4.10s) and I'll be truthfull, you need 4.10s in that rascal and a chip would probably help it too..
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DOGCAM
dogcam@f150guy.com
01 F-150 SC Lariat
Flareside 4X2,5.4,3:73
LS, SnugLid,Dynomax
Exhaust,Kenwood Amps,
Speakers,JL 10" Sub
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DOGCAM
dogcam@f150guy.com
01 F-150 SC Lariat
Flareside 4X2,5.4,3:73
LS, SnugLid,Dynomax
Exhaust,Kenwood Amps,
Speakers,JL 10" Sub
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 1999
Posts: 629
Likes: 0
From: Mesa, AZ USA
You should have gotten the 4.30 gears. It would have changed the down shifting somewhat. The chip will help a little but at a cost. $400 +/- for the chip, premium fuel requirement, and same or less MPG. The V10 likes to rev to make power so let it. It will pull. I'd go for the intake(K&N) and exhaust mods (Banks or Borla header/cat-cack)
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99 SD, CC, 4x2, SHORT BED, V10(duh), 4R100 AT WITH SONNAX VALVE AND TRICUMULATOR SPRINGS, 4.30LS, TOW & CAMPER PKG, XLT, OXFORD WHITE, PRAIRIE TAN, BORLA CAT BACK, BORLA HEADERS, K&N, EXTANG COVER
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99 SD, CC, 4x2, SHORT BED, V10(duh), 4R100 AT WITH SONNAX VALVE AND TRICUMULATOR SPRINGS, 4.30LS, TOW & CAMPER PKG, XLT, OXFORD WHITE, PRAIRIE TAN, BORLA CAT BACK, BORLA HEADERS, K&N, EXTANG COVER
Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
Likes: 4
From: Virginia
Hi Larry,
Welcome to F-150 Online!
The Superchip will help, and it's significantly less expensive than was mentioned here in another post. The Webmaster here has strict policies against discussing pricing issues here on the message boards to keep the commercial content to a minimum, so for exact pricing, please feel free to shoot us an email or give us a call, our contact info is listed below.
You can also click on the link just below in our signature line which will take you to our F-150 Online Superchip Ordering System, and see it there.
The Superchip for the 1999 & 2000 V-10 is rated at a maximum gain of 29 horsepower and 48 lbs./ft. of torque. In round numbers, think of it as about a 10%-12% power gainer, making it the most cost-effective power gainer for these vehicles, nothing else will add more power for less money.
The Superchip will help to increase torque available at any rpm and more importantly, at any throttle position. It will also clean up the rather slow & sloppy automatic transmission shift characteristics, reducing slippage & helping the friction materials (bands & clutches) inside that automatic transmission last longer.
You do have quite a load there to tow, 8500 lbs. is a lot of weight to have out back; combined with the weight of your truck, you have over 15,000 lbs. total load there, easy. Under those conditions, yes, having the 4.30 gears would help, but we have a number of customers with these V-10's, and very few of them are happy with the 4.30 gearing when not towing; most of them are not towing all or even most of the time of course, so that makes a difference to be sure. They're towing maybe a couple of months out of the year, mostly, and so they drive them quite a bit when not towing as well. If all you do is towing, then the 4.30's would have been a nice idea, but there are plenty of other things you can do that will actually help more, by actually increasing engine power. Higher (numerically) gears increase torque multiplication, which can help when towing, but they also chew up a lot of extra fuel from the increased rpms all the time at any speed in any gear, and they don't add any power to the engine's output, they simply allow a bit more multiplication of the torque that's already there. That being said, drag racers in particular tend to want to change gear ratios *first* when trying to improve acceleration, and some people who tow a lot feel the same way. We generally prefer to do that *last*, and change gear ratios only if enough power cannot be added to improve performance enough to get the job done comfortably.
We generally suggest doing 1 modification at a time, so you can do only what you need to to get your performance where you want it without spending money you don't need to. There are *plenty* of things you can do for that V-10 truck to wake it up very nicely.
1.) The first thing we would suggest is to optimize your powertrain programming/tuning with the Superchip, that is the most cost-effective power gainer for that vehicle, nothing else will add more power for less money.
2.) Next would be an Air Force One intake kit to reduce the restriction in the air intake tract, which will add another 20-22 horsepower to that V-10.
3.) And then 3rd would be a good cat-back exhaust system, the better units add about 15 more horsepower to the V-10's (though most of them claim much more, figure 15 to maybe 18 or so).
I have listed those 3 areas of modification in the order of best "bang-for-the-buck". You can do them in any order you like, that is strictly up to you. Most of our customers are interested in bang-for-the-buck, and so usually follow that order. However you do it is up to you, and will not have a negative impact on the end result if you do all 3 in any order.
We would suggest doing 1 mod at a time, until your performance is where you want it.
The thing to remember about trying to make this truck stay in Overdrive is that you're not turing enough rpms to allow the engine to get up into it's higher power levels. Like any overhead cam engine, it's power is made up at higher rpms. Overdrive has spoiled many of us (including myself at times!) into thinking that we should be able to lug around 7-8 tons while turning almost no rpms (maybe 2000 rpm or so at cruising speed), and that will never work quite like that of course, it's going to downshift under those circumstances because it just isn't making enough power to satisfy throttle demand/cruise control setting. The only thing that will improve that significantly (aside from a gear ratio change)is to increase torque available on part-throttle in the lower to mid-rpm ranges, right where most gasoline engines aren't really "working" and making the power they're capable of at higher rpms.
