Mike,
I need some help in regards to the towing issue. I spoke with my Ford dealer and he told me my truck will pull the camper with no problem. He swears that any mods will tear the engine up and that he has seen nothing but trouble from the common mods and chips. The only thing he suggested was an external cooler and possibly changing the rearend from 3.55 to 3.73.
He had nothing but bad to say about the mods - chip, intake, catback exhaust, mass air sensor - but I have mostly read good on the forum. What gives??????

 

Tear up the engine? More like derestrict it.
I think that service dept's might frown on the "3" mods because they might confuse a diognosis.
There are many here that would contest the "tear up the engine" statement. I'm sure they do see problems caused by mods but I would guess that most of them are installer error.

 

Hi Horseman,

*Never* allow anyone's hired help determine the future of what is probably the second-largest investment you'll ever make, meaning your vehicle; usually only our homes exceed the purchase price of our vehicles, so for most of us, our vehicles are generally the second-largest expenditure we'll make.

You can easily see for yourself that it isn't true just by reading these message boards, here at F-150 Online we have tens of thousands of F-150 owners who have done everything from chips to intakes to exhausts to superchargers and everything in between; as long as the parts are selected correctly for the application, are installed correctly and the engine tuned properly, they generally don't have any problems with those products damaging their vehicles.

That dealership has no doubt seen some problems, but there is no defending any such claim of all performance parts are going to damage your engine or harm that vehicle in some way, that is crappola.

The kinds of things we're talking about here, things like the Superchip, an Air Force One intake (for example), a cat-back exhaust system, underdrive pulleys, converting to electric cooling fans, etc., the more common bolt-ons we do around here, are not going to harm your vehicle. Period.

Whoever suggested changing to only a 3.73 gear from a 3.55 to help your towing isn't giving you good advice in my humble opinion; the change to 3.73's is only a difference of .18, and that is next to nothing in the way of increased torque multiplication, certainly not worth the expense. If you do decide to change gears, go to 4.10's, *then* you'll get something worthwhile from it, 3.73's will do very little to help you over your current 3.55's. I can even tell you why he said that 3.73 gear ratio specifically.................................. it is because in the late-model F-150, that is the only gear ratio numerically higher than 3.55 that they can correct the speedometer and odometer (and shift points in the automatics) for in-house. If you go to 4.10's, or 4.30's, etc., they can't correct *any* of that. That is the real reason why they said to go to the 3.73's, because of *their* limitations, not because they are the best or even the "correct" ratio to use. They are looking out for themselves and basing their recommendations on their rather severe limitations, not on what will actually be best for you & your needs.

Don't misunderstand, I would never say that this dealership hasn't seen aftermarket parts cause problems, I'm sure they have, and we have too; just about any automotive operation has, and for many years. But here's the thing to remember: dealerships usually won't see the results achieved when people do their homework, select quality parts, install and use them correctly; what they see are only the *problems*, those who have taken shortcuts, not used the right part(s), or have not used good quality parts, and/or have not installed or used them correctly, and thus have a problem wioth what they have done and so they have to go to the dealership.

This dealership has obviously not done any performance work themselves, or used good aftermarket performance parts themselves, as if they had, they would know better than to say something like those modifications are going to damage your engine and that they always cause problems, etc. I'm sure they see *plenty* of the problems, but they do NOT get to see everyone else, the vast majority who do things *right*, because the people who do things right don't have to take their vehicle into the dealership for those kinds of problems, so many dealerships generally don't see the good results. They see mostly the screw-ups, don't forget that.

I don't mean to knock this dealership, I'm sure they mean well and are honest people. They just aren't giving you any kind of workable or productive plan to actually improve the towing performance of that vehicle.

I suggest that you spend some time reading the boards here, so that you can see just how many people have been doing sensible and well-chosen modifications to improve the performance of their vehicles, and how they're seeing normal service life, etc. All of that becomes readily apparent as you spend time here and read the experiences of the people who have "been there, done that."

Feel free to give us a call to go over any details, & good luck!