First off I'm new to this board, I joined up a while back but dont even recall posting, just got the membership for searching and just because.

Anyways, I have an '04 FX4 F150 Ext. cab with the 5.4, 92K miles. The only "performance" mods I've done is a cat-back dual exhaust and a drop-in K&N. I've been trying to get out of it and into a bigger truck for towing my trail-rig, but with the truck market like it is, I can't sell or trade it without losing my tail on the deal. The towing weight will be approximately 8K pounds with a gooseneck trailer, and I'll be lucky to do it one weekend a month. According to my owner's manual, with 18" wheels, my truck is rated for 8800lbs of towing, with 17s it bumps up to 9300lbs, I've been wanting wheels anyway, so thats a probable purchase soon.

Onto the question. Would the Edge Evolution be a good upgrade to help with towing a heavy load on occasions? To me, the 5.4 doesn't seem to have much TQ at the bottom end. I also have wanted to firm up the shifts since I got the truck, just never saw it as worth the $$$ for a programmer.

I'm not looking for tire-roasting "performance", I just want to make the truck a little more capable of towing a big load once in a blue moon. I don't see myself getting into the custom tuning and all that unless there would be huge benefits for my needs, just wanting to know if the Edge, or any other programmer, has good settings out of the box for occasional heavy towing. I'm very green to this side of automotives, but in general I know what I'm looking for. Just don't quite know how to get it yet.

Thanks in advance for the help

 

I just installed my Edge on Friday and boy is it a world of difference. Down low feels a lot stronger and the shifts are much firmer and more crisp. I have only tried it out on the tow setting. Don't plan on going to the performance setting because I don't want to buy 93 gas. Can't wait to tow something with it.

 

I had the same mods on my 04 with the edge and it made a world of difference pulling a 6000lb boat. Before the edge my truck struggled with that load. So i think you will definatly notice a huge improvement. hope this helps

 

Even with 35's my truck pull's better set on level 2, I can't wait to put my 33's on and see what it can do!

 

Yes, it would make a world of differance! Maybe even consider the Gryphon with Custom Tunes frpm PHP.

 

I had the Edge and I didn't like it at all. I had a lot of problems with it that Edge couldn't fix. If you'd like to know, I can post them up. I ended up switching to a custom tuned Xcal2. So my recomendation is to go with something like a custom tuned Xcal2. But! If you have to have the gauges than get the Gryphon from Bill at PHP. It's the same thing as the Edge, Bill used to work for Edge, it's just relabeled and he's able to custom tune them. The Edge is only meant to be used for stock vehicles and comes with 3 "canned" tunes. If you get the Gryphon, Bill can write tunes for all of your mods and whatever kind of tune you want. Mileage, Power, Towing, Octane ratings, etc. It's a much better choice than the Edge.

 

I am interested in the same as "seemoremud". If the edge is only made for stock trucks, is it bad to run it with my Banks power monster catback exhaust system? If so, how do you get ahold of Bill?

 

So with the just a regular Edge tuner, there are no user-adjustments? I had the understanding you could do small tweaks here and there.

If I were to go with a Gryphon, and say 6 months decided to make a different mod, or change something exhaust/intake wise, I would have to send it back to Bill and have it reprogrammed?

 

there are user adjustments and you can make tweaks like shift firmness, timing, WOT shift points, etc

If you have a gryphon u get 3 tunes...so if you only use one of two of them right away and you make another mod 6 months later you would have to get a new tune and you could use your third one for that

 

I think you should be fine...I would still get custom tunes just because their better...you can get a hold of Bill at powerhungryperformance.com

 

Good. That (shift firmness) is the main thing I'm after, I have been disappointed in the way my transmission shifts since I bought the truck.