The Superchip will help with this, as it will increase the amount of torque available all the time. What you'll notice with the Superchip most likely in your situation is that there will be some grades that it will no longer downshift on, and yet there will be other grades, steeper grades, that it will still downshift on, but it will happen later, further up the grade, because of the increased torque of the Superchip.
It is not true that you "must" also do intake & exhaust modifications in order to use the Superchip, or to get it's benefits. You can use the Superchip all by itself, and it's going to do what it was designed to do. However, it certainly is true that those 3 areas, powertrain programming, intake & exhaust, do work together very nicely to compliment one another.
If you like, please feel free to give us a call and we'll be happy to go over all of this in detail with you, so you can give it some thought. We're here Monday thru Friday from 10am to 7pm, Eastern time.
I hope this information helps,
------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer
Welcome to F-150 Online!
The Superchip will help, and it's significantly less expensive than was mentioned here in another post. The Webmaster here has strict policies against discussing pricing issues here on the message boards to keep the commercial content to a minimum, so for exact pricing, please feel free to shoot us an email or give us a call, our contact info is listed below.
You can also click on the link just below in our signature line which will take you to our F-150 Online Superchip Ordering System, and see it there.The Superchip for the 1999 & 2000 V-10 is rated at a maximum gain of 29 horsepower and 48 lbs./ft. of torque. In round numbers, think of it as about a 10%-12% power gainer, making it the most cost-effective power gainer for these vehicles, nothing else will add more power for less money.
The Superchip will help to increase torque available at any rpm and more importantly, at any throttle position. It will also clean up the rather slow & sloppy automatic transmission shift characteristics, reducing slippage & helping the friction materials (bands & clutches) inside that automatic transmission last longer.
You do have quite a load there to tow, 8500 lbs. is a lot of weight to have out back; combined with the weight of your truck, you have over 15,000 lbs. total load there, easy. Under those conditions, yes, having the 4.30 gears would help, but we have a number of customers with these V-10's, and very few of them are happy with the 4.30 gearing when not towing; most of them are not towing all or even most of the time of course, so that makes a difference to be sure. They're towing maybe a couple of months out of the year, mostly, and so they drive them quite a bit when not towing as well. If all you do is towing, then the 4.30's would have been a nice idea, but there are plenty of other things you can do that will actually help more, by actually increasing engine power. Higher (numerically) gears increase torque multiplication, which can help when towing, but they also chew up a lot of extra fuel from the increased rpms all the time at any speed in any gear, and they don't add any power to the engine's output, they simply allow a bit more multiplication of the torque that's already there. That being said, drag racers in particular tend to want to change gear ratios *first* when trying to improve acceleration, and some people who tow a lot feel the same way. We generally prefer to do that *last*, and change gear ratios only if enough power cannot be added to improve performance enough to get the job done comfortably.
We generally suggest doing 1 modification at a time, so you can do only what you need to to get your performance where you want it without spending money you don't need to. There are *plenty* of things you can do for that V-10 truck to wake it up very nicely.
1.) The first thing we would suggest is to optimize your powertrain programming/tuning with the Superchip, that is the most cost-effective power gainer for that vehicle, nothing else will add more power for less money.
2.) Next would be an Air Force One intake kit to reduce the restriction in the air intake tract, which will add another 20-22 horsepower to that V-10.
3.) And then 3rd would be a good cat-back exhaust system, the better units add about 15 more horsepower to the V-10's (though most of them claim much more, figure 15 to maybe 18 or so).
I have listed those 3 areas of modification in the order of best "bang-for-the-buck". You can do them in any order you like, that is strictly up to you. Most of our customers are interested in bang-for-the-buck, and so usually follow that order. However you do it is up to you, and will not have a negative impact on the end result if you do all 3 in any order.
We would suggest doing 1 mod at a time, until your performance is where you want it.
The thing to remember about trying to make this truck stay in Overdrive is that you're not turing enough rpms to allow the engine to get up into it's higher power levels. Like any overhead cam engine, it's power is made up at higher rpms. Overdrive has spoiled many of us (including myself at times!) into thinking that we should be able to lug around 7-8 tons while turning almost no rpms (maybe 2000 rpm or so at cruising speed), and that will never work quite like that of course, it's going to downshift under those circumstances because it just isn't making enough power to satisfy throttle demand/cruise control setting. The only thing that will improve that significantly (aside from a gear ratio change)is to increase torque available on part-throttle in the lower to mid-rpm ranges, right where most gasoline engines aren't really "working" and making the power they're capable of at higher rpms.
The Superchip will help with this, as it will increase the amount of torque available all the time. What you'll notice with the Superchip most likely in your situation is that there will be some grades that it will no longer downshift on, and yet there will be other grades, steeper grades, that it will still downshift on, but it will happen later, further up the grade, because of the increased torque of the Superchip.
It is not true that you "must" also do intake & exhaust modifications in order to use the Superchip, or to get it's benefits. You can use the Superchip all by itself, and it's going to do what it was designed to do. However, it certainly is true that those 3 areas, powertrain programming, intake & exhaust, do work together very nicely to compliment one another.
If you like, please feel free to give us a call and we'll be happy to go over all of this in detail with you, so you can give it some thought. We're here Monday thru Friday from 10am to 7pm, Eastern time.
I hope this information helps,
------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Performance Products F150Online Superchip ordering system: F150Online Superchip Ordering System
National F-150 Online Rally Event Organizer