I have a 1998 F-150 SC 4x4 with the 4.6 Triton (3.55 gears and Tow Package). Since I have a large camping trailer to pull, I wanted to see what suggestions I can get from the group on how to pull a few more ponies out of the engine at a low cost. I have seen some posting on performance chips - but too impatient to read through them all.

I am currently pulling a '30 Nomad that is around 5600# unloaded. Truck pulls ok on flat, but could use help on hills. I like the truck too much to get a new one - any low cost suggestions?

 

Nomad99,
well right now Troyer perfromance is haveing a great deal on the Xcal2 at a low cost......but to your "low" cost suggestion you get what you pay for shop around

 

- some 4.10:1 rear end gears would certainly help pull your camper. I changed out the 3.55 gears in my 98 for 4.10s and now my 4.6 L engine pulls my 5,200 lb. boat and trailer decently.

enb

 

gears would help but then you would need something to recalibrate the speedo.

 

I checked into gearing, but once they said I would have to change both front and back at a tune of $6K - which is an option, but not one I want to undertake right now due to other things grabbing at my wallet. I did check on the Xcal2 as suggested, but also saw some posting on the Superchip tuner - any good feedback on this device?

 

Go with the XCal and get a custom tune for towing. You will have the option of what octane you wish to use plus performance tune also. IMO, best bang for the buck towing/ performance mod you can get. You can also consider underdrive pullies & electric fan. This will regain you some hp from parasitic loss.

 

So you want 'us' to do the work for 'you'?


Where the heck do you go for that quote? That's about 5 to 6 times what it should cost.

 

Huh?

 

Local tranny shop in the area.

 

Welcome to the forums -
Patience is a virtue.
By using the search function above you can take advantage of much more info than you will receive here and now with a redundant thread.
I have 410's, which I installed for performance and not towing, and I'm sure that they would help you. But a good towing tune is going to be your cheapest and most benificial upgrade......IMHO.

 

I would shop that quote around a bit, you should be able to get it done for 1200 bucks or less. About 600 for the gears and another 600 for the labor.

 

Thanks for all the info. ONELOWF - I should have used the search, as you said - I'm new to the forum - sorry for the redundancy here.

Looks like a programmer is the way to go. I'll check out the postings some more. Currently looks like xCal2 and Edge have a lot of followers here. I will just need to balance the two and put in the order. Not much press on the Superchip, so I may leave that one alone.

 

Hi Nomad,

What will actually get you the best result in terms of the amount of power & performance gain, as well as the best overall driveability, is our custom tuning - that is why it was pointed out in one of the earlier messages to check our our Group Buy that we are currently running on our Troyer Performance custom tuning.

We also carry the Edge product, as well as the Superchips products, but neither of those has the kind of power, performance improvement or driveability, shift characteristics, etc that our custom tuning does in these vehicles - no standard off-the-shelf product can compare to proper & thorough custom tuning.

We've specialized in tuning the F-150 longer than anyone else in the world, over 14 years - which is why most owners here come to us for their tuning needs, as we're we'll known for our results - and there are literally thousands of posts here from customers of ours who have posted their results & impressions that can easily be retrieved via the SEARCH feature, for example.

Here is a link to take you to the info about our Group Buy: https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=227214

Trying to pull upwards of 3 tons with a 4.6 F-150 is asking a lot from it - the overall load on that engine is in the area of 10,000 lb,. and that is if it's only a 2WD - add 600 lb if it's a 4x4, and you quickly see the picture, it's a lot of weight for the small 4.6 V8 to tow. However, a lot of people are in that same situation, and the best thing to do is to approach this from a bang-for-the-buck angle - do the mods that add the most amount of power for the lowest cost first, and nothing else can match the power & performance gains of our custom tuning for the same or less cost.

If you are going to be towing that much weight frequently, or for long distances, then it's also a good idea to have the gears swapped out for 4.10's - and it won't cost anything like $6K - figure it should be about $1200-$1600 at most for a 4x4, where both front & rear have to be done - so yes, that is expensive, and doesn't add any power to the engine - what it does is to increase torque multiplication, so most vehicle owners opt to actually increase torque and horsepower first, as that is much cheaper to do - then if you cannot get your performance where you want/need it for your towing after doing say, the Top 3 bang for the buck mods (our custom tuning, the AF1 intake kit & a good cat-back exhaust system), then it's time to take a look at doing the gear ratio swap, just to give you an idea of how most people approach this.

I hope this info helps, & please eel free to give us a call if you'd like to go over any of this in more detail, etc., we'll be happy to help.

Best of luck whatever you decide!

 

Superchip Distributor,

Your posting is quite helpful and I will be in touch with your company soon about the products you mentioned (at least 2 of the 3 - Xcal2, and AF1 intake). Camping season is coming soon, so I would like to have the vehicle ready to roll within the next month or so.

Thanks again.

 

Hi Nomad99,

You're more than welcome, & we hope you enjoy this next towing season with that big 30' Nomad.

My wife & I want to do something along those lines - meaning either get into a motorhome, or towing a nice big trailer like yours, we really can't decide which. We have a lot of experience renting motorhomes, which we take to events, etc., but are not quite ready to make the decision between buying & towing a big trailer like yours, or to go the motorhome route - it's a tough decision